Dynamically managing and reconfiguring wireless mesh networks

• US 9,037,146 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2014
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Weigand, Gilbert G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Minh D
• Application Number:
  US14/313,725
• Publication Number:
  US 20140308984A1
• Time in Patent Office: 329 Days
• Field of Search: 455/452.1, 455/452.2, 455/450, 455/453, 455/455, 455/464, 455/509, 455/513, 370/231, 370/335, 370/468
• US Class Current: 455/452.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0058 Allocation criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/021 in wireless networks with changing topologies, e.g. ad-hoc networks self-organizing networks H04W84/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/06 based on characteristics of available antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless network with multiple subscriber systems in a lobe pool may operate by determining a state of the wireless network, identifying a new condition, the new condition including a new demand condition or a new network health condition, determining whether the new condition has a threshold impact on operations of the wireless network or component subscriber systems of the wireless network, and if the threshold impact exists, reconfiguring the wireless network to accommodate the new condition.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage devices embodying processor-executable instructions which, responsive to execution by at least one processor, are configured to enable a device in a wireless mesh network to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request from a device outside of the wireless mesh network to support an event requiring consumption of bandwidth in the wireless mesh network in a first configuration;

identifying an impact of the request on the wireless mesh network;

determining whether the impact of the request to support the event on a particular location in the wireless mesh network is greater than a threshold;

responsive to determining that the impact of the request to support the event on the particular location is greater than the threshold, determining whether an alternative configuration exists for the particular location that reduces the impact to below the threshold; and

responsive to determining that using the alternative configuration reduces the impact to below the threshold, using the alternative configuration that exists for the particular location.

2. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 1, wherein identifying the impact of the request further comprises:

determining parameters associated with the request;

determining a present state of the wireless mesh network; and

identifying a relationship between the parameters and the present state of the wireless mesh network.

3. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 2, wherein determining the parameters further comprises identifying a transmission requirement.

4. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 2, wherein determining the present state of the wireless mesh network further comprises identifying at least one of:

a bandwidth utilization;

transmission medium parameters;

or

priority information.

5. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 1, the processor-executable instructions further configured to perform operations comprising determining whether to instruct a subscriber system associated with the wireless mesh network to join a different, the determining comprising:

identifying a non-requesting subscriber system to be transferred, wherein the non-requesting subscriber system is not associated with generating the request;

identifying the different network; and

determining whether the different network can accommodate the non-requesting subscriber system.

6. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 5, wherein determining whether the different network can accommodate the non-requesting subscriber system further comprises determining whether the different network can support a stream of data units associated with the non-requesting subscriber system.

7. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 1, wherein identifying the impact of the request on the first wireless network further comprises identifying a change in a state of the first wireless network that indicates a perceivable effect on at least one subscriber system.

8. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more computer-readable storage devices embodying processor-executable instructions which, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, are configured to enable the system to;

receive a request from a device outside of a wireless mesh network to support an event requiring consumption of bandwidth in the wireless mesh network in a first configuration;

identify an impact of the request on the wireless mesh network;

determine whether the impact of the request to support the event on a particular location in the wireless mesh network is greater than a threshold;

responsive to determining that the impact of the request to support the event on the particular location is greater than the threshold, determine whether an alternative configuration exists for the particular location that reduces the impact to below the threshold; and

use the alternative configuration exists for the particular location in response to determining that using the alternative configuration reduces the impact to below the threshold.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor-executable instructions to receive a request to support an event are further configure to receive a request to support data traffic associated with a subscriber system generating the request.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor-executable instructions to receive a request to support an event are further configured to receive a request to respond to an adverse atmospheric condition affecting signal strength of the wireless mesh network.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor-executable instructions to receive a request to support an event are further configured to receive a request to support an event in a wireless mesh network comprising multiple subscriber systems and a base station.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the wireless mesh network comprises a first lobe pool comprising an aggregation of lobes established by the multiple subscriber systems.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor-executable instructions to determine whether the impact of the request to support the event is greater than the threshold are further configured to compare parameters associated with the request with a present state of the wireless mesh network to determine whether the impact of the request is greater than the threshold.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to:

determine whether to instruct a subscriber system associated with the wireless mesh network to join a different network by;

identifying a non-requesting subscriber system to be transferred, wherein the non-requesting subscriber system is not associated with generating the request;

identifying the different network; and

determining whether the different network can accommodate the non-requesting subscriber system;

send the non-requesting subscriber system a message that directs the non-requesting subscriber system to disconnect from a wireless mesh network lobe pool associated with the wireless mesh network and to connect to a different network lobe pool;

provide the non-requesting subscriber system with antenna orientation information; and

instruct the non-requesting subscriber system to reconfigure an antenna orientation based on the provided antenna orientation information.

15. One or more computer-readable storage devices embodying processor-executable instructions which, responsive to execution by at least one processor, are configured to enable a device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a first wireless subscriber system on a first mobile network, information indicating a state of the first mobile network as measured by the first wireless subscriber system;

determining whether to handover the first wireless subscriber system to another mobile network, based on the received information regarding the state of the first mobile network;

responsive to determining to handover the first wireless subscriber system to another mobile network, identifying a second mobile network; and

sending a handover command to the first wireless subscriber system over the first mobile network, the handover command commanding the first wireless subscriber system to join the second mobile network.

16. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 15, wherein the information indicating the state of the first mobile network comprises a report including at least one network parameter of the first mobile network measured by the first wireless subscriber system.

17. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 16, wherein the at least one measured network parameter comprises at least one of:

a network traffic utilization parameter;

a network congestion parameter;

a bandwidth parameter;

a wireless subscriber information parameter;

a traffic distribution parameter;

or

an atmospheric condition parameter.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 16, wherein the determining whether to handover the first wireless subscriber system further comprises determining whether the at least one parameter is above a threshold.

19. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 15, the processor-executable instructions further configured to perform operations comprising:

receiving information indicating states of a plurality of mobile networks;

determining, based on the states of the plurality of mobile networks, which of the plurality of mobile networks can support the first wireless subscriber system; and

identifying the second mobile network based on a result of the determination.

20. The one or more computer-readable storage memories of claim 15, wherein the receiving information regarding the states of a plurality of mobile networks further comprises communicating with base stations associated with the plurality of mobile networks.