Method and apparatus for communications management in a neighborhood network

• US 9,735,833 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2015
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lackey, Joshua, Levy, Donald E., Piqueras Jover, Roger, Serban, Cristina, Gross, David, Ramachandran, Jayaraman
• Primary Examiner(s): Huang, David S
• Application Number:
  US14/814,800
• Publication Number:
  US 20170033834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 746 Days
• Field of Search: 370351, 370401
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5445 Local network
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/52 Systems for transmission between fixed stations via waveguides
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/54 Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a network device of a neighborhood network that determines that data is directed to a group of recipient devices positioned in a service area of the neighborhood network, determines a second network device according to a neighborhood routing scheme that limits delivery of the data to recipient devices within the service area, and transmits the data. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first network device of a neighborhood network, data from a source device positioned in a service area of the neighborhood network, wherein the first network device is a closest network node to the source device;

responsive to a determination that delivery of the data is limited to the service area of the neighborhood network, generating, by the first network device, metadata indicating that the delivery of the data is limited to the service area;

determining a second network device of the neighborhood network according to a neighborhood routing scheme that limits the delivery of the data to recipient devices of the service area, wherein the second network device is a second network node of the neighborhood network; and

transmitting the data and the metadata to the second network device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second network devices are waveguide systems that transmit and receive electromagnetic waves at a physical interface of a transmission medium, wherein the electromagnetic waves are guided by the transmission medium without utilizing an electrical return path, and wherein the electromagnetic waves have a non-optical frequency range.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

responsive to the determination that delivery of the data is limited to the recipient devices positioned in the service area of the neighborhood network, selecting, by the first network device, the neighborhood routing scheme from among a group of routing schemes, wherein the group of routing schemes includes a non-neighborhood routing scheme for transmitting to devices outside of the service area of the neighborhood network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that delivery of the data is limited to recipient devices positioned in the service area of the neighborhood network comprises determining that the data is neighborhood-wide information, and further comprising selecting the neighborhood routing scheme from among a plurality of routing schemes, wherein the neighborhood routing scheme causes the data to be transmitted towards all premises positioned in the service area of the neighborhood network that have authorized receiving of the data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata is removed from communications to a recipient device of the recipient devices by another network device operating as a closest network node to the recipient device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighborhood routing scheme prevents the data from being delivered to a premises positioned in the service area of the neighborhood network responsive to user input at equipment of the premises opting out of receiving the data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the data and the metadata to the second network device causes the second network device to transmit the data to a subset of the recipient devices, and wherein the second network device is a closest network device to the subset of the recipient devices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the data and the metadata to the second network device is performed without retaining a copy of the data and the metadata at the first network device.

9. A machine-readable storage device comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor of a first network device cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving data and metadata from a second network device, wherein the first and second network devices are adjacent nodes of a neighborhood network, wherein the first network device operates as an edge node of the neighborhood network;

responsive to a first determination that the metadata indicates delivery of the data is limited to a service area of the neighborhood network, preventing delivery of the data to a recipient device outside of the service area; and

responsive to a second determination that the metadata indicates delivery of the data is not limited to the service area of the neighborhood network, transmitting the data to an external network device outside of the neighborhood network.

10. The machine-readable storage device of claim 9, wherein the first and second network devices are waveguide systems that transmit and receive electromagnetic waves at a physical interface of a transmission medium, wherein the electromagnetic waves are guided by the transmission medium without utilizing an electrical return path, wherein the electromagnetic waves have a non-optical frequency range, and wherein the electromagnetic waves contain the data and the metadata.

11. The machine-readable storage device of claim 9, wherein the metadata is generated by a third network device that is a closest network device to a source device positioned in the service area that originated the data.

12. The machine-readable storage device of claim 9, wherein the first determination that the metadata indicates delivery of the data is limited to the service area of the neighborhood network comprises determining that the data is neighborhood-wide information, and wherein the receiving of the data and the metadata from the second network device is according to a selection of neighborhood routing scheme from among a plurality of routing schemes, wherein the neighborhood routing scheme causes the data to be transmitted towards all premises positioned in the service area of the neighborhood network that have authorized receiving of the data.