Systems and methods for providing network communications between work machines
First Claim
1. A method for dynamically establishing an ad-hoc network including a plurality of work machines, one or more of which may move within a work environment and each of which includes a gateway, the method performed by a respective gateway included within a respective one of the work machines comprising:
- determining a first set of work machines that are within direct communication range of the respective work machine based on the work machine'"'"'s current location within the work environment;
determining a second set of work machines that are in direct communication range of one or more of the work machines in the first set;
forwarding a packet received from a first work machine included in the first set to a second work machine included in the first set based on a determination that the second work machine is either directly or indirectly within communication range of a third work machine included the second set; and
updating the work machines included in at least one of the first and second set of work machines based on at least one of (i) the respective work machine changing locations within the work environment and (ii) any of the work machines included in the first or second sets changing locations within the work environment.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system are provided to perform a process of dynamically establishing an ad-hoc network including a plurality of work machines, one or more of which move within a work environment, and each of which includes a gateway. The process may be performed by a respective gateway included within a respective one of the work machines and includes determining a first set of work machines that are within direct communication range of the respective work machine based on the respective work machine'"'"'s current location within the work environment. Further, the process includes determining a second set of work machines that are in direct communication range of one or more of the work machines in the first set. The process may also include forwarding a packet received from a first work machine included in the first set to a second work machine included in the first set based on a determination that the second work machine is either directly or indirectly within communication range of a third work machine included the second set. In addition, the process includes updating the work machines included in at least one of the first and second set of work machines based on at least one of (i) the respective work machine changing locations within the work environment and (ii) any of the work machines included in the first or second sets changing locations within the work environment.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method for dynamically establishing an ad-hoc network including a plurality of work machines, one or more of which may move within a work environment and each of which includes a gateway, the method performed by a respective gateway included within a respective one of the work machines comprising:
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determining a first set of work machines that are within direct communication range of the respective work machine based on the work machine'"'"'s current location within the work environment;
determining a second set of work machines that are in direct communication range of one or more of the work machines in the first set;
forwarding a packet received from a first work machine included in the first set to a second work machine included in the first set based on a determination that the second work machine is either directly or indirectly within communication range of a third work machine included the second set; and
updating the work machines included in at least one of the first and second set of work machines based on at least one of (i) the respective work machine changing locations within the work environment and (ii) any of the work machines included in the first or second sets changing locations within the work environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for dynamically establishing communications between work machines, one or more of which may move within a work environment, the system comprising:
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a first work machine positioned in a first location within the work environment;
a first gateway included in the first work machine that connects an on-board data link with an off-board data link; and
a network table included in the first gateway that identifies work machines that are either directly or indirectly within communication range of the first work machine, wherein the network table identifies a first set of work machines that are within communication range of the first work machine and identifies a second set of work machines that are within communication range of any of the work machines in the first set, wherein the first gateway is configured to;
update the network table based on at least one of (i) the first work machine changing locations within the work environment and (ii) any of the work machines included in the first or second sets changing locations within the work environment, receive a packet over the off-board data link from a second work machine included in the first set, wherein the packet identifies a destination work machine, forward the received packet to a third work machine included in the first set based on a determination that the destination work machine is associated with the third work machine in the network table, and send information included in the received packet to the on-board data link when the packet identifies the first work machine as the destination work machine. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A gateway included in a first work machine located in a work environment comprising one or more other work machines, each work machine capable of moving within the work environment, the gateway comprising:
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a first interface connected to an on-board data link interconnecting one or more on-board modules; and
a second interface connected to one or more off-board data links each capable of being communicatively connected to any of the other machines, wherein the gateway includes;
means for sending an admission packet over one of the off-board data links, the admission packet including a first identifier associated with the first work machine, means for determining whether a response to the admission packet is received, means for updating a network table based on the determination, wherein the network table includes a second identifier associated with a second work machine that is in communication range of the first work machine and a third identifier associated with a third work machine that is in communication range of the second work machine, and means for forwarding a packet received from the second work machine to the third work machine based on a determination that the third network work machine is identified in the network table.
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26. A computer-readable medium including instructions for performing, when executed by a processor, a method for dynamically establishing an ad-hoc network including a plurality of work machines, one or more of which move within a work environment and each of which includes a gateway, the method performed by a respective gateway included within a respective one of the work machines comprising:
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determining a first set of work machines that are within direct communication range of the respective work machine based on the respective work machine'"'"'s current location within the work environment;
determining a second set of work machines that are in direct communication range of one or more of the work machines in the first set;
forwarding a packet received from a first work machine included in the first set to a second work machine included in the first set based on a determination that the second work machine is either directly or indirectly within communication range of a third work machine included the second set; and
updating the work machines included in at least one of the first and second set of work machines based on at least one of (i) the respective work machine changing locations within the work environment and (ii) any of the work machines included in the first or second sets changing locations within the work environment. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method for dynamically establishing an ad-hoc network including a plurality of work machines, one or more of which may move within a work environment and each of which includes a gateway, the method performed by a respective gateway included within a respective one of the work machines comprising:
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determining a first set of work machines that are within direct communication range of the respective work machine based on the work machine'"'"'s current location within the work environment;
determining a second set of work machines that are in direct communication range of one or more of the work machines in the first set; and
forwarding a packet to a second work machine included in the first set based on a determination that the second work machine is either directly or indirectly within communication range of a third work machine included the second set, wherein the packet is either (i) received from a first work machine included in the first set or (ii) generated within the respective work machine, wherein determining a first set, determining a second set, and forwarding are performed when the respective work machine is prepared to forward the packet to another work machine.
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Specification