Fault Reporting Tag for Mesh Access Points

• US 20080232259A1
• Filed: 03/21/2007
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thomson, Allan
• Granted Patent: US 7,843,807 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/242
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Mesh access point fault reporting. In particular implementations, a method includes receiving a fault indication indicating one or more failures; collecting fault data related to the one or more failures or a state of the mesh access point; and passing the fault data to the RFID tag, which wirelessly transmits messages relating to the fault.

Claims

1. A mesh access point comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory;

a wireless network interface;

a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag; and

an access point module, physically stored in the memory, comprising instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to;

receive a fault indication indicating one or more failures;

collect fault data related to the one or more failures or a state of the mesh access point; and

pass the fault data to the RFID tag.

2. The mesh access point of claim 1 wherein the access point module is operative to conditionally invoke the RFID tag to wirelessly transmit fault report messages.

3. The mesh access point of claim 1 wherein the access point module is operative to pass configuration information to the RFID tag.

4. The mesh access point of claim 1 wherein the access point module is operative to pass identification information to the RFID tag.

5. The mesh access point of claim 1 wherein the RFID tag is operative to:

detect a failure of the access point module or the mesh access point; and

wirelessly transmit one or more fault report messages.

6. The mesh access point of claim 1 wherein the fault report messages comprises one or more aspects of identification data, configuration data, and fault data.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a fault indication indicating one or more failures;

collecting fault data related to the one or more failures or a state of the mesh access point; and

passing the fault data to the RFID tag.

8. The method claim 7 further comprising conditionally invoking the RFID tag to wirelessly transmit fault report messages.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising passing configuration information to the RFID tag.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising passing identification information to the RFID tag.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

detecting a failure of the access point module or the mesh access point; and

wirelessly transmitting one or more fault report messages.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the fault report messages comprises one or more aspects of identification data, configuration data, and fault data.

13. A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag comprising:

one or more processors

a memory;

a wireless network interface; and

an RFID tag application, physically stored in the memory, comprising instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to;

receive data from a wireless mesh access point;

detect one or more access point failures;

generate, responsive to one or more detected failures, a fault report; and

transmit one or more wireless fault report messages including the fault report.

14. The mesh access point of claim 13 wherein the RFID tag application is operative to:

detect heartbeat messages from the wireless mesh access point; and

if the heartbeat messages are not detected for a threshold time period, transmit one or more fault report messages.

15. The mesh access point of claim 14 wherein the RFID tag application is operative to:

if the heartbeat messages are not detected for a threshold time period, determine whether the wireless mesh access point is rebooting; and

if the wireless mesh access point is not re-booting, transmit one or more fault report messages.

16. The mesh access point of claim 13 wherein the RFID tag application is operative to:

store the fault data in persistent memory; and

query one or more components of the wireless mesh access point for state information and status information.

17. The mesh access point of claim 13 wherein the fault report messages comprise one or more aspect of identification data, configuration data, or fault data.

18. A method comprising:

receiving data from a wireless mesh access point;

detecting one or more access point failures;

generating, responsive to one or more detected failures, a fault report; and

transmitting one or more wireless fault report messages including the fault report.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

detecting heartbeat messages from the wireless mesh access point; and

if the heartbeat messages are not detected for a threshold time period, transmitting one or more fault report messages.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

if the heartbeat messages are not detected for a threshold time period, determining whether the wireless mesh access point is rebooting; and

if the wireless mesh access point is not re-booting, transmitting one or more fault report messages.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

storing the fault data in persistent memory; and

querying one or more components of the wireless mesh access point for state information and status information.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the fault report messages comprise one or more aspects of identification data, configuration data, or fault data.