System and method for integrating a vehicle subnetwork into a primary network

Abstract

A system for communicating between a first network and a second network, wherein the first network may alternately communicate through one of a plurality of communication devices, each having a different IP address. In one embodiment, the first network is contained in a vehicle. The first network initiates communications through one of the communication devices and communicates the IP address of this currently-used device to a proxy server. If communications are lost, the first network attempts to establish communications through another of the communication devices. In a first mode, the first network communicates with the second network directly, using the IP address of the currently-used communication device for return communications. In a second mode, the first network communicates with the second network directly, but return communications are routed through the proxy server, which forwards them to the first network. When the second network is expected to quickly respond to the communications of the first network, the first mode is normally used since the current communication device is expected to maintain communication over the short term. If return communications are expected to be slow, the second mode is normally used since the current communication device is expected to lose communication at some point over the long term. In some situations, a hybrid of the first and second modes is used.