Multiple wireless spanning tree protocol for use in a wireless mesh network
First Claim
1. A method in a first mesh point of a mesh of wireless mesh points (a “
- wireless mesh network”
) in a wireless network, the method comprising;
establishing and/or maintaining, in collaboration with other wireless mesh points, a plurality of wireless spanning tree topologies in the wireless mesh network, the wireless mesh network substantially conforming to a wireless network standard, the wireless network standard providing a mechanism for a wireless network entity to wirelessly communicate with other wireless network entities using control/management frames for the exchange of wireless network information, the establishing and/or maintaining by running a respective plurality of instances (“
WSTP instances”
) of a wireless spanning tree protocol that substantially conforms to a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol, each WSTP instance defining a corresponding wireless spanning tree topology including a corresponding root wireless mesh point,wherein running a WSTP instance in the first wireless mesh point includes;
maintaining information on the spanning tree topology corresponding to the WSTP instance, the corresponding spanning tree topology being for a corresponding set of wireless mesh points that includes the first wireless mesh point, the corresponding spanning tree topology being for wirelessly communicating among the corresponding set of wireless mesh points, the maintained information including the identity of the corresponding root wireless mesh point for the corresponding spanning tree topology;
wirelessly sending a control/management frame including an indication that path cost information is encapsulated the control/management frame with the indication encapsulating the path cost information in the form of at least one path cost information element, andas a result of receiving a control/management frame, ascertaining if the received control/management frame encapsulate path cost information, and if there is encapsulated path cost information, updating the maintained information on the corresponding spanning tree topology, and accordingly modifying any path cost information element for sending in a path-cost-information-encapsulating control/management frame,wherein each root wireless mesh point is not required to have a wired network interface, andwherein each path cost information element includes a path cost designed for wireless communication that has more than one possible value between two mesh points that are connectable, and that may include a bridging protocol data unit (“
BPDU”
) that substantially conforms to a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol BPDU, but with a path cost different than a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol BPDU path cost in that the path cost is designed for wireless communication and has more than one possible value between two mesh points that are connectable.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for, a method of, and a computer carrier medium carrying code to cause a processor to execute a method. The method includes running a plurality of instances of a wireless spanning tree protocol in a wireless mesh node, each instance substantially conforming to the IEEE 802.1 standard. Running an instance of wireless spanning tree protocol including the wireless mesh point wirelessly transmitting BPDU information to other wireless mesh points of the network or wirelessly receiving BPDU information from other wireless mesh points, the BPDU information encapsulated in one or more control/management frames, e.g., beacon or probe response frames of a wireless network standard, the BPDU information relating to a spanning tree topology for the instance.
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Citations
61 Claims
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1. A method in a first mesh point of a mesh of wireless mesh points (a “
- wireless mesh network”
) in a wireless network, the method comprising;establishing and/or maintaining, in collaboration with other wireless mesh points, a plurality of wireless spanning tree topologies in the wireless mesh network, the wireless mesh network substantially conforming to a wireless network standard, the wireless network standard providing a mechanism for a wireless network entity to wirelessly communicate with other wireless network entities using control/management frames for the exchange of wireless network information, the establishing and/or maintaining by running a respective plurality of instances (“
WSTP instances”
) of a wireless spanning tree protocol that substantially conforms to a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol, each WSTP instance defining a corresponding wireless spanning tree topology including a corresponding root wireless mesh point,wherein running a WSTP instance in the first wireless mesh point includes; maintaining information on the spanning tree topology corresponding to the WSTP instance, the corresponding spanning tree topology being for a corresponding set of wireless mesh points that includes the first wireless mesh point, the corresponding spanning tree topology being for wirelessly communicating among the corresponding set of wireless mesh points, the maintained information including the identity of the corresponding root wireless mesh point for the corresponding spanning tree topology; wirelessly sending a control/management frame including an indication that path cost information is encapsulated the control/management frame with the indication encapsulating the path cost information in the form of at least one path cost information element, and as a result of receiving a control/management frame, ascertaining if the received control/management frame encapsulate path cost information, and if there is encapsulated path cost information, updating the maintained information on the corresponding spanning tree topology, and accordingly modifying any path cost information element for sending in a path-cost-information-encapsulating control/management frame, wherein each root wireless mesh point is not required to have a wired network interface, and wherein each path cost information element includes a path cost designed for wireless communication that has more than one possible value between two mesh points that are connectable, and that may include a bridging protocol data unit (“
BPDU”
) that substantially conforms to a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol BPDU, but with a path cost different than a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol BPDU path cost in that the path cost is designed for wireless communication and has more than one possible value between two mesh points that are connectable.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
- wireless mesh network”
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36. A first wireless mesh point comprising:
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a radio transceiver; a wireless MAC protocol processor coupled to the radio transceiver, such that the radio transceiver and MAC protocol processor combination is able to wirelessly send and receive frames substantially conforming to a wireless network standard; and a wireless spanning tree protocol processor coupled to the radio transceiver and configured to; establish a plurality of active spanning tree topologies in a wireless mesh network of a plurality of mesh points, the wireless mesh network substantially conforming to the wireless network standard, the wireless network standard providing a mechanism for a wireless network entity to wirelessly communicate with other wireless network entities using control/management frames for the exchange of wireless network information, the first wireless mesh point, and maintain information on each topology, each topology specifying the communication pathways between wireless mesh points in the wireless network, each spanning tree topology having a root mesh point, the maintained information including the identity of the root mesh point each topology determined according to a spanning tree protocol that substantially conforms to a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol but with a path cost different than a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol path cost in that the wireless spanning tree protocol path cost measure is designed for wireless communication and has one of a plurality of possible values for a path between two mesh points that are connectable, wherein each root wireless mesh point is not required to have a wired network interface, wherein the establishing of each spanning tree protocol of the plurality includes receiving spanning tree protocol capabilities from other wireless mesh points in control/management frames that encapsulate path cost information as one or more path cost information elements that may include bridge protocol data units (“
BPDUs”
), the path cost information announcing the spanning tree protocol capabilities of the first wireless mesh point for the topology by transmitting control/management frames that encapsulate path cost information as one or more path cost information elements for the topology,wherein each path cost information element includes the path cost measure designed that has one of a plurality of possible values for a path between two mesh points that are connectable, and wherein any BPDUs included in the one or more path cost information elements substantially conform to standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol BPDUs, but with a path cost different than a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol BPDU path cost in that the path cost is designed for wireless communication and has one of a plurality of possible values for a path between two mesh points that are connectable. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. An apparatus in a first wireless mesh point, the apparatus comprising:
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means for establishing and/or maintaining, in collaboration with other wireless mesh points, multiple instances of a spanning tree protocol (“
WSTP instances”
) in a wireless mesh network that includes the first wireless mesh point and the other wireless mesh points, the wireless mesh network conforming to a wireless network standard, each spanning tree protocol instance substantially conforming to a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol, the wireless network including the first wireless mesh point and at least two other wireless mesh points, the wireless network standard providing a mechanism for a wireless network entity to wirelessly communicate with other wireless network entities using control/management frames for the exchange of wireless network information, the means for establishing and/or maintaining comprising;means for maintaining information in the first wireless mesh point on a plurality of spanning tree topologies each determined according to a spanning tree protocol that substantially conforms to a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol using a wireless network path cost measure that can have a plurality of values for a path between two mesh points that are connectable, the maintained information for a topology including maintaining the identity of a root wireless mesh point of the spanning tree topology; and means for wirelessly transmitting bridging path cost information information for each topology as at least one path cost information element that may includes one or more bridge protocol data units (“
BPDUs”
) for the topology to other wireless mesh points of the network encapsulated in one or more control/management frames,wherein the root wireless mesh point is not required to have a wired network interface, and wherein the BPDUs substantially conforms to BPDUs according to the standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol, but with a path cost different than a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol BPDU path cost in that the path cost is designed for wireless communication and has one of a plurality of possible values for a path between two mesh points that are connectable. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A computer readable storage medium configured with computer readable code that when executed by a processor of a processing system in a first wireless mesh point to cause the first wireless mesh point to carry out a method, the processing system and the computer readable storage medium a first wireless mesh point, the computer readable storage medium configured with:
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code to cause establishing and/or maintaining, in collaboration with other wireless mesh nodes, multiple spanning tree topologies in a multi-hop wireless mesh network, each spanning tree topology according to a respective instance of a spanning tree protocol (“
WSTP instances”
) for a wireless mesh network, such that each WSTP instance substantially conforms to the standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol, the wireless network conforming to a wireless network standard, the wireless network including the first wireless mesh point and at least two other wireless mesh points, the first wireless mesh point including a transceiver coupled to the processor and configured to wirelessly transmit and receive frames, the wireless network standard providing a mechanism for a wireless network entity to wirelessly communicate with other wireless network entities using control/management frames for the exchange of wireless network information, the code to cause establishing and/or maintaining comprising;code to cause the processor to maintain information in the first wireless mesh point on the plurality of spanning tree topologies determined according to the spanning tree protocol that substantially conforms to a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol, but that uses a wireless network path cost measure that is designed for wireless communication and that has one of a plurality of values for a path between two connectable wireless mesh points, the maintained information for a topology including maintaining the identity of a root wireless mesh point of the spanning tree topology; and code to cause the transceiver to wirelessly transmit path cost information for each topology as one or mote path cost information elements that may include bridge protocol data units (“
BPDUs”
) for the topology, the transmitting to other wireless mesh points of the network, the path cost information encapsulated in one or more control/management frames,wherein each root wireless mesh point is not required to have a wired network interface, wherein each path cost information element includes the path cost measure designed that has one of a plurality of possible values for a path between two mesh points that are connectable, and wherein a BPDU substantially conforms to a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol BPDU but with a path cost different than a standard IEEE 802.1 spanning tree protocol BPDU path cost in that the path cost is designed for wireless communication and has one of a plurality of possible values for a path between two mesh points that are connectable. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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Specification