MULTI-TIER WIRELESS HOME MESH NETWORK WITH A SECURE NETWORK DISCOVERY PROTOCOL

• US 20100238838A1
• Filed: 06/01/2010
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Abhishek Patil, Aixin Liu, Djung N. Nguyen, Xiangpeng Jing
• Original Assignee: Abhishek Patil, Aixin Liu, Djung N. Nguyen, Xiangpeng Jing
• Inventors: Liu, Aixin, Patil, Abhishek, Nguyen, Djung N., Jing, Xiangpeng
• Granted Patent: US 8,130,704 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1458 Denial of Service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/041 Key generation or derivation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0431 Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 Transmission of channel access control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An apparatus and method for a multi-tier wireless home mesh network is described. The method may include formation of an infrastructure-less wireless home mesh networking environment comprising a collection of nodes that operate as a decentralized, ad hoc wireless network with multiple sub-networks or tiers that are responsible for different functions within the network. Each node of the multi-tier network is configured to forward data to other nodes and is assigned to a particular tier based on the node'"'"'s performance capabilities. A further embodiment includes identification of a wireless home mesh network. Once identified, one or more proprietary messages may be exchanged in a secure manner to establish connections with a home electronics device as either a mobile node or a stationary node of the home network. A home electronics device may wirelessly communicate to route data within one or more nodes of the wireless home mesh network. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

establishing a gateway node, communicably coupled to an external network, as a first tier of a wireless home mesh network;

classifying one or more stationary home electronics devices into a second tier of stationary nodes of the wireless home mesh network;

classifying one or more mobile electronic devices into a third tier of mobile nodes of the wireless home mesh network; and

wirelessly communicating with one or more nodes to receive a service within the wireless home mesh network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing, by a mobile node, digital content from a stationary node of the wireless home mesh network; and

accessing a wired network via a wireless communications link with a node of the wireless home mesh network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more stationary home electronics devices wirelessly interconnecting to form a backhaul of the wireless home mesh network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically discovering a stationary home electronics device as a stationary node of a wireless home mesh network;

establishing a wireless link with the stationary node to join the wireless home mesh network; and

wirelessly sharing features and content with the stationary node of the wireless home mesh network.