Mobile IP/sup 2

Internet traffic is growing at an exponential rate and the lives of more and more people are tightly coupled with the Internet. The ability to keep connected to the Internet while on the move is highly desired in an increasingly mobile environment. We present a means for ubiquitous network access for consumers in both wired and wireless environments. We introduce the concept of multiple-interface/multiple-connection to support high-speed handoff and seamless roaming between different networks (wired and wireless). This is implemented by improving the current Mobile IP concept, extending existing IP (specifically CMIP and ARP) functions and enhancing current PC device drivers and software. The mobility supported by this proposal is based on layer 3 functionality under the OSI protocol layer definition (physical layer and link layer are assumed to be supported already).