Method and apparatus for coordinating information request messages over an ad-hoc mesh network

• US 9,485,673 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2014
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Turunen, Markku Tapio, Leppanen, Kari Juhani, Tam, Francis Pak Kwan, Ramo, Kimmo Tapani
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Peter
• Application Number:
  US14/466,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20140362847A1
• Time in Patent Office: 802 Days
• Field of Search: 370/235, 370/237, 370/238, 370/312, 370/390, 370/400
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0226 based on location or mobility handoff or reselection H04W36/00; mobile application services making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An approach is provided for coordinating information request messages over an ad-hoc mesh network. A module receives at least one request to transmit one or more information request messages over an ad-hoc mesh network. The module determines context information associated with at least a portion of the ad-hoc mesh network, one or more nodes within the at least a portion of the ad-hoc mesh network, or a combination thereof. The module then determines to transmit the one or more information request messages over the ad-hoc mesh network based, at least in part, on the context information.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,

receive at least one request to transmit one or more information request messages over an ad-hoc mesh network;

determine context information associated with at least a portion of the ad-hoc mesh network, one or more nodes within the at least a portion of the ad-hoc mesh network, or a combination thereof, wherein context information is collected from data traffic and comprises network traffic, network topology, node sensor information, published information, or exchanged messages;

determine whether weights are to be applied to the context information based on the collected context information and in an instance when the weights are applied, determine respective weights for one or more elements of the context information; and

transmit the one or more information request messages over the ad-hoc mesh network based, at least in part, on the context information and on whether the respective weights exceed a threshold value.

2. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus determines the context information based, at least in part, on network traffic, network topology, sensor information, published information, or combination thereof.

3. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus determines that a new node has joined the ad-hoc mesh network,

wherein transmission of the one or more information request messages is based, at least in part, on the determination with respect to the new node.

4. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more information request messages are associated with one or more transmission parameters, and wherein transmission of the one or more information request messages is based, at least in part, on the one or more transmission parameters.

5. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more information request messages are generated by one or more applications using, at least in part, a publish/subscribe mechanism over the ad-hoc mesh network.

6. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus

concatenates at least a portion of the one or more information requests messages into a common message,

wherein transmission of the one or more information request messages comprises transmission of the common message.

7. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more information request messages include one or more information publication messages, one or more information subscription messages, or a combination thereof, the method further comprising:

transmitting at least one of the information publication messages with at least one of the information subscription messages.

8. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus transmits the one or more information request messages as either a broadcast message or

a unicast message based, at least in part, on the context information.

9. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a mobile phone further comprising:

user interface circuitry and user interface software configured to facilitate user control of at least some functions of the mobile phone through use of a display and configured to respond to user input; and

a display and display circuitry configured to display at least a portion of a user interface of the mobile phone, the display and display circuitry configured to facilitate user control of at least some functions of the mobile phone.

10. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobile phone includes a radio for device-to-device communication.

11. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further caused to determine whether weights are to be applied to the context information based on the collected context information and in an instance when the weights are not applied, analyze the context information for changes.

12. A method comprising:

receiving at least one request to transmit one or more information request messages over an ad-hoc mesh network;

determining, using a processor, context information associated with at least a portion of the ad-hoc mesh network, one or more nodes within the at least a portion of the ad-hoc mesh network, or a combination thereof, wherein context information is collected data traffic and comprises network traffic, network topology, node sensor information, published information, or exchanged messages;

determining whether weights are to be applied to the context information based on the collected context information and in an instance when the weights are applied, determining respective weights for one or more elements of the context information; and

transmitting of the one or more information request messages over the ad-hoc mesh network based, at least in part, on the context information and on whether the respective weights exceed a threshold value.

13. A method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining the context information based, at least in part, on network traffic, network topology, sensor information, published information, or combination thereof.

14. A method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining that a new node has joined the ad-hoc mesh network,

wherein transmission of the one or more information request messages is based, at least in part, on the determination with respect to the new node.

15. A method of claim 12, wherein the one or more information request messages are associated with one or more transmission parameters, and wherein transmission of the one or more information request messages is based, at least in part, on the one or more transmission parameters.

16. A method of claim 12, wherein the one or more information request messages are generated by one or more applications using, at least in part, a publish/subscribe mechanism over the ad-hoc mesh network.

17. A method of claim 12, further comprising:

concatenating at least a portion of the one or more information requests messages into a common message,

wherein transmitting the one or more information request messages comprises transmitting the common message.

18. A method of claim 12, wherein the one or more information request messages include one or more information publication messages, one or more information subscription messages, or a combination thereof, the method further comprising:

transmitting at least one of the information publication messages with at least one of the information subscription messages and

transmitting the one or more information request messages as either a broadcast message or a unicast message based, at least in part, on the context information.

19. A method of claim 12, further comprising determining whether weights are to be applied to the context information based on the collected context information and in an instance when the weights are not applied, analyze the context information for changes.

20. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer executable program code portions stored therein, the computer executable program code portions comprising program code instructions configured for:

receiving at least one request to transmit one or more information request messages over an ad-hoc mesh network;

determining context information associated with at least a portion of the ad-hoc mesh network, one or more nodes within the at least a portion of the ad-hoc mesh network, or a combination thereof, wherein context information is collected from data traffic and comprises network traffic, network topology, node sensor information, published information, or exchanged messages;

determining whether weights are to be applied to the context information based on the collected context information and in an instance when the weights are applied, determining respective weights for one or more elements of the context information; and

transmitting the one or more information request messages over the ad-hoc mesh network based, at least in part, on the context information and on whether the respective weights exceed a threshold value.