Patent ID: 7408906

Claim:
A mobile data communications system comprising: a cellular wireless data communications network comprising a plurality of base stations that communicate with terminals according to a first radio interface, the plurality of base stations coupled to a control node that administers services provided to terminals communicating with the base stations, wherein the cellular wireless data communications network comprises one of a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network or a Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) network, and wherein the control node comprises a corresponding one of a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) or a Mobile Data Intermediate System (MD-IS); a wireless local area network (LAN) operative to communicate with terminals according to a second radio interface; and a mobile data internetworking system that is coupled between the control node and the wireless local area network and that provides data communications therebetween, wherein the mobile data internetworking system is interfaced to the control node using a same interface that interfaces the control node to each of the plurality of base stations, wherein communications between the mobile data internetworking system and the control node use a mobility management protocol layer that supports mobility management in the cellular wireless data communications network and wherein communications between terminals and the mobile data internetworking system do not use a mobility management layer that supports mobility management in the cellular wireless data communications network.