Method and apparatus for managing communication resources using bootstrap slots

• US 6,487,186 B1
• Filed: 06/28/1999
• Issued: 11/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Stevens, James A., Young, C. David, Becker, Michael S., Krueger, Roy W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hunter, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): LE, LANA N
• Application Number:
  US09/344,921
• Time in Patent Office: 1,247 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/336, 370/337, 370/345, 370/347, 370/348, 370/349, 370/460, 370/443, 370/459, 370/458, 370/468, 370/436, 370/342
• US Class Current: 370/336
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames

Abstract

A method and system for managing communication resources between nodes in a network, and more particularly to a dynamic distributed multi-channel time division multiple access (TDMA) slot assignment method is presented. The method and apparatus include a set of higher level heuristics that enable the wireless channel access scheme to address predetermined characteristics of the wireless channel access system. These predetermined heuristics include using bootstrap slots, adaptive broadcast cycles, channelized neighborhoods, standby slots, speculation slots, neighbor segregation, hard circuits, and soft circuits.

Claims

1. A method for automatically managing communication channel resources between nodes having neighboring nodes in a network of nodes, wherein each node communicates during specific time slots on a time multiplex basis, the method comprising:

communicating between nodes in the network using a time division multiple access structure, the time division multiple access structure including time divisions having time frames, each time frame having a plurality of time slots, the plurality of time slots including bootstrap slots;

storing, at each node, an assignment of bootstrap slots in a time frame of a time division to nodes in the network;

dynamically adapting the assignment of bootstrap slots based on density of the network;

wherein dynamically adapting the assignment of bootstrap slots includes;

determining, at a node, which bootstrap slots are assigned to the neighboring nodes of that node;

self-assigning, at that node, a first assignment of a bootstrap slot that is not assigned to its neighboring nodes; and

transmitting, from that node to its neighboring nodes, a communication during that node'"'"'s self-assigned bootstrap slot, the communication notifying its neighboring nodes of the first assignment of the bootstrap slot.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

self-assigning an alternative bootstrap slot if the first assignment creates a conflict.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein dynamically adapting the assignment of bootstrap slots includes:

assigning bootstrap slots to a particular node in the network in a block of bootstrap slots, the number of bootstrap slots in the block being equal to 2^N (two raised to the power of N), wherein N is the number of nodes in the network.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein dynamically adapting the assignment includes:

defining a first bootstrap cycle having a first half cycle and a second half cycle;

identifying when a particular node and its neighboring nodes each have an assigned -bootstrap slot in the first half cycle and no assigned bootstrap slots in the second half cycle; and

, if so, then

establishing a second bootstrap cycle in which the particular node and its neighboring nodes each have an assigned bootstrap slot, the second bootstrap cycle being shorter than the first bootstrap cycle.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining substantially contention free access to the communication channel resources by implementing a unifying slot assignment protocol.

6. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of transceiver nodes arranged in a network and configured to communicate between transceiver nodes using a time division multiple access structure, each transceiver node having neighboring nodes,

the time division multiple access structure including time divisions having time frames, each time frame having time slots, the time slots including bootstrap slots;

an assignment table stored at each transceiver node, the assignment table including assignments of bootstrap slots to transceiver nodes; and

a bootstrap slot assignment protocol to dynamically adapt the assignment table based on density of the network,

wherein the bootstrap slot assignment protocol dynamically adapts the assignment table stored at a transceiver node by determining which bootstrap slots are assigned to that transceiver node'"'"'s neighboring nodes, newly assigning to that transceiver node one of the bootstrap slots that are not assigned to the neighboring nodes, and transmitting a communication to the neighboring nodes in the newly assigned bootstrap slot, the communication representing a notification of the new assignment.

7. The communication system as recited in claim 6, wherein the bootstrap slot assignment protocol assigns a different bootstrap slot to transceiver node in the event the new assignment creates a conflict with other assignments of bootstrap slots.

8. The communication system as recited in claim 6, wherein the bootstrap slot assignment protocol assigns bootstrap slots in blocks to transceiver nodes in the network, the number of bootstrap slots in each block being equal to 2^N (two raised to the power of N), wherein N is the number of transceiver nodes in the network.

9. The communication system as recited in claim 6, wherein the bootstrap slot assignment protocol defines a first bootstrap cycle having a first half cycle and a second half cycle, determines whether a particular transceiver node and its neighboring nodes each have an assigned bootstrap slot in the first half cycle and no assigned bootstrap slots in the second half cycle, and, if so, then establishes a second bootstrap cycle for the particular transceiver node and its neighboring nodes to transmit communications, the second bootstrap cycle being shorter than the first bootstrap cycle.

10. The communication system as recited in claim 6, further comprising a unifying slot assignment protocol to maintain substantially contention-free access to communication resources of the network.

11. A method for automatically managing communication channel resources between nodes having neighboring nodes in a network of nodes, wherein each node communicates during specific time slots on a time multiplex basis, the method comprising:

communicating between nodes using a time division multiple access structure, the time division multiple access structure including specific time slots during which each node communicates, the specific time slots including bootstrap slots;

assigning a bootstrap slot to each node;

storing a table of assigned bootstrap slots at each node; and

adapting the table based on a characteristic of the network;

wherein adapting the table includes;

determining which of the bootstrap slots are assigned to a node'"'"'s neighboring nodes;

newly assigning to that node a bootstrap slot that is not assigned to that node'"'"'s neighboring nodes; and

transmitting, from that node, a communication during the newly assigned bootstrap slot.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein adapting the table includes assigning a block of bootstrap slots to a node, the number of bootstrap slots in the block being equal to 2^N (two raised to the power of N), wherein N is the number of nodes in the network.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

defining a first bootstrap cycle having a first half cycle and a second half cycle;

determining whether a node and its neighboring nodes each have an assigned bootstrap slot in the first half cycle and do not have an assigned bootstrap slot in the second half cycle; and

, if so, then

establishing a second bootstrap cycle in which the node and its neighboring nodes each have an assigned bootstrap slot, the second bootstrap cycle being shorter than the first bootstrap cycle.

14. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

maintaining substantially contention-free access to the communication channel resources by using a unifying slot assignment protocol.