Method and apparatus for a wireless home mesh network with network topology visualizer

• US 8,989,052 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2013
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Jing, Xiangpeng, Patil, Abhishek, Bhatnagar, Anuj, Liu, Aixin, Nguyen, Djung N.
• Primary Examiner(s): ABELSON, RONALD B
• Application Number:
  US13/960,593
• Publication Number:
  US 20130322294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 595 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/255, 370/328
• US Class Current: 370/255
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0859 by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An apparatus and method for a wireless home mesh network with a network topology visualizer is described. In one embodiment, the method may include collecting node topology information by a node of a wireless home mesh network, where the node topology information includes a list of neighbor nodes for the node. Thereafter, a communication socket is opened, and a node topology packet, including a lust of neighbor nodes, is transmitted in order to produce a global network topology map. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting node topology information by a node of a wireless home mesh network, the node topology information includes a list of neighbor nodes for the node;

opening a communication socket; and

transmitting a node topology packet for producing a global network topology map to a display node that is responsible for displaying the global network topology map, the node topology packet includes the list of neighbor nodes, wherein the node of the wireless home mesh network is different from the display node, wherein the node topology packet further comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the node.

2. A method comprising:

collecting node topology information by a node of a wireless home mesh network, the node topology information includes a list of neighbor nodes for the node;

opening a communication socket; and

transmitting a node topology packet for producing a global network topology map to a display node that is responsible for displaying the global network topology map, the node topology packet includes the list of neighbor nodes, wherein the node of the wireless home mesh network is different from the display node, wherein the node topology packet further comprises a name of the node.

3. A method comprising:

collecting node topology information by a node of a wireless home mesh network, the node topology information includes a list of neighbor nodes for the node;

opening a communication socket; and

transmitting a node topology packet for producing a global network topology map to a display node that is responsible for displaying the global network topology map, the node topology packet includes the list of neighbor nodes, wherein the node of the wireless home mesh network is different from the display node, wherein the node topology packet further comprises information that identifies capabilities of the node.

4. A method comprising:

collecting node topology information by a node of a wireless home mesh network, the node topology information includes a list of neighbor nodes for the node;

opening a communication socket; and

transmitting a node topology packet for producing a global network topology map to a display node that is responsible for displaying the global network topology map, the node topology packet includes the list of neighbor nodes, wherein the node of the wireless home mesh network is different from the display node, wherein the node topology packet further comprises information that represents a node type for the node.

5. A method comprising:

collecting node topology information by a node of a wireless home mesh network, the node topology information includes a list of neighbor nodes for the node;

opening a communication socket; and

transmitting a node topology packet for producing a global network topology map to a display node that is responsible for displaying the global network topology map, the node topology packet includes the list of neighbor nodes, wherein the node of the wireless home mesh network is different from the display node, wherein the node topology packet further comprises information that identifies a number of active data flows within the node.

6. A method comprising:

collecting node topology information by a node of a wireless home mesh network, the node topology information includes a list of neighbor nodes for the node;

opening a communication socket; and

transmitting a node topology packet for producing a global network topology map to a display node that is responsible for displaying the global network topology map, the node topology packet includes the list of neighbor nodes, wherein the node of the wireless home mesh network is different from the display node, wherein transmitting of the node topology packet includes transmitting the node topology to the display node that is further responsible for detecting a mouse click of a node within the network topology map, and displaying additional information regarding the mouse-clicked node.

7. Device comprising:

at least one computer memory that is not a transitory signal and that includes instructions executable by at least one processor to configure the processor for;

collecting node topology information by a node of a wireless home mesh network, the node topology information including a list of neighbor nodes for the node;

opening a communication socket; and

transmitting a node topology packet for producing a global network topology map to a display node that is responsible for displaying the global network topology map, the node topology packet includes the list of neighbor nodes, wherein the node of the wireless home mesh network is different from the display node,

(a) wherein the node topology packet further comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the node, and/or

(b) wherein the node topology packet further comprises a name of the node, and/or

(c) wherein the node topology packet further comprises information that identifies capabilities of the node and/or

(d) wherein the node topology packet further comprises information that represents a node type for the node, and/or

(e) wherein the node topology packet further comprises information that identifies a number of active data flows within the node, and/or

(f) wherein transmitting of the node topology packet includes transmitting the node topology to the display node that is further responsible for detecting a mouse click of a node within the network topology map, and displaying additional information regarding the mouse-clicked node.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the node topology packet further comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the node.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the node topology packet further comprises a name of the node.

10. The device of claim 7, wherein the node topology packet further comprises information that identifies capabilities of the node.

11. The device of claim 7, wherein the node topology packet further comprises information that represents a node type for the node.

12. The device of claim 7, wherein the node topology packet further comprises information that identifies a number of active data flows within the node.

13. The device of claim 7, wherein transmitting of the node topology packet includes transmitting the node topology to the display node that is further responsible for detecting a mouse click of a node within the network topology map, and displaying additional information regarding the mouse-clicked node.