WIRELESS MESH NETWORK USAGE REPORTING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20160119803A1
• Filed: 10/25/2014
• Published: 04/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ADTRAN Incorporated (ADTRAN Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ADTRAN Incorporated (ADTRAN Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lambert, Rebecca Kay
• Granted Patent: US 9,571,370 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0894 Packet rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

For each traffic flow through a wireless mesh network, the most upstream wireless access point through which that traffic flow is communicated is determined. An indication of the traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh access point is output in a report or otherwise provided. The reported traffic flows can be summed to provide total traffic flow indications for the wireless mesh network.

Claims

1. A method for determining traffic in a wireless mesh network, comprising:

determining a most upstream wireless mesh access point (AP) for a traffic flow in the wireless mesh network; and

indicating an amount of traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh AP.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a device type of a second wireless mesh network device downstream of a first wireless mesh network device by comparing an address of a first wireless mesh network device with an address of the second wireless mesh network device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a device type of a second wireless mesh network device comprises comparing Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) bits of a media access control (MAC) address of the first wireless mesh network device with the OUI bits of the MAC address of the second wireless mesh network device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein indicating an amount of traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh AP comprises providing an incoming traffic measurement and an outgoing traffic measurement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining a most upstream AP for a traffic flow comprises determining whether each of a plurality of APs in the wireless mesh network is the most upstream AP for a traffic flow; and

indicating an amount of traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh AP comprises providing a traffic indication of each of a plurality of traffic flows.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising summing a plurality of traffic indications to provide a total traffic indication for the wireless mesh network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

indicating an amount of traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh AP comprises providing an incoming traffic indication and an outgoing traffic indication; and

summing a plurality of traffic indications to provide a total traffic indication for the wireless mesh network comprises summing a plurality of incoming traffic indications to provide a total incoming traffic indication and summing a plurality of outgoing traffic indications to provide a total outgoing traffic indication.

8. A system, comprising:

network interface configured to communicate with at least one wireless mesh access point (AP) of a wireless mesh network; and

a processing system comprising a processor and memory, the processing system configured to include;

most upstream AP determination logic configured to determine a most upstream wireless mesh access point (AP) for a traffic flow; and

indication logic configured to provide a traffic flow indication indicating an amount of traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh AP.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising client traffic determination logic configured to determine a device type of a second wireless mesh network device downstream of a first wireless mesh network device by comparing an address of a first wireless mesh network device with an address of the second wireless mesh network device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the client traffic determination logic is configured to compare Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) bits of a media access control (MAC) address of the first wireless mesh network device with the OUI bits of the MAC address of the second wireless mesh network device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the indication logic is configured to provide a traffic flow indication by providing an incoming traffic flow indication and an outgoing traffic flow indication.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the AP determination logic is configured to determine whether each of a plurality of APs in the wireless mesh network is the most upstream AP for a traffic flow; and

the indication logic is configured to provide a traffic flow indication for each of a plurality of traffic flows.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising summation logic configured to sum a plurality of traffic flow indications to provide a total traffic flow indication for the wireless mesh network.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the indication logic is configured to provide an incoming traffic flow indication and an outgoing traffic flow indication; and

the summation logic is configured to sum a plurality of incoming traffic flow indications to provide a total incoming traffic flow indication and sum a plurality of outgoing traffic flow indications to provide a total outgoing traffic indication.

15. A computer program product for determining traffic in a wireless mesh network, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon in non-transitory computer-readable form instructions that when executed by one or more processing systems effectuate a method comprising:

determining a most upstream wireless mesh access point (AP) for a traffic flow in the wireless mesh network; and

indicating an amount of traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh AP.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising determining a device type of a second wireless mesh network device downstream of a first wireless mesh network device by comparing an address of a first wireless mesh network device with an address of the second wireless mesh network device.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein determining a device type of the second wireless mesh network device comprises comparing Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) bits of a media access control (MAC) address of the first wireless mesh network device with the OUI bits of the MAC address of the second wireless mesh network device.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein indicating an amount of traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh AP comprises providing an incoming traffic measurement and an outgoing traffic measurement.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein:

determining a most upstream AP for a traffic flow comprises determining whether each of a plurality of APs in the wireless mesh network is the most upstream AP for a traffic flow; and

indicating an amount of traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh AP comprises providing a traffic indication of each of a plurality of traffic flows.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises summing a plurality of traffic indications to provide a total traffic indication for the wireless mesh network.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein:

indicating an amount of traffic flow through the most upstream wireless mesh AP comprises providing an incoming traffic indication and an outgoing traffic indication; and

summing a plurality of traffic indications to provide a total traffic indication for the wireless mesh network comprises summing a plurality of incoming traffic indications to provide a total incoming traffic indication and summing a plurality of outgoing traffic indications to provide a total outgoing traffic indication.