DYNAMICALLY MANAGING AND RECONFIGURING WIRELESS MESH NETWORKS

• US 20100315966A1
• Filed: 05/14/2010
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Weigand, Gilbert G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,023,957 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• 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 5/0058 Allocation criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/021 in wireless networks with changing topologies, e.g. ad-hoc networks self-organizing networks H04W84/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/06 based on characteristics of available antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless network with multiple subscriber systems in a lobe pool may operate by determining a state of the wireless network, identifying a new condition, the new condition including a new demand condition or a new network health condition, determining whether the new condition has a threshold impact on operations of the wireless network or component subscriber systems of the wireless network, and if the threshold impact exists, reconfiguring the wireless network to accommodate the new condition.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, on a wireless node in a wireless mesh network, a request from a device outside of the wireless mesh network to support an event requiring consumption of bandwidth in the wireless mesh network in a first configuration;

identifying an impact of the request on the wireless mesh network;

determining whether the impact of the request to support the event on a particular location in the wireless mesh network is greater than a threshold;

if the impact of the request to support the event on the particular location is greater than the threshold, determining whether an alternative configuration exists for the particular location that reduces the impact to below the threshold; and

using the alternative configuration exists for the particular location in response to determining that using the alternative configuration reduces the impact to below the threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the request to support the event includes receiving the request to support data traffic associated with a subscriber system generating the request.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the request to support the event includes receiving the request to respond to an adverse atmospheric condition affecting signal strength of the wireless mesh network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the request to support the event includes receiving the request to support the event in the wireless mesh network that includes multiple subscriber systems and a base station.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the wireless mesh network includes a first lobe pool that includes an aggregation of lobes established by the multiple subscriber systems.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the impact of the request includes:

determining parameters associated with the request;

determining a present state of the wireless mesh network; and

identifying a relationship between the parameters and the present state of the wireless mesh network.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein determining the parameters includes identifying a transmission requirement.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein determining the present state of the wireless mesh network includes identifying a bandwidth utilization, identifying transmission medium parameters, or identifying priority information.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein determining whether the impact of the request to support the event is greater than the threshold includes comparing parameters associated with the request with a present state of the wireless mesh network to determine whether the impact of the request is greater than the threshold.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether a subscriber system associated with the wireless mesh network may be instructed to join a different network by:

identifying a non-requesting subscriber system to be transferred, wherein the non-requesting subscriber system is not associated with generating the request;

identifying the different network; and

determining whether the different network can accommodate the non-requesting subscriber system.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein determining whether the different network can accommodate the non-requesting subscriber system includes determining whether the different network can support a stream of data units associated with the non-requesting subscriber system.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising sending the non-requesting subscriber system a message that directs the non-requesting subscriber system to disconnect from a wireless mesh network lobe pool and to connect to a different network lobe pool.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

providing the non-requesting subscriber system with antenna orientation information; and

instructing the non-requesting subscriber system to reconfigure an antenna orientation based on the provided antenna orientation information.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the impact of the request on the first wireless network includes identifying a change in a state of the first wireless network, indicating perceivable effect on at least one subscriber system.