Automatic wireless network formation
First Claim
1. A wireless network joining device comprising:
- a personal area network (PAN) interface adapted to communicate with one or more network devices over a wireless network; and
a processor adapted to;
direct the PAN interface to perform a number of active channel scans of a plurality of wireless communication channels for desired PANs to join by masking out channels in a desired network channel list;
update the desired network channel list with channels containing desired PANs to join during each channel scan cycle;
direct the PAN interface to listen for beacons on channels in the desired network channel list, wherein each beacon comprises PAN information;
receive PAN information included in heard beacons;
select a PAN to join based on the PAN information; and
attempt to join the selected PAN.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems, devices, and methods for automatically forming a wireless personal area network (PAN) comprising a network auto-formation (NAF) process. At least one network coordinating device initializes a PAN and transmits at least one beacon comprising PAN information. A network joining device performs a number of scan/listen cycles by actively scanning a plurality of wireless channels for PANs by masking out channels in a scan channel mask, and listening for beacons on channels in a listen channel list. The scan channel mask and the listen channel list are updated during each scan/listen cycle. The scan channel mask may comprise channels containing desired PANs, non-desired PANs, and channels on which beacons were heard. The listen channel list may comprise channels containing desired PANs and channels on which beacons were heard. The NAF process further comprises receiving PAN information included in heard beacons and attempting to join the best network based on the PAN information.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A wireless network joining device comprising:
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a personal area network (PAN) interface adapted to communicate with one or more network devices over a wireless network; and a processor adapted to; direct the PAN interface to perform a number of active channel scans of a plurality of wireless communication channels for desired PANs to join by masking out channels in a desired network channel list; update the desired network channel list with channels containing desired PANs to join during each channel scan cycle; direct the PAN interface to listen for beacons on channels in the desired network channel list, wherein each beacon comprises PAN information; receive PAN information included in heard beacons; select a PAN to join based on the PAN information; and attempt to join the selected PAN. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A wireless network joining device comprising:
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a personal area network (PAN) interface adapted to communicate with one or more network devices over a wireless network; and a processor adapted to; direct the PAN interface to perform a first active channel scan of a plurality of wireless communication channels for discoverable PANs; for each found discoverable PAN, determine whether the discoverable PAN comprises a desired PAN to join; generate a desired PAN channel list comprising channels containing desired PANs and a non-desired PAN channel list comprising channels containing non-desired PANs; direct the PAN interface to perform subsequent active channel scans for discoverable PANs by masking out the channels in the desired PAN channel list and the non-desired PAN channel list; update the desired PAN channel list and the non-desired PAN channel list during each subsequent active channel scan cycle; direct the PAN interface to listen on the channels in the desired PAN channel list for beacons, wherein each beacon comprises PAN information; receive PAN information included in heard beacons; generate network performance metric for each PAN for which a beacon was received based on the PAN information contained in the received beacon; select a PAN according to the generated network performance metric; and attempt to join the selected PAN.
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28. A wireless network joining device comprising:
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a personal area network (PAN) interface adapted to communicate with one or more network devices over a wireless network; and a processor adapted to; direct the PAN interface to perform a first active channel scan of a plurality of wireless communication channels for discoverable PANs; generate a first channel list comprising channels containing discoverable PANs; direct the PAN interface to perform subsequent active channel scans for discoverable PANs by masking out the channels in the first channel list; update the first channel list with channels containing discoverable PANs during each subsequent channel scan cycle; direct the PAN interface to listen on the channels in the first channel list for beacons, wherein each beacon comprises PAN information; receive PAN information included in heard beacons; generate network performance metric for each PAN for which a beacon was received based on the PAN information contained in the received beacon; select a PAN according to the generated network performance metric; and attempt to join the selected PAN.
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29. A wireless network joining device comprising:
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a personal area network (PAN) interface adapted to communicate with one or more network devices over a wireless network; and a processor adapted to; direct the PAN interface to perform a number of scan/listen cycles by (a) actively scanning a plurality of wireless communication channels for PANs by masking out channels in a scan channel mask, and (b) listening for beacons on channels in a listen channel list; during each scan/listen cycle; determine whether each found PAN comprises a desired PAN to join; dynamically update the scan channel mask with channels containing desired PANs, non-desired PANs, and channels on which beacons were heard; dynamically update the listen channel list with channels containing desired PANs and channels on which beacons were heard; receive PAN information included in heard beacons; generate network performance metric for each PAN for which a beacon was received based on the PAN information contained in the received beacon; select a PAN according to the generated network performance metric; and attempt to join the selected PAN.
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30. A wireless network system comprising:
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at least one network coordinating device adapted to initialize a personal area network (PAN) and comprising a first PAN interface adapted to transmit at least one beacon comprising PAN information over a wireless communication channel; a network joining device comprising; a second PAN interface adapted to communicate with one or more network devices over a wireless network; and a processor adapted to; direct the second PAN interface to perform a number of active channel scans of a plurality of wireless communication channels for desired PANs to join by masking out channels in a desired network channel list; update the desired network channel list with channels containing desired PANs to join during each channel scan cycle; direct the second PAN interface to listen for beacons on channels in the desired network channel list; receive PAN information included in heard beacons; select a PAN to join based on the PAN information; and attempt to join the selected PAN.
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31. A method for joining a personal area network (PAN) comprising the steps of:
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performing a number of active channel scans of a plurality of wireless communication channels for desired PANs to join by masking out channels in a desired network channel list; updating the desired network channel list with channels containing desired PANs to join during each channel scan cycle; listening for beacons on channels in the desired network channel list, wherein each beacon comprises PAN information; receiving PAN information included in heard beacons; selecting a PAN to join based on the PAN information; and attempting to join the selected PAN.
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32. A method for joining a personal area network (PAN) comprising the steps of:
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performing a first active channel scan of a plurality of wireless communication channels for discoverable PANs; generating a first channel list comprising channels containing discoverable PANs; performing subsequent active channel scans for discoverable PANs by masking out the channels in the first channel list; updating the first channel list with channels containing discoverable PANs during each subsequent channel scan cycle; listening on the channels in the first channel list for beacons, wherein each beacon comprises PAN information; receiving PAN information included in heard beacons; generating network performance metric for each PAN for which a beacon was received based on the PAN information contained in the received beacon; selecting a PAN according to the generated network performance metric; and attempting to join the selected PAN.
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Specification