I lllll llllllll Ill lllll lllll lllll lllll lllll 111111111111111111111111111111111
`US008102863B 1
`
`c12) United States Patent
`Evans
`
`(10) Patent No.:
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 8,102,863 Bl
`Jan.24,2012
`
`(54) HIGH-SPEED WAN TO WIRELESS LAN
`GATEWAY
`
`(75)
`
`Inventor: Gregory Morgan Evans, Raleigh, NC
`(US)
`
`6,665,536 Bl
`6,721,282 B2 *
`6,735,699 Bl
`6,738,493 Bl
`6,751,670 Bl
`
`12/2003 Mahany
`412004 Motley .......................... 370/252
`512004 Sasaki et al.
`512004 Cox et al.
`6/2004 Patterson
`(Continued)
`
`(73) Assignee: Qurio Holdings, Inc., Raleigh, NC (US)
`
`( *) Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term ofthis
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 1125 days.
`
`GB
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`2306869 A
`5/1997
`(Continued)
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 11/475,360
`
`(22) Filed:
`
`Jun.27,2006
`
`(51)
`
`Int. Cl.
`(2006.01)
`H04L 1100
`(2006.01)
`H04L 12128
`(2006.01)
`H04L 12156
`(52) U.S. Cl. ..................... 370/401; 370/230.1; 370/235;
`370/412
`( 58) Field of Classification Search . ... ... ... ... .. ... 3 70/230,
`370/230.1, 235, 401, 412
`See application file for complete search history.
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`
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`
`(Continued)
`
`Primary Examiner - Hassan Phillips
`Assistant Examiner - Lonnie Sweet
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm - Withrow & Terranova,
`PLLC
`
`ABSTRACT
`(57)
`A gateway interconnecting a high speed Wide Area Network
`(WAN) and a lower speed Wireless Local Area Network
`(WLAN) is provided. The high speed WAN is preferably
`connected to the gateway via a Fiber-to-the Home (FTTH)
`connection and associated FTTH modem. In general, the
`gateway includes an adaptable cross-layer offload engine
`operating to manage bandwidth between the high speed WAN
`and the lower speed WLAN. As data enters the gateway from
`the WAN at the high speed data rate of the WAN, the offload
`engine stores the data in a non-secure data cache. A rule check
`engine performs a stateless or stateful inspection of the data in
`the non-secure data cache. Thereafter, the data is moved from
`the non-secure data cache to a secure data cache and thereaf(cid:173)
`ter transmitted to an appropriate user device in the WLAN at
`the lower data rate of the WLAN.
`
`21 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets
`
`--------------------------------------,
`L.:16
`;~------------ --,
`1 WIRELESS
`\
`LOCAL AREA NETWORK (WLAN)
`:
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`
`24
`
`I
`I
`I
`1 CUSTOMER PREMISES
`18~
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`FTTH
`I
`NETWORK:
`FIBER
`1
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`I
`~-------------------------------------
`
`, ________________ ;
`
`\
`
`DISH, Exh. 1001, p. 1
`
`

`
`US 8,102,863 Bl
`Page 2
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`DISH, Exh. 1001, p. 2
`
`

`
`US 8,102,863 Bl
`Page 3
`
`WO
`WO
`WO
`WO
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`WO 00/40021 Al
`712000
`0069163 A2
`11/2000
`2006046099 A2
`512006
`2006046099 A3
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`
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`2006, 16 pages, Gefen Inc.
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`
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`&SourceID~k40132.
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`ity," (website), Jan. 15, 2004, 61 pages, http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/
`REC-CCPP-struct-vocab-20040115/.
`No Author, "MediaMax Axonix Corporation," (website), obtained
`Jul. 13, 2007, 2 pages, http://www.axonix.com/mediamax/.
`No Author, "Kaleidescape-Home," (website), obtained Jul. 13,
`2007, 1 page, http://www.kaleidescape.com.
`No Author, "Yahoo! Messenger," (website), obtained Jan. 9, 2007, 2
`pages, http://messenger.yahoo.com/chat.php.
`No Author, "Series 2 TiVo Home Media Features Guide," (manual),
`2005, 47 pages.
`* cited by examiner
`
`DISH, Exh. 1001, p. 3
`
`

`
`------------------------------,
`,....-16
`___________ L __
`'
`
`'
`\
`
`~
`1 WIRELESS
`LOCAL AREA NETWORK (WLAN)
`:
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`
`~
`
`I
`
`FIG. 1
`
`~
`00 .
`
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`~
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`
`~ = ~
`
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`'" ...
`0 ....
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`
`DISH, Exh. 1001, p. 4
`
`

`
`GATEWAY OS
`
`56
`
`~
`
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`DATA
`CACHE
`
`38
`
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`
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`
`30
`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
`IDS RULES
`
`DRM ENCODER/DECODER
`
`DES ENCRYPTION/DECRYPTION
`
`FILE FORMAT CONVERSION
`
`FIG.2
`
`50
`
`,-54
`
`~
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`
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`....
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`
`DISH, Exh. 1001, p. 5
`
`

`
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`
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`
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`802.11n
`I
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`I
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`
`WANi:JBt
`
`FIG. 3
`
`DISH, Exh. 1001, p. 6
`
`

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`' ' ' '
`
`T
`RSVP AND/OR
`DIFFSERV OTHER ROUTING
`PROTOCOLS
`
`' ,
`
`'-----L----------J-----------L-----------'
`I
`WAN
`I I
`FIG. 4
`
`I
`
`- I U
`
`I
`
`- UU
`
`I
`
`- Ut:.
`
`I
`
`WLAN
`
`~
`00 .
`
`~
`~
`~
`
`~ = ~
`
`~
`
`~ :=
`"' ...
`0 ....
`
`N
`
`N
`
`N
`
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`('D
`
`1J1 =(cid:173)
`..... ...
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`
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`"'"" = N
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`0--, w = "'""
`
`I
`
`DISH, Exh. 1001, p. 7
`
`

`
`US 8, 102,863 B 1
`
`1
`HIGH-SPEED WAN TO WIRELESS LAN
`GATEWAY
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention relates to a gateway device and more
`particularly relates to a gateway device interconnecting a high
`speed Wide Area Network (WAN) to a lower speed Wireless
`Local Area Network (WLAN).
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`2
`Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the
`present invention and realize additional aspects thereof after
`reading the following detailed description of the preferred
`embodiments in association with the accompanying drawing
`figures.
`
`5
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
`FIGURES
`
`10
`
`The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and
`forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of
`the invention, and together with the description serve to
`explain the principles of the invention.
`FIG. 1 illustrates a system including an adaptable cross-
`15 layer gateway for interconnecting, or bridging, a high speed
`Wide Area Network (WAN) to a lower speed Wireless Local
`Area Network (WLAN) according to one embodiment of the
`present invention;
`FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the adaptable cross-layer
`gateway of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the
`present invention;
`FIG. 3 is an exemplary protocol stack representation of the
`adaptable cross-layer gateway according to one embodiment
`of the present invention; and
`FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary cross-messaging matrix
`controlled to provide a complete protocol stack having a
`cross-layer architecture for a network connection imple(cid:173)
`mented by the adaptable cross-layer gateway according to
`one embodiment of the present invention.
`
`Historically, residential gateways provided a routing func(cid:173)
`tion from an in-home Local Area Network (LAN) to a Wide
`Area Network (WAN) based Asynchronous Digital Sub(cid:173)
`scriber Line (ADSL) or Data Over Cable Service Interface
`Specification (DOCSIS) connection. Bandwidth available
`from the WAN ranged from 200 kbps to 6 Mbps. The LAN
`side of the gateway was either a single or multiple 10/lOOBt
`Ethernet connections serving client computers. Eventually, 20
`these Ethernet connections were replaced with wireless IEEE
`802.llb/a/g LANs operating from 6 to 50 Mbps. The smaller
`bandwidth capabilities of the WAN versus the LAN kept
`downstream traffic flow simple in the gateway. Upstream
`traffic from the LAN to WAN was seldom an issue because 25
`users were less sensitive to this bottleneck. A typical upstream
`bottleneck scenario would be sending an email with a large
`attachment. In this situation, the Transfer Control Protocol
`(TCP) service of the gateway would simply throttle the LAN
`connection to the appropriate speed for the WAN.
`With the advent of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks,
`the traditional scenario described above has been reversed. In
`a FTTH network, a high speed FTTH data connection is
`provided to the residential gateway. The FTTH data connec(cid:173)
`tion provides data rates in the range of 1 to 10 Gbps. In 35
`contrast, the proposed IEEE 802.1 ln standard for wireless
`LAN s provides data rates in the range ofl 00 to 500 Mbps. As
`such, the traditional residential gateway architecture will
`limit overall performance to the wireless LAN bandwidth,
`thereby negating much of the value of the FTTH connection. 40
`Thus, there is a need for an improved residential gateway
`architecture for interconnecting a high speed WAN to a lower
`speed wireless LAN.
`
`30
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENTS
`
`The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary
`information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the
`invention and illustrate the best mode of practicing the inven(cid:173)
`tion. Upon reading the following description in light of the
`accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will
`understand the concepts of the invention and will recognize
`applications of these concepts not particularly addressed
`herein. It should be understood that these concepts and appli-
`cations fall within the scope of the disclosure and the accom(cid:173)
`panying claims.
`FIG.1 illustrates a system 10 including an adaptable cross-
`45 layer gateway 12 interconnecting, or bridging, a high speed
`WAN 14 and a lower speed WLAN 16 according to one
`embodiment of the present invention. In addition, as dis(cid:173)
`cussed below, the gateway 12 offloads data to data caches in
`order to take advantage of the high data rate provided by the
`50 high speed WAN 14. In addition, by using cross-layering
`techniques, the gateway 12 improves the performance of the
`WLAN 16 in order to take further advantage of the high speed
`WAN 14. The gateway 12 may be implemented in hardware
`or a combination of hardware and software. For example, the
`55 gateway 12 may include one or more Application Specific
`Integrated Circuits (AS I Cs), one or more Digital Signal Pro(cid:173)
`cessors (DSPs), one or more Field Programmable Gate
`Arrays (FPGAs ), or the like.
`The WAN 14 may be a distributed public access network
`60 such as the Internet. Preferably, the WAN 14 provides a Fiber(cid:173)
`to-the-Home (FTTH) connection to a customer premises 18,
`which in this example includes a network interface 20, the
`gateway 12, and the WLAN 16. FTTH generally refers to a
`broadband network where a fiber-optic connection is pro-
`65 vided to the home. The FTTH connection provides data rates
`equal to or greater than 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps). For
`example, the FTTH connection may provide data rates in the
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention relates to a gateway interconnecting
`a high speed Wide Area Network (WAN) and a lower speed
`Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). The high speed
`WAN is preferably connected to the gateway via a Fiber-to(cid:173)
`the-Home (FTTH) connection and associated FTTH modem.
`In general, the gateway includes an adaptable cross-layer
`offload engine operating to manage bandwidth between the
`high speed WAN and the lower speed WLAN. As data enters
`the gateway from the WAN at the high speed data rate of the
`WAN, the offload engine stores the data in a non-secure data
`cache. A rule check engine performs a stateless or stateful
`inspection of the data in the non-secure data cache. Once
`inspected by the rule check engine, the data is moved from the
`non-secure cache to the secure cache and thereafter transmit(cid:173)
`ted to an appropriate user device in the WLAN at a lower data
`rate of the WLAN.
`Prior to transmitting the data, the gateway may also per(cid:173)
`form additional functions such as, but not limited to, file
`format conversion, Digital Rights Management (DRM)
`encoding or decoding, and Data Encryption Standard (DES)
`encryption or decryption.
`
`DISH, Exh. 1001, p. 8
`
`

`
`US 8, 102,863 B 1
`
`5
`
`3
`range of and including 1 to 10 Gbps. The network interface 20
`may be a FTTH modem providing an interface between the
`FTTH connection and the gateway 12. In this exemplary
`embodiment, the network interface 20 provides an optical to
`electrical Gigabit Ethernet connection (lOOOBt) to the gate-
`way 12. It should be noted that while the preferred high speed
`connection to the WAN 14 is the FTTH connection discussed
`herein, the present invention is not limited thereto. The gate(cid:173)
`way 12 of the present invention may be used to interconnect,
`or bridge, any high speed WAN to a lower speed LAN regard(cid:173)
`less of the type of connection provided to the WAN. For
`example, the gateway 12 may interconnect an OC-192
`(9.95328 Gbps) or 10 Gigabit Ethernet WAN to a multiport
`Gigabit Ethernet (lOOOBt) lower speed LAN.
`The WLAN 16 may operate, for example, according to one 15
`or more of the suite of IEEE 802.11 standards such as the
`IEEE 802.1 la, IEEE 802.11 b, IEEE 802.1 lg, or the proposed
`IEEE 802.1 ln standards. The WLAN 16 is formed by the
`gateway 12 and a number of user devices 22-28 each having
`a wireless interface. The user devices 22-28 may be, for 20
`example, personal computers, Personal Video Recorders
`(PVRs), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), other Internet
`Protocol (IP) appliances, or the like, or any combination
`thereof.
`FIG. 2 is a more detailed block diagram of the gateway 12
`according to one embodiment of the present invention. At the
`heart of the gateway 12 is an adaptable cross-layer offload
`engine 30 that manages bandwidth, or traffic flow, between
`the WAN 14 and the WLAN 16. The offload engine 30 utilizes
`cross-layer functionality and is configurable to adapt to vary(cid:173)
`ing conditions in the WLAN 16. The offload engine 30 is
`preferably implemented in hardware, but may alternatively be
`implemented in software or a combination of hardware and
`software.
`The offload engine 30 is communicatively coupled to the
`WAN 14 via, in this example, a Gigabit Ethernet Network
`Interface Card (NIC) 32, which is connected to the WAN 14
`(FIG. 1) via the network interface 20. The NIC 32 may gen(cid:173)
`erally be referred to as a high speed network interface. The
`offload engine 30 is communicatively coupled to the WLAN
`16, and more specifically the user devices 22-28 in the WLAN
`16, via one or more wireless radios 34. In this example, the
`wireless radios 34 are IEEE 802.1 ln wireless radios. How(cid:173)
`ever, the present invention is not limited thereto. The gateway
`12 may also include an Ethernet switch 36 or the like provid(cid:173)
`ing one or more wired connections to additional LAN
`devices.
`The gateway 12 also includes a non-secure data cache 38
`and a secure data cache 40. The non-secure and secure data
`caches 38 and 40 are used to buffer data as needed by the 50
`offload engine 30. While illustrated separately, the data
`caches 38 and 40 may be implemented in a single physical
`cache where, for example, flags are used to identify secure
`and non-secure data. The non-secure data cache 38 is used to
`store received data from the WAN 14 for inspection and
`processing prior to forwarding the data to the WLAN 16. The
`non-secure data cache 38 may also be used to buffer large data
`sets from the WLAN 16 waiting for transmission over the
`WAN 14. By buffering data in the non-secure data cache 38,
`the gateway 12 is enabled to take advantage of the full band(cid:173)
`width provided by the FTTH connection. The secure data
`cache 40 is used to temporarily store data from the non-secure
`data cache 38 that has been inspected and cleared for trans(cid:173)
`mission prior to transmission to the user devices 22-28 in the
`WLAN16.
`A rule check engine 42 operates to inspect the data in the
`non-secure data cache 38 according to a number of rules,
`
`4
`which in this example include Intrusion Detection System
`(IDS) rules 44, Digital Rights Management (DRM) rules 46,
`and other general or specific content rules 48. The rule check
`engine 42 may perform stateless inspection, stateful inspec(cid:173)
`tion, or both stateless and stateful inspection. The IDS rules
`44 are generally rules for detecting malicious network traffic
`and may include, for example, typical firewall rules. The
`DRM rules 46 may be rules for protecting media files, such as
`videos, songs, and images, stored on the user devices 22-28
`10 within the WLAN 16 when transmitted over the WAN 14. In
`addition, the DRM rules 46 may include rules for identifying
`incoming content to be encoded as a security feature to pre(cid:173)
`vent unauthorized viewing of the specified content by, for
`example, children within the WLAN 16. The content rules 48
`may include rules regulating the types of content that may be
`accessed by the user devices 22-28 within the WLAN 16. In
`addition, as discussed below, the rule check engine 42 may
`inspect the data passing through the gateway 12 based on
`rules for triggering additional functions provided by the gate(cid:173)
`way 12.
`The gateway 12 may also include various additional func(cid:173)
`tional components such as, but not limited to, a DRM
`encoder/decoder 50, a Digital Encryption System (DES)
`encryption/decryption function 52, and a file format conver-
`25 sion function 54. The functions 50-54 may be triggered either
`directly or indirectly by the rule check engine 42 based on
`associated rules used to inspect data passing through the
`gateway 12.
`The DRM encoder/decoder 50 may be implemented in
`30 hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and soft(cid:173)
`ware, and may be used to protect content transmitted over the
`WAN 14 from the user devices 22-28 within the WLAN 16. In
`addition or alternatively, the DRM encoder/decoder 50 may
`be used in conjunction with firewall technology to create a
`35 security feature that prevents unauthorized viewing of speci(cid:173)
`fied content on the user devices 22-28. More specifically, in
`the outgoing direction, the DRM encoder/decoder 50 may
`operate to encode content leaving the WLAN 16. For
`example, personal videos, songs, images, or the like stored by
`40 the user devices 22-28 may be encoded by the DRM encoder/
`decoder 50 such that only desired recipients may view or play
`the content. As for incoming content, the DRM encoder/
`decoder 50 may, for example, encode specified types of con(cid:173)
`tent from the WAN 14 to prevent unauthorized viewing by, for
`45 example, children. License keys could be distributed by the
`gateway 12 to appropriate user devices 22-28 to unlock the
`encoded content. It should be noted that the present invention
`is not limited to DRM encoding or decoding. Other types of
`encoding and decoding may be used as desired.
`The DES encryption/decryption function52 may be imple-
`mented in the wireless radios 34. However, the present inven(cid:173)
`tion is not limited thereto. The DES encryption/decryption
`function 52 operates to provide encryption and decryption of
`data transmitted over the WLAN 16 as commonly understood
`55 in the art. Additionally, DES and DRM may share the same
`encryption/decryption functions.
`The file format conversion function 54 may be imple(cid:173)
`mented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware
`and software, and may be used to reduce the size of or other-
`60 wise adapt incoming content in order to reduce the bandwidth
`required to transfer the content to the appropriate user devices
`22-28. More specifically, the file format conversion function
`54 may convert the content from a first file format to a second
`file format having reduced bandwidth requirements, reduce
`65 the quality of the content, or both. For example, the file format
`conversion function 54 may convert a Motion Pictures
`Experts Group (MPEG) Layer 2 (MPEG-2) video file to a
`
`DISH, Exh. 1001, p. 9
`
`

`
`US 8, 102,863 B 1
`
`5
`MPEG Layer 4 (MPEG-4) video file, thereby reducing the
`bandwidth required to transfer the video file over the WLAN
`16. In addition or alternatively, the file format conversion
`function 54 may reduce the quality of the content such that the
`bandwidth required to transfer the content over the WLAN 16 5
`is also reduced. For example, the quality of video content may
`be reduced by reducing the resolution, bit rate, or frame rate.
`The file format conversion function 54 may process incoming
`content as the content is provided to the gateway 12 or after
`the content is entirely transferred to the gateway 12.
`The gateway 12 also includes a gateway operating system
`(OS) 56, which operates to configure and control the opera(cid:173)
`tion of the offload engine 30, the rule check engine 42, and the
`various functions 50-54. The gateway OS 56 may include
`client agents loaded, or configured, by the user devices 22-28. 15
`Using these client agents, the gateway OS 56 may be config(cid:173)
`ured to, for example, convert all incoming MPEG-2 files to
`MPEG-4 files for all of the user devices 22-28; convert all
`incoming MPEG-2 files to MPEG-4 files for the user device
`22; convert all incoming MPEG-2 files to AVI files for the 20
`user device 24; block all video content to the user device 26;
`block only Internet Protocol (IP) streaming content to the user
`device 28; use DRM encoding on all multimedia content and
`restrict playback to the user device 22; and configure the
`gateway 12 to immediately cache e-mail with attachments 25
`and provide the e-mail and attachments to the appropriate one
`of the user devices 22-28 over available radio frequency (RF)
`spectrum using a background operation. The above opera(cid:173)
`tions are intended to be exemplary and as such should not be
`construed to limit the scope of the present invention. These 30
`configurations may be implemented by the gateway OS 56 as
`additional rules for the rule check engine 42.
`In operation, when data is received from the WAN 14 via
`the NIC 32, the offload engine 30 offloads the data into the
`non-secure data cache 38. While in the non-secure data cache 35
`38, the data is inspected by the rule check engine 42 based on
`the rules 44-48 and any additional rules from the gateway OS
`56 for triggering