Systems and methods for switching data at nodes of wireless networks

• US 9,385,842 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2009
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synapse Wireless Incorporated (Mcwane Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Synapse Wireless Incorporated (Mcwane Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ewing, David B., Banks, Kevin R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Choi, Eunsook
• Application Number:
  US12/463,061
• Publication Number:
  US 20100074174A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,615 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1867 Arrangements specially adapted for the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/10 based on available power or energy
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for switching data at nodes of a wireless networks. In one exemplary embodiment, a node comprises memory, a first port, a second port, a virtual machine, and logic. The memory is configured to store port settings, and the virtual machine is configured to execute a remote procedure call wirelessly transmitted to the node through the wireless network. In executing the remote procedure call, the virtual machine is configured to set the port settings. The logic is configured to receive data from the first port and to transmit the data to the second port based on the port settings without processing of the data by the virtual machine such that the data streams unchanged through the node from the first port to the second port.

Claims

1. A node for switching data in a wireless network, comprising:

a plurality of ports including at least a first port and a second port;

processing hardware for executing a virtual machine;

memory configured to store port settings, the virtual machine, and code for setting the port settings, wherein the virtual machine is configured to execute the code thereby setting the port settings while running on the processing hardware, the port settings indicating how payload data received by the plurality of ports are to be switched among the plurality of ports; and

logic configured to receive a plurality of data packets from the plurality of ports, the plurality of data packets including the data mode packets and non-data mode packets, wherein for each of the plurality of data packets the logic is configured to;

(1) determine whether the respective data packet is a data mode packet based on a message type indicator in a header of the respective data packet;

(2) provide payload data of the respective data packet to the virtual machine for processing, if the respective data packet is determined not to be a data mode packet; and

(3) transmit payload data of the respective data packet to at least one of the plurality of ports based on the port settings, if the respective data packet is determined to be a data mode packet, such that the payload data of the respective data packet streams unchanged through the node from one of the plurality of ports to another of the plurality of ports without processing of the payload data of the respective data packet by the virtual machine.

2. The node of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is configured to execute the code, thereby setting the port settings to indicate that payload data from the data mode packets received from the first port are to be transmitted to the second port, in response to a remote procedure call wirelessly transmitted to the node through the wireless network.

3. The node of claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to run on the processing hardware independent of the virtual machine.

4. The node of claim 1, wherein the data mode packets include at least a first data mode packet and a second data mode packet, wherein the first data mode packet is received at the first port according to RS-232 protocol, and wherein the first data mode packet is transmitted at the second port according to RS-232 protocol.

5. The node of claim 1, wherein the plurality of ports includes a third port, and wherein the port settings indicate that payload data of the data mode packets received by the third port are to be consumed by the virtual machine, and wherein the logic is configured to provide payload data from a data mode packet received by the third port to the virtual machine based on the port settings.

6. The node of claim 1, wherein the payload data of one of the data mode packets is serially received at the first port and serially transmitted from the second port.

7. The node of claim 1, wherein the plurality of ports includes a third port, wherein the node is configured to receive a remote procedure call wirelessly transmitted through the wireless network, and wherein the virtual machine is configured to update the port settings via execution of the code in response to the remote procedure call such that the port settings indicate that payload data of the data mode packets received from the first port are to be transmitted to the third port.

8. The node of claim 7, wherein the data mode packets include at least a first data mode packet and a second data mode packet, wherein the logic is configured to receive the first data mode packet from the first port and to determine to transmit payload data of the first data mode packet to the third port based on the updated port settings, and wherein the logic is further configured to transmit the payload data of the first data mode packet to the third port such that the payload data of the first data mode packet streams unchanged through the node from the first port to the third port without processing of the payload of the first data mode packet by the virtual machine.

9. The node of claim 1, wherein the data mode packets include at least a first data mode packet and a second data mode packet, the first data mode packet received at the node by the first port, wherein the logic is configured to transmit payload data of the first data mode packet to the second port based on a source address in a header of the first data mode packet, and wherein the port settings indicate that payload data from the data mode packets having the source address are to be transmitted to the second port.

10. The node of claim 1, wherein the data mode packets include at least a first data mode packet and a second data mode packet, the first data mode packet received at the node by the first port, wherein the logic is configured to transmit the payload data of the first data mode packet to the second port based on a destination address in a header of the first data mode packet, the destination address identifying the node.

11. The node of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is configured to implement a bytecode interpreter.

12. The node of claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to receive from one of the plurality of ports at least one message communicated through the wireless network, the message defining a script, wherein the logic is configured to store the script in the memory, and wherein the virtual machine is configured to execute the script for processing the payload data of at least one of the non-data mode packets while running on the processing hardware.

13. The node of claim 12, wherein the virtual machine is configured to implement a bytecode interpreter for interpreting the script.

14. The node of claim 13, wherein the wireless network is a mesh network.

15. A wireless network, comprising:

a first node configured to wirelessly transmit a remote procedure call through the wireless network;

a second node configured to wirelessly transmit a first data mode packet through the wireless network, the first data mode packet having a header, the header having a source address, a destination address, and a message type indicator, the source address identifying the second node; and

a third node having memory, processing hardware, a virtual machine, a first port, a second port, and code for setting port settings, the virtual machine and the code stored in the memory, the third node configured to receive a plurality of data packets communicated through the wireless network, the plurality of data packets including data mode packets and non-data mode packets, each of the plurality of data packets having a message type indicator in a header indicating whether the respective data packet is a data mode packet, the third node configured to provide payload data of the non-data mode packets to the virtual machine for processing based on the message type indictors in the non-data mode packets, the virtual machine configured to execute the code in response to the remote procedure call while running on the processing hardware thereby setting the port settings to indicate that payload data of the data mode packets received by the first port are to be transmitted to the second port, the third node configured to receive and depacketize the first data mode packet thereby recovering payload data of the first data mode packet, the third node further configured to make a first determination that the payload data of the first data mode packet is to be transmitted to the second port based on the message type indicator of the first data mode packet, the port settings, and the destination address and to transmit the payload data of the first data mode packet to the second port based on the first determination such that the payload data of the first data mode packet streams unchanged through the third node from the first port to the second port without the payload data of the first data mode packet being processed by the virtual machine, wherein the destination address identifies the third node, wherein the third node is configured to perform a comparison between the destination address and the port settings, and wherein the first determination is based on the comparison.

16. The wireless network of claim 15, wherein the first determination is based on the source address.

17. The wireless network of claim 15, wherein the third node has a third port and a fourth port, the third node further configured to receive a second data mode packet from the third port and to make a second determination that payload data of the second data mode packet is to be transmitted to the fourth port based on the port settings, wherein the third node is configured to transmit the payload data of the second data mode packet to the fourth port based on the second determination such that the payload data of the second data mode packet streams unchanged through the third node from the third port to the fourth port without the payload data of the second data mode packet being processed by the virtual machine.

18. A method for switching data in a wireless network, comprising:

storing, in memory of a first node of the wireless network, port settings, a virtual machine, and code for setting the port settings, wherein the port settings indicate how payload data are to be switched among ports of the first node;

receiving a first remote procedure call at the first node, the first remote procedure call transmitted through the wireless network from a second node of the wireless network;

receiving at the first port a plurality of data packets including data mode packets and non-data mode packets, the data mode packets including at least a first data mode packet and a second data mode packet;

executing the code by the virtual machine of the first node in response to the first remote procedure call while the virtual machine is running on processing hardware of the first node, wherein the executing comprises controlling the port settings to indicate that payload data of data mode packets received from a first port of the first node are to be transmitted to a second port of the first node;

for each of the plurality of data packets, determining whether the respective data packet is a data mode packet based on a message type indicator in a header of the respective data packet;

providing payload data of the non-data mode packets to the virtual machine for processing based on the determining; and

transmitting payload data of the first data mode packet to the second port based on the determining and the port settings such that the payload data of the first data mode packet streams unchanged through the first node from the first port to the second port without processing of the payload data of the first data mode packet by the virtual machine.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the payload data of the first data mode packet is received at the first port according to RS-232 protocol, and wherein the method further comprises transmitting the payload data of the first data mode packet from the second port according to RS-232 protocol.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the port settings indicate that payload data of the data mode packets received by a third port of the first node are to be consumed by the virtual machine, and wherein the method further comprises providing payload data of a second data mode packet received by the third port to the virtual machine based on the port settings.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

serially receiving the first data mode packet at the first port; and

serially transmitting the payload data of the first data mode packet from the second port.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving a second remote procedure call at the first node, the second remote procedure call transmitted through the wireless network; and

executing the code in response to the second remote procedure call via the virtual machine of the first node, wherein the executing the code in response to the second remote procedure call comprises updating the port settings to indicate that payload data of data mode packets received from the first port are to be transmitted to a third port of the first node.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving the second data mode packet at the first port;

determining, based on the updated port settings, that payload data of the second data mode packet is to be transmitted to the third port of the first node; and

transmitting the payload data of the second data mode packet to the third port based on the determining such that the payload data of the second data mode packet streams unchanged through the first node from the first port to the third port without processing of the second data by the virtual machine.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the determining is based on a source address in a header of the first data mode packet, and wherein the port settings indicate that payload data from the data mode packets having the source address are to be transmitted to the second port.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the determining is based on a destination address in a header of the first data mode packet, the destination address identifying the first node.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the determining is performed by logic running on the processing hardware independent of the virtual machine.