Content throughput on wireless mesh networks

• US 8,391,255 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2006
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ribiere, Vincent, Thubert, Pascal, Wetterwald, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Daniel, Jr., Willie J
• Application Number:
  US11/506,169
• Publication Number:
  US 20080043638A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,392 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/28 in relation to timing considerations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0875 with assigned priorities based access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an inbound data packet over a wireless link at a wireless intermediate network node. The inbound data packet indicates the packet was transmitted by a node at an edge of the mesh. The inbound data packet is associated with a low priority minimum wait interval and a low priority maximum wait interval for reducing contention on the wireless link. An outbound data packet based on the first data packet is transmitted over the wireless link after a wait time. The wait time is based on a high priority minimum wait interval and a high priority maximum wait interval for reducing contention. The low priority minimum wait interval is greater than the high priority minimum wait interval. These techniques allow long packet queues at the edge but quickly clear packets already forwarded by the mesh.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, over a wireless link at a wireless intermediate network node of a wireless mesh network, a first data packet that includes data that indicates that the first data packet was transmitted by a first sending node that is outside of a mesh backhaul, the first sending node being a wireless end node connected by a wire to a wired subnetwork, wherein the first data packet is associated with first configured values for a first minimum wait interval and a first maximum wait interval for reducing contention for the wireless link;

receiving, after receiving the first data packet, over the wireless link at the wireless intermediate network node of the wireless mesh network, a second data packet that includes data that indicates that the second data packet was transmitted by a second sending node that is inside the mesh backhaul;

identifying the second data packet as a best effort packet or a real time packet;

converting, if the second data packet is the real time packet, a priority of the second data packet to a first priority higher than a priority of the first data packet, wherein the conversion is based on the second data packet being received from inside the mesh backhaul and the first data packet being received from outside the mesh backhaul, wherein the conversion of the priority of the second data packet to the first priority is independent of a destination of the second data packet;

converting, if the second data packet is the best effort packet, the priority of the second data packet to a second priority lower than the first priority and higher than the priority of the first data packet, wherein the conversion of the priority of the second data packet to the second priority is independent of the destination of the second data packet; and

transmitting over the wireless link the second data packet prior to transmitting the first data packet based on the priority of the second data packet being higher than the priority of the first data packet,

wherein the second data packet is associated with second configured values for a different second minimum wait interval and a different second maximum wait interval for reducing contention for the wireless link, and

wherein the first minimum wait interval is set larger than the second minimum wait interval such that the second data packet clears the mesh backhaul before the first data packet is transmitted.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first minimum wait interval is greater than the second maximum wait interval.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises determining a maximum hop time for a data packet to hop to an adjacent intermediate network node in the wireless mesh network; and

the second minimum wait interval is not less than the maximum hop time.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the second minimum wait interval is substantively equal to the maximum hop time.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the first data packet is formatted as a frame of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard 802.11;

the IEEE 802.11 frame includes a priority queue field to indicate a particular queue of a plurality of priority queues;

a first queue of the plurality of priority queues is associated with the first configured values; and

the data that indicates that the first data packet is associated with the first configured values is data in the priority queue field of the first data packet that indicates the first queue.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein:

the second data packet is formatted as a frame of IEEE standard 802.11;

a different second queue of the plurality of priority queues is associated with the second configured values; and

transmitting the second data packet further comprising inserting data that indicates the second queue in the priority queue field of the second data packet.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the second maximum wait interval is equal to a maximum wait interval for sending an acknowledgement data packet, and transmitting the second data packet is performed instead of transmitting an acknowledgment data packet.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the second data packet includes data from the first data packet that uniquely identifies the first data packet to the sending node, and transmitting the second data packet has an effect substantively equivalent to transmitting an acknowledgement data packet.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of packets include the first packet and the plurality of packets accumulate at the wireless intermediate network node during the first minimum wait interval.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a wireless network interface that is in wireless communication with a packet-switched network for communicating a data packet;

one or more processors;

a computer-readable medium; and

one or more sequences of instructions stored in the computer-readable medium, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to;

receive, over the wireless network interface, a first data packet that includes data that indicates that the first data packet was transmitted by a sending node that is outside of a mesh backhaul, wherein the first data packet is associated with first configured values for a first minimum wait interval and a first maximum wait interval for reducing contention for the wireless network interface;

convert a priority of a second data packet to a higher priority than a priority of the first data packet based on the second data packet being received from inside the mesh backhaul and the first data packet being received from outside the mesh backhaul wherein the conversion of the priority of the second data packet is independent of a destination of the second data packet; and

transmit over the wireless network interface the second data packet based on second configured values for a different second minimum wait interval and a different second maximum wait interval for reducing contention for the wireless network interface,

wherein the first minimum wait interval is set greater than the second minimum wait interval such that the second data packet exits the mesh backhaul before the first data packet is transmitted by the wireless network interface.

11. An apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the first minimum wait interval is greater than the second maximum wait interval.

12. An apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to carry out the step of determining a maximum hop time for a data packet to hop to an adjacent intermediate network node in the wireless mesh network; and

the second minimum wait interval is not less than the maximum hop time.

13. An apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the second minimum wait interval is substantively equal to the maximum hop time.

14. A method comprising:

receiving, over a wireless link at a wireless intermediate network node of a wireless mesh network, a first data packet that includes data that indicates whether the first data packet was transmitted by a sending node that is outside of a mesh backhaul of the wireless mesh network or inside of the mesh backhaul;

converting a priority of the first data packet based on whether the first data packet was transmitted from outside of the mesh backhaul of the wireless mesh network or inside of the mesh backhaul, wherein the first data packet is given a higher priority if the first data packet is from inside of the mesh backhaul and given a lower priority if the first data packet is from outside of the mesh backhaul wherein the conversion of the priority of the first data packet is independent of a destination of the first data packet;

transmitting the first data packet based on the higher priority;

receiving a plurality of data packets of the lower priority at the wireless intermediate network node, wherein the plurality of data packets of the lower priority accumulate in a queue until the first data packet clears the mesh backhaul; and

transmitting at least one of the plurality of data packets of the lower plurality when the first data packet clears the mesh backhaul.

15. A network device for forwarding packets over a wireless mesh network including mesh edge nodes and a mesh backhaul of backhaul nodes comprising:

a wireless network interface configured to receive a data packet queued at an ingress of the wireless mesh network, wherein the data packet includes data indicating the data packet was transmitted by a type of sending node and data indicating a type of the data packet;

a controller configured to determine whether the type of the data packet is a best effort packet or a real time packet and configured to determine whether the type of sending node is a mesh edge node or a backhaul node;

wherein, in response to the type of the data packet being the best effort packet and the type of sending node being the backhaul node, the controller is configured to convert a first priority of the data packet at the ingress of the wireless mesh network to a second priority and conversion of the first priority of the data packet is independent of a destination of the data packet,

wherein, in response to the type of the data packet being the real time packet and the type of sending node being the backhaul node, the controller is configured to convert a third priority of the data packet at the ingress of the wireless mesh network to a fourth priority and conversion of the third priority of the data packet is independent of a destination of the data packet,

wherein, in response to the type of the data packet being the best effort packet and the type of sending node being the mesh edge node, the controller is configured to place the data packet in a queue assigned to the first priority,

wherein, in response to the type of the data packet being the real time packet and the type of sending node being the mesh edge node, the controller is configured to place the data packet in a queue assigned to the third priority,

wherein the controller is configured to set a wait interval of the fourth priority is lower than a wait interval of the third priority, the wait interval of the third priority lower than a wait interval of the second priority, and the wait interval of the second priority lower than a wait interval of the first priority, such that packets of the first priority and the second priority exit the mesh backhaul before packets of the third priority and the fourth priority are released into the mesh backhaul.

16. The network device of claim 15, wherein real time packets support voice telephony, video conferencing, or gaming and best effort packets support email, websites, or file transfer.