METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OPERATING A VEHICULAR DATA NETWORK BASED ON A LAYER-2 PERIODIC FRAME BROADCAST, IN PARTICULAR A ROUTING PROTOCOL

• US 20170374601A1
• Filed: 02/29/2016
• Published: 12/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nexar Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Veniam Inc.
• Inventors: BRAGA AMEIXIEIRA, Carlos Eduardo
• Granted Patent: US 9,930,608 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/686 using dual-stack hosts, e.g. in Internet protocol version 4 [IPv4]/Internet protocol version 6 [IPv6] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/242 aging of topology database entries
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/30 for proactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Method for operating a network node of a wireless digital data network based on broadcast layer-2 periodic frames, wherein said network is composed by a plurality of network nodes, wherein each network node is either a mobile node equipped with an on-board unit (OBU) node, or is a static node equipped with a road-side unit (RSU) node, said method comprising a current network node of the plurality of network nodes carrying out the following steps: periodically broadcasting a Network Status Information (NSI) frame which comprises: the node identifier and a type of node of the current network node; receiving broadcasted NSI frames from neighbouring network nodes of the plurality of network nodes reachable by the current network node through wireless communication; for any one received NSI frame, storing the received NSI frame in an entry in a NSI table (NSIT) if the received NSI frame was the first received NSI frame from a neighbouring network node, or otherwise, if the received NSI frame was not the first received NSI frame from the neighbouring network node, updating a previously stored NSIT entry with the received NSI frame; marking as expired or deleting any previously entered NSIT entry after a predetermined period of time has passed after receiving or updating said any previously entered NSIT entry. Also an electronic network node of a wireless digital data network, wherein said network node is programmed to carry out the method.

Claims

1. (canceled)

25. The electronic network node of claim 24, comprising a NSI management entity, herewith NME, contained in the Medium Access Control (MAC) sub-layer of the electronic network node, said NME being programmed to carry out the method of claim 1.

11. (canceled)

13. (canceled)

14. A method for operating a network node of a wireless digital data network based on broadcast layer-2 periodic frames, for routing data packets in said wireless digital data network, wherein said network comprises a plurality of network nodes, wherein each network node is either a mobile node equipped with an on-board unit (OBU) node, or is a static node equipped with a road-side unit (RSU) node, said method comprising a current network node of the plurality of network nodes carrying out the following steps:

periodically broadcasting a layer-2 Network Status Information (NSI) frame which comprises a node identifier of the current network node and a type of node of the current network node;

receiving broadcasted NSI frames from neighbouring network nodes of the plurality of network nodes reachable by the current network node through wireless communication;

for each received NSI frame;

storing the received NSI frame in an entry in a NSI table (NSIT) if the received NSI frame was the first received NSI frame from a neighbouring network node, or,

otherwise, if the received NSI frame was not the first received NSI frame from the neighbouring network node, updating a previously stored NSIT entry with the received NSI frame; and

marking as expired or deleting any previously entered NSIT entry after a predetermined period of time has passed after receiving or updating said any previously entered NSIT entry,

wherein said NSI frame further comprises routing data which comprises a node identifier and the IP address of the uplink network node for a node broadcasting said NSI frame, and comprises a list of the identifiers and IP addresses of the network nodes that are connected to the uplink network through the node broadcasting said NSI frame, herewith mentioned as linked node list,

wherein the step of periodic broadcasting of said NSI frame is initiated by the current network node when one or more of the following occurs at the current network node;

new geographic location data is available for the current network node,

new motion data is available for the current network node,

a Provider Service Request start (PSR start),

a PSR start with an Active Connection Provider Service (ACPS),

an User Service Request start (USR start}, or

an USR start with Active Connection User Service (ACUS), and

wherein the ACPS or the ACUS comprises an Active Connection Provider Service Identifier (ACPSID).

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the ACPSID of a current connection is obtained from a Provider Service Request Table (PSRT) for a provider, or from an Available Services Table (AST) for a user.

16. A method for operating a network node of a wireless digital data network based on broadcast layer-2 periodic frames, for routing data packets in said wireless digital data network, wherein said network comprises a plurality of network nodes, wherein each network node is either a mobile node equipped with an on-board unit (OBU) node, or is a static node equipped with a road-side unit (RSU) node, said method comprising a current network node of the plurality of network nodes carrying out the following steps:

periodically broadcasting a layer-2 Network Status Information (NSI) frame which comprises a node identifier of the current network node and a type of node of the current network node;

receiving broadcasted NSI frames from neighbouring network nodes of the plurality of network nodes reachable by the current network node through wireless communication;

for each received NSI frame;

storing the received NSI frame in an entry in a NSI table (NSIT) if the received NSI frame was the first received NSI frame from a neighbouring network node, or,

otherwise, if the received NSI frame was not the first received NSI frame from the neighbouring network node, updating a previously stored NSIT entry with the received NSI frame; and

marking as expired or deleting any previously entered NSIT entry after a predetermined period of time has passed after receiving or updating said any previously entered NSIT entry,

wherein said NSI frame further comprises routing data which comprises a node identifier and the IP address of the uplink network node for a node broadcasting said NSI frame, and comprises a list of the identifiers and IP addresses of the network nodes that are connected to the uplink network through the node broadcasting said NSI frame, herewith mentioned as linked node list,

wherein the step of periodic broadcasting of said NSI frame is initiated by the current network node when one or more of the following occurs at the current network node;

new geographic location data is available for the current network node,

new motion data is available for the current network node,

a Provider Service Request start (PSR start),

a PSR start with an Active Connection Provider Service (ACPS),

an User Service Request start (USR start}, or

an USR start with Active Connection User Service (ACUS), and

wherein the Provider Service Context (PSC) of the ACPS or the ACUS comprises the node identifier and the type of node of the current network node;

the node identifier of the uplink network node of the current network node; and

the node identifier of the upstream end-point node.

2. The method of claim 16, wherein said method is used for routing data packets in said wireless digital data network,

said method comprising the current network node further carrying out the following steps:

selecting from the neighbouring network nodes an uplink network node that has an uplink connection to an upstream network;

establishing an uplink wireless connection to said uplink network node;

setting a default IP gateway entry in an IP Routing Table (IPRT) to an IP address of the uplink network node;

making available the entries of the IPRT for routing by the current network node;

said method also comprising the current network node further carrying out the following steps;

for each received NSI frame from a neighbouring network node, if the node identifier of the uplink network node in said NSI frame is the node identifier of the current network node,

then adding or updating an entry in the IPRT for said neighbouring network node with the IP of the neighbouring network node being the corresponding IP gateway, and

for the linked node list comprised in the routing data of said NSI frame, adding or updating entries in the IPRT for each of the linked node list nodes with the IP of the neighbouring network node being the corresponding IP gateway;

marking as expired or deleting any previously entered IPRT entry after a predetermined period of time has passed after the last receiving or updating of said any previously entered IPRT entry.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the current network node selecting an uplink network node from the neighbouring network nodes comprises the current network node excluding from said uplink selection any neighbouring network node which is connected to said uplink network through the current network node itself.

4. The method of claim 16, wherein if the current network node is an end-point node, then said routing data of the NSI frame is absent or empty.

5. The method of claim 16, wherein the routing data of the NSI frame further comprises the IP address of an upstream end-point node between the wireless digital data network and the upstream network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the upstream end-point node is a RSU node or a static OBU node, with an uplink connection to the upstream network via a static Wi-Fi router with an uplink connection to the Internet.

7. The method of claim 16, wherein layer-2 is the data link layer of the wireless digital data network protocol.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said method is limited to the MAC sub-layer of the data link layer of the wireless digital data network protocol.

9. The method of claim 16, wherein an IP address is an IPv4 address, or an IPv6 address, or is comprised by both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses of the same network node.

10. The method of claim 16, wherein the type of node is an indicator on whether the current network node is an OBU node or a RSU node.

12. The method of claim 16, wherein said NSI frame further comprises motion data comprising speed and heading of the current network node.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein layer-2 is the data link layer of the wireless digital data network protocol.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said method is limited to the MAC sub-layer of the data link layer of the wireless digital data network protocol.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein an IP address is an IPv4 address, or an IPv6 address, or is comprised by both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses of the same network node.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the NSI frame is broadcast periodically, at least 5 times per second.

24. An electronic network node of a wireless digital data network, wherein said network node is programmed to carry out the method of claim 16.

26. The electronic network node of claim 24, wherein the upstream network is the Internet or a network with Internet connectivity.

20. (canceled)

21. (canceled)

22. (canceled)

27. (canceled)