Neighbor node bus guardian scheme for a ring or mesh network

• US 7,729,297 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2004
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Driscoll, Kevin R., Hall, Brendan
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar; Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tsegaye; Saba
• Application Number:
  US10/993,936
• Publication Number:
  US 20050198280A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,020 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370221-228, 370/254, 370/255, 370/258, 370/389, 370/390, 370/400, 370/404, 709/239
• US Class Current: 370/258
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/43 with synchronous transmission, e.g. time division multiplex [TDM], slotted rings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/437 Ring fault isolation or reconfiguration for SDH/SONET ring networks H04J3/085

Abstract

In one embodiment, a node comprises an interface to communicatively couple the node to a channel. The channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor node in a first direction and to a second neighbor node in a second direction. When the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit and the node receives data from the first neighbor node via the channel, the node determines if the transmission of the data complies with a policy. When the transmission of the data does not comply with the policy, the node does at least one of: blocks the data from being relayed along the channel and relays the data along the channel with information indicating that the transmission of the data does not comply with the policy.

Claims

1. A node comprising:

an interface to communicatively couple the node to a channel;

wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor node in a first direction and to a second neighbor node in a second direction; and

wherein, when the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with a transmission schedule and the node receives at least a portion of a transmission sourced from the first neighbor node via the channel, the node determines if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule;

wherein if the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, the node does not relay the transmission along the channel; and

wherein the node is operable to transmit data sourced from the node when scheduled to do so in the transmission schedule.

2. The node of claim 1, wherein the node relays the data if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule along the channel to the second neighbor node.

3. The node of claim 1, wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the first direction and to a second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the second direction.

4. The node of claim 3, wherein the node relays the data if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule along the channel to the second neighbor node and to the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node.

5. The node of claim 1, wherein the node determines if the transmission complies with least one other policy, and wherein, if the transmission does not comply with the at least one other policy, the node does not relay the transmission along the channel.

6. The node of claim 5, wherein the at least one other policy comprises at least one of:

a directional integrity policy, a semantic filtering policy, and an encoding policy.

7. A node comprising:

an interface to communicatively couple the node to a channel;

wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor node in a first direction and to a second neighbor node in a second direction; and

wherein, when the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with a transmission schedule and the node receives at least a portion of a transmission sourced from the first neighbor node via the channel, the node determines if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule;

wherein if the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, the node relays the transmission along the channel with information indicating that the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

wherein the node is operable to transmit data sourced from the node when scheduled to do so in the transmission schedule.

8. The node of claim 7, wherein the node relays the data if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule.

9. The node of claim 7, wherein the node relays the data if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule along with information indicating that the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule.

10. The node of claim 7, wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the first direction and to a second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the second direction.

11. The node of claim 10, wherein:

the node forwards the data to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor;

the node receives other data from the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor; and

the node compares the data to the other data in order to determine if the transmission complies with a directional integrity policy; and

the node relays the data along with information indicative of the results of the comparison along the channel to the second neighbor node and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node.

12. A node comprising:

an interface to communicatively couple the node to a channel;

wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor node in a first direction and to a second neighbor node in a second direction; and

wherein, when the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with a transmission schedule and the node receives at least a portion of a transmission sourced from the first neighbor node via the channel, the node determines if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule;

wherein when the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, the node does at least one of;

blocks the transmission from being relayed along the channel; and

relays the transmission along the channel with information indicating that the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

wherein the node is operable to transmit data sourced from the node when scheduled to do so in the transmission schedule.

13. The node of claim 12, wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the first direction and to a second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the second direction.

14. The node of claim 13, wherein:

the node forwards the data to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor;

the node receives other data from the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor; and

the node compares the data to the other data in order to determine if the transmission complies with a directional integrity policy; and

the node includes, with the transmission, information indicative of the results of the comparison and relays the transmission and the information to the second neighbor and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor.

15. The node of claim 13, wherein the channel comprises:

a first direct link that communicatively couples the node to the first neighbor node via the channel;

a first skip link the communicatively couples the node to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node via the channel;

a second direct link that communicatively couples the node to the second neighbor node via the channel; and

a second skip link the communicatively couples the node to the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node via the channel.

16. The node of claim 13, wherein the node relays the transmission by relaying the transmission to the second neighbor node and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node.

17. The node of claim 13, wherein the interface communicatively couples the node to a second channel, wherein the second channel communicatively couples the node to the second neighbor node and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor in the second direction and to the first neighbor node and the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor in the first direction.

18. The node of claim 17, wherein:

when the second neighbor node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with a transmission schedule and the node receives at least a portion of a transmission sourced from the second neighbor node via the second channel, the node determines if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

when the transmission from the second neighbor node was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, the node does at least one of;

block the transmission received from the second neighbor node from being relayed along the second channel; and

relay the transmission received from the second neighbor node along the second channel with information indicating that the transmission received from the second neighbor node was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule.

19. The node of claim 17, wherein the second channel comprises a ring.

20. The node of claim 17, wherein the node relays the transmission received from the second neighbor node by relaying that transmission to the first neighbor node and the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node along the second channel.

21. The node of claim 12, wherein the node relays the transmission if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule.

22. The node of claim 12, wherein the node determines if the transmission complies with least one other policy, and wherein, if the transmission does not comply with the at least one other policy, wherein the policy comprises at least one of:

a temporal policy, a directional integrity policy, a semantic filtering policy, and an encoding policy.

23. The node of claim 12, wherein the node determines if the transmission complies with least one other policy, and wherein, if the transmission does not comply with the at least one other policy, wherein the policy comprises a temporal policy and, if the transmission of the data does not comply with the temporal policy, the node does not relay the transmission along the channel.

24. The node of claim 12, wherein the channel comprises a ring.

25. The node of claim 12, wherein the transmission received from the first neighbor node comprises at least one frame of data.

26. The node of claim 12, wherein the information indicating that the transmission received from the first neighbor node was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule comprises at least one of an appended field that is appended to the transmission received from the first neighbor node and a shared field included in the transmission received from the first neighbor node.

27. A network comprising:

a plurality of nodes that are communicatively coupled to one another over a first channel;

wherein the channel communicatively couples each node to a first neighbor node in a first direction and to a second neighbor node in a second direction; and

wherein, for each node, when the first neighbor node of that node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with a transmission schedule and that node receives at least a portion of a transmission sourced from that first neighbor node via the channel, that node determines if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule;

wherein when the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, that node does not relay the transmission along the channel; and

wherein each node is operable to transmit data sourced from that node when scheduled to do so in the transmission schedule.

28. The network of claim 27, wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the first direction and to a second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the second direction.

29. The network of claim 27, wherein the node determines if the transmission complies with least one other policy, and wherein, if the transmission does not comply with the at least one other policy, the node does not relay the transmission along the channel.

30. The network of claim 29, wherein the at least one other policy comprises one of:

a directional integrity policy, a semantic filtering policy, and an encoding policy.

31. A network comprising:

a plurality of nodes that are communicatively coupled to one another over a first channel;

wherein the channel communicatively couples each node to a first neighbor node in a first direction and to a second neighbor node in a second direction; and

wherein, for each node, when the first neighbor node of that node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with a transmissions schedule and that node receives at least a portion of a transmission from that first neighbor node via the channel, that node determines if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, wherein when the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, that node relays the data along the channel with information indicating that the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmissions schedule; and

wherein each node is operable to transmit data sourced from that node when scheduled to do so in the transmission schedule.

32. The network of claim 31, wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the first direction and to a second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the second direction.

33. The network of claim 32, wherein:

the node forwards the data to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor;

the node receives other data from the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor; and

the node compares the data to the other data in order to determine if the transmission complies with a directional integrity policy; and

the node includes, with the transmission, information indicative of the results of the comparison and relays the transmission and the information to the second neighbor and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor.

34. A network comprising:

a plurality of nodes that are communicatively coupled to one another over a first channel;

wherein the channel communicatively couples each node to a first neighbor node in a first direction and to a second neighbor node in a second direction; and

wherein, for each node, when the first neighbor node of that node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with a transmission schedule and that node receives at least a portion of a transmission from that first neighbor node via the channel, that node determines if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, wherein when the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with transmission schedule, that node does at least one of;

block the transmission from being relayed along the channel; and

relay the transmission along the channel with information indicating that the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

wherein each node is operable to transmit data sourced from that node when scheduled to do so in the transmission schedule.

35. The network of claim 34, wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the first direction and to a second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node in the second direction.

36. The network of claim 35, wherein:

that node forwards the data to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor of that node;

that node receives other data from that first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor; and

that node compares the data to the other data in order to determine if the transmission complies with a directional integrity policy; and

that node includes, with the transmission, information indicative of the results of the comparison and relays the transmission and the information to the second neighbor node of that node and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node.

37. The network of claim 35, wherein the channel comprises, for each node:

a first direct link that communicatively couples that node to the first neighbor node of that node via the channel;

a first skip link the communicatively couples that node to the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node via the channel;

a second direct link that communicatively couples that node to the second neighbor node of that node via the channel; and

a second skip link the communicatively couples that node to the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node via the channel.

38. The network of claim 35, wherein that node relays the transmission by relaying the transmission to the second neighbor node of that node and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node.

39. The network of claim 35, wherein a second channel communicatively couples each node to the second neighbor node of that node and the second neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node in the second direction and to the first neighbor node of that node and the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node of that node in the first direction.

40. The network of claim 39, wherein:

when the second neighbor node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with the transmission schedule and the node receives at least a portion of a transmission from the second neighbor node via the second channel, the node determines if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

when the transmission received from the second neighbor node was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, the node does at least one of;

blocks the transmission received from the second neighbor node from being relayed along the second channel; and

relays the transmission received from the second neighbor node along the second channel with information indicating that the transmission received from the second neighbor node was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule.

41. The network of claim 39, wherein the second channel comprises a ring.

42. The network of claim 39, wherein the node relays the transmission received from the second neighbor node by relaying that transmission to the first neighbor node and the first neighbor'"'"'s neighbor node along the second channel.

43. The network of claim 34, wherein the node determines if the transmission complies with least one other policy, and wherein, if the transmission does not comply with the at least one other policy, wherein the policy comprises at least one of:

a temporal transmission policy, a directional integrity policy, a semantic filtering policy, and an encoding policy.

44. The network of claim 34, wherein the node determines if the transmission complies with least one other policy, and wherein, if the transmission does not comply with the at least one other policy, wherein the policy comprises a temporal transmission policy and, if the data received by that node for that first neighbor node does not comply with the temporal transmission policy, that node does not relay the transmission along the channel.

45. The network of claim 34, wherein the channel comprises a ring.

46. The network of claim 34, wherein the transmission received from that first neighbor node comprises at least one frame of data.

47. The network of claim 34, wherein the information indicating that the transmission received from that first neighbor node was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule comprises at least one of an appended field that is appended to the transmission received from that first neighbor node and a shared field included in the transmission received from that first neighbor node.

48. A method of communicating in a network comprising a plurality of nodes that are communicatively coupled to one another over at least a channel, the method comprising:

at each node;

determining when a first neighbor node of that node is scheduled to transmit on the channel in accordance with a transmission schedule;

when the first neighbor node of that node is scheduled to transmit on the channel;

receiving at least a portion of a transmission transmitted by the first neighbor node of that node;

determining if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule;

if the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule;

blocking the transmission from being relayed along the channel; and

relaying the transmission along the channel with information indicating that the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule, relaying the transmission along the channel; and

determining when that node is scheduled to transmit data sourced from that node in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

when that node is scheduled to transmit data sourced from that node in accordance with the transmission schedule, transmitting data sourced from that node.

49. A node comprising:

means for communicatively coupling the node to a channel, where the channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor node in a first direction and to a second neighbor node in a second direction;

means for determining when the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with a transmission schedule;

means for receiving at least a portion of transmission transmitted by the first neighbor node when the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit;

means for determining if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule;

means for doing at least one of the following if the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule;

blocking the transmission from being relayed along the channel; and

relaying the transmission along the channel with information indicating that the transmission was not transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

means for relaying the transmission along the channel if the transmission was transmitted in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

means determining when that node is scheduled to transmit data sourced from that node in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

means transmitting data sourced from that node when that node is scheduled to do so.

50. A node comprising:

an interface to communicatively couple the node to a channel, wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a plurality of receive-from nodes from which the node receives data on the channel;

wherein one of the receive-from nodes is a primary receive-from node;

wherein, when the primary receive-from node is scheduled to transmit in accordance with a transmission schedule and the node receives data from the primary receive-from node via the channel, the node determines if the transmission of the data was done in accordance with the transmission schedule;

wherein when the transmission of the data was not done in accordance with the transmission schedule, the node does at least one of;

blocking the data from being relayed along the channel; and

relaying the data along the channel with information indicating that the transmission of the data was not done in accordance with the transmission schedule; and

wherein when the transmission of the data was net done in accordance with the transmission schedule, the node relays the data along the channel; and

wherein the node is operable to transmit data sourced from the node when scheduled to do so in the transmission schedule.

51. The node of claim 50, wherein the channel is formed in at least one of a mesh and a ring.

52. The node of claim 50, wherein the channel communicatively couples the node to a plurality of transmit-to nodes and wherein, when the node relays the date along the channel, the node relays the data to the plurality of transmit-to nodes.

53. The node of claim 50, wherein the interface couples the node to a plurality of channels.