TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING HETEROGENOUS NODES CONFIGURED TO SUPPORT A HOMOGENEOUS COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL

• US 20160227543A1
• Filed: 01/28/2016
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itron Networked Solutions, Inc. (Itron, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Silver Spring Networks, Inc. (Itron, Inc.)
• Inventors: FLAMMER, George H. III
• Granted Patent: US 10,917,889 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless mesh network includes heterogeneous types of nodes, including continuously-powered nodes and battery-powered nodes. The battery-powered nodes may reside in a sleeping state most of the time to conserve power. The various nodes in the network may communicate with one another by transmitting and receiving at scheduled times and on scheduled frequencies. The battery-powered nodes may become active during the scheduled transmit and receive times. Network management nodes may facilitate network formation by transmitting information that reflects the scheduled transmit and receive times across the network. Based on this data, the continuously-powered nodes and battery-powered nodes may establish communication links with one another.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of:

obtaining registration data associated with a network;

transmitting a first packet to a first battery-powered node participating within the network based on the registration data and according to a first communication protocol; and

transmitting a second packet to a first continuously-powered node participating within the network based on the registration data and according to the first communication protocol,

wherein the first communication protocol governs at least a portion of communications across a plurality of nodes participating within the network, and the plurality of nodes includes one or more battery-powered nodes and one or more continuously-powered nodes.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the registration data comprises data indicating a number of available channels within the network and a measure of time maintained within the network, and data indicating a media access control (MAC) address associated with the first battery-powered node and a MAC address associated with the continuously-powered node.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2, further comprising executing a hash function based on the number of available channels within the network, the measure of time, and the MAC address of the first battery-powered node to determine a first channel on which to transmit the first packet to the battery-powered node and a first time at which to transmit the first packet

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the battery-powered node is receptive to communications at the first time and on the first channel and inactive for a period of time following the first time.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2, further comprising executing a hash function based on the number of available channels within the network, the measure of time, and the MAC address of the first continuously-powered node to determine a first channel on which to transmit the second packet to the continuously-powered node and a first time at which to transmit the second packet

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising transitioning to a first state for a first interval of time in order to periodically monitor a first channel with a first frequency for a response from either the battery-powered node or the continuously-powered node.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising, upon determining that the response was not received during the first interval of time, transitioning to the first state for a second interval of time, wherein the second interval of time exceeds the first interval of time.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, further comprising, upon determining that the response was not received during the first interval of time, periodically monitoring the first channel with a second frequency, wherein the second frequency exceeds the first frequency.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first packet and the second packet comprises a time beacon that includes a measure of time maintained within the network.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein each of the first packet and the second packet is transmitted across the network based on transmit parameters that includes at least one of gear data, channel data, receive bandwidth, zero channel, preamble length, receive window, receive schedule, duty cycle, acknowledge wait time, and beacon schedule.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first packet is transmitted to the battery-powered node based on a first set of values for the transmit parameters, the first set of values being unique to battery-powered nodes in the network, and wherein the second packet is transmitted to the continuously-powered node based on a second set of values for the transmit parameters, the second set of values being unique to continuously-powered nodes in the network.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein at least one of the battery-powered node and the continuously-powered node also participates in at least one other network.

13. A computing device, comprising:

a memory storing a software application; and

a processor coupled to the memory that, when executing the software application, is configured to;

obtain registration data associated with a network,

transmit a first packet to a first battery-powered node participating within the network based on the registration data and according to a first communication protocol, and

transmit a second packet to a first continuously-powered node participating within the network based on the registration data and according to the first communication protocol,

wherein the first communication protocol governs at least a portion of communications across a plurality of nodes participating within the network, and the plurality of nodes includes one or more battery-powered nodes and one or more continuously-powered nodes.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the registration data comprises data indicating a number of available channels within the network and a measure of time maintained within the network, and data indicating a media access control (MAC) address associated with the first battery-powered node and a MAC address associated with the continuously-powered node.

15. The computing device of claim 14, further comprising executing a Jenkins hash with different portions of the registration data to determine a first channel on which to transmit the first packet to the battery-powered node at a first time, and a second channel on which to transmit the second packet to the continuously-powered node at a second time.

16. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to transition to a first state for a first interval of time in order to periodically monitor a first channel with a first frequency for a response from either the battery-powered node or the continuously-powered node.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to, upon determining that the response was not received during the first interval of time, transition to the first state for a second interval of time, wherein the second interval of time exceeds the first interval of time.

18. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to, upon determining that the response was not received during the first interval of time, periodically monitoring the first channel with a second frequency, wherein the second frequency exceeds the first frequency.

19. The computing device of claim 13, wherein each of the first packet and the second packet is transmitted across the network based on transmit parameters that includes at least one of gear data, channel data, receive bandwidth, zero channel, preamble length, receive window, receive schedule, duty cycle, acknowledge wait time, and beacon schedule.

20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein the processor transmits the first packet to the battery-powered node based on a first set of values for the transmit parameters, the first set of values being unique to battery-powered nodes in the network, and transmits the second packet to the continuously-powered node based on a second set of values for the transmit parameters, the second set of values being unique to continuously-powered nodes in the network.

21. A computer-implemented method for configuring a node to participate in a network, the method comprising:

obtaining registration data associated with a network;

transmitting a first packet to a first battery-powered node participating within the network based on the registration data and according to a first communication protocol; and

transmitting a second packet to a first continuously-powered node participating within the network based on the registration data and according to the first communication protocol,

wherein the first communication protocol governs at least a portion of communications across a plurality of nodes participating within the network, and the plurality of nodes includes one or more battery-powered nodes and one or more continuously-powered nodes.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein obtaining the registration data comprises registering to participate in the network with a network management entity configured to manage communications between nodes within the network, and wherein the network management entity is also configured to manage communications between nodes that reside within the network and nodes that reside within at least one other network.