Method and apparatus for a node to determine a proper duty cycle within an ad-hoc network

• US 7,715,352 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2006
• Issued: 05/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Huang, Jian, Chiou, Wayne, Shi, Qicai
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, David Q
• Application Number:
  US11/275,670
• Publication Number:
  US 20070174465A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,568 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 455/434, 455/435.2, 445/445, 445/517
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and apparatus for determining a node'"'"'s proper duty cycle is provided herein. All nodes (500) within a network (100) will interactively switch duty-cycles based on a number of hops a device is from a personal area network coordinator PNC. Changing duty cycles based on a number of hops from a PNC assures that spatial patterns of duty-cycles form in a network to maximize data throughput and minimize network wide power consumptions.

Claims

1. A method for a node to determine a proper duty cycle (DC) within an ad-hoc network, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a number of hops the node is from a coordinating node; and

adjusting the duty cycle based on the number of hops the node is from the coordinating node.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps of determining the number of hops the node is from the coordinating node comprises the step of determining the number of hops the node is from a personal area network coordinator (PNC).

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of adjusting the duty cycle comprises the step of adjusting the duty cycle by modifying a superframe order (SO).

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the duty cycle is set to DC=SD/BI=2^(SO)/2^(BO), where BI is a beacon interval and SD is a superframe length and wherein BO=0, 1, 2, . . . 14 and SD=2^(SO) where SO=1, 2, . . . BO.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of adjusting the duty cycle further comprises the step of adjusting the duty cycle based on a required data throughput (R).

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the duty cycle is set to a maximum value when R is larger than a first threshold R1.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the duty cycle is set to a minimum value when R is less than a second threshold R2.

8. An apparatus comprising:

logic circuitry determining a number of hops the node is from a coordinating node and adjusting the duty cycle based on the number of hops the node is from the coordinating node.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the coordinating node comprises a personal area network coordinator (PNC).

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the logic circuitry modifies a superframe order (SO) to adjust the duty cycle.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the duty cycle is set to DC=SD/BI=2^(SO)/2^(BO), where BI is a beacon interval and SD is a superframe length and wherein BO=0, 1, 2, . . . 14 and SD=2^(SO) where SO=1, 2, . . . BO.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the logic circuitry further adjusts the duty cycle based on a required data throughput (R).

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the duty cycle is set to a maximum value when R is larger than a first threshold R1.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the duty cycle is set to a minimum value when R is less than a second threshold R2.