Wireless mesh network

• US 8,274,928 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2008
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Light S/A, Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Light S/A
• Inventors: Bouws, Brent K., Doman, Thomas J., Leete, Lawrence F. III, Schenck, William C., Guthrie, Warren E., Dykema, Kurt A.
• Primary Examiner(s): BLANTON, JOHN D
• Application Number:
  US12/141,759
• Publication Number:
  US 20080310350A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,560 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/390, 370/392, 370/406
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/32 Flooding denial of service attacks H04L63/1458
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/28 for reactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A wireless mesh network where a portion of the nodes have reduced receive sensitivity. The negative effects of the density of the wireless mesh network, such as interference, are reduced when fewer nodes receive messages to rebroadcast. In an alternative embodiment, some of the nodes of the mesh network are configured to not rebroadcast even if they receive a message. A method for configuring a dense mesh network is also provided. As many nodes as possible are discovered and registered in the network. Node characteristics of those nodes are adjusted to reduce or eliminate the negative effects of the dense mesh network so that additional nodes may be discovered and registered.

Claims

1. A wireless mesh network configured to reduce negative effects related to density of said wireless mesh network, said wireless mesh network comprising:

a plurality of nodes, wherein each of said plurality of nodes is configured to receive a message within a receive range having an adjustable size and selectively rebroadcasts said received message;

wherein said size of said receive range of each of said plurality of nodes receive range size is selected based on receive sensitivity, wherein said receive sensitivity of at least a first subset of said plurality of nodes is selected such that said adjustable size of said receive range at which a node receives a message is reduced; and

wherein said first subset of said plurality of nodes with reduced receive range do not rebroadcast received messages, and said plurality of nodes includes a second subset of said plurality of nodes without reduced receive range that selectively rebroadcast said received messages.

2. The wireless mesh network of claim 1 wherein said first subset of said plurality of nodes includes all of said plurality of nodes.

3. The wireless mesh network of claim 1 wherein said wireless mesh network includes a second subset of said plurality of nodes wherein said receive sensitivity of said second subset is selected such that said adjustable size of said receive range of each of said plurality of nodes in said second subset is greater than in said first subset.

4. The wireless mesh network of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of nodes includes a light control module.

5. The wireless mesh network of claim 1 wherein said first subset of said plurality of nodes are positioned relative to the remaining plurality of nodes to decrease negative effects resulting from density of said wireless mesh network.

6. A method for configuring a dense wireless mesh network including a plurality of rebroadcasting nodes to reduce negative effects related to density in said dense wireless mesh network, said method comprising:

discovering a first subset of the plurality of rebroadcasting nodes in the dense wireless mesh network;

registering the first subset of the plurality of rebroadcasting nodes; and

adjusting receive sensitivity of at least one of the nodes of the first subset of said plurality of rebroadcasting nodes to reduce negative effects related to density in said dense wireless mesh network, wherein reducing receive sensitivity of at least one of the nodes of the first subset of said plurality of rebroadcasting nodes reduces messages received by said first subset of said plurality of rebroadcasting nodes, wherein reducing messages received by said first subset of said plurality of rebroadcasting nodes reduces the messages rebroadcast by the first subset of said plurality of rebroadcasting nodes;

wherein said adjusting allows a second subset of said plurality of nodes to be discovered and registered.

7. The method for configuring a dense wireless mesh network of claim 6 wherein said first subset of said plurality of nodes includes all of said plurality of nodes.

8. The method for configuring a dense wireless mesh network of claim 6 wherein said discovering, registering, and adjusting receive sensitivity is repeated until all of the nodes in the mesh network are discovered and registered.

9. The method for configuring a dense wireless mesh network of claim 6 wherein adjusting receive sensitivity includes adjusting some of the plurality of nodes in the first subset to a different receive sensitivity than some of the other plurality of nodes in the first subset.

10. The method for configuring a dense wireless mesh network of claim 6 further comprising configuring the at least one of the nodes of said first subset of said plurality of nodes with reduced receive sensitivity to not rebroadcast received messages.

11. The method for configuring a dense wireless mesh network of claim 6 wherein said discovering includes receiving an acknowledgement ID at a gateway for each of said first subset of plurality of nodes.

12. The method for configuring a dense wireless mesh network of claim 6 wherein said registering includes transmitting a list of the subset of the plurality of nodes to a user interface and providing a user interface for associating each of the subset of the plurality of nodes with a physical location on a map whereby the user can adjust at least one of node receive sensitivity and a node rebroadcast state in the user interface to reduce the negative effects of the dense wireless mesh network.

13. A wireless mesh network for controlling lighting configured to reduce negative effects related to density of said wireless mesh network, said wireless mesh network comprising:

a gateway for transmitting light control messages;

a plurality of light control nodes, wherein each of said plurality of light control nodes is configured to receive a light control message within a link range and selectively rebroadcast said received light control message;

wherein said link range of each of said plurality of light control nodes is adjustable based on receive sensitivity, wherein said receive sensitivity of at least a first subset of said plurality of light control nodes is selected to reduce negative effects related to density of said wireless mesh network; and

wherein said first subset of said plurality of light control nodes are positioned relative to the remaining plurality of light control nodes to decrease negative effects resulting from density of said wireless mesh network.

14. The wireless mesh network of claim 13 wherein said first subset of said plurality of light control nodes includes all of said plurality of light control nodes.

15. The wireless mesh network of claim 13 wherein said wireless mesh network includes a second subset of said plurality of light control nodes wherein said receive sensitivity of said second subset is selected such that said link range of each of said plurality of light control nodes in said second subset is greater than in said first subset.

16. The wireless mesh network of claim 13 wherein a second subset of said plurality of light control nodes do not rebroadcast received messages.

17. The wireless mesh network of claim 13 wherein each of said plurality of light control nodes includes a light fixture.

18. The wireless mesh network of claim 13 wherein each of said plurality of light control nodes is electrically connected to a lighting fixture.

19. A wireless mesh network configured to reduce negative effects related to density of said wireless mesh network, said wireless mesh network comprising:

a plurality of nodes, wherein each of said plurality of nodes is configured to receive a message within a receive range having an adjustable size and selectively rebroadcasts said received message;

wherein said size of said receive range of each of said plurality of nodes receive range size is selected based on receive sensitivity, wherein said receive sensitivity of at least a first subset of said plurality of nodes is selected such that said adjustable size of said receive range at which a node receives a message is reduced; and

wherein said first subset of said plurality of nodes are positioned relative to the remaining plurality of nodes to decrease negative effects resulting from density of said wireless mesh network.

20. The wireless mesh network of claim 19 wherein said first subset of said plurality of nodes includes all of said plurality of nodes.

21. The wireless mesh network of claim 19 wherein said wireless mesh network includes a second subset of said plurality of nodes wherein said receive sensitivity of said second subset is selected such that said adjustable size of said receive range of each of said plurality of nodes in said second subset is greater than in said first subset.

22. The wireless mesh network of claim 19 wherein said first subset of said plurality of nodes with reduced receive range do not rebroadcast received messages, and said plurality of nodes includes a second subset of said plurality of nodes without reduced receive range that selectively rebroadcast said received messages.

23. The wireless mesh network of claim 19 wherein each of said plurality of nodes includes a light control module.