Next generation intelligent mesh network with fronthaul and backhaul services

• US 10,492,119 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2019
• Issued: 11/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Tan, Thomas H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khirodhar, Maharishi V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hunt, Kenneth P
• Application Number:
  US16/284,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20190191354A1
• Time in Patent Office: 274 Days
• Field of Search: 370254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• 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 45/24 Multipath
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium provide to establish a link with a wireless station of a wireless access network that is one of a next generation partial mesh network or a next generation full mesh network; receive current control information pertaining to one or multiple second links of a data plane for end user traffic that are between the wireless station and one or multiple wireless stations, the current control information including link information, service performance information, or traffic flow information; analyze the current control information; determine whether the one or multiple second links should be changed; change one or more of the one or more multiple second links when determining that the one or multiple second links should be changed; and transmit, to the wireless station, routing and forwarding information that indicates the one or more of the one or more multiple second links.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing, by a controller device, a first link with a wireless station of a wireless access network, wherein the wireless access network is one of a next generation partial mesh network or a next generation full mesh network;

receiving, by the controller device via the first link from the wireless station, current control information pertaining to one or multiple second links of a data plane for end user traffic that are between the wireless station and one or multiple wireless stations of the wireless access network, wherein the current control information includes one or more of link information that indicates whether the one or multiple second links are a line of sight link or not a line of sight link, service performance information that indicates one or more service performance metrics, or traffic flow information;

analyzing, by the controller device, the current control information;

determining, by the controller device in response to the analyzing, whether the one or multiple second links should be changed;

changing, by the controller device, one or more of the one or multiple second links when determining that the one or multiple second links should be changed; and

transmitting, by the controller device to the wireless station, routing and forwarding information that indicates the one or more of the one or multiple second links.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating, by the controller device, network topology information for the wireless station based on the link information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the controller device via the first link, network topology information to the wireless station.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing, by the controller device, an end-to-end connection with the wireless station on a data plane for the end user traffic, wherein the first link is on a control plane.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more service performance metrics include one or more of throughput, latency, packet loss, error rate, or link utilization.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining, by the controller device, whether the one or multiple second links should be changed based on at least one of a minimum number of active paths to be allocated to an end user session or a maximum number of active paths to be allocated to the end user session.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining, by the controller device, whether the one or multiple second links should be changed based on one or more service performance metric requirements pertaining to an end user session.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the link information includes a link budget, and wherein the next generation partial mesh network includes a fifth generation (5G) partial mesh network and the next generation full mesh network includes a fifth generation (5G) full mesh network.

9. A network device comprising:

a communication interface;

a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions; and

a processor, wherein the processor executes the instructions to;

establish, via the communication interface, a first link with a wireless station of a wireless access network, wherein the wireless access network is one of a next generation partial mesh network or a next generation full mesh network;

receive, via the communication interface from the wireless station, current control information pertaining to one or multiple second links of a data plane for end user traffic that are between the wireless station and one or multiple wireless stations of the wireless access network, wherein the current control information includes one or more of link information that indicates whether the one or multiple second links are a line of sight link or not a line of sight link, service performance information that indicates one or more service performance metrics, or traffic flow information;

analyze the current control information;

determine, in response to the analysis, whether the one or multiple second links should be changed;

change one or more of the one or multiple second links when determining that the one or multiple second links should be changed; and

transmit, via the communication interface to the wireless station, routing and forwarding information that indicates the one or more of the one or multiple second links.

10. The network device of claim 9, wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:

calculate network topology information for the wireless station based on the link information.

11. The network device of claim 9, wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:

transmit, via the communication interface to the wireless station, network topology information.

12. The network device of claim 9, wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:

establish, via the communication interface, an end-to-end connection with the wireless station on a data plane for the end user traffic, wherein the first link is on a control plane.

13. The network device of claim 9, wherein the one or more service performance metrics include one or more of throughput, latency, packet loss, error rate, or link utilization.

14. The network device of claim 9, wherein, when determining, the processor further executes the instructions to:

determine whether the one or multiple second links should be changed based on at least one of a minimum number of active paths to be allocated to an end user session or a maximum number of active paths to be allocated to the end user session.

15. The network device of claim 9, wherein, when determining, the processor further executes the instructions to:

determine whether the one or multiple second links should be changed based on one or more service performance metric requirements pertaining to an end user session.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor of a device, which when executed cause the device to:

establish a first link with a wireless station of a wireless access network, wherein the wireless access network is one of a next generation partial mesh network or a next generation full mesh network;

receive, via the first link from the wireless station, current control information pertaining to one or multiple second links of a data plane for end user traffic that are between the wireless station and one or multiple wireless stations of the wireless access network, wherein the current control information includes one or more of link information that indicates whether the one or multiple second links are a line of sight link or not a line of sight link, service performance information that indicates one or more service performance metrics, or traffic flow information;

analyze the current control information;

determine, based on the analysis, whether the one or multiple second links should be changed;

change one or more of the one or multiple second links when determining that the one or multiple second links should be changed; and

transmit, to the wireless station, routing and forwarding information that indicates the one or more of the one or multiple second links.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions executable by the processor of the device, which when executed cause the device to:

calculate network topology information for the wireless station based on the link information.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions to determine further comprise instructions executable by the processor of the device, which when executed cause the device to:

determine whether the one or multiple second links should be changed based on one or more service performance metric requirements pertaining to an end user session.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions to determine further comprise instructions executable by the processor of the device, which when executed cause the device to:

determine whether the one or multiple second links should be changed based on at least one of a minimum number of active paths to be allocated to an end user session or a maximum number of active paths to be allocated to the end user session.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the link information includes a link budget, and wherein the next generation partial mesh network includes a fifth generation (5G) partial mesh network and the next generation full mesh network includes a fifth generation (5G) full mesh network.