Systems and methods for managing a network of moving things

• US 10,122,572 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2017
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veniam Inc.
• Original Assignee: Veniam Inc.
• Inventors: Ameixieira, Carlos
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Liangche A
• Application Number:
  US15/626,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20170289941A1
• Time in Patent Office: 505 Days
• Field of Search: 709221, 709224, 709206, 709223, 709229, 709238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/048 mobile agents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0025 synchronizing potentially movable access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks

Abstract

Communication network architectures, systems and methods for supporting a network of mobile nodes. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of this disclosure provide communication network architectures, systems, and methods for supporting a dynamically configurable communication network comprising a complex array of both static and moving communication nodes (e.g., the Internet of moving things).

Claims

1. A communication network node comprising:

at least one module comprising a processing circuit and a memory and being operable to, at least;

transmit a first beacon message in accordance with a defined beaconing strategy, wherein the defined beaconing strategy comprises transmitting beacon messages at a first rate;

receive context information comprising;

information identifying physical context, and information identifying communication condition context;

analyze the received context information;

redefine the beaconing strategy, based at least in part on the analyzed received context information, wherein the redefined beaconing strategy comprises transmitting beacon messages at a second rate different from the first rate; and

transmit a second beacon message in accordance with the redefined beaconing strategy,

wherein the at least one module is operable to;

receive the information identifying physical context from a module on-board the node; and

receive the information identifying communication condition context from another network node.

2. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the context information comprises a request or command.

3. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the first and second beacon messages each comprise a respective node status information frame.

4. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying physical context comprises location information.

5. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying communication condition context comprises information regarding an amount of data traffic.

6. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying physical context comprises temperature information.

7. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying physical context comprises power supply status information.

8. The communication network node of claim 7, wherein the power supply status information comprises information indicating whether a power supply for the node is running low.

9. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying physical context comprises information identifying a location of the node.

10. The communication network node of claim 9, wherein the information identifying the location comprises information describing movement of the node.

11. The communication network node of claim 10, wherein the information describing movement of the node comprises information describing present movement of the node.

12. The communication network node of claim 10, wherein the information describing movement of the node comprises information describing predicted movement of the node.

13. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying communication condition context comprises channel loading information.

14. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying communication condition context comprises information identifying an error rate.

15. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying physical context comprises information describing movement.

16. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying communication condition context comprises communication bandwidth information.

17. The communication network node of claim 16, wherein the information comprises information identifying an amount of communication bandwidth available.

18. The communication network node of claim 16, wherein the communication bandwidth information comprises information identifying an amount of communication bandwidth being utilized.

19. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the module on-board the node comprises a GPS module and/or a position tracking module.

20. The communication network node of claim 1, wherein the information identifying communication condition context comprises RF channel quality information.