INTERACTION OF DEVICES IN A NETWORKED ENVIRONMENT

• US 20180176086A1
• Filed: 06/02/2016
• Published: 06/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sparkl Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Sparkl Ltd.
• Inventors: Thwaites, Jacoby Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,601,662 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/085 Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/30 Decision processes by autonomous network management units using voting and bidding

Abstract

A method of autonomic organisation of network nodes is described. A first node is adapted to adopt a node role. The first node communicates with other network nodes over a stateless medium. The first node is provided with a pattern of complementary operations for operation between one node role and another node role. On adopting the node role in the network, the node interacts with a second node over the stateless medium according to the pattern of complementary operations between the node role of the first node and the node role of the second node. This approach may be used in autonomic networking. Suitable devices and software to implement this approach are described.

Claims

1. A method of performing autonomic organisation of network nodes, comprising:

providing a first network node adapted to adopt a node role and communicating with other network nodes over a stateless medium, wherein the first network node is provided with a pattern of complementary operations for operation between one node role and a second node role;

wherein on adopting the node role in the network, the first network node interacts with a second network node over the stateless medium according to the pattern of complementary operations between the node role of the first network node and the second node role of the second network node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the autonomic organisation of network nodes comprises autonomic networking, and wherein the first network node adopts the node role on self configuration in the network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network node is provided with a configuration tree, wherein node roles are defined in separate leaves of the configuration tree.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a leaf defining a node role defines the pattern of complementary operations between that node role and other node roles.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the leaf defines separately orchestrated functions with a central point of control and choreographed functions with no overall point of control.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the configuration tree is adapted to operate with a sequencing engine.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein the first network node is provided with a configuration tree, wherein node roles are defined in separate leaves of the configuration tree.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a leaf defining a node role defines the pattern of complementary operations between that node role and other node roles.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the leaf defines separately orchestrated functions with a central point of control and choreographed functions with no overall point of control.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the configuration tree is adapted to operate with a sequencing engine.

7. A computing domain comprising a plurality of network nodes, wherein the network nodes comprise:

a first network node adapted to adopt a first node role and a second network node adapted to adopt a second node role, each network node communicating with other network nodes over a stateless medium, wherein the first network node is provided with a pattern of complementary operations for operation between one node role and a second node role;

wherein on adopting node roles in the network, the first and second network nodes interact over the stateless medium according to the pattern of complementary operations defined between the first and second node roles.

18. The computing domain of claim 7, wherein the autonomic organisation of network nodes comprises autonomic networking, and wherein the first network node adopts the node role on self configuration in the network.

19. The computing domain of claim 7, wherein the first network node is provided with a configuration tree, wherein node roles are defined in separate leaves of the configuration tree.

20. The computing domain of claim 19, further comprising a sequencing engine, wherein the configuration tree is adapted to operate with the sequencing engine.

8. A computing device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the computing device is adapted to adopt a node role in a network and to communicate with other network nodes over a stateless medium, wherein the computing device is provided with a pattern of complementary operations for operation between one node role and another node role, wherein the computing device is adapted to adopting the node role in the network and to interact with a second node over the stateless medium according to the pattern of complementary operations between the node role of the first node and the node role of the second node.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the first node adopts a node role on self configuration in the network.

10. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the computing device is provided with a configuration tree, wherein node roles are defined in separate leaves of the configuration tree.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein a leaf defining a node role defines the pattern of complementary operations between that node role and other node roles.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the leaf defines separately orchestrated functions with a central point of control and choreographed functions with no overall point of control.

13. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the configuration tree is adapted to operate with a sequencing engine.