Apparatus and method for redundant connectivity and multi-channel operation of wireless devices
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- transmitting at least one message from a wireless device in a wireless network to at least a first access point in the wireless network, the wireless network including a plurality of access points;
determining, by the wireless device, whether at least one acknowledgement message is received at the wireless device from at least one of the access points;
in response to determining that the at least one acknowledgement message has not been received, transmitting the at least one message from the wireless device to a second access point in the wireless network, wherein the second access point is a different device than the first access point; and
receiving the at least one acknowledgement message at the wireless device from at least one of the access points;
wherein the at least one message includes a group identifier that identifies intended access points associated with the message, andwherein the at least one access point that receives the at least one message from the wireless device determines that the at least one access point is associated with the group identifier and identifies a time or position to transmit the at least one acknowledgement message to the wireless device.
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Abstract
A wireless network includes leaf nodes (such as wireless sensors or other wireless devices) and infrastructure nodes (such as access points). The leaf nodes communicate data messages to the infrastructure nodes. The infrastructure nodes communicate the data messages to gateway infrastructure nodes, which transmit the data messages over a wired network. The leaf nodes may communicate data messages to multiple infrastructure nodes in various ways. For example, the leaf nodes may transmit multiple messages, one at a time, to multiple infrastructure nodes. The leaf nodes may also broadcast a single message to multiple infrastructure nodes. In addition, the leaf nodes may communicate a single message containing a group identifier (such as a multi-cast group address) associated with multiple infrastructure nodes. In this way, communications from the leaf nodes may be more reliable. This may be particularly useful, for example, in networks such as 802.11-based networks.
35 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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transmitting at least one message from a wireless device in a wireless network to at least a first access point in the wireless network, the wireless network including a plurality of access points; determining, by the wireless device, whether at least one acknowledgement message is received at the wireless device from at least one of the access points; in response to determining that the at least one acknowledgement message has not been received, transmitting the at least one message from the wireless device to a second access point in the wireless network, wherein the second access point is a different device than the first access point; and receiving the at least one acknowledgement message at the wireless device from at least one of the access points; wherein the at least one message includes a group identifier that identifies intended access points associated with the message, and wherein the at least one access point that receives the at least one message from the wireless device determines that the at least one access point is associated with the group identifier and identifies a time or position to transmit the at least one acknowledgement message to the wireless device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus comprising:
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a memory configured to store data to be transmitted; a controller configured to generate a message containing at least some of the data to be transmitted; a wireless transceiver configured to transmit the message to at least a first access point in the wireless network, the wireless network including a plurality of access points; a local power supply configured to supply power to the memory, the controller, and the wireless transceiver; wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether the wireless transceiver to receives at least one acknowledgement message from at least one of the access points and, in response to determining that the at least one acknowledgement message has not been received, to initiate transmission of the at least one message to a second access point in the wireless network, wherein the second access point is a different device than the first access point; and
to receive, via the wireless transceiver, the at least one acknowledgement message at the wireless device from at least one of the access points;wherein the at least one message includes a group identifier that identifies intended access points associated with the message, and wherein the at least one access point that receives the at least one message from the wireless transceiver determines that the at least one access point is associated with the group identifier and identifies a time or position to transmit the at least one acknowledgement message to the wireless transceiver. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a computer program, the computer program comprising computer readable program code for:
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initiating transmission of at least one message from a wireless device in a wireless network to at least a first access point in the wireless network, the wireless network including a plurality of access points; determining, at the wireless device, whether at least one acknowledgement message is received at the wireless device from at least one of the access points; in response to determining that the at least one acknowledgement message has not been received, initiating transmission of the at least one message from the wireless device to a second access point in the wireless network, wherein the second access point is a different device than the first access point; and receiving, at the wireless device, the at least one acknowledgement message from at least one of the access points; wherein the at least one message includes a group identifier that identifies intended access points associated with the message, and wherein the at least one access point that receives the at least one message from the wireless device determines that the at least one access point is associated with the group identifier and identifies a time or position to transmit the at least one acknowledgement message to the wireless device.
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Specification