Method for disseminating geolocation information for network infrastructure devices
First Claim
1. A method for disseminating geographical location information between network devices, comprising:
- obtaining a geographical location of a reference network device;
storing the geographical location; and
supporting a network time protocol that facilitates distance estimation between the reference network device and one or more other network devices by synchronizing their clocks;
wherein the geographical location is provided to at least one of the one or more other network devices for determining a geographical location of the at least one of the one or more other network devices using packet exchanges based on the clock synchronization; and
wherein a mechanism is provided to selectively identify and authenticate at least one network device as being authorized to act as the reference network device to the at least one of the one or more other network devices.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A scheme is provided for distributing reference geographical locations on a network. Geolocation information is integrated or associated with one or more network infrastructure devices to permit them to serve as reference points for the rest of the network. A reference geographical location associated with a network infrastructure device may be broadcast by the network infrastructure device over a network. Alternatively, other network devices may request reference geographical location from a network infrastructure device or obtain it from a network-accessible database that stores such geolocation information. Other network devices can then use the one or more reference geographical locations to determine their own geographical location. By allowing existing network devices to take advantage of the geolocation capability of its “neighboring” network devices, this scheme provides a convenient way to deliver geolocation to many network devices.
40 Citations
47 Claims
-
1. A method for disseminating geographical location information between network devices, comprising:
-
obtaining a geographical location of a reference network device; storing the geographical location; and supporting a network time protocol that facilitates distance estimation between the reference network device and one or more other network devices by synchronizing their clocks; wherein the geographical location is provided to at least one of the one or more other network devices for determining a geographical location of the at least one of the one or more other network devices using packet exchanges based on the clock synchronization; and wherein a mechanism is provided to selectively identify and authenticate at least one network device as being authorized to act as the reference network device to the at least one of the one or more other network devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A network device comprising:
-
an input interface configured to obtain a geographical location associated with the network device; a processing circuit coupled to the input interface and configured to obtain the geographical location from the interface, store the geographical location and support a network time protocol that facilitates distance estimation between the reference network device and one or more other network devices by synchronizing their clocks; and an output interface coupled to the processing circuit to transmit the geographical location to at least one of the one or more other network devices for determining a geographical location of the at least one of the one or more other network devices using packet exchanges based on the clock synchronization, wherein a mechanism is provided to selectively identify and authenticate the network device as being authorized to act as a reference network device to the at least one of the one or more other network devices. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
-
36. An apparatus, comprising:
-
means for obtaining a geographical location of a reference network device; means for storing the geographical location; and means for supporting a network time protocol that facilitates distance estimation between the reference network device and one or more other network devices by synchronizing their clocks; and wherein the geographical location is provided to at least one of the one or more other network devices for determining a geographical location of the at least one of the one or more other network devices using packet exchanges based on the clock synchronization; and wherein a mechanism is provided to selectively identify and authenticate at least one network device as being authorized to act as the reference network device to the at least one of the one or more other network devices. - View Dependent Claims (37)
-
-
38. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having one or more instructions for enabling a network device to facilitate propagation of geographical location information, which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:
-
obtain a reference geographical location associated with a second network device; synchronize a first clock in the network device with a second clock in the second network device, the synchronized first and second clocks facilitating a direct one-way trip time measurement between the network device and the second network device; obtain a one-way distance between the network device and the second network device based on the direct one-way trip time measurement using packet exchanges; obtain a geographical location associated with the network device based on the reference geographical location and the one-way distance; and provide the geographical location to a third network device to enable the third network device to obtain its own geographical location, wherein a mechanism is provided to selectively identify and authenticate the network device as being authorized to act as a reference network device to the third network device. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
-
-
44. A method for disseminating geographical location information across a communication network, comprising:
-
providing a reference geographical location from a reference network device to other network devices, wherein a mechanism is provided to identify and authenticate at a first network device of the other network devices as being authorized to request the reference geographical location; synchronizing clocks between the reference network device and the first network device to facilitate a one-way trip time measurement between the reference network device and the first network device; obtaining a distance between the reference network device and the first network device based on the one-way trip time measurement using packet exchanges occurring over the transmission lines; and obtaining a geographical location for the first network device based on the reference geographical location and the distance between the reference network device and the first network device. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46)
-
-
47. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having one or more instructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:
-
obtain a geographical location of a reference network device; store the geographical location; and support a network time protocol that facilitates distance estimation between the reference network device and one or more other network devices by synchronizing their clocks; wherein the geographical location is provided to at least one of the one or more other network devices for determining a geographical location of the at least one of the one or more other network devices using packet exchanges based on the clock synchronization; and wherein a mechanism is provided to selectively identify and authenticate at least one network device as being authorized to act as the reference network device to the at least one of the one or more other network devices.
-
Specification