System and method for multihop packet forwarding

• US 7,782,835 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2007
• Issued: 08/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ozer, Sebnem Zorlu, Zheng, Heyun, Zeng, Surong, Ramachandran, Shyamal, Joshi, Avinash, Hasty, William V., Goldberg, Keith J., Barker, Jr., Charles R., Aggarwal, Pankaj, Gossain, Hrishikesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tsegaye, Saba
• Application Number:
  US11/622,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20070165592A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,320 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/313, 370/315, 370/328, 370/349, 370/400, 370/401, 455/422.1
• US Class Current: 370/349
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/26 Route discovery packet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/54 Organization of routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/26 for hybrid routing by combining proactive and reactive routing

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for multihop packet forwarding within a multihop wireless communication network. The method uses a data frame format including at least the four address fields to forward packets in a multihop wireless network. The method includes generating a route request packet at a routable device in response to receiving a packet destined for an unknown destination. The route request packet includes an originating device field including an address of an originating device, wherein the originating device generated the packet originally; and a source field, wherein the source field includes an address of the first routable device which generated the route request packet.

Claims

1. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network, the method comprising:

at a first routable device;

receiving a packet for a destination;

determining that no valid route information for the destination or for a proxy of the destination is stored within the first routable device; and

generating a route request packet comprising;

an originating device field including an address of an originating device, wherein the originating device generated the packet originally;

a source field, wherein the source field includes an address of the first routable device which generated the route request packet; and

a destination only bit, wherein the destination only bit is set to true when the type of terminating device is unknown by the first routable device.

2. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 1, wherein the originating device is a routable device.

3. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 1, wherein the route request packet is destined for an unknown destination.

4. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 1, wherein the originating device comprises the first routable device.

5. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 1, wherein the originating device comprises a non routable device proxied by the first routable device.

6. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 1, the method comprising:

at a destination routable device;

receiving the route request packet; and

generating a route reply packet when the destination routable device comprises one of a device selected from a group comprising a terminating device of the route request and a proxy for the terminating device,

wherein the route reply packet further comprises;

a terminating device field, wherein the terminating device field includes an address of a terminating device, wherein the terminating device is the device for which the route request packet is destined; and

a destination field, wherein the destination field includes an address of the destination routable device.

7. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 6, wherein the terminating device is a routable device.

8. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 6, wherein the terminating device is a non routable device.

9. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:

at an intermediate node;

receiving the route reply;

creating a reverse entry to the destination field;

comparing the terminating device field and the destination field of the route reply; and

updating a proxy entry within a proxy table for the terminating device to the destination address when the terminating device field address is different from the destination field address.

10. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

at an intermediate node;

receiving the route request packet.

11. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

at the intermediate node;

creating a reverse entry to the source field of the route request packet.

12. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

at the intermediate node;

comparing the originating device field and the source field of the route request packet; and

updating a proxy entry for the originating device to the address within the source field when the originating device field is different from the source field.

13. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

at the intermediate node;

generating a route reply to the first routable device, wherein the route reply comprises;

a destination field, wherein the destination field includes an address of the intermediate node; and

a terminating device field, wherein the terminating device field includes a destination address of a destination device of the packet, wherein the destination device is a routable device.

14. A method for communicating within a multihop wireless communications network as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

at the intermediate node;

searching the terminating device address of a received packet in a local proxy table of the intermediate node;

identifying the destination routable device to which the terminating device is proxied; and

forwarding the packet to a next hop towards the destination device by using a routing table of the intermediate node.