Wireless master-slave distributed communications network
First Claim
1. A master-slave distributed communications network comprising:
- a master node and a plurality of slave nodes operatively connected with the master node,said plurality of slave nodes including at least one intermediate slave node and at least one indirectly connected slave node connected with the master node by a route via the at least one intermediate slave node,said at least one indirectly connected slave node selecting said route to the master node substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A master-slave distributed communications network comprises a master node (10), a plurality of slave nodes (12 to 22), and links (VL) operatively interconnecting the slave nodes and the master node in accordance with a routing plan. Each slave node has means for storing an address of the next node in the routing plan for a message to be routed on an uplink to the master node and when sending a data packet to the master node it appends the prestored address and forwards the data packet to the next node. If the next node is not the master node, it, in turn, adds the prestored address of the next following slave node to the data packet thus lengthening the data packet and re-transmits it, and so on until the data packet reaches the master node.
For a downlink message, the master node (10) using a prestored routing table includes in the data packet the addresses of all the slave nodes on the selected route. As the data packet is progressed from slave node to slave node, the address of each slave node which has forwarded the data packet is deleted thus shortening the overall length of the data packet.
19 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A master-slave distributed communications network comprising:
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a master node and a plurality of slave nodes operatively connected with the master node, said plurality of slave nodes including at least one intermediate slave node and at least one indirectly connected slave node connected with the master node by a route via the at least one intermediate slave node, said at least one indirectly connected slave node selecting said route to the master node substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of operating a master-slave distributed radio communications network comprising:
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a master node and a plurality of slave nodes operatively connected with the master node, said plurality of slave nodes including at least one intermediate slave node and at least one indirectly connected slave node connected with the master node by a route via the at least one intermediate slave node, said at least one indirectly connected slave node selecting said route to the master node substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A slave station for use as a slave node in a distributed radio communications network including a master node and a plurality of slave nodes with at least one slave node being directly connected with the master node and at least a second slave node being indirectly connected with the master node using at least a third slave node between the second slave node and the master node, the slave station comprising:
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transceiving means for communicating with at least one of the master node and the plurality of slave nodes, first memory means for storing the address of the slave station, second memory means for storing the address of the next node in a route to the master node, and processing means coupled to the transceiving means and the first and second memory means for selecting said route to the master node substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. A master-slave distributed radio communications network comprising:
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a master node and a plurality of slave nodes, the master node and the respective slave nodes being operatively interconnected, with at least one slave node being directly connected with the master node and at least a second slave node being indirectly connected with the master node using at least one third slave node between the second slave node and the master node, said second slave node selecting a route to the master node substantially on the basis of at least a route reliability criterion, said second slave node and each of said at least one third slave node retaining an address of a next node in the selected route of a message to the master node and including means for changing a routing address contained in a received data packet with the retained address of the next node. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. A method of operating a master-slave distributed radio communications network including a master node and a plurality of slave nodes, the master node and the slave nodes being operatively interconnected, with at least one slave node being directly connected with the master node and at least a second slave node being indirectly connected with the master node using at least one third slave node between the second slave node and the master node, the method comprising:
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said second slave node selecting a route to the master node substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion, said second slave node sending a data packet to the master node by including a prestored address of the next node in said selected route to the master node and transmitting the data packet, said at least one third slave node, upon receiving the data packet, changing the address in the received data packet to an address of a next node in said selected route before transmitting said data packet to the next node on the selected route. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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- 20. A slave station for use as a slave node in a master-slave distributed radio communications network including a master node and a plurality of slave nodes with at least one slave node being directly connected with the master node and at least one second slave node being indirectly connected with the master node using at least one third slave node between the second slave node and the master node, said second slave node selecting a route to the master node substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion, the slave station comprising transceiving means for communicating with at least one of the master node and the plurality of slave nodes, first memory means for storing the address of the slave station, second memory means for storing the address of a next node in a route to the master node, and processing means coupled to the transceiving means and the first and second memory means for changing the address of the next node in a data packet to be transmitted to the master node with the stored address of a next node in the selected route to the master node at each subsequent receiving slave node.
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22. A master station for use in a master-slave distributed radio communications network including the master station and a plurality of slave nodes, with at least one slave node being directly connected with the master station and at least one second slave node being indirectly connected with the master station using at least a third slave node between the second slave node and the master station, said at least one second slave node selecting a route to the master station substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion, the master station comprising:
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transceiving means for communicating with the plurality of slave stations, memory means for storing routing data, and processing means for compiling routing information from the stored routing data and for changing the routing information in a data packet, the routing information comprising the address of a destination slave station and, where applicable, the address of the, or each, intermediate slave station(s) through which the data packet will be passed.
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23. A slave station for use as a slave node in a distributed radio communications network including a master node and a plurality of slave nodes with at least one slave node being directly connected with the master node and at least a second slave node being indirectly connected with the master node using at least a third slave node between the second slave node and the master node, the slave station comprising:
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a transceiver configured to communicate with at least one of the master node and the plurality of slave nodes, a first memory configured to store the address of the slave station, a second memory configured to store the address of the next node in a route to the master node, and a processor coupled to the transceiver, the first memory and the second memory and configured to select said route to the master node substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A master-slave distributed radio communications network comprising:
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a master node and a plurality of slave nodes, the master node and the respective slave nodes being operatively interconnected, with at least one slave node being directly connected with the master node and at least a second slave node being indirectly connected with the master node using at least one third slave node between the second slave node and the master node, said second slave node selecting a route to the master node substantially on the basis of at least a route reliability criterion, said second slave node and each of said at least one third slave node retaining an address of a next node in the selected route of a message to the master node and including a processor configured to change a routing address contained in a received data packet with the retained address of the next node. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A slave station for use as a slave node in a master-slave distributed radio communications network including a master node and a plurality of slave nodes with at least one slave node being directly connected with the master node and at least one second slave node being indirectly connected with the master node using at least one third slave node between the second slave node and the master node, said second slave node selecting a route to the master node substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion, the slave station comprising:
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a transceiver configured to communicate with at least one of the master node and the plurality of slave nodes, a first memory configured to store the address of the slave station, a second memory configured to store the address of a next node in a route to the master node, and a processor coupled to the transceiver, the first memory and the second memory and configured to change the address of the next node in a data packet to be transmitted to the master node with the stored address of a next node in the selected route to the master node at each subsequent receiving slave node. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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29. A master station for use in a master-slave distributed radio communications network including the master station and a plurality of slave nodes, with at least one slave node being directly connected with the master station and at least one second slave node being indirectly connected with the master station using at least a third slave node between the second slave node and the master station, said at least one second slave node selecting a route to the master station substantially on the basis of a route reliability criterion, the master station comprising:
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a transceiver configured to communicate with the plurality of slave stations, a memory configured to store routing data, and a processor configured to compile routing information from the stored routing data and for changing the routing information in a data packet, the routing information comprising the address of a destination slave station and, where applicable, the address of the, or each, intermediate slave station through which the data packet will be passed.
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Specification