Acknowledgement as a propagation of messages in a simulcast mesh network

• US 9,628,422 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2016
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smartlabs
• Original Assignee: Smartlabs
• Inventors: Dada, III, Joseph J., Cregg, Daniel Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Pollack, Melvin H
• Application Number:
  US15/069,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20160261538A1
• Time in Patent Office: 400 Days
• Field of Search: 709204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1868 Measures taken after transmission, e.g. acknowledgments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes

Abstract

The presently described apparatus and method extends the capabilities of an Insteon network of devices. The method includes transmitting a group command message from a first device to a selected group of devices having a common group number, and receiving the group command message by a second device of the group or receiving a clean-up message transmitted by the first device, and resetting the state of the second one of the devices, and transmitting an acknowledgement message to the first devices from the second device, and receiving the first acknowledgement message by a third one of the devices that had not received the group command message or a clean-up message previously, and restoring the state of the third one of the devices.

Claims

1. A system to transmit information between devices in a network of devices, the system comprising:

an originator device configured to transmit at least restore command messages and clean-up messages to a plurality of devices in a network of devices;

a first device of the plurality of devices configured to receive the restore command message from the originator device and execute a restore of the first device in response to receiving the restore command message from the originator device, the first device further configured to receive the clean-up message from the originator device and transmit an acknowledgement over the network of devices in response to receiving the clean-up message; and

a second device of the plurality of devices configured to execute the restore of the second device in response to receiving the acknowledgement from the first device of the plurality of devices when the second device fails to receive the restore command from the originator device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the second device of the plurality of devices is further configured to receive the originator message from the originator device and execute the restore of the second device in response to receiving the restore command message from the originator device.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the second device of the plurality of devices is further configured to receive the clean-up message from the originator device and transmit the acknowledgement over the network of devices in response to receiving the clean-up message.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the second device of the plurality of devices is further configured to execute the restore of the second device in response to receiving the acknowledgement from any other device of the plurality of devices when the second device fails to receive the restore command from the originator device.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the network of devices comprises a mesh network of devices.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of devices are capable of at least one of powerline communications and radio frequency (RF) communications.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein a restore comprises a restore to one of a previous state, a pre-determined state, and an initial state.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the first device of the plurality of devices is configured to retransmit the restore command messages and the clean-up messages.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the retransmitted message comprises a max hops flag.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the max hops flag is initially set to three.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the max hops flag is reset to three minus a value of last message received from an intended recipient of the message.

12. A system comprising:

a network of spatially separated electronic devices, the devices in mutual communication by at least one of wired and wireless communications, and each device comprising a data processor, a memory device, a transceiver, and a digital instruction set stored within the memory device, each device enabled according to a protocol established by the instruction set to process messages carried by received transmissions and to transmit messages;

a first device of the network configured to receive a cleanup message and to transmit an acknowledgement message to a group of devices of the network; and

a second device of the network configured to receive the acknowledgement message from the first device, the second device further configured to execute a restore in response to the acknowledgement message from the first device.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the network comprises a mesh network.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein each spatially separated electronic device is capable of at least one of powerline communications and radio frequency (RF) communications.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein a restore comprises a restore to one of a previous state, a pre-determined state, and an initial state.

16. A system comprising:

a first device of a network of spatially separated electronic devices, the first device configured to transmit a group command message to a selected group of devices of the network;

a second device of the selected group of devices receiving the group command message from the first device, the second device configured to execute a restore and transmit an acknowledgement message to the first device on response to receiving the group command message; and

a third device of the selected group of devices receiving the acknowledgement message from the second device, the third device configured to execute the restore in response to receiving the acknowledgement message;

wherein the first, second, and third devices are in mutual communication by at least one of wired and wireless communications, each of the first, second, and third devices comprises a data processor, a memory device, a transceiver, and a digital instruction set stored within the memory device, and each of the first, seconds, and third devices is enabled according to a protocol established by the instruction set to process messages carried by received transmissions and to transmit messages.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the third device failed to receive the group command message from the first device.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the network comprises a mesh network.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein each spatially separated electronic device is capable of at least one of powerline communications and radio frequency (RF) communications.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein a restore comprises a restore to one of a previous state, a pre-determined state, and an initial state.