LOW POWER SENSOR NODE OPERATION FOR WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20160345317A1
• Filed: 05/20/2016
• Published: 11/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Analog Devices International Unlimited Company (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Linear Technology Corporation (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: LEVESQUE, Alain Pierre, DOHERTY, Lance Robert, SIMON, Jonathan Noah
• Granted Patent: US 11,202,242 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/044 based on the type of the allocated resource
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/22 with access to wired networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless mesh network system includes network nodes that operate in blink and canopy modes of operation. In operation, a network manager joins nodes operating in the canopy node to the network and allocates network bandwidth to the canopy nodes. The allocated bandwidth includes a first bandwidth allocated for transmitting and receiving data packets between canopy nodes that are joined to the network, and a second bandwidth allocation for receiving network joining messages from nodes that are not joined to the network. The second bandwidth allocation is also used for receiving data messages from nodes operating in the blink mode. Thus, in response to receiving a message that was transmitted from a blink node to a canopy node using the second bandwidth allocation, the network manager identifies the message as a data message and provides the data from the message to a host application.

Claims

1. A mesh network system comprising:

a plurality of network nodes including a first subset of network nodes and a second subset of network nodes, each network node including a processor and a wireless transceiver configured for wireless communication with other nodes of the plurality of network nodes; and

a network manager communicatively connected to the plurality of network nodes and configured to manage operation of a wireless mesh network including nodes of the plurality of network nodes,

wherein the network manager is configured to perform functions to;

allocate bandwidth of the wireless mesh network to each of the first subset of network nodes, wherein the allocated bandwidth includes a first bandwidth allocation for receiving and transmitting data packets along communication links of the wireless mesh network between the network nodes of the first subset, and a second bandwidth allocation for receiving network joining messages in network nodes of the first subset from network nodes of the second subset; and

upon receiving a message transmitted from a network node of the second subset to a network node of the first subset using bandwidth of the second bandwidth allocation, identify the received message as a data message and provide data from the message to a host application.

2. The mesh network system of claim 1, wherein the network manager is further configured to perform functions to:

upon receiving another message transmitted from another network node of the second subset to a network node of the first subset using bandwidth of the second bandwidth allocation, identify the received message as a network joining message and join the other network node having transmitted the network joining message to the wireless mesh network,

wherein joining of the other node to the wireless mesh network comprises allocating bandwidth of the wireless mesh network to the other network node, including a bandwidth allocation for receiving and transmitting data packets along communication links of the wireless mesh network between the other network node and nodes of the first subset, and a bandwidth allocation for receiving network joining messages in the other network node from network nodes of the second subset.

3. The mesh network system of claim 1, wherein the function to allocate bandwidth comprises allocating combinations of timeslots and communication channels to each network node of the first subset of network nodes including, for each respective network node of the first subset, a first combination of timeslots and channels for receiving and transmitting data packets between the respective network node and other network nodes of the first subset, and a second combination of at least one timeslot and at least one channel for receiving network joining messages in the respective network node from network nodes of the second subset.

4. The mesh network system of claim 1, wherein the network manager is configured to identify each received message transmitted to the first subset of network nodes using bandwidth of the second bandwidth allocation as a data message or as a network joining message based on a flag included in the received message.

5. The mesh network system of claim 1, wherein the network manager is configured to perform a further function to:

upon receiving a packet data message generated in a network node of the first subset and transmitted through the wireless mesh network using bandwidth of the first bandwidth allocation, provide data from the packet data message to the host application.

6. The mesh network system of claim 1, wherein the network node having transmitted the data message is not joined to the wireless mesh network.

7. The mesh network system of claim 1, wherein each respective network node of the first subset is configured to perform functions to:

listen for packets transmitted from other nodes of the first subset to the respective network node, and transmit packets to other nodes of the first subset, during timeslots and on channels associated with the first bandwidth allocation; and

listen for packets transmitted from nodes of the second subset to the respective network node during timeslots and on channels associated with the second bandwidth allocation.

8. The mesh network system of claim 7, wherein each respective network node of the first subset is configured to perform further functions to:

receive sensing data from a sensor associated with the respective network node; and

generate data packets including the received sensing data, and transmit the generated data packets to other nodes of the first subset during timeslots and on channels associated with the first bandwidth allocation.

9. The mesh network system of claim 7, wherein each respective network node of the first subset is configured to perform further functions to:

receive a packet transmitted from a node of the second subset to the respective network node during a timeslot and on a channel associated with the second bandwidth allocation; and

transmit the packet received from the node of the second subset to another node of the first subset during a timeslot and on a channel associated with the first bandwidth allocation.

10. The mesh network system of claim 1, wherein each respective network node of the second subset is configured to perform functions to:

generate a data packet;

listen for network advertisements transmitted from nodes of the first subset;

upon receiving a network advertisement from one node of the first subset, transmit the generated data packet to the one node during a timeslot and using a channel of the second bandwidth allocation of the one node.

11. The mesh network system of claim 10, wherein each respective network node of the second subset is configured to:

listen for network advertisements transmitted from nodes of the first subset during a predetermined amount of time,

select one node from among nodes of the first subset from which network advertisements are received during the predetermined amount of time; and

transmit the generated data packet to the selected one node during the timeslot and using the channel of the second bandwidth allocation of the selected one node.

12. The mesh network system of claim 11, wherein the generated data packet includes sensor data and a list of nodes of the first subset from which network advertisements were received during the predetermined amount of time.

13. The mesh network system of claim 10, wherein each respective network node of the second subset is configured to perform a further function to:

upon receiving the network advertisement from the one node of the first subset, determine whether the network advertisement has a signal strength exceeding a predetermined threshold,

wherein the generated data packet is transmitted to the one node during the timeslot and using the channel of the second bandwidth allocation of the one node only upon determining that the network advertisement has the signal strength exceeding the predetermined threshold.

14. The mesh network system of claim 10, wherein each respective network node of the second subset is configured to perform a further function to:

receive sensing data from a sensor associated with the respective network node,

wherein the function to generate the data packet comprises generating a data packet including the received sensing data.

15. The mesh network system of claim 10, wherein the received network advertisement identifies the timeslot and the channel of the second bandwidth allocation of the one node.

16. The mesh network system of claim 1, wherein the first subset of network nodes are network nodes operating in a canopy mode of operation, and wherein the second subset of network nodes are network nodes operating in a blink mode of operation.