Method and apparatus for keeping information in routing tables consistent throughout wireless network

• US 20060256769A1
• Filed: 05/11/2006
• Published: 11/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Cho, Song-yean, Kim, Min-soo, Kong, Ji-young
• Granted Patent: US 7,710,934 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/351
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0061 Error detection codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for keeping information included in routing tables consistent throughout a wireless network are provided. The method includes enabling a mesh access point to generate data and transmit the data, gathering a plurality of pieces of information about a plurality of stations associated with the mesh access point, classifying the plurality of pieces of information into a plurality of blocks, generating a checksum for each of the blocks, and transmitting the checksum.

Claims

1. A method of keeping information included in routing tables consistent throughout a wireless network, the method comprising:

gathering information about a plurality of stations associated with a mesh access point;

classifying the information into a plurality of blocks;

generating a checksum for each of the blocks; and

transmitting the checksum.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises MAC addresses and sequence numbers of the plurality of stations associated with the mesh access point.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the checksum is obtained using a hash function or a hash table.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless network is established based on the 802.11s protocol.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission comprises transmitting the checksum at regular time intervals.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if a station associated with the mesh access point or if one of the stations of the plurality of stations currently associated with the mesh access point is disassociated with the mesh access point, transmitting data of a block comprising information about the associated or disassociated station.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising keeping the information included in the routing tables consistent throughout the wireless network after the classification.

8. A method of keeping information included in routing tables consistent throughout a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving checksum data corresponding to a block from a wireless network, the block comprising station information;

determining whether the received checksum data is identical to checksum data previously received;

if the received checksum data is not identical to the previously received checksum data, transmitting a request frame to an access point that previously sent the received checksum data requesting transmission of data of the block; and

receiving the data of the block from the access point and storing the received data in a routing table.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating checksum data for the block after the storing of the received data in the routing table.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the data of the block comprises MAC addresses and sequence numbers of a plurality of stations associated with the access point.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the request frame comprises an MAC address of the access point and a block index corresponding to the block.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising if the received checksum data is expired checksum data, retransmitting the request frame requesting the data of the block to an access point that previously sent the block.

13. A method of keeping information included in routing tables consistent throughout a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving data of a block from a wireless network, the block comprising station information;

receiving checksum data corresponding to the block from the wireless network;

determining whether the data of the block has changed based on the received checksum data;

if the data of the block is determined to have changed, transmitting a request frame to an access point that previously generated and sent the original data of the block requesting the changed data of the block; and

receiving the changed data of the block from the access point and storing the received data in a routing table.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating checksum data for the block after the storing of the received data in the routing table.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining comprises determining whether the received data is identical to the checksum data generated for the block.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the data of the block comprises MAC addresses and sequence numbers of a plurality of stations associated with the access point.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the request frame comprises a MAC address of the access point and a block index corresponding to the block.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the data of the block comprises MAC addresses and sequence numbers of a plurality of stations associated with the access point.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising if the received checksum data is expired checksum data, retransmitting the request frame requesting the data of the block to an access point that previously sent the block.

20. An access point comprising:

a local association base (LAB) generation unit which gathers information about a plurality of stations associated with an access point and generates a LAB by classifying the information into a plurality of blocks;

a local association base checksum (LABC) generation unit which generates a LABC by generating checksum data for each of the blocks;

a hash unit which provides a hash function or a hash table necessary for generating the checksum data; and

a transmission unit which transmits the LAB or the LABC.

21. The access point of claim 20, wherein the information comprises MAC addresses and sequence numbers of the plurality of stations associated with the mesh access point.

22. The access point of claim 20, wherein the checksum is obtained using a hash function or a hash table.

23. The access point of claim 20, wherein the transmission unit transmits the LAB or the LABC at regular time intervals.

24. The access point of claim 20, wherein, if a station associated with the access point is associated with the access point or if one of the stations of the plurality of stations currently associated with the access point is disassociated from the access point, the LAB generation unit generates a LAB for a block related to the association or the disassociation.

25. A wireless network device comprising:

a reception unit which receives data of a block or checksum data corresponding to the block from a wireless network, the block comprising station information;

a global association base (GAB) generation unit which generates a GAB based on the received block data;

a hash unit which determines whether the received checksum data is identical to checksum data included in the generated GAB and corresponds to the block; and

a routing table which comprises station association information obtained by the GAB generation unit.

26. The wireless network device of claim 25, wherein the GAB generation unit generates the GAB and checksum data for each of a plurality of blocks of the GAB.

27. The wireless network device of claim 25, wherein the data of the block comprises MAC addresses and sequence numbers of a plurality of stations associated with an access point.

28. The wireless network device of claim 25, further comprising a transmission unit which transmits a request frame to an access point requesting the data of the block if the received checksum data is not identical to the checksum data included in the generated GAB, wherein the request frame comprises an MAC address of the access point and a block index corresponding to the block.

29. The wireless network device of claim 28, wherein, if the received checksum data is expired checksum data, the transmission unit transmits a request frame to an access point that previously sent the block requesting the data of the block.