Method and apparatus to provide a routing protocol for wireless devices
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of wireless connectivity comprising:
- broadcasting a beacon by a server;
receiving and storing every beacon received by a client, the client further retaining information indicative of a path to the server;
designating one path identified by one beacon as the optimal path;
setting a default gateway as identified in the optimal path; and
rebroadcasting only the beacon representing the optimal path.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for generating connectivity is described. The method includes a server broadcasting a beacon including the server'"'"'s address. The method further includes each client that receives the beacon rebroadcasting the beacon. The result is that each client receiving the beacon knows a way to reach the server.
257 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of wireless connectivity comprising:
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broadcasting a beacon by a server;
receiving and storing every beacon received by a client, the client further retaining information indicative of a path to the server;
designating one path identified by one beacon as the optimal path;
setting a default gateway as identified in the optimal path; and
rebroadcasting only the beacon representing the optimal path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
each client that receives the beacon rebroadcasting the beacon with the hop-count incremented by one;
such that each client receiving the beacon knows a way to reach the server and the number of hops in this path.
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3. The method of claim 1, wherein the beacon broadcast by the server includes server address, such that each client receiving the beacon knows the address of the server.
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4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
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each client that receives the beacon rebroadcasting the beacon with an address of the client added to the beacon;
such that each client receiving the beacon has a complete path to the server.
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5. The method of claim 1, wherein the beacon includes a sequence number representing a current routing cycle.
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6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
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determining if there is a previous default gateway identified; and
deleting the previous default gateway from memory.
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7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, for each client:
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collecting all beacons; and
selecting a single beacon to rebroadcast.
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8. The method of claim 7, wherein selecting a beacon comprises:
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identifying a number of hops between the server and the client for each beacon; and
selecting the beacon with the lowest number of hops.
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9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
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sending a reverse beacon to the server; and
constructing a client tree in the server, wherein the server has a path to all clients.
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10. A method of wireless connectivity comprising:
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broadcasting a beacon by a server, the beacon including a sequence number representing a current routing cycle;
receiving and storing the beacon at the client, the client further retaining information indicative of a path to the server;
rebroadcasting the beacon by the client;
upon a client receiving a beacon, determining if a beacon has already been received for this routing cycle; and
if no beacon has already been received for the routing cycle, storing a routing path to the server from the beacon. - View Dependent Claims (11)
determining if this beacon has a higher sequence number than a prior beacon for this routing cycle, and if so, storing the current beacon in memory.
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12. A method of wireless connectivity comprising:
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broadcasting a beacon by a server, the beacon including a sequence number representing a current routing cycle;
receiving and storing the beacon at the client, the client further retaining information indicative of a path to the server;
rebroadcasting the beacon by the client;
wherein the beacon includes a sequence number representing a current routing cycle;
upon a client receiving a beacon, determining if a currently received beacon represents an optimal path for this routing cycle; and
if the current beacon represents the optimal path, identifying a default gateway in the current beacon, and storing the default gateway. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21)
determining if there is a previous default gateway identified; and
deleting the previous default gateway from memory.
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14. The method of claim 12, further comprising, for each client:
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collecting all beacons; and
selecting a single beacon to rebroadcast.
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15. The method of claim 14, wherein selecting a beacon comprises:
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identifying a number of hops between the server and the client for each beacon; and
selecting the beacon with the lowest number of hops.
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16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
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sending a reverse beacon to the server; and
constructing a client tree in the server, wherein the server has a path to all clients.
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20. The method of claim 12, wherein the highest quality is based on most back end bandwidth capacity at the server.
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21. The method of claim 12, wherein the highest quality is based on a lowest level of traffic being handled by the server.
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17. A method of wireless connectivity comprising:
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broadcasting a beacon by a server; and
receiving and storing the beacon at the client, the client further retaining information indicative of a path to the server;
rebroadcasting the beacon by the client;
further comprising, for each client;
collecting all beacons; and
selecting a single beacon to rebroadcast;
wherein selecting a beacon comprises;
identifying a traffic monitoring code (TMC) for each of the beacons; and
selecting the beacon with the lowest TMC.
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18. A method of wireless connectivity comprising:
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broadcasting a beacon by a server; and
receiving and storing the beacon at the client, the client further retaining information indicative of a path to the server;
rebroadcasting the beacon by the client;
further comprising, for each client;
collecting all beacons; and
selecting a single beacon to rebroadcast;
wherein selecting a beacon comprises;
identifying a beacon with a highest quality; and
selecting the beacon with the highest quality. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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22. A method of generating a routing path for a system including a server and a plurality of clients, the method comprising each client:
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receiving a beacon from the server;
rebroadcasting one beacon received from an upstream node; and
broadcasting a reverse beacon upstream, the reverse beacon being addressed to the known upstream node, the reverse beacon used by the server and each client to set up a routing table;
whereinreceiving a reverse beacon broadcast by a client'"'"'s default gateway triggers the client to start a timer to send the reverse beacon.
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23. A method of generating a routing path for a system including a server and a plurality of clients, the method comprising each client:
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receiving a beacon from the server;
rebroadcasting one beacon received from an upstream node; and
broadcasting a reverse beacon upstream, the reverse beacon being addressed to the known upstream node, the reverse beacon used by the server and each client to set up a routing table;
further comprising, if a client receives multiple beacons;
evaluating a link quality of each of the beacons received; and
selecting the default gateway based on the beacon with the best link quality and rebroadcasting that beacon. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of generating a routing path for a system including a server and a plurality of clients, the method comprising each client:
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receiving a beacon from the server;
rebroadcasting one beacon received from an upstream node; and
broadcasting a reverse beacon upstream, the reverse beacon being addressed to the known upstream node, the reverse beacon used by the server and each client to set up a routing table;
further comprising the client;
receiving a plurality of beacons from a plurality of servers; and
selecting one of the plurality of beacons, and setting the server associated with the selected beacon as its preferred server;
thereby self-selecting to belong in a cluster associated with the preferred server. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
moving outside the cluster;
upon receiving a beacon from a new cluster, the client setting the server associated with the new beacon and the new cluster as its preferred server.
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31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:
expiring a routing table including a previous preferred server and previous default gateway.
Specification