Techniques for enabling the efficient operation of arbitrarily interconnected mesh networks
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- passing packets between first and second wireless mesh networks, at least in part via first and second mesh bridge nodes respectively associated with and respectively coupled to the first and the second wireless mesh networks, to form a multi-mesh network;
preventing forwarding loops between the wireless mesh networks, the preventing forwarding loops being performed at least in part via one or more of the mesh bridge nodes; and
wherein the preventing forwarding loops is via duplicate detection based in part on identifiers assigned to respective ones of at least some of the packets, each respective identifier comprising a respective first portion and a respective second portion, the respective first portion uniquely identifying a respective entry point of the respective packet into the multi-mesh network, and the respective second portion uniquely identifying each respective packet in a context of the respective entry point.
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Abstract
Wireless mesh networks (or “meshes”) are enabled for arbitrary interconnection to each other and may provide varying levels of coverage and redundancy as desired. Interoperability between meshes having differing configurations, internal operations, or both, may be freely intermixed and inter-operated in unrestricted combination. Enhanced explicit inter-bridge control protocols operate using pre-existing control packets. Pre-existing broadcast packet floods are used to learn the best paths across interconnected meshes (termed a “multi-mesh”). Enhanced routing protocols operating within each mesh may optionally examine information limited to the respective mesh when forwarding traffic, thus enabling robust multi-mesh scaling with respect to memory and processing time required by the routing protocols. Using assigned identifiers, forwarding loops are prevented, and optionally redundant broadcast flooding is prevented.
26 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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passing packets between first and second wireless mesh networks, at least in part via first and second mesh bridge nodes respectively associated with and respectively coupled to the first and the second wireless mesh networks, to form a multi-mesh network; preventing forwarding loops between the wireless mesh networks, the preventing forwarding loops being performed at least in part via one or more of the mesh bridge nodes; and wherein the preventing forwarding loops is via duplicate detection based in part on identifiers assigned to respective ones of at least some of the packets, each respective identifier comprising a respective first portion and a respective second portion, the respective first portion uniquely identifying a respective entry point of the respective packet into the multi-mesh network, and the respective second portion uniquely identifying each respective packet in a context of the respective entry point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system comprising:
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a processing element coupled to a memory; a wireless interface enabling wireless communication with a plurality of nodes of a first wireless mesh network and at least partially enabling operation of the system as a first bridge node with respect to the first wireless mesh network; a communication interface enabling communication via a bridge link to a second bridge node coupled to a second wireless mesh network; wherein the first and the second bridge nodes are respectively enabled to couple to the first and the second wireless mesh networks; wherein the processing element is enabled to execute instructions fetched from the memory and enabling functions comprising passing packets between the first and the second wireless mesh networks, at least in part via the bridge link, to form a multi-mesh network, and preventing forwarding loops between the wireless mesh networks; and wherein the preventing of forwarding loops is via duplicate detection based in part on identifiers assigned to respective ones of at least some of the packets, each respective identifier comprising a respective first portion and a respective second portion, the respective first portion uniquely identifying a respective entry point of the respective packet into one of the wireless mesh networks, and the respective second portion uniquely identifying each respective packet in a context of the respective entry point. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system comprising:
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means for passing packets between first and second wireless mesh networks, operable at least in part via first and second mesh bridge nodes respectively associated with and respectively coupled to the first and the second wireless mesh networks, to form a multi-mesh network, the first and the second mesh bridge nodes being connected to each other via a bridge link; means for preventing forwarding loops between the wireless mesh networks, operable at least in part via one or more of the mesh bridge nodes; and wherein the means for preventing forwarding loops operates via duplicate detection based in part on identifiers assigned to respective ones of at least some of the packets, each respective identifier comprising a respective first portion and a respective second portion, the respective first portion uniquely identifying a respective entry point of the respective packet into the multi-mesh network, and the respective second portion uniquely identifying each respective packet in a context of the respective entry point. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification