Scheduling Communication Frames in a Wireless Network
First Claim
1. A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node wireless mesh network including a first network device and a second network device, the method comprising:
- defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration;
defining a first superframe including a first number of the communication timeslots;
defining a second superframe including a second number of the communication timeslots;
aligning the first superframe with the second superframe, so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe; and
associating the first and the second superframes with a network schedule, wherein the first network device and the second network device transmit data according to the network schedule.
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Abstract
A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node wireless mesh network which has a first network device and a second network device includes defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration, defining a first superframe having a repeating superframe cycle including a first number of the communication timeslots, defining a second superframe having a repeating superframe cycle including a second number of the communication timeslots, aligning the first superframe with the second superframe, so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe, and associating the first and the second superframes with a network schedule, so that the first network device and the second network device transmit data according to the network schedule.
150 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node wireless mesh network including a first network device and a second network device, the method comprising:
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defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration; defining a first superframe including a first number of the communication timeslots; defining a second superframe including a second number of the communication timeslots; aligning the first superframe with the second superframe, so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe; and associating the first and the second superframes with a network schedule, wherein the first network device and the second network device transmit data according to the network schedule. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node mesh network including a first network device and a second network device, the method comprising:
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defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration; defining a first superframe including a first number of the communication timeslots, wherein the first number corresponds to a transmission rate of the first network device; defining a second superframe including a second number of the communication timeslots, wherein the second number of timeslots corresponds to a transmission rate of the second network device, and wherein the second number of communication timeslots is not equal to the first number of communication timeslots; aligning the first superframe with the second superframe, so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe; and associating the first and the second superframes with a master network schedule, wherein the first network device transmits data in at least one timeslot of the first superframe and during at least one timeslot of the second superframe according to the master network schedule. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A multi-node mesh wireless network including a plurality of network devices and operating in a process control environment, the network comprising:
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a first network device; a second network device; a plurality of wireless connections between pairs of the plurality of network devices, including a first wireless connection between the first network device and the second network device; and a network manager storing a network schedule for use by the first network device and the second network device, the network schedule including; a first superframe including a first number of timeslots of a predefined duration, the first number of timeslots cyclically repeating to define a first plurality of frame cycles; and a second superframe including a second number of timeslots of a predefined duration, the second number of timeslots cyclically repeating to define a second plurality of frame cycles. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A multi-node mesh wireless network adapted to dynamically schedule communications between a plurality of network devices, the network comprising:
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a first network device associated with a first update rate corresponding to a frequency of transmitting data from the first network device; a second network device associated with a second update rate corresponding to a frequency of transmitting data from the second network device; a plurality of wireless connections between pairs of the plurality of network devices, including a wireless connection between the first network device and the second network device; and a network manager responsible for defining and scheduling communication resources in the multi-node mesh network, the communication resources including; a plurality of communication channels; a first superframe including a first number of timeslots of a fixed predefined duration, wherein the first number of timeslots corresponds to the first update rate; and a second superframe including a second number of timeslots of a fixed predefined duration, wherein the second number of timeslots corresponds to the second update rate;
wherein the network manager associates at least one of the first number of timeslots with a first one of the plurality of communication channels and at least another one of the first number of timeslots with a second one of the plurality of communication channels.
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26. A network manager software routine stored on a computer readable medium and executable by a processor for use in a wireless mesh network including a plurality of network devices, the routine comprising:
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a first procedure to define a plurality of concurrent overlapping superframes, wherein each of the superframes includes repeating superframe cycles defined by a fixed number of communication timeslots of a fixed time duration, and wherein the superframe cycle for at least one of the plurality of concurrent overlapping superframes includes a different number of communication timeslots than the superframe cycle for another one of the concurrent overlapping superframes, and wherein each of the plurality of concurrent overlapping superframes is associated with one or more of the plurality of network devices; a second procedure to define a management superframe for shared use by the plurality of network devices; and a third procedure to define a plurality of device specific schedules, wherein each of the plurality of device specific schedules is associated with one of the plurality of network devices;
wherein each of the plurality of device specific schedules specifies at least one timeslot during which the network device is allowed to transmit data and at least one timeslot during which the network device is allowed to receive data; and
wherein none of the network devices transmits or receives data in a communication timeslot not included in the device specific schedule of the network device.
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27. A method of scheduling communications in a multi-node mesh network including a first network device and a second network device, the method comprising:
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defining a communication timeslot of a predetermined duration; defining a first superframe having a first repeating superframe cycle including a first number of the communication timeslots, wherein the first number corresponds to a transmission rate of the first network device and wherein the first network device transmits process data associated with the first network device during at least one of the communication timeslots of the first superframe; defining a second superframe having a second repeating superframe cycle including a second number of the communication timeslots, wherein the second number of timeslots corresponds to a transmission rate of the second network device, wherein the second network device transmits process data associated with the second network device during at least one of the communication timeslots of the second superframe, and wherein the first network device does not transmit process data associated with the first network device using any of the timeslots of the second superframe; defining a management superframe including a third number of the communication timeslots, wherein none of the first network device or the second network device transmits process data using any of the communication timeslots of the management superframe and wherein at least one of the communication timeslots of the management superframe is reserved for network management data; aligning the first superframe, the second superframe, and the management superframe so that one of the timeslots of the first superframe begins simultaneously with one of the timeslots of the second superframe and with one of the timeslots of the management superframe.
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Specification