System and method to decrease the route convergence time and find optimal routes in a wireless communication network
First Claim
1. A method for determining a route between nodes in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
- maintaining a respective link reliability value for each of a plurality of respective links between one of the nodes in the network and other nodes in the network;
comparing the respective link reliability values to a threshold value;
controlling the node to issue a route warning message identifying any of the links whose respective link reliability value fails to meet the threshold value before the link has failed;
controlling a node that receives the route warning message and that is sourcing data packets to a destination node whose link is identified by the route warning message to perform a route discovery process to discover another route to the destination node;
repeating the route discovery process at periodic intervals, wherein when the node performs the route discovery process at each periodic interval, the node includes a periodic identifier in a route request packet that the node sends during the route discovery process to differentiate the route request packet being sent during a periodic performance of the route discovery process from a normal route request packet.
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Abstract
A system and method for decreasing the route convergence time in a wireless communication network, such as a wireless ad-hoc peer-to-peer network, by finding an alternate route if the nodes anticipate weakening or breakage of a route currently in use. The system and method which enables reactive routing protocols to find optimal routes between nodes in these types of networks when those routes cannot otherwise be found in certain conditions. The system and method thus decrease the route convergence time, provide an effective and efficient way to find optimal routes, and improve overall performance of the network with regard to throughput, delay, packet completion rate and other factors.
59 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for determining a route between nodes in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
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maintaining a respective link reliability value for each of a plurality of respective links between one of the nodes in the network and other nodes in the network; comparing the respective link reliability values to a threshold value; controlling the node to issue a route warning message identifying any of the links whose respective link reliability value fails to meet the threshold value before the link has failed; controlling a node that receives the route warning message and that is sourcing data packets to a destination node whose link is identified by the route warning message to perform a route discovery process to discover another route to the destination node; repeating the route discovery process at periodic intervals, wherein when the node performs the route discovery process at each periodic interval, the node includes a periodic identifier in a route request packet that the node sends during the route discovery process to differentiate the route request packet being sent during a periodic performance of the route discovery process from a normal route request packet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A node operating within a wireless communication network, the node comprising:
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a controller, operating to maintain a respective link reliability value for each of a plurality of respective links between the node and other nodes in the network, to compare the respective link reliability values to a threshold value, and to control the node to issue a route warning message identifying any of the links whose respective link reliability value fails to meet the threshold value before the link has failed; wherein the controller controls the node to perform a route discovery process to discover another link to replace the link whose respective link reliability value fails to meet the threshold value, wherein the controller repeats the route discovery process at periodic intervals, wherein when the node performs the route discovery process at each periodic interval, the node includes a periodic identifier in a route request packet that the node sends during the route discovery process to differentiate the route request packet being sent during a periodic performance of the route discovery process from a normal route request packet. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for determining a route between nodes in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
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maintaining a respective link reliability value for each of a plurality of respective links between one of the nodes in the network and other nodes in the network; comparing the respective link reliability values to a threshold value; and controlling the node to issue a route warning message identifying any of the links whose respective link reliability value fails to meet the threshold value before the link has failed, wherein the link reliability value comprises a metric-per-hop value representing a ratio of cumulative route metrics for a route between a source node attempting to send a packet and a destination node to which that packet is addressed and a number of hops between the source and destination nodes; the method further comprising; comparing the metric-per-hop value to at least one threshold value; and controlling the source node to perform a route discovery process to discover another link to replace a link in the route whose metric-per-hop value fails to meet the at least one threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A node operating within a wireless communication network, the node comprising:
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a controller, operating to maintain a respective link reliability value for each of a plurality of respective links between the node and other nodes in the network, to compare the respective link reliability values to a threshold value, and to control the node to issue a route warning message identifying any of the links whose respective link reliability value fails to meet the threshold value before the link has failed, wherein the link reliability value comprises a metric-per-hop value representing a ratio of cumulative route metrics for a route between the node and a destination node to which a packet being sent from the node is addressed and a number of hops between the node and the destination node, wherein the controller compares the metric-per-hop value to at least one threshold value and controls the node to perform a route discovery process to discover another link to replace a link in the route whose metric-per-hop value fails to meet the at least one threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification