Routing of mobile agents in a network

• US 20070091856A1
• Filed: 10/24/2005
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Raina, Manik, Ghosh, Subhas, Patro, Ranjeet
• Granted Patent: US 7,468,970 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/048 mobile agents
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update

Abstract

A single mobile agent, multiple mobile agents, or a query mobile agent traverse the nodes of a network. As the single mobile agent, multiple mobile agents, or a query mobile agent visits a nodes of a network, the mobile agent performs a function at the node such as depositing data or software at the node or collecting data from the node. The single mobile agent, multiple mobile agents, or a query mobile agent may be arranged so that all nodes of the network are visited.

Claims

1. A method of traversing a network having a plurality of nodes comprising:

launching multiple mobile agents each capable of performing at least one function;

traversing the nodes of the network with the multiple mobile agents; and

,

performing the at least one function at each of at least some of the nodes in the network, wherein the at least one function is performed by the mobile agents.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the traversing of the nodes of the network with the multiple mobile agents comprises labeling each of the nodes with a label uniquely corresponding to the mobile agent that first visits the node, and wherein each node is labeled only by the mobile agent that first visits the node.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile agents comprise network traversing mobile agents, and wherein the launching of multiple agents comprises:

selecting a path comprising a subset of the nodes of the network;

traversing the path with a path traversing mobile agent such that the path traversing mobile agent labels each of the nodes in the path with a uniquely different label;

launching the network traversing mobile agents such that each of the network traversing mobile agents is uniquely associated with one of the labels;

traversing the path with the network traversing mobile agents such that each of the network traversing mobile agents finds the node in the subset having a label that matches its label; and

,

traversing the network with the network traversing mobile agents such that each of the network traversing mobile agents begins the traversal of the network at the node in the path having the label that matches its label.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the launching of the network traversing mobile agents comprises replicating the path traversing mobile agent to produce the network traversing mobile agents.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the mobile agents carries a data structure and the at least one function.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the data structure comprises a Stack containing node identifiers associated with the nodes visited by the mobile agents.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the traversing of the nodes of the network comprises:

adding node identifiers to the Stack, wherein the added node identifiers correspond to nodes first visited by the mobile agents; and

,

removing node identifiers from the Stack, wherein the removed node identifiers correspond to nodes visited by the mobile agents for a second time.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the traversing of the nodes of the network comprises:

acquiring a list of neighbors of a node visited by one of the mobile agents;

determining if the one mobile agent has visited the neighbors;

transmitting the one mobile agent to one of the neighbors only if the one mobile agent had not previously visited the one neighbor; and

,

transmitting the one mobile agent to a node previously visited by the one mobile agent if all the neighbors had been previously visited.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the performing of the at least one function comprises performing the at least one function at each of the nodes only by mobile agents that first visit the nodes.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the performing of the at least one function comprises depositing data at the nodes.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the performing of the at least one function comprises collecting data from the nodes.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the performing of the at least one function comprises depositing software at the nodes.

13. A method of traversing a network by a query mobile agent, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes, wherein the method comprises:

a) while the query mobile agent is visiting one of the nodes of the network, transmitting a query to at least some other nodes of the network;

b) receiving responses to the query;

c) identifying from the responses another of the nodes of the network;

d) transmitting the query agent to the another node; and

,

repeating a)-d).

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the transmitting of a query comprises selecting the query from a predefined set of queries.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the identifying from the responses of another of the nodes of the network comprises:

determining a difference between neighbors of nodes identified by the responses and the nodes identified by the responses;

identifying the another node from the difference.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising adding an identifier of a current node to a data structure if the query mobile agent is visiting the current node for the first time, wherein the identifying of the another node from the difference comprises finding a node in the difference whose node identifier is not in, the data structure.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the query mobile agent carries a data structure, and wherein the identifying of the another node from the difference comprises:

determining whether the difference is an empty set;

if the difference is an empty set, transmitting the query mobile agent to a node identified by the data structure.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the identifying of the another node from the difference further comprises:

if the difference is not an empty set, finding a node in the difference whose node identifier is not in the data structure;

adding the another node to the data structure; and

,

transmitting the query mobile agent to the node in the difference whose node identifier is not in the data structure.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising removing the node identified by the data structure from the data structure if the query mobile agent is repeating a visit to a node.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the transmitting of a query to at least some other nodes of the network triggers execution of an application at the at least some other nodes of the network.

21. A method of traversing a network having a plurality of nodes comprising:

a) transmitting a mobile agent to one node of the network;

b) executing the mobile agent to reconfigure the one node of the network; and

,

c) repeating a) and b) until at least some other nodes of the network have been visited by the mobile agent.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein each of the mobile agents carries a data structure and a function permitting the mobile agent to be executed so as to reconfigure the at least some nodes.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the data structure comprises a Stack containing node identifiers associated with nodes visited by the mobile agent.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the transmitting of a mobile agent comprises:

adding node identifiers to the Stack, wherein the added node identifiers correspond to nodes first visited by the mobile agent; and

,

removing node identifiers from the Stack, wherein the removed node identifiers correspond to nodes visited by the mobile agent for a second time.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein the repeating of a) and b) comprises:

acquiring a list of neighbors of the one node;

determining if the mobile agent has visited the neighbors;

transmitting the mobile agent to one of the neighbors only if the mobile agent had not previously visited the one neighbor; and

,

transmitting the mobile agent to a node previously visited by the mobile agent if all the neighbors had been previously visited.

26. The method of claim 21 wherein the executing of the mobile agent to reconfigure the one node of the network comprises depositing data at the one node.

27. The method of claim 21 further comprising collecting data from the one node.

28. The method of claim 21 wherein the executing of the mobile agent to reconfigure the one node of the network comprises depositing software at the one node.