Router Fallback Mechanism for ISP Outage Resilience
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network traffic congestion and broadband outages can lead to unsatisfactory Internet access and service disruptions for devices connected to a router, resulting in slow responses, timeouts, and potential data loss.
Innovation Solution
A mobile internet fallback/switch over mechanism is implemented in a router that monitors the primary ISP connection and automatically switches to a secondary ISP via 4G or Wi-Fi networks when the primary connection becomes unavailable, ensuring continuous Internet access and switching back when the primary connection is restored.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the router relies solely on a primary broadband connection (cable or DSL), then the device complexity is low, but the reliability of Internet access deteriorates during network congestion or broadband outages
Solution Approach 1:
The router proactively establishes a secondary mobile broadband connection before the primary connection fails. The system monitors the quality of the primary connection and pre-configures the secondary connection, so that when switching is needed, it can happen immediately without connection establishment delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes connection parameters by switching between different ISP connections based on monitored quality metrics. When the primary connection quality deteriorates below a threshold, the router changes the active connection parameter to use the secondary mobile broadband connection instead.
2Reliability
If the router switches to a secondary ISP connection when the primary fails, then the reliability of Internet access is improved, but the device complexity increases due to multiple connection management
Solution Approach 1:
The router autonomously monitors the quality of the primary Internet connection and automatically switches to the secondary mobile broadband connection when degradation is detected. The system performs self-diagnosis and self-correction without user intervention, managing the complexity internally while providing simple continuous connectivity to users.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors connection quality parameters (such as throughput, latency, and packet loss) and uses this feedback to trigger automatic switching between primary and secondary connections. When monitored metrics fall below thresholds, the feedback loop initiates a connection switch, and when the primary connection recovers, it triggers a switch back.
3Loss of time
If the router monitors primary ISP accessibility and switches to secondary ISP, then the loss of time during outages is reduced, but the use of energy increases due to continuous monitoring and dual connection maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The router performs partial monitoring of the primary connection by checking specific quality parameters at intervals rather than continuously analyzing all traffic. This reduces the energy overhead of monitoring while still detecting degradation in time to initiate a switch before complete service disruption occurs.
Data Source
AI summary
The systems, devices, and methods discussed herein are directed to continuously providing Internet connection for user equipment (UE) connected to a router by monitoring availability of a primary data, or Internet, connection provided by a primary Internet service provider (ISP) for the router, upon determining that the primary data connection has become unavailable, switching to a secondary data, or Internet, connection established using a mobile network of a secondary ISP, and upon determining that the primary data connection has become available, switching back to the primary data connection.