Apparatus and method for peer-to-peer link monitoring of a wireless network with centralized control
First Claim
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1. A communications system comprising a plurality of communication stations associated with a network, one of said stations being designated as a central station, each of said stations comprising a transmitter and a receiver, said network comprising a transmit-receive path between each transmitter of each of said stations and each receiver of each of said other stations, each of said transmitters comprising a means for transmitting a message for reception by one or more of the receivers of the other stations, each of said receivers comprising:
- a means for receiving a received message, said received message being a transmitted message from one of said transmitters, a means for identifying the transmitter of the received message, a means for measuring the quality of the received message, and a means for determining a quality factor associated with the transmitter in dependence upon the measured quality of the received message; and
, said central station comprising;
a means for obtaining the quality factor associated with one or more transmitters from each station, and a means for determining a quality measure associated with the transmit-receive paths in dependence upon said obtained quality factors.
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Abstract
Centrally controlled wireless networks require reliable communications between the central controller and each of the stations within the wireless networks. The structure of a wireless network is often dynamic, or ad-hoc, as stations enter and exit the network, or are physically relocated. The selection of the central controller for the network may also be dynamic, either because the current central controller desires to exit the network, or because the communication between the current central controller and one or more of the stations is poor. This invention discloses a method and apparatus for assessing the quality of the communication paths among all stations in the network. This assessment is useful as a continual monitor of the quality of the network, and can be utilized to select an alternative central control station based upon the quality of communication paths to and from this station. Additionally, the quality assessment can be utilized to establish relay communication paths, as required.
96 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A communications system comprising a plurality of communication stations associated with a network,
one of said stations being designated as a central station, each of said stations comprising a transmitter and a receiver, said network comprising a transmit-receive path between each transmitter of each of said stations and each receiver of each of said other stations, each of said transmitters comprising a means for transmitting a message for reception by one or more of the receivers of the other stations, each of said receivers comprising: -
a means for receiving a received message, said received message being a transmitted message from one of said transmitters, a means for identifying the transmitter of the received message, a means for measuring the quality of the received message, and a means for determining a quality factor associated with the transmitter in dependence upon the measured quality of the received message; and
,said central station comprising;
a means for obtaining the quality factor associated with one or more transmitters from each station, and a means for determining a quality measure associated with the transmit-receive paths in dependence upon said obtained quality factors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A communication device for communicating in a network comprising a plurality of communication stations, wherein each of said communication stations comprise a means for transmitting messages intended to be received at one or more of the other communication stations,
said communication device comprising: -
a means for receiving a message transmitted from the communication stations, a means for identifying the communication stations which transmitted the message, a means for measuring the quality of the message, and a means for determining a quality factor associated with each communication station in dependence upon the measured quality of one or more of said received messages; and
a means for communicating said quality factors to a central station. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20)
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12. A method for assessing the quality of a communications network, said network comprising communication stations comprising means of transmitting and receiving messages, wherein said method comprises the steps of:
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transmitting a message from a transmitting communication station, receiving the message at a plurality of receiving communication stations, and, at each receiving communication station, identifying the transmitting communication station, measuring the quality of the received message, and determining a quality factor associated with the transmitting communication station in dependence upon the measured quality of the received message; and
,after repeating the above steps for other transmitting communication stations, having each communication station communicate the quality factors associated with each of said transmitting communication stations to a central station, said central station thereby assessing the quality of the communication network in dependence upon said quality factors.
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15. A method for determining a preferred central controller for a communications network, said communications network comprising communication stations and communication paths between each of said communication stations, one of said communication stations being a current central controller, wherein said method comprises the steps of:
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transmitting a message from a transmitting communication station, receiving the message at a plurality of receiving communication stations, and, at each receiving communication station, identifying the transmitting communication station, measuring the quality of the received message, and determining a quality factor associated with the transmitting communication station in dependence upon the measured quality of the received message; and
,after repeating the above steps for other transmitting communication stations, having each communication station communicate the quality factors associated with each of said transmitting communication stations to the current central controller, said current central controller thereafter;
assessing the quality of the communication paths in dependence upon said quality factors, and, determining the preferred central controller in dependence upon the assessed quality of the communication paths.
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18. A method for determining a relay path for a communication path within a communications network, said communications network comprising communication stations and communication paths between each of said communication stations, one of said communication stations being a current central controller, wherein said method comprises the steps of:
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transmitting a message from a transmitting communication station, receiving the message at a plurality of receiving communication stations, and, at each receiving communication station, identifying the transmitting communication station, measuring the quality of the received message, and determining a quality factor associated with the transmitting communication station in dependence upon the measured quality of the received message; and
,after repeating the above steps for other transmitting communication stations, having each communication station communicate the quality factors associated with each of said transmitting communication stations to the current central controller, said current central controller thereafter;
assessing the quality of the communication paths in dependence upon said quality factors, and, determining the relay path in dependence upon the assessed quality of the communication paths.
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Specification
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Current AssigneeUniloc 2017 LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
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Original AssigneePhilips Electronics North America Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
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InventorsNgo, Chiu, Herrmann, Christoph, Du, Yonggang, Hulyalkar, Samir N., May, Peter Klaus
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Granted Patent
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Time in Patent OfficeDays
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Field of Search
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US Class Current370/252
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CPC Class CodesH04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or ...H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising...H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement repo...H04W 76/10 Connection setupH04W 84/08 Trunked mobile radio systemsH04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e...H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or c...H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or ...
