Method and apparatus for reducing the length of a packet storm in a wireless mesh network
First Claim
1. A system for controlling information broadcast in a wireless mesh network, the network comprising a plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices, the system comprising:
- a device table comprised in each of the devices, for tracking which device has successfully relayed a broadcast transmission;
a broadcast table comprised in each of the devices, for keeping a record of any new broadcast transmission that has been initiated by a device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices or received from a neighboring device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices;
wherein each broadcast transmission includes a radius parameter R, which indicates an allowed number of hops through said mesh network before the broadcast transmission is discarded;
wherein the system is adapted to add to a new broadcast transmission a radius parameter R, or to reduce the radius parameter R, by one when a received broadcast transmission is forwarded;
wherein the system is adapted to check information provided in the device table and the broadcast table so as to report to a device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices initiating a message, a maximum repetition number, Rmax, representative of the number of hops which was necessary to transmit the message to each device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices, wherein the maximum repetition number Rmax is determined by the system using a broadcast storm as a number of repetitions necessary to reach every device in the network;
wherein the device table includes a neighbor table for tracking which neighboring device, which is a device within a transmission or reception range of the device, has successfully relayed a broadcast transmission;
and wherein the at least one broadcast table includes a broadcast transaction table for keeping a record of any new broadcast transmission that has been initiated by the associated device or received from a neighboring device;
wherein the at least one device table includes,a child table for tracking which child device, which is a device to which said device has transmitted a broadcast transmission, has successfully relayed the broadcast transmission;
and wherein the at least one broadcast table includes a broadcast listening table for keeping a record of any new broadcast transmission that has been received by a child device.
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Abstract
A broadcast transmission will generate a packet storm in a mesh network, which will last for a very long time and block the network for other traffic. There is a parameter in a broadcast control mechanism named radius which controls the duration of the packet storm. The invention proposes to dynamically select the smallest radius to reduce the packet storm to a minimum, by reporting the smallest possible radius parameter for the broadcast control mechanism. Each device or node of the network comprises a neighbor table for tracking which of its neighboring devices or nodes has successfully relayed the broadcast transmission. Additionally, each device or node comprises a broadcast transaction table to keep a record of any new broadcast transmission or transaction that is either initiated locally or received from a neighboring device or node. Each broadcast transmission comprises a so called radius parameter R which indicates an allowed number of hops through the mesh network before the broadcast transmission is discarded. The mechanism to report broadcast status may be realized in an exemplary embodiment of the invention by adding two new tables to track broadcasting status from neighboring devices: the child table, to which the concerned network node or network device has transmitted or relayed a broadcast transmission, and the broadcast listening table; and by adding three fields into the broadcast transaction table: the radius, report interval and report timeout; and also by adding two new parameters into broadcast message itself: report interval and report timeout.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A system for controlling information broadcast in a wireless mesh network, the network comprising a plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices, the system comprising:
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a device table comprised in each of the devices, for tracking which device has successfully relayed a broadcast transmission; a broadcast table comprised in each of the devices, for keeping a record of any new broadcast transmission that has been initiated by a device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices or received from a neighboring device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices; wherein each broadcast transmission includes a radius parameter R, which indicates an allowed number of hops through said mesh network before the broadcast transmission is discarded; wherein the system is adapted to add to a new broadcast transmission a radius parameter R, or to reduce the radius parameter R, by one when a received broadcast transmission is forwarded; wherein the system is adapted to check information provided in the device table and the broadcast table so as to report to a device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices initiating a message, a maximum repetition number, Rmax, representative of the number of hops which was necessary to transmit the message to each device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices, wherein the maximum repetition number Rmax is determined by the system using a broadcast storm as a number of repetitions necessary to reach every device in the network; wherein the device table includes a neighbor table for tracking which neighboring device, which is a device within a transmission or reception range of the device, has successfully relayed a broadcast transmission; and wherein the at least one broadcast table includes a broadcast transaction table for keeping a record of any new broadcast transmission that has been initiated by the associated device or received from a neighboring device; wherein the at least one device table includes, a child table for tracking which child device, which is a device to which said device has transmitted a broadcast transmission, has successfully relayed the broadcast transmission; and wherein the at least one broadcast table includes a broadcast listening table for keeping a record of any new broadcast transmission that has been received by a child device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for controlling information broadcast in a wireless mesh network, the network comprising a plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices, the system comprising:
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a device table comprised in each of the devices, for tracking which device has successfully relayed a broadcast transmission; a broadcast table comprised in each of the devices, for keeping a record of any new broadcast transmission that has been initiated by a device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices or received from a neighboring device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices; wherein each broadcast transmission includes a radius parameter R, which indicates an allowed number of hops through said mesh network before the broadcast transmission is discarded; wherein the system is adapted to add to a new broadcast transmission a radius parameter R, or to reduce the radius parameter R, by one when a received broadcast transmission is forwarded; and wherein the system is adapted to check information provided in the device table and the broadcast table so as to report to a device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices initiating a new message, a maximum repetition number, Rmax, representative of the number of hops which was necessary to transmit the message to each device of the plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices, wherein the maximum repetition number Rmax is determined by the system using a broadcast storm as a number of repetitions necessary to reach every device in the network; and wherein the system is adapted to; search for a message with the shortest radius parameter R, in the broadcast table if a status report message is generated, extract a sending address of the message with the shortest radius parameter, and send the status report message to the extracted sending address using a unicast transmission.
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11. A method of controlling information broadcast in a wireless mesh network, the method comprising:
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tracking which device has successfully relayed a broadcast transmission with at least one device table; recording any new broadcast transmission that has been initiated by a device initiating a message or received from a neighboring device with at least one broadcast table; and adding to a new broadcast transmission a radius parameter R, which indicates an allowed number of hops through said mesh network before the broadcast transmission is discarded, or reducing the radius parameter R, by one when a received broadcast transmission is forwarded, wherein each broadcast transmission includes the radius parameter R; checking the recorded broadcast transmissions; determining a maximum repetition number, Rmax, using a broadcast storm, wherein Rmax is representative of the number of hops which is necessary to transmit the messages in the broadcast storm to each device of a plurality of wirelessly interconnected devices, determining and reporting to a device initiating a message, the maximum repetition number Rmax, and wherein the device table includes a neighbor table for tracking which neighboring device, which is a device within a transmission or reception range of the device, has successfully relayed a broadcast transmission; and wherein the at least one broadcast table includes a broadcast transaction table for keeping a record of any new broadcast transmission that has been initiated by the associated device or received from a neighboring device; wherein the at least one device table includes, a child table for tracking which child device, which is a device to which said device has transmitted a broadcast transmission, has successfully relayed the broadcast transmission; and wherein the at least one broadcast table includes a broadcast listening table for keeping a record of any new broadcast transmission that has been received by a child device. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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Specification