Portable wireless gateway

Abstract

A portable gateway is provided for constituting a wireless bridge between two wireless networks. The portable gateway ( 1 ) has at least one slot ( 2, 3 ), preferably two slots, for receiving an expansion card ( 4, 5 ) for providing wireless connectivity towards a selected wireless network. The gateway may be designed to be carried in a pocket or a briefcase, and can easily be adapted for communication towards any selected wireless network.

1 . A gateway for providing a bridge between a first network and a second network, characterised in that the gateway is portable and provides a wireless bridge between the first and second networks, which are wireless networks, and that the gateway further comprises at least one expansion card slot for receiving an expansion card constituting a wireless interface towards one of the wireless networks.  
     
     
         2 . A gateway according to  claim 1 , characterised by a first wireless communication unit for communicating towards the first wireless network, and a second wireless communication unit for communicating towards the second wireless network, wherein at least one of the first and second communication units comprises an expansion card.  
     
     
         3 . A gateway according to  claim 1  or  2 , characterised in that the gateway comprises two expansion card slots for receiving two expansion cards, each constituting a wireless communication unit as an interface towards one of the wireless networks.  
     
     
         4 . A gateway according to  claim 1  or  2 , characterised in that the gateway comprises one integrated communication unit as an interface towards a predetermined wireless network, and that the gateway further comprises one expansion card slot for receiving an expansion card constituting a wireless communication unit as an interface towards a selected wireless network.  
     
     
         5 . A gateway according to any of claims  2 - 4 , characterised in that each of the wireless communication units includes an antenna, and that the two antennas are positioned on opposite sides of the gateway, thereby spacing the antennas apart maximally.  
     
     
         6 . A gateway according to  claim 5 , wherein two expansion card slots are used for receiving two expansion cards, characterised in that the antennas of the expansion cards are spaced apart by placing the two expansion card slot entries on different sides of the gateway.  
     
     
         7 . A gateway according to any of claims  1 - 6 , characterised in that one of the wireless networks is a Bluetooth network, and the other is a Wireless Local Area Network.  
     
     
         8 . A gateway according to any of claims  1 - 6 , characterised in that one of the wireless networks is a cellular wireless network.  
     
     
         9 . A gateway according to  claim 8 , characterised in that the cellular network is a GSM (Global System for Mobile communication), or a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), or a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) network.  
     
     
         10 . A gateway according to any of claims  1 - 9 , characterised in that the expansion card(s) is any of: a PC Card, a CompactFlash card and an SD (Secure Digital) card.