AD-HOC COMMUNICATION NETWORK AND COMMUNICATION METHOD

• US 20170244838A1
• Filed: 09/24/2015
• Published: 08/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cardo Systems, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Cardo Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Moato, Abraham Avi, Glezerman, Abraham, Ashkenazy, Albert Samuel, Sherman, Yael, Rahamim, Yossef
• Granted Patent: US 10,277,748 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0652 Synchronisation among time division multiple access [TDMA] nodes, e.g. time triggered protocol [TTP] bus network with centralized control in which slots are of a TDMA packet structure H04L12/4035
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/561 by multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/568 audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/22 with access to wired networks

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for forming a mobile ad-hoc voice network for operation in a rapidly changing environment, which comprises (A) assigning to a plurality of devices a group ID and to each of said devices a respective serial number (B) providing within each of said devices an algorithm for (B.1) calculating, based on individual neighbors data that are transmitted by each of the network devices within slots of a TDMA cycle, a structure of the network, including determination of one or more relay devices (B.2) calculating a leader for the network and (B.3) calculating a synchronizer for the network (C) transmitting by each of said devices within slots of said TDMA cycle the respective neighbors of that device (D) transmitting by the synchronizer of said network periodical synchronization data within slots of the TDMA cycle, and propagating the synchronization data to all the network devices upon, completion of each of said TDMA cycle, applying said algorithm by each of said devices to determine and possibly update the structure of the network, the relays of the network, and the leader of said network (E) within a period of said TDMA cycle, synchronizing each of the devices based on said synchronization data, while upon determination that the synchronizer is missing, determining by each device a new synchronizer for the system and (F) sending by devices of said network within a plurality of said TDMA slots voice data in digital form.

Claims

1. A method for forming a mobile ad-hoc voice network for operation in a rapidly changing environment, which comprises:

a. assigning to a plurality of devices a group ID and to each of said devices a respective serial number;

b. providing within each of said devices an algorithm for;

i. calculating, based on individual neighbors data that are transmitted by each of the network devices within slots of a TDMA cycle, a structure of the network, including determination of one or more relay devices;

ii. calculating a leader for the network; and

.

iii. calculating a synchronizer for the network;

c. transmitting by each of said devices within slots of said TDMA cycle the respective neighbors of that device;

d. transmitting by the synchronizer of said network periodical synchronization data within slots of the TDMA cycle, and propagating the synchronization data to all the network devices;

e. upon completion of each of said TDMA cycle, applying said algorithm by each of said devices to determine and possibly update the structure of the network, the relays of the network, and the leader of said network;

f. within a period of said TDMA cycle, synchronizing each of the devices based on said synchronization data, while upon determination that the synchronizer is missing, determining by each device a new synchronizer for the system; and

g. sending by devices of said network within a plurality of said TDMA slots voice data in digital form.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the cycle duration is between 90 ms to 2 seconds.

3. Method according to claim 1, wherein the voice data which is introduced to within said slots is voice data which is compressed within the respective device by a vocoder, while voice data is introduced simultaneously by any of up to 4 devices to within respective of said TDMA slots.

4. Method according to claim 3, wherein a decoder within each device decodes and sounds to a user said compressed voice data via respective speakers.

5. Method according to claim 1, wherein the voice data is propagated by said TDMA slots to all the devices within the network, possibly by one or more of the relay devices respectively.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein said neighbors data is propagated within said TDMA cycle within predefined control slots and within relay slots respectively.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein said synchronization data from the synchronizer is conveyed within predefined synchronization slots, each of said slots being positioned within a respective frame.

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein upon determination of a missing synchronizer, each device determines a new synchronizer while the newly determined synchronizer is the one having the highest serial number from among the remaining devices.

9. Method according to claim 7, wherein additional synchronization data distribution is provided by each respective device at each control slot at the TDMA cycle, while devices of the network use said additional synchronization data to synchronize and fine tune their own synchronization.

10. Method according to claim 1, wherein said leader is determined to be the device which is at the center of the network and is therefore used to optimally propagate network architecture and collision resolution.

11. Method according to claim 10, wherein when two or more devices are determined to be equally qualified for serving as a leader, the one meeting a predefined criterion among them is selected to serve as the leader.

12. Method according to claim 10, wherein said criterion is the device having the largest serial number among those that are found to be equally qualified for serving as a leader.

13. Method according to claim 1, for use within a mobile ad-hoc voice network for motorcyclists, wherein each device further comprises a voice activation detector, for determining voice initiation by the user.

14. Method according to claim 1, further comprising a head device for assigning a group ID and device serial number to each device.

15. Method according to claim 1 wherein one or more of the participant devices in said ad-hoc voice network uses a LAN/WAN/Cellular module to interconnect between devices within said ad-hoc network and remote devices of an external network.

16. Method according to claim 1, wherein said one or more devices that use their LAN/WAN/Cellular for the purpose of said interconnection are assigned manually to perform this task.

17. Method according to claim 1, wherein said one or more devices that use their LAN/WAN/Cellular for the purpose of said interconnection are assigned automatically and dynamically to perform this task during the operation of said ad-hoc network.