Communication terminal and communication network
First Claim
1. A communication terminal for use in a communication network formed by a plurality of communication terminals that communicate with each other, the plurality of communication terminals having respective identifiers (IDs), the communication terminal being one of the plurality of communication terminals, the communication terminal comprising:
- a communication control unit controlling operations of the communication terminal, the operations including transmitting data to the plurality of communication terminals and receiving data from the plurality of communication terminals;
a source and destination analyzer for analyzing received data to obtain the IDs of a source terminal and a destination terminal of the received data;
a neighboring terminal ID analyzer for analyzing the received data to obtain the ID of a neighboring terminal from which the data was directly received;
an expiration time storage unit for storing an initial value of a relay time, the initial value being greater than zero; and
a routing control cache for holding at least one destination terminal ID and an associated relay terminal ID, and an associated relay time, and decrementing the associated relay time as time elapses;
wherein the communication control unitadds the ID of the source terminal obtained by the source and destination analyzer and the ID obtained by the neighboring terminal ID analyzer to the routing control cache as a new destination terminal ID and associated neighboring relay terminal ID if they are not already stored in the routing control cache as a destination terminal ID and associated neighboring relay terminal ID, also writing the initial value of the relay time in the routing control cache in association with the new destination terminal ID and neighboring relay terminal ID,compares the ID of the destination terminal obtained by the source and destination analyzer with the at least one destination terminal ID stored in the routing control cache to decide whether to route the received data toward the destination terminal,restores the associated relay time held in the routing control cache to the initial value if the source terminal of the received data and the ID of the neighboring terminal are already stored in the routing control cache as a destination terminal ID and associated neighboring relay terminal ID,deletes a destination terminal ID and associated neighboring relay terminal ID from the routing control cache when the associated relay time reaches zero,relays the received data to all neighboring terminals having IDs held in the routing control cache as relay terminal IDs in association with the ID of the destination terminal of the received data, andabandons the received data if the ID of the destination terminal of the received data is not held in the routing control cache as a destination terminal ID.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Routing schemes are provided for a communication network. In one scheme, destination terminals and associated neighboring terminals are listed in a routing control cache at each communication terminal in the network, and packets are routed toward the destination terminal through the associated neighboring terminals. In another scheme, a single path from a source terminal to a destination terminal is automatically expanded into multiple paths. In yet another scheme, packets are routed as long as this does not increase the number of hops to the destination terminal. These schemes enable multiple paths to be established by a simple procedure not requiring complex distance calculations. In still another scheme, routing is restricted to the shortest path and paths up to a given number of hops longer than the shortest path, permitting paths to diverge in multiple directions from the source and destination terminals.
17 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A communication terminal for use in a communication network formed by a plurality of communication terminals that communicate with each other, the plurality of communication terminals having respective identifiers (IDs), the communication terminal being one of the plurality of communication terminals, the communication terminal comprising:
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a communication control unit controlling operations of the communication terminal, the operations including transmitting data to the plurality of communication terminals and receiving data from the plurality of communication terminals; a source and destination analyzer for analyzing received data to obtain the IDs of a source terminal and a destination terminal of the received data; a neighboring terminal ID analyzer for analyzing the received data to obtain the ID of a neighboring terminal from which the data was directly received; an expiration time storage unit for storing an initial value of a relay time, the initial value being greater than zero; and a routing control cache for holding at least one destination terminal ID and an associated relay terminal ID, and an associated relay time, and decrementing the associated relay time as time elapses; wherein the communication control unit adds the ID of the source terminal obtained by the source and destination analyzer and the ID obtained by the neighboring terminal ID analyzer to the routing control cache as a new destination terminal ID and associated neighboring relay terminal ID if they are not already stored in the routing control cache as a destination terminal ID and associated neighboring relay terminal ID, also writing the initial value of the relay time in the routing control cache in association with the new destination terminal ID and neighboring relay terminal ID, compares the ID of the destination terminal obtained by the source and destination analyzer with the at least one destination terminal ID stored in the routing control cache to decide whether to route the received data toward the destination terminal, restores the associated relay time held in the routing control cache to the initial value if the source terminal of the received data and the ID of the neighboring terminal are already stored in the routing control cache as a destination terminal ID and associated neighboring relay terminal ID, deletes a destination terminal ID and associated neighboring relay terminal ID from the routing control cache when the associated relay time reaches zero, relays the received data to all neighboring terminals having IDs held in the routing control cache as relay terminal IDs in association with the ID of the destination terminal of the received data, and abandons the received data if the ID of the destination terminal of the received data is not held in the routing control cache as a destination terminal ID. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification