Prioritized-routing for an Ad-Hoc, peer-to-peer, mobile radio access system

• US 20030045295A1
• Filed: 05/18/2001
• Published: 03/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016, LLC (Strong Force Intellectual Capital, LLC)
• Original Assignee: MESH Network
• Inventors: Stanforth, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 6,904,275 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/10 based on available power or energy
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio access system having a series of remote terminals, where each remote terminal is capable of forming a link, or hop, of the routing of a call made by one of the series of terminals. The status of the battery of each terminal which may potentially form part of the routing path of a call is reported to other terminals, whereby the routing path for a call will be decided also based on the status of the battery-charge of each terminal along the routing path.

Claims

1. In an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of terminals where each said terminal is capable of making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call, each said terminal comprising a battery, each said terminal further comprising computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, said memory means comprising software means for generating a routing table for use by other terminals in determining the routing path of a call to made or received thereby, and where said at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call is routed to its destination by routing said call along a route utilizing at least some of said terminals of said series of terminals as links, the improvement comprising:

said software means of said memory means of each said terminal comprises means for checking the status of the respective said battery in order to include said battery-status in said routing table, whereby each terminal may calculate the most optimal routing path of terminals based on battery status.

2. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 1, wherein said means for checking the status of the respective said battery of said software means comprises a plurality of status indicators;

said plurality of status indicators comprising at least two of;

infinite, full, poor and critical;

said infinite status indicator indicating a terminal whose power source is external, said full status indicator indicating an approximately fully charged battery, said poor status indicator indicating a substantially discharged battery, and said critical status indicator indicating a battery charge below a predetermined critical value.

3. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 2, wherein said means for checking the status of the respective said battery comprises at least all four of said status indicators.

4. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 1, wherein said software means of said memory means further comprises means for determining and reporting in said routing table information on least-energy routing so that the least amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing a call, whereby the minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduce interference between terminals.

5. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 2, wherein software means of said memory means comprises updating means for updating the battery status indicator of said respective routing table thereof based on the most recent status report determined by said means for checking the status of the respective said battery.

6. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 5, wherein said software means of said memory means further comprises message-generating means for generating a routing table, said routing table comprising time-frame based messaging, said time-frame based messaging having said battery-status indicator as a section thereof.

7. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 6, wherein time-frame based messaging is based on time division technique in a code division multiple access (CDMA) system.

8. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 6, wherein message-generating means for generating a routing table of each said terminal also comprises information on least-energy routing so that the least amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing a call, whereby the minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduce interference between terminals, said time-frame based messaging also having said a section for reporting least-energy routing of a call.

9. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 6, wherein said message-generating means for generating a routing table further comprises means for generating information on the class of service (COS) being transmitted, said means for generating information on the type of message being sent comprising the capability of reporting at least one of the following types of COS information:

voice type information, data type information, and video type information, whereby routing of a call is based also on the said type of COS information being transmitted.

10. In an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of terminals where each said terminal is capable of making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call, each said terminal comprising a battery, each said terminal further comprising computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, the method comprising:

(a) generating at each said terminal a routing table for use by other said terminals in determining the routing path of a call to be made or received thereby;

(b) routing a call to its destination using said routing tables by selecting a path utilizing at least some of said terminals of said series of terminals as links;

(c) said step (a) comprising including in each said routing table informational data about the status of the battery of the respective said terminal;

(d) said step (b) comprising selecting a path for said routing at least partially based on said informational data about the status of the batteries of potential terminal-links.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein before said step (c):

(e) checking the status of the battery charge of the respective said terminal by said software means of said memory means; and

(f) inserting said status from said step (e) into the respective said routing table for said step (c).

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said step (e) comprises selecting said status to report to said routing table from one of a series of possible status indicator states.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein said step (e) comprises selecting one from more than three possible status indicator states.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein said step (a) comprises including in each said routing table informational data about least-energy routing so that the least amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing a call, whereby the minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduce interference between terminals.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said step (a) further comprises generating informational data in each said respective routing table regarding the class of service (COS) being transmitted, said step of generating informational data on the type of message being sent comprising the reporting at least two of the following types of COS information:

voice type information, data type information, and video type information, whereby routing of a call is based also on the said type of COS information being transmitted.

16. In a radio terminal used in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system, which radio system comprising a series of radio terminals each capable of making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call;

said radio terminal comprising a battery, computer means, and memory means for storing program software means therein, said memory means comprising software means for generating a routing table for use by other terminals in determining the routing path of a call along a route utilizing at least some of said radio terminals of said series of terminals as links, the improvement comprising;

said software means of said memory means of said radio terminal comprising means for checking the status of said battery in order to include said battery-status in said routing table, whereby each said radio terminal of said radio system may calculate the most optimal routing path of terminals based on battery status.

17. The radio terminal according to claim 16, wherein said means for checking the status of the respective said battery of said software means comprises means for checking for a plurality of status indicators;

said plurality of status indicators comprising at least four said status indicators of;

infinite, full, poor and critical;

said infinite status indicator indicating a terminal whose power source is external, said full status indicator indicating an approximately fully charged battery, said poor status indicator indicating a substantially discharged battery, and said critical status indicator indicating a battery charge below a predetermined critical value.

18. The radio terminal according to claim 17, wherein said means for checking the status of the respective said battery comprises means for checking for at least all four of said status indicators.

19. The radio terminal according to claim 16, wherein said software means of said memory means further comprises means for determining and reporting in said routing table information on least-energy routing so that the least amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing a call, whereby the minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduce interference between terminals.

20. The radio terminal according to claim 16, wherein software means of said memory means comprises updating means for updating the battery status indicator of said respective routing table thereof based on the most recent status report determined by said means for checking the status of the respective said battery.

21. The radio terminal according to claim 19, wherein said software means of said memory means further comprises message-generating means for generating said routing table, said routing table comprising time-frame based messaging, said time-frame based messaging having said battery-status indicator as a section thereof.

22. The radio terminal according to claim 21, wherein time-frame based messaging is based on time division duplex (TDD) technique in a code division multiple access (CDMA) system.

23. The radio terminal according to claim 21, wherein message-generating means for generating a routing table of each said terminal also comprises information on least-energy routing so that the least amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing a call, whereby the minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduce interference between terminals, said time-frame based messaging also having said a section for reporting least-energy routing of a call.

24. The radio terminal according to claim 21, wherein said message-generating means for generating a routing table further comprises means for generating information on the class of service (COS) being transmitted, said means for generating information on the type of message being sent comprising the capability of reporting at least two of the following types of COS information:

voice type information, data type information, and video type information, whereby routing of a call is based also on the said type of COS information being transmitted.

25. A method of routing a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system, which radio system comprising a series of radio terminals each capable of making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call, and where each said terminal is capable of being a link to a call made from a source-terminal, said method comprising:

(a) transmitting one of voice or data over a routing path of said terminals;

(b) determining the class of service (COS) of the call;

(c) said step (b) comprising determining which of said voice or data is being transmitted by the call;

(d) selecting a routing path based on said step (b);

(e) said step (c) comprising basing its decision of a routing path based on latency, bitter error rate, and battery level of each potential terminal of a selected said routing path.

26. The method of routing a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 25, wherein when said step (b) indicates voice transmission, said step (d) comprises choosing a routing path of terminals having relatively high BER and relatively low latency.

27. The method of routing a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 25, wherein when said step (b) indicates data transmission, said step (d) comprises choosing a routing path of terminals having relatively low BER and relatively high latency.