Balancing clusters of a wireless mesh network
First Claim
1. A method of propagating information regarding a size of a cluster within a wireless mesh network, comprising:
- a gateway within the cluster maintaining information of access nodes within the cluster;
the gateway determining a cluster size based on the maintained information, wherein the cluster size is based on a number of access nodes within the cluster;
the gateway including its cluster size within routing packets;
wherein each connecting access node not within the cluster determines whether to route through the gateway based at least in part on the cluster size of the gateway, and additionally based on a number of devices that are downstream from the connecting access node.
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Abstract
An apparatus and method of propagating a size of a cluster within a wireless mesh network is disclosed. The method includes a gateway within the cluster maintaining information of access nodes within the cluster. The gateway determines a cluster size based on the maintained information, and transmits routing packets that include the cluster size of the gateway. An apparatus and method of balancing clusters of a wireless mesh network is also disclosed. The method includes the gateway of each cluster originating beacons, wherein the beacons include a size of the cluster of the gateway. The access nodes of each cluster, re-broadcasts beacons received from the gateway of the cluster. A connecting access node selects which cluster to connect to at least in part based on the size of each of the clusters.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of propagating information regarding a size of a cluster within a wireless mesh network, comprising:
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a gateway within the cluster maintaining information of access nodes within the cluster; the gateway determining a cluster size based on the maintained information, wherein the cluster size is based on a number of access nodes within the cluster; the gateway including its cluster size within routing packets; wherein each connecting access node not within the cluster determines whether to route through the gateway based at least in part on the cluster size of the gateway, and additionally based on a number of devices that are downstream from the connecting access node. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of balancing clusters of a wireless mesh network, each cluster comprising a gateway, the method comprising:
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the gateway of each cluster originating beacons, the beacons comprising a size of the cluster of the gateway, wherein the size of the cluster is based on a number of access nodes within the cluster; the access nodes of each cluster, re-broadcasting beacons received from the gateway of the cluster; a connecting access node selecting which cluster to connect to based on the size of each of the clusters, wherein the connecting access node is not within the clusters, and the connecting access node estimating a projected cluster size by summing the size of each cluster with a number of nodes downstream from the connecting access node, and the connecting access node using the projected cluster size in its routing selection. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of a connecting access node selecting a routing path, comprising:
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the connecting access node evaluating a plurality of clusters of a wireless mesh network, wherein the connecting access node is not within the plurality of clusters; the connecting access node selecting a routing path to a gateway of the wireless mesh network based on a combination of routing selection parameters, one of the parameters being a size of each of the clusters, wherein the size of each cluster is based on a number of access nodes within the cluster, and wherein the connecting access node estimates a projected cluster size by summing the size of each cluster with a number of nodes downstream from the connecting access node, and the connecting access node using the projected cluster size in its routing selection. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of a connecting access node selecting a transmission channel, comprising:
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the connecting access node evaluating transmission channels of a plurality of clusters of a wireless mesh network, wherein the connecting access node is not within the plurality of clusters; the connecting access node selecting a transmission channel based on a combination of selection parameters, one of the parameters being the size of the clusters, wherein the size of each cluster is based on a number of access nodes within the cluster, and wherein the connecting access node estimates a projected cluster size by summing the size of each cluster with a number of nodes downstream from the connecting access node, and the connecting access node additionally uses the projected cluster size in its transmission channel selection. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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Specification