Multipath Tunneling for Real-Time Communication Quality

The patent segments media traffic into multiple independent tunnels over different physical interfaces (e.g., Wi-Fi and LTE). Each tunnel handles a portion of the traffic independently, avoiding the congestion that would occur if all traffic and error correction mechanisms were handled through a single stream-based tunnel. This segmentation distributes the load and reduces outer layer congestion while maintaining reliability through path diversity.

The patent transitions from a single-dimensional (single path) tunneling architecture to a multi-dimensional architecture by establishing multiple tunnels across different physical interfaces and networks. This adds the dimension of path diversity, allowing the system to bypass network impairments by routing traffic through alternative paths, thereby improving reliability without significantly increasing client device complexity.

The patent introduces a tunneling server as an intermediary that manages the complexity of multipath communication. The server handles tunnel establishment, maintenance, and traffic distribution across multiple physical interfaces. This mediator approach allows client devices to benefit from path diversity and improved reliability without bearing the full burden of managing multiple interfaces and tunnels, thus reducing client device complexity while maintaining communication reliability.