CLEARING REDUNDANT DATA IN WIRELESS MESH NETWORK

• US 20110188445A1
• Filed: 01/28/2011
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elster Solutions LLC (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Elster Solutions LLC (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Mason, Robert T. JR., Borleske, Andrew J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,792,409 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/45 Utility meters networked together within a single building
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/002 Remote reading of utility meters
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/04 based on wireless node resources
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

A wireless mesh network, method, and processor-readable storage medium for operating a network that has a control node that communicates with a plurality of communication nodes are disclosed. When the control node receives a broadcast message, the control node broadcasts a “clear” message that causes other communication nodes to clear their copies of the broadcast message from their message queues. By clearing redundant copies of the original broadcast message, the network can conserve bandwidth for other network traffic.

Claims

1. A wireless network comprising:

a control node; and

a plurality of communication nodes in wireless communication with the control node, each of the communication nodes having a wireless communication path to the control node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more other communication nodes that serve as repeaters,

wherein the control node is configured to respond to receiving a first broadcast message associated with a first broadcast message identifier from a first communication node of the plurality of communication nodes by broadcasting a clear broadcast message to the communication nodes in wireless communication with the control node, the clear broadcast message causing the communication nodes to clear messages having the first broadcast message identifier from respective message queues associated with the communication nodes.

2. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the first broadcast message identifier comprises a broadcast node identifier that identifies the first communication node.

3. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the clear broadcast message comprises a plurality of broadcast message identifiers, each broadcast message identifier associated with a corresponding broadcast message received by the control node.

4. The wireless network of claim 3, wherein the communication nodes are configured to respond to receiving the clear broadcast message by clearing from the respectively associated message queues any broadcast message associated with any broadcast message identifier of the clear broadcast message.

5. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the control node is configured to, after receiving the first broadcast message and before broadcasting the clear broadcast message:

receive a predetermined quantity of additional broadcast messages, each additional broadcast message associated with a respective broadcast message identifier; and

generate the clear broadcast message, the clear broadcast message comprising the first broadcast message identifier and the respective broadcast message identifiers associated with the additional broadcast messages.

6. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the control node is configured to, after receiving the first broadcast message and before broadcasting the clear broadcast message:

receive at least one additional broadcast message during a time period, each additional broadcast message associated with a respective broadcast message identifier; and

generate the clear broadcast message, the clear broadcast message comprising the first broadcast message identifier and the respective broadcast message identifiers associated with the additional broadcast messages.

7. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the first communication node broadcasts the first broadcast message using a plurality of communication paths.

8. In a network having a control node that communicates with a plurality of communication nodes, wherein each of the communication nodes has a wireless communication path to the control node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more other communication nodes that serve as repeaters, a method of operating the network, the method comprising:

receiving in the control node a first broadcast message associated with a first broadcast message identifier from a first communication node of the plurality of communication node; and

broadcasting a clear broadcast message from the control node to the communication nodes in wireless communication with the control node, the clear broadcast message causing the communication nodes to clear messages having the first broadcast message identifier from respective message queues associated with the communication nodes.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first broadcast message identifier comprises a broadcast node identifier that identifies the first communication node.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the clear broadcast message comprises a plurality of broadcast message identifiers, each broadcast message identifier associated with a corresponding broadcast message received by the control node.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising responding to receiving the clear broadcast message in the communication nodes by clearing from the message queues associated with the communication nodes any broadcast message associated with any broadcast message identifier of the clear broadcast message.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising, after receiving in the control node the first broadcast message and before broadcasting the clear broadcast message:

receiving in the control node a predetermined quantity of additional broadcast messages, each additional broadcast message associated with a respective broadcast message identifier; and

generating the clear broadcast message, the clear broadcast message comprising the first broadcast message identifier and the respective broadcast message identifiers associated with the additional broadcast messages.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising, after receiving in the control node the first broadcast message and before broadcasting the clear broadcast message:

receiving in the control node at least one additional broadcast message during a time period, each additional broadcast message associated with a respective broadcast message identifier; and

generating the clear broadcast message, the clear broadcast message comprising the first broadcast message identifier and the respective broadcast message identifiers associated with the additional broadcast messages.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising broadcasting the first broadcast message from the first communication node using a plurality of communication paths.

15. A processor-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to operate a wireless mesh network having a control node that communicates with a plurality of communication nodes, wherein each of the communication nodes has a wireless communication path to the control node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more other communication nodes that serve as repeaters, the processor-executable instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving in the control node a first broadcast message associated with a first broadcast message identifier from a first communication node of the plurality of communication node; and

broadcasting a clear broadcast message from the control node to the communication nodes in wireless communication with the control node, the clear broadcast message causing the communication nodes to clear messages having the first broadcast message identifier from respective message queues associated with the communication nodes.

16. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the first broadcast message identifier comprises a broadcast node identifier that identifies the first communication node.

17. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the clear broadcast message comprises a plurality of broadcast message identifiers, each broadcast message identifier associated with a corresponding broadcast message received by the control node.

18. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 17, storing further processor-executable instructions for responding to receiving the clear broadcast message in the communication nodes by clearing from the message queues associated with the communication nodes any broadcast message associated with any broadcast message identifier of the clear broadcast message.

19. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 15, storing further processor-executable instructions for, after receiving in the control node the first broadcast message and before broadcasting the clear broadcast message:

receiving in the control node a predetermined quantity of additional broadcast messages, each additional broadcast message associated with a respective broadcast message identifier; and

generating the clear broadcast message, the clear broadcast message comprising the first broadcast message identifier and the respective broadcast message identifiers associated with the additional broadcast messages.

20. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 15, storing further processor-executable instructions for, after receiving in the control node the first broadcast message and before broadcasting the clear broadcast message:

receiving in the control node at least one additional broadcast message during a time period, each additional broadcast message associated with a respective broadcast message identifier; and

generating the clear broadcast message, the clear broadcast message comprising the first broadcast message identifier and the respective broadcast message identifiers associated with the additional broadcast messages.