PER-PACKET, TIME SLOTTED CHANNEL HOPPING (TSCH), META-TIMESLOT

• US 20180124812A1
• Filed: 11/02/2016
• Published: 05/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thubert, Pascal, Dyke, Simon, Bachet, Franck, De Saint Marc, Guillaume Sauvage
• Granted Patent: US 10,231,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/69 Spread spectrum techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/713 using frequency hopping
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/6908 using time hopping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/121 by minimising delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/124 using a combination of metrics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/127 based on intermediate node capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/42 Centralised routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/44 Distributed routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/16 based on interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1263 Mapping of traffic onto schedule, e.g. scheduled allocation or multiplexing of flows

Abstract

In one embodiment, a device in a network receives a time-slotted channel hopping (TSCH) communication schedule. The TSCH communication schedule is divided into a plurality of macrocells, each macrocell comprising a plurality of TSCH cells. The device receives a packet from a routing protocol child node of the device during a particular macrocell of the TSCH communication schedule that is associated with propagation of the packet through the network. In response to receiving the packet, the device claims a token associated with the particular macrocell that authorizes the device to transmit during one or more cells of the macrocell. The device transmits the received packet to a second node in the network during the authorized one or more cells of the particular macrocell.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a device in a network, a time-slotted channel hopping (TSCH) communication schedule, wherein the TSCH communication schedule is divided into a plurality of macrocells, each macrocell comprising a plurality of TSCH cells;

receiving, at the device, a packet from a routing protocol child node of the device during a particular macrocell of the TSCH communication schedule, wherein the particular macrocell is associated with propagation of the packet through the network;

claiming, by the device, a token associated with the particular macrocell, in response to receiving the packet, wherein the token authorizes the device to transmit during one or more authorized cells of the macrocell; and

transmitting, by the device, the received packet to a second node in the network during the authorized one or more cells of the particular macrocell.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the communication schedule is an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) over TSCH (6TiSCH) communication schedule.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein a designated cell of the particular macrocell is reserved for communication of routing protocol messages, the method further comprising:

listening, by the device, for the routing protocol messages during the designated cell of the particular macrocell.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein each of the one or more cells of the particular macrocell are associated with a communication channel and time slot.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein claiming the token associated with the particular macrocell comprises:

transmitting, by the device, an acknowledgement to the routing protocol child node, in response to receiving the packet from the routing protocol child node during the particular macrocell.

6. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the device, whether the second node acknowledged the packet transmitted to the second node.

7. The method as in claim 6, further comprising:

switching, by the device, to a listening mode during the particular macrocell, in response to determining that the second node acknowledged the packet transmitted to the second node.

8. The method as in claim 6, further comprising:

retransmitting, by the device, the packet to the second node of the device during a subsequent cell of the particular macrocell, in response to determining that the second node did not acknowledge the packet transmitted to the second node.

9. The method as in claim 1, wherein the one or more cells of the particular macrocell are non-consecutive cells of the TSCH communication schedule.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more network interfaces to communicate with a network;

a processor coupled to the network interfaces and adapted to execute one or more processes; and

a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed configured to;

receive a time-slotted channel hopping (TSCH) communication schedule, wherein the TSCH communication schedule is divided into a plurality of macrocells, each macrocell comprising a plurality of TSCH cells;

receive a packet from a routing protocol child node of the apparatus during a particular macrocell of the TSCH communication schedule, wherein the particular macrocell is associated with propagation of the packet through the network;

claim a token associated with the particular macrocell, in response to receiving the packet, wherein the token authorizes the apparatus to transmit during one or more authorized cells of the macrocell; and

transmit the received packet to a second node in the network during the authorized one or more cells of the particular macrocell.

11. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the communication schedule is an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) over TSCH (6TiSCH) communication schedule.

12. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein a designated cell of the particular macrocell is reserved for communication of routing protocol messages, and wherein the process when executed is further configured to:

listen for the routing protocol messages during the designated cell of the particular macrocell.

13. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein each of the one or more cells of the particular macrocell are associated with a communication channel and time slot.

14. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the apparatus claims the token associated with the particular macrocell by transmitting an acknowledgement to the routing protocol child node, in response to receiving the packet from the routing protocol child node during the particular macrocell.

15. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the process when executed is further configured to:

determine whether the second node acknowledged the packet transmitted to the second node.

16. The apparatus as in claim 15, wherein the process when executed is further configured to:

switch to a listening mode during the particular macrocell, in response to determining that the second node acknowledged the packet transmitted to the second node.

17. The apparatus as in claim 15, wherein the process when executed is further configured to:

retransmit the packet to the second node during a subsequent cell of the particular macrocell, in response to determining that the second node did not acknowledge the packet transmitted to the second node.

18. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the routing protocol child node of the apparatus is a child node of the apparatus according to a directed acyclic graph (DAG)-based routing topology in the network established via a routing protocol.

19. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the one or more cells of the particular macrocell are non-consecutive cells of the TSCH communication schedule.

20. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having software encoded thereon, the software when executed by a device in a network configured to:

receive, at the device, a time-slotted channel hopping (TSCH) communication schedule, wherein the TSCH communication schedule is divided into a plurality of macrocells, each macrocell comprising a plurality of TSCH cells;

receive a packet from a routing protocol child node of the device during a particular macrocell of the TSCH communication schedule, wherein the particular macrocell is associated with propagation of the packet through the network;

claim a token associated with the particular macrocell, in response to receiving the packet, wherein the token authorizes the device to transmit during one or more authorized cells of the macrocell; and

transmit the received packet to a second node in the network during the authorized one or more cells of the particular macrocell.