HIERARCHICAL MESH NETWORK FOR WIRELESS ACCESS
First Claim
1. A mesh network, comprising a first plurality of nodes configured for self-assembly into a first-level mesh, at least two of the first plurality of nodes each to operate as a gateway node for the first-level mesh, and each respective gateway node comprising a first radio and a second radio, wherein the respective first radio is to communicate with another one of the first plurality of nodes, the respective second radio is to communicate with a second-level mesh, and at least one of the first plurality of nodes is configured to do load balancing on communication traffic across each of the at least two gateway nodes in response to a change in the number of active gateway nodes for the first-level mesh.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A wireless mesh network is configured as a multiple-level hierarchical network, with each level of the hierarchy having a plurality of nodes. Several clusters of nodes each acting as access points may be organized in numerous first-level meshes, with each of the first-level meshes being coupled to a second-level mesh having nodes that act as gateways to the first-level meshes. The number of nodes in each of the first-level and second-level meshes may be limited to a predetermined number of nodes during configuration in order to improve the performance of the mesh network.
36 Citations
20 Claims
- 1. A mesh network, comprising a first plurality of nodes configured for self-assembly into a first-level mesh, at least two of the first plurality of nodes each to operate as a gateway node for the first-level mesh, and each respective gateway node comprising a first radio and a second radio, wherein the respective first radio is to communicate with another one of the first plurality of nodes, the respective second radio is to communicate with a second-level mesh, and at least one of the first plurality of nodes is configured to do load balancing on communication traffic across each of the at least two gateway nodes in response to a change in the number of active gateway nodes for the first-level mesh.
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5. A mesh network, comprising:
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a first plurality of nodes, each respective node comprising a first radio, a second radio, at least one processor, and memory storing computer-executable instructions to select a route for communications sent from the respective node, each respective node configured to organize into a first-level mesh by scanning for the presence of other nodes and, in response, updating routing information stored in the respective memory, wherein the respective first radio is configured to communicate with another node in the first plurality of nodes and to limit its signal power output to reduce radio interference with other nodes outside of the first-level mesh, and at least one of the first plurality of nodes is further configured to operate as a gateway node to communicate with a second-level mesh using its respective second radio; and a second plurality of nodes, each respective node comprising a first radio, a second radio, at least one processor, and memory storing computer-executable instructions to select a route for communications sent from the respective node, each respective node configured to organize into the second-level mesh by scanning for the presence of other nodes and, in response, updating routing information stored in the respective memory, wherein each respective first radio is configured to communicate with another node in the second plurality of nodes. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
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8. A mesh network, comprising:
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a first plurality of nodes organized in a first-level mesh, wherein one of the first plurality of nodes is a gateway node; a second plurality of nodes organized in a second-level mesh, wherein the second-level mesh communicates with the first-level mesh through the gateway node; and wherein each of the first plurality of nodes and each of the second plurality of nodes comprises memory storing computer-executable instructions to select one or more routes for communications by the respective node within the mesh network, and the computer-executable instructions of each respective node of the first plurality of nodes is to further control assembly of the first-level mesh to a size of no more than a first predetermined total number of nodes. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A mesh network, comprising:
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a first plurality of nodes organized in a first-level mesh, each respective node storing computer-executable instructions to select one or more routes for communications by the respective node; and a second plurality of nodes organized in a second-level mesh and comprising a plurality of gateway nodes, each gateway node providing a communications path to an external network, wherein the second-level mesh is coupled to communicate with at least one node of the first plurality of nodes through one or more of the gateway nodes, and the mesh network is configured to do load balancing of communication traffic through the plurality of gateway nodes when the number of gateway nodes in the second-level mesh changes. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification