Prioritized-routing for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer, mobile radio access system

• US 6,904,275 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2001
• Issued: 06/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016, LLC (Strong Force Intellectual Capital, LLC)
• Original Assignee: MeshNetworks, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stanforth, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Assistant Examiner(s): Phu, Sanh
• Application Number:
  US09/859,305
• Publication Number:
  US 20030045295A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,481 Days
• Field of Search: 455/343.1, 455/343.5, 455/574, 455/436, 455/440, 455/11.1, 455/437, 455/438, 455/439, 455/566, 455/572, 455/127.5, 455/127
• US Class Current: 455/343.1
• 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. A wireless ad-hoc, peer-to-peer network comprising:

a plurality of radio terminals, each being adapted to transmit and receive data, each said radio terminal comprising a battery and a controller adapted to generate a routing table for use by other terminals in determining the routing path of said data, said controller being adapted to check the status of said battery in order to include said battery-status in said routing table;

a plurality of wireless routers, each including a controller and being connected to an associated external power supply, such that said controller is adapted to generate a routing table including information indicating that its wireless router is connected to an external power supply; and

a plurality of intelligent access points (IAP), each including a controller and being connected to an associated external power supply, such that said controller is adapted to generate a routing table including information indicating that its IAP is connected to an external power supply;

wherein said radio terminals, wireless routers and IAPs base routing of said data on said external power supply information of said wireless routers and said IAPs and said battery-status information of said radio terminals.

2. The network according to claim 1, wherein said controller of a radio terminal is adapted to check 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.

3. The network according to claim 2, wherein said controller of a radio terminal is adapted to check for at least all four of said status indicators.

4. The network according to claim 1, wherein said controller of a radio terminal is adapted to determine and report in said routing table information on least-energy routing so that the least amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for routing said data, whereby the minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduce interference between terminals.

5. The network according to claim 1, wherein said controller of a radio terminal is adapted to update the battery status indicator of said respective routing table thereof based on the most recent status report determined by checking the status of the respective said battery.

6. The network according to claim 1, wherein said controller of a radio terminal is further adapted to generate 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.

7. The network according to claim 6, wherein time-frame based messaging is based on time division duplex (TDD) technique in a code division multiple access (CDMA) system.

8. The network according to claim 6, wherein said 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 routing said data, whereby the minimizing of radiated RF energy is achieved in order to reduce interference between terminals, said time-frame based messaging also having a section for reporting least-energy routing of said data.

9. The network according to claim 1, wherein said controller of a radio terminal is further adapted to generate information on the class of service (COS) being transmitted, and being adapted to report at least two of the following types of COS information:

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

10. A method of routing data in a wireless ad-hoc, peer-to-peer network the network comprising a plurality of radio terminals, a plurality of wireless routers, and a plurality of intelligent access points (IAPs), each said radio terminal, wireless router and IAP being adapted to transmit and receive data, each said radio terminal comprising a battery, and each said wireless router and said IAP being connected to an associated external power supply, the method comprising:

controlling each said radio terminal to generate a routing table for use by other terminals in determining the routing path of said data, said routing table including battery-status information of said battery of said radio terminal;

controlling each said wireless router to generate a routing table including information indicating that it is connected to an external power supply;

controlling each said IAP to generate a routing table including information indicating that it is connected to an external power supply; and

controlling said radio terminals, said wireless routers and said IAPs to base routing of said data on said external power supply information of said wireless routers and said IAPs and said battery-status information of said radio terminals.