Defragmentation of communication channel allocations
First Claim
1. A method of medium access on a distributed communications network, wherein communication activities on the distributed communications network take place during communications windows, wherein a given communications window comprises a plurality of timeslots and a scheduling window that comprises a subset of the plurality of timeslots, the method comprising:
- a network device transmitting a beacon to other network devices on the distributed communications network during a first scheduling window of a first communications window, wherein the beacon comprises a reservation of timeslots during a second communications window, and wherein the beacon further comprises an indication of whether the reservation of timeslots conforms with a predetermined timeslot reservation protocol shared among the network devices on the distributed communications network; and
the network device modifying its reservation of timeslots such that its reservation does not conflict with the other network device'"'"'s reservation when the beacon indicates that the reservation of timeslots does not conform with the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol and the network device receives a preemption request from another network device on the distributed communications network indicating that the network device'"'"'s reservation conflicts with the other network device'"'"'s reservation of timeslots during the second communications window;
wherein the plurality of timeslots of the given communications window are arranged into a plurality of groups of contiguous timeslots, each group of the plurality having an equal number of timeslots;
wherein the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol allows network devices to make horizontal reservations and vertical reservations, a horizontal reservation comprising a reservation of a timeslot at a specific slot location from each group of contiguous timeslots of the plurality of groups, and a vertical reservation comprising a reservation of a plurality of contiguous timeslots within a group of contiguous timeslots of the plurality of contiguous timeslots;
wherein the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol maintains a portion of the plurality of timeslots for horizontal reservations; and
wherein the reservation of timeslots that does not conform with the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol comprises a vertical reservation within the portion of the plurality of timeslots for horizontal reservations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Approaches scheduling and allocation of communication bandwidth across a communication channel provide the opportunity for improved network utilization. A network device is configured to allocating its bandwidth utilization within a communication network, wherein bandwidth allocation is governed by a utilization policy. The network device conducts communication activities within the communication network. When the network device deviates from the utilization policy in scheduling or conducting network activities, a penalty can be imposed on the network device for deviating from the utilization policy. Where one or more network conditions exceed predetermined tolerance levels, the offending network device can be required to reallocate its scheduled activities.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of medium access on a distributed communications network, wherein communication activities on the distributed communications network take place during communications windows, wherein a given communications window comprises a plurality of timeslots and a scheduling window that comprises a subset of the plurality of timeslots, the method comprising:
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a network device transmitting a beacon to other network devices on the distributed communications network during a first scheduling window of a first communications window, wherein the beacon comprises a reservation of timeslots during a second communications window, and wherein the beacon further comprises an indication of whether the reservation of timeslots conforms with a predetermined timeslot reservation protocol shared among the network devices on the distributed communications network; and the network device modifying its reservation of timeslots such that its reservation does not conflict with the other network device'"'"'s reservation when the beacon indicates that the reservation of timeslots does not conform with the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol and the network device receives a preemption request from another network device on the distributed communications network indicating that the network device'"'"'s reservation conflicts with the other network device'"'"'s reservation of timeslots during the second communications window; wherein the plurality of timeslots of the given communications window are arranged into a plurality of groups of contiguous timeslots, each group of the plurality having an equal number of timeslots;
wherein the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol allows network devices to make horizontal reservations and vertical reservations, a horizontal reservation comprising a reservation of a timeslot at a specific slot location from each group of contiguous timeslots of the plurality of groups, and a vertical reservation comprising a reservation of a plurality of contiguous timeslots within a group of contiguous timeslots of the plurality of contiguous timeslots;wherein the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol maintains a portion of the plurality of timeslots for horizontal reservations; and wherein the reservation of timeslots that does not conform with the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol comprises a vertical reservation within the portion of the plurality of timeslots for horizontal reservations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A network device configured to operate within a distributed communication network, wherein communication activities on the distributed communications network take place during communications windows, wherein a given communications window comprises a plurality of timeslots and a scheduling window that comprises a subset of the plurality of timeslots, the network device comprising:
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a housing; at least one of a transmitter and receiver in the housing; control logic, comprising hardware or computer executable program code embodied on a non-transitory storage medium, within the housing and configured to perform the steps of; transmitting a beacon to other network devices on the distributed communications network during a first scheduling window of a first communications window, wherein the beacon comprises a reservation of timeslots during a second communications window, and wherein the beacon further comprises an indication of whether the reservation of timeslots conforms with a predetermined timeslot reservation protocol shared among the network devices on the distributed communications network; and the network device modifying its reservation of timeslots such that its reservation does not conflict with the other network device'"'"'s reservation when the beacon indicates that the reservation of timeslots does not conform with the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol and the network device receives a preemption request from another network device on the distributed communications network indicating that the network device'"'"'s reservation conflicts with the other network device'"'"'s reservation of timeslots during the second communications window, modifying the network device'"'"'s own reservation of timeslots such that its reservation does not conflict with the other network device'"'"'s reservation; wherein the plurality of timeslots of the given communications window are arranged into a plurality of groups of contiguous timeslots, each group of the plurality having an equal number of timeslots;
wherein the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol allows network devices to make horizontal reservations and vertical reservations, a horizontal reservation comprising a reservation of a timeslot at a specific slot location from each group of contiguous timeslots of the plurality of groups, and a vertical reservation comprising a reservation of a plurality of contiguous timeslots within a group of contiguous timeslots of the plurality of contiguous timeslots;wherein the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol maintains a portion of the plurality of timeslots for horizontal reservations; and wherein the reservation of timeslots that does not conform with the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol comprises a vertical reservation within the portion of the plurality of timeslots for horizontal reservations. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A non-transitory storage medium having executable program code embodied thereon, the executable program code configured to cause a network device to perform a medium access method on a distributed communications network, wherein communication activities on the distributed communications network take place during communications windows, wherein a given communications window comprises a plurality of timeslots and a scheduling window that comprises a subset of the plurality of timeslots, the method comprising:
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a network device transmitting a beacon to other network devices on the distributed communications network during a first scheduling window of a first communications window, wherein the beacon comprises a reservation of timeslots during a second communications window, and wherein the beacon further comprises an indication of whether the reservation of timeslots conforms with a predetermined timeslot reservation protocol shared among the network devices on the distributed communications network; and the network device modifying its reservation of timeslots such that its reservation does not conflict with the other network device'"'"'s reservation when the beacon indicates that the reservation of timeslots does not conform with the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol and the network device receives a preemption request from another network device on the distributed communications network indicating that the network device'"'"'s reservation conflicts with the other network device'"'"'s reservation of timeslots during the second communications window; wherein the plurality of timeslots of the given communications window are arranged into a plurality of groups of contiguous timeslots, each group of the plurality having an equal number of timeslots;
wherein the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol allows network devices to make horizontal reservations and vertical reservations, a horizontal reservation comprising a reservation of a timeslot at a specific slot location from each group of contiguous timeslots of the plurality of groups, and a vertical reservation comprising a reservation of a plurality of contiguous timeslots within a group of contiguous timeslots of the plurality of contiguous timeslots;wherein the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol maintains a portion of the plurality of timeslots for horizontal reservations; and wherein the reservation of timeslots that does not conform with the predetermined timeslot reservation protocol comprises a vertical reservation within the portion of the plurality of timeslots for horizontal reservations. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification