System and method for selecting a medium access technique for transmitting packets over a network

• US 20070070896A1
• Filed: 09/29/2005
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016, LLC (Strong Force Intellectual Capital, LLC)
• Original Assignee: MeshNetworks, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Joshi, Avinash, Alapuranen, Pertti
• Granted Patent: US 7,920,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 Wireless channel access

Abstract

A system and method for transmitting packets in a network (100). A node (102, 106, 107) in the network (100) accesses uses one of a plurality of medium access techniques for transmitting packets on the network (100). The node (102, 106, 107) separates packets to be transmitted into classes based on at least one characteristic of the packets and selects one of the medium access techniques for each class of packets based on whether the medium access technique provides improved transmission efficiency for the at least one characteristic of the packets in the class. The node (102, 106, 107) transmits the packets in each respective class using the respective selected medium access technique.

Claims

1. A transmission method for a network, the method comprising the steps of:

providing multiple medium access techniques for transmitting at least one packet between nodes in the network;

identifying the packet as being of a particular class based on at least one characteristic of the packet; and

selecting one of the medium access techniques for use in transmitting the packet based on the identified class of the packet.

2. A transmission method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the packet using the selected medium access technique.

3. A transmission method as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the providing step provides multiple medium access techniques for transmitting a plurality of packets between nodes in the network;

the identifying step identifies each of the respective packets as being of a respective class based on at least one characteristic of the respective packet; and

the selecting selects a respective one of the medium access techniques for use in transmitting each respective packet based on the identified class of the packet.

4. A transmission method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising:

transmitting each of the respective packets using their respective selected medium access technique.

5. A transmission method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one characteristic of the packet includes at least one of desired quality of service, packet size, and inter-arrival time of the packet.

6. A transmission method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the medium access techniques include a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) medium access control (MAC) protocol and a time division multiple access (TDMA) technique.

7. A method for selecting a medium access technique for transmission of at least one packet by a node in a communication network, the method comprising:

determining a characteristic of the packet to be transmitted by the node;

when the characteristic is determined to be a first condition, determining a size of the packet, and based on the size of the packet, determining which of a plurality of medium access technique to use by the node for transmission of the packet; and

when the characteristic is determined to be a second condition, determining a size of the packet, and based on the size of the packet, determining which of the plurality of medium access technique to use by the node for transmission of the packet.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein:

the characteristic is a quality of service (QoS) level, the first condition is a QoS below a certain level and the second condition is a QoS at or above the certain level.

9. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein:

when the characteristic is determined to be the first condition and the size of the packet is at or above a certain size, determining which of a first or second medium access technique to use by the node for transmission of the packet based on another characteristic of the data packet; and

when the characteristic is determined to be the first condition and the size of the packet is below the certain size, determining which of the first medium access control technique or a third medium access technique to use by the node for transmission of the packet based on said another characteristic of the data packet.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

the another characteristic is an inter-arrival time of the packet.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

the first medium access technique is a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) medium access control (MAC) protocol, the second medium access technique is a MAC protocol that obtains a dedicated time division multiple access (TDMA) time slot, and the third medium access technique is a MAC protocol that utilizes a TDMA channel normally used for reserving time slots.

12. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein:

when the characteristic is determined to be the second condition and the size of the packet is at or above a certain size, determining which of a first or second medium access technique to use by the node for transmission of the packet based on another characteristic of the data packet; and

when the characteristic is determined to be the second condition and the size of the packet is below the certain size, determining which of the first medium access control technique or a third medium access technique to use by the node for transmission of the packet based on said another characteristic of the data packet.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein:

the another characteristic is an inter-arrival time of the packet.

14. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein:

the first medium access technique is a MAC protocol that obtains a dedicated time division multiple access (TDMA) time slot, the second medium access technique is a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) medium access control (MAC) protocol, and the third medium access technique is a MAC protocol that utilizes a TDMA channel normally used for reserving time slots.

15. A node, adapted for use in a communication network, comprising:

a controller, adapted to provide multiple medium access techniques for transmitting at least one packet, and being further adapted to select one of the medium access techniques to be used for transmitting the packet based on at least one characteristic of the packet.

16. A node as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

a transceiver; and

wherein the controller is further adapted to control the transceiver to transmit the packet using the selected medium access technique.

17. A node as claimed in claim 15, wherein:

the controller is further adapted to select a respective one of the medium access techniques to be used for transmission of each respective packet of a plurality of packets based on at least one respective characteristic of each respective packet.

18. A node as claimed in claim 17, further comprising:

a transceiver; and

wherein the controller is further adapted to control the transceiver to transmit each of the respective packets using their respective selected medium access technique.

19. A node as claimed in claim 15, wherein the at least one characteristic of the packet includes at least one of desired quality of service, packet size, and inter-arrival time of the packet.

20. A node as claimed in claim 15, wherein the medium access techniques include a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) medium access control (MAC) protocol and a time division multiple access (TDMA) technique.