Apparatus and method for managing packet routing through internally-powered network devices in wireless sensor networks
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving a synchronous timing message from a gateway as broadcast in a global data communication to a plurality of externally-powered nodes and a plurality of internally-powered nodes in a hybrid network, the global data communication occurring only at specific times and on specific channels;
initially configuring the plurality of externally-powered nodes and the plurality of internally-powered nodes as routers in a router role during an initialization phase, each of the plurality of internally-powered nodes selecting a primary node for message routing, the primary node being one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes if there is a direct data path to the one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes, the primary node being one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes if there is not a direct data path to one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes;
each of the plurality of internally-powered nodes periodically connecting with their selected primary node to provide a status update during an operations phase;
demoting the internally-powered node to a non-router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered node has received a beacon from a neighboring node or the internally-powered node has not received a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time; and
promoting the internally-powered node to a router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered node has received at least a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Various embodiments provide an apparatus and method for managing packet routing through internally-powered network devices in wireless sensor networks. An example embodiment includes a hybrid network having an externally-powered node and an internally-powered node, the method includes configuring a role that the internally-powered node will take during an operations phase of the hybrid network, the role including whether the internally-powered node will act as a router or a non-router; demoting the internally-powered node to a non-router role if the internally-powered node is not needed for routing; and promoting the internally-powered node to a router role if the internally-powered node is needed for routing.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
receiving a synchronous timing message from a gateway as broadcast in a global data communication to a plurality of externally-powered nodes and a plurality of internally-powered nodes in a hybrid network, the global data communication occurring only at specific times and on specific channels; initially configuring the plurality of externally-powered nodes and the plurality of internally-powered nodes as routers in a router role during an initialization phase, each of the plurality of internally-powered nodes selecting a primary node for message routing, the primary node being one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes if there is a direct data path to the one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes, the primary node being one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes if there is not a direct data path to one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes; each of the plurality of internally-powered nodes periodically connecting with their selected primary node to provide a status update during an operations phase; demoting the internally-powered node to a non-router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered node has received a beacon from a neighboring node or the internally-powered node has not received a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time; and promoting the internally-powered node to a router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered node has received at least a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. An internally-powered node comprising:
- a processor;
a network interface, coupled to the processor, to communicate with other nodes of a hybrid network; and
processing logic, executed by the processor, to receive a synchronous timing message from a gateway as broadcast in a global data communication to a plurality of externally-powered nodes and a plurality of internally-powered nodes in the hybrid network, the global data communication occurring only at specific times and on specific channels, to initially configure the internally-powered node as a router in a router role during an initialization phase, the internally-powered node selecting a primary node for message routing, the primary node being one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes if there is a direct data path to the one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes, the primary node being a different internally-powered node if there is not a direct data path to one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes, the internally-powered node periodically connecting with the selected primary node to provide a status update during an operations phase, to demote the internally-powered node to a non-router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered node has received a beacon from a neighboring node or the internally-powered node has not received a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time, and to promote the internally-powered node to a router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered node has received at least a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- a processor;
-
12. A hybrid network comprising:
-
a gateway; a plurality of externally-powered nodes in data communication with the gateway; and a plurality of internally-powered nodes in data communication with the gateway, at least one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes including processing logic to receive a synchronous timing message from the gateway as broadcast in a global data communication to the plurality of externally-powered nodes and the plurality of internally-powered nodes in the hybrid network, the global data communication occurring only at specific times and on specific channels, to initially configure the at least one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes as a router in a router role during an initialization phase, the at least one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes selecting a primary node for message routing, the primary node being one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes if there is a direct data path to the one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes, the primary node being a different internally-powered node if there is not a direct data path to one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes, the at least one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes periodically connecting with the selected primary node to provide a status update during an operations phase, to demote the at least one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes to a non-router role during the operations phase if the at least one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes has received a beacon from a neighboring node or the at least one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes has not received a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time, and to promote the at least one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes to a router role during the operations phase if the at least one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes has received at least a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having machine executable instructions embedded thereon, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:
-
receive a synchronous timing message from a gateway as broadcast in a global data communication to a plurality of externally-powered nodes and a plurality of internmally-powered nodes in a hybrid network, the global data communication occurring only at specific times and on specific channels; initially configure the plurality of externally-powered nodes and the plurality of internally-powered nodes as routers in a router role during an initialization phase, each of the plurality of internally-powered nodes selecting a primary node for message routing, the primary node being one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes if there is a direct data path to the one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes, the primary node being one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes if there is not a direct data path to one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes; each of the plurality of internally-powered nodes periodically connecting with their selected primary node to provide a status update during an operations phase; demote the internally-powered node to a non-router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered node has received a beacon from a neighboring node or the internally-powered node has not received a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time; and promote the internally-powered network node to a router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered network node has received at least a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time. - View Dependent Claims (18)
-
Specification