Time division protocol for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio network having coordinating channel access to shared parallel data channels with separate reservation channel

• US 7,133,391 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2001
• Issued: 11/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MeshNetworks, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Belcea, John M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): LY, ANH VU H
• Application Number:
  US09/846,480
• Publication Number:
  US 20020089945A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,015 Days
• Field of Search: 370/235, 370/238, 370/338, 370/345, 370/352, 370/389, 370/395.42, 370/442, 370/445
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2643 using time-division multiple access [TDMA] H04B7/2615, H04B7/2618 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/08 based on transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/247 where the output power of a terminal is based on a path parameter sent by another terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/325 Power control of control or pilot channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/367 Power values between minimum and maximum limits, e.g. dynamic range
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/383 power control in peer-to-peer links
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/46 in multi hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/50 at the moment of starting communication in a multiple access environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/00 Network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A novel protocol for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio network that provides collision-free channel access with an emphasis on improving geographic reuse of the frequency spectrum. The protocol of the invention is executed on the reservation or control channel, and provides a method for allocating data transactions on the data channels. The system of the invention utilizes multiple parallel data channels that are coordinated by a single reservation channel. The transceiver of the system employs two modems to solve the channel reliability issues with multiple channel designs, where one is dedicated as a receive-only modem for gathering channel usage information on the reservation channel. High quality voice, video and data may be transmitted. The reservation channel implements a time division multiple access algorithm with dynamic slot allocation. In a distributed manner, nodes determine geographic reuse of slots based on channel quality extracted from the modem. Signal quality calculations are used to determine the likelihood of a slot reuse causing destructive interference within a node'"'"'s neighborhood. Requests for slot usage are compared with the known traffic pattern and accepted or rejected by nodes within RF signal range based on the signal quality calculations.

Claims

1. A radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals, said radio terminal making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call, and comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other radio terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, the improvement comprising:

said memory means comprising software means for setting the power level of a transmission of control-channel messaging to be transmitted by said transceiver means;

said software means further comprising means for generating routing messaging including said power level set by said means for setting for use in determining the connection path of a call;

said software means further comprising means for determining the optimal connection path of an outgoing call based on least energy use, so that the least amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing the call; and

said software means further comprising means for generating a routing table based on the class of service (COS) of data being transmitted, and for reporting at least one of the following types of COS;

voice type information, data type information and video type information, whereby subsequent data packets of the same typo of COS are transmitted to the same destination on the same path.

2. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 1, wherein said software means comprises message-generating moans for generating a routing table based on said least energy use, said routing table comprising time-frame based messaging.

3. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 2, wherein time-frame based messaging is based on time division.

4. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 2, wherein time-frame based messaging comprises a series of time frames (TM) each divided into a series of time slots (TS), one said time slot being used for transmitting a control-channel (CC) messaging including said power level, said routing messaging, and said optimal path connection of an outgoing call based on least energy use.

5. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 4, wherein other time slots of said series of time-slots based are used for transmitting channel data (CD) messaging information.

6. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 5, wherein said one time slot transmits said control-channel information at a first frequency of FO, and said at other time slots (TS) transmit said data-channel (DC) information at frequencies different from said first frequency and different from each other.

7. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 6, wherein said first time slot (TS) for said control-channel (CC) information is transmitted at a first power level, and said other time slots (TS) for said data-channel(DC) information are transmitted at a second power level.

8. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 7, wherein said second power level is equal to or less than said first power level, whereby RF interference is reduced.

9. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 5, wherein each said time frame (TF) further comprises an inter-frame time gap (IFTG) at the end of each said time frame (TF) in which no communications-information is transmitted, in order to allow time to perform necessary calculations.

10. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 9, wherein said inter-frame time gap (ITFG) has a length different than said time slots.

11. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 2, wherein time-frame based messaging comprises a series of time frames (TM), and wherein each time frame (TF) comprises a last time slot (LTS) at a first frequency in which is contained initial control communications-information indicating initial presence of said radio terminal in order to start communicating with other said terminals.

12. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 11, wherein said software means further comprises means for switching transmission of initial control communications-information from said last time slot (TS) to another, free, earlier time slot of a subsequent time frame (TF) in order to reduce the chance of collision with other said terminals also initially registering.

13. A method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals, each said radio terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other radio terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, comprising:

(a) creating a service group (SG) of said radio terminals where each said radio terminal of said service group may be connected to any other of said radio terminals of said service group via at least one connecting path;

(b) creating in each said radio terminal of said service group (SG) via said software means connectivity messaging and data transfer plan messaging information for transmission to other said radio terminals of said service group, and for receiving similar said information from said other radio terminals;

(c) delivering said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging to a configuration channel for transmission to said other radio terminals belonging to the same service group (SG);

(d) said step (b) comprising developing by said software means a utilization map, the power used for transmitting the messaging, and the level of the environmental noise at the transmission site of a transmitting terminal;

(c) said step (b) further comprising using said data transfer plan information messaging for use in adjusting the transmit power level and for determining at least one routing path that matches delay requirements of a class of service (COS) of data being transferred.

14. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 13, wherein said step (d) comprises:

(f) developing said utilization map with information messaging based on time division on the availability of time slots of a previous time frame based on whether time slots were used in said previous time frame or were unavailable for use.

15. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 13, further comprising:

(f) transmitting said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging to other said radio terminals of said service group of radio terminals via said configuration channel;

(g) receiving said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging at said other radio terminals;

(h) determining the optimal routing path of a call to or from a said radio terminal based on said received connectivity and data transfer plan information.

16. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 15, wherein:

said step (h) comprises determining the class of service (COS) of a call to be transmitted from a respective said transmitting radio terminal, and selecting said optimal path based on said class of service.

17. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 16, wherein said step of determining the class of service comprises selecting from one of the following:

voice transmission, and data transmission.

18. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 17, wherein said step of selecting said optimal path based on said class of service comprises basing the decision on bit error rate (BER) for data transmission, and on latency for voice transmission.

19. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 18 wherein said step of selecting said optimal path based on said BER comprises determining the smallest path loss relative to said other terminals from which it has received similar messaging;

said step (h) comprising initiating a request-to-register message in said connectivity messaging to register with the closest available other said radio terminal for serving as at least a first node of said optimal path.

20. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 16, wherein said step of determining the class of service comprises selecting from one of the following:

voice transmission, data transmission, and video transmission.

21. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 16, wherein said step of selecting said optimal path based on said class of service comprises basing the decision on bit error rate (BER) or latency.

22. A method of reducing radio interference in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals forming a service group, each said radio terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other radio terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, where a call for sending packet data from one radio terminal may be connected utilizing at least one other radio terminal as a node in the routing connection of the call to a destination other than said other radio terminal, comprising:

(a) transmitting connectivity messaging from said one radio terminal to at least one other radio terminal of said service group;

(b) said step (a) comprising transmitting said connectivity messaging using time division signaling having a series of time frames (TF) with each said time frame consisting of a plurality of time slots (TS);

(c) said step (b) comprising dedicating one of said time slots (TS) of each said time frame (TF) as a configuration channel in which said connectivity messaging is transmitted;

(d) said step (b) comprising dedicating other of said time slots (TS) of each said time frame (TF) as data channels in which data information messaging is transmitted;

(e) said step (b) comprising transmitting information pertaining to increasing a level of transmit power according to a class of service (COS) of transmitted data; and

(f) said step (b) comprising transmitting said connectivity messaging of said configuration channel of at a power level equal to or greater than the power level at which said data information on said data channels is transmitted.

23. A method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals, each said radio terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other radio terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, comprising:

(a) creating a service group (SG) of said radio terminals where each said radio terminal of said service group may be connected to any other of said radio terminals of said service group via at least one connecting path;

(b) creating in each said radio terminal of said service group (SG) via said software means connectivity messaging and data transfer plan messaging information for transmission to other said radio terminals of said service group, and for receiving similar said information from said other radio terminals;

(c) delivering said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging to a configuration channel for transmission to said other radio terminals belonging to the same service group (SG);

(d) said step (b) comprising developing by said software means a utilization map, the power used for transmitting the messaging, and the level of the environmental noise at the transmission site of a transmitting terminal;

(e) said step (b) further comprising using said data transfer plan information messaging for use in adjusting the transmit power level and for determining at least one routing path;

(f) transmitting said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging to other said radio terminals of said service group of radio terminals via said configuration channel;

(g) receiving said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging at said other radio terminals;

(h) determining the optimal routing path of a call to or from a said radio terminal based on said received connectivity and data transfer plan information;

wherein said step (h) comprises determining the class of service (COS) of a call to be transmitted from a respective said transmitting radio terminal, and selecting said optimal path based on said class of service;

wherein said step of determining the class of service comprises selecting from one of the following;

voice transmission, and data transmission;

wherein said step of selecting said optimal path based on said class of service comprises basing the decision on bit error rate (BER) for data transmission, and on latency for voice transmission;

wherein said step of selecting said optimal path based on said BER comprises determining the smallest path loss relative to said other terminals from which it has received similar messaging; and

said step (h) comprises initiating a request-to-register message in said connectivity messaging to register with the closest available other said radio terminal for serving as at least a first node of said optimal path.