Method and systems for copying data components between nodes of a wireless sensor network

• US 7,769,848 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2004
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Slingshot IOT LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Choy, Eric Yee Teck, Kim, Jonghae, Kim, Moon J.
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US10/946,714
• Publication Number:
  US 20060062154A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,141 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/238, 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

Under the present invention, a wireless sensor network comprising a plurality of peer to peer nodes is provided. Each node in the network includes, among other things, a sensor for detecting environmental factors. When a potential failure is detected within a node, the node will query its neighboring nodes to determine whether they have the capability to store any data component(s) currently stored within the potentially failing node. Based on the querying, the data component(s) in the potentially failing node are copied to one or more of the neighboring nodes. Thereafter, details of the copying can be broadcast to other nodes in the network, and any routing tables that identify the locations of data components stored throughout the wireless sensor network can be updated.

Claims

1. A method for copying data components between nodes in a sensor network of peer to peer nodes, comprising:

sensing a potential failure within one of the nodes, wherein the sensing is performed by an internal sensor of the one node, wherein the internal sensor senses environmental factors;

querying, based on an indication of the potential failure, neighboring nodes of the one node to determine a capability of the neighboring nodes to store a data component currently stored within the one node;

copying the data component to at least one of the neighboring nodes based on the querying, the data component being that portion of a data set of the sensor network that is stored in the one node; and

broadcasting details of the copying from the at least one neighboring node to nodes that are adjacent to the at least one neighboring node.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating a routing table based on the copying.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor network is a wireless sensor network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying step comprises querying the neighboring neighboring nodes to determine available resources, a memory capacity and an overall status of the neighboring nodes.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the copying step comprises copying the data component to one of the neighboring nodes based on the querying.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the copying step comprises copying distinct parts of the data component to different neighboring nodes based on the querying.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data component is not copied to the at least one neighboring node if the querying determines that all of the neighboring nodes lack the capability, and wherein the method further comprises:

querying nodes adjacent to the neighboring nodes if the neighboring nodes lack the capability to store the data component; and

copying the data component to at least one of the adjacent nodes based on the querying.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a data set; and

dividing the data set into data components.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the data components among the nodes using a global routing table, prior to the sensing step.

10. A wireless sensor network, comprising:

a plurality of nodes, each node including an internal sensor that senses environmental factors, query system for querying neighboring nodes, based on an indication of a potential failure, to determine a capability of the neighboring nodes to store data components currently stored within the one node, and a communication system for copying the data components to the neighboring nodes based on the querying, the data components being that portion of a data set of the sensor network that is stored in the one node, wherein the query system queries the neighboring nodes when the internal sensor of a particular node senses a potential failure within the particular node;

a global routing table identifying locations of data components as stored among the nodes; and

an update system for updating the global routing table when data components are copied to the neighboring nodes.

11. The wireless sensor network of claim 10, wherein each node further comprises a solar cell.

12. The wireless sensor network of claim 10, wherein the query system queries the neighboring nodes to determine a capability of the neighboring nodes to store a data component currently stored within the particular node.

13. The wireless sensor network of claim 12, wherein the capability of the neighboring nodes to store the data component is determined based upon available resources, a memory capacity and an overall status of the neighboring nodes.

14. The wireless sensor network of claim 10, wherein each node further includes a local routing map identifying data components stored in the neighboring nodes.

15. A node for use in a sensor network, comprising:

an internal sensor that senses environmental factors for detecting a potential failure within the node;

a query system for querying, based on an indication of a potential failure, neighboring nodes when the internal sensor detects the potential failure within the node to determine a capability of the neighboring nodes to store a data component currently stored within the one node;

a communication system for copying the data component currently stored within the node to at least one of the neighboring nodes based on the querying, the data component being that portion of a data set of the sensor network that is stored in the one node; and

an update system for updating a routing table when the data component is copied.

16. The node of claim 15, wherein the sensor network is a wireless sensor network.

17. The node of claim 15, wherein the sensor senses environmental data to detect the potential failure.

18. The node of claim 15, wherein the query system queries the neighboring nodes to determine a capability of the neighboring nodes to store the data component.

19. The node of claim 18, wherein the capability of the neighboring nodes to store the data component is determined based upon available resources, a memory capacity and an overall status of the neighboring nodes.

20. The node of claim 15, wherein the sensor network comprises a plurality of peer to peer nodes.

21. The node of claim 15, wherein the routing table is a global routing table that identifies locations of data components stored throughout the sensor network.

22. The node of claim 15, wherein the routing table is a local routing table contained within the node that identifies locations of data components as stored in the neighboring nodes, and wherein the update system further updates the local routing table when the data component is copied.

23. The node of claim 15, further comprising a solar cell.

24. A program product stored on a recordable medium for copying data components between nodes in a sensor network of peer to peer nodes, comprising:

program code for querying neighboring nodes when an internal sensor within a particular node, wherein the internal sensor senses environmental factors, detects a potential failure within the particular node to determine a capability of the neighboring nodes to store a data component currently stored within the one node;

program code for copying a data component currently stored within the particular node to at least one of the neighboring nodes based on the querying, the data component being that portion of a data set of the sensor network that is stored in the one node; and

program code for updating a routing table when the data component is copied.

25. The program product of claim 24, wherein the sensor network is a wireless sensor network.

26. The program product of claim 24, wherein the sensor senses environmental data to detect the potential failure.

27. The program product of claim 24, wherein the program code for querying queries the neighboring nodes to determine a capability of the neighboring nodes to store the data component.

28. The program product of claim 27, wherein the capability of the neighboring nodes to store the data component is determined based upon available resources, a memory capacity and an overall status of the neighboring nodes.

29. The program product of claim 24, wherein the sensor network comprises a plurality of peer to peer nodes.

30. The program product of claim 24, wherein the routing table is a global routing table that identifies locations of data components stored throughout the sensor network.

31. The program product of claim 24, wherein the routing table is a local routing table contained within the particular node that identifies locations of data components as stored within the neighboring nodes, and wherein the program code for updating further updates the local routing table.

32. A method for deploying an application for copying data components between nodes in a wireless sensor network of peer to peer nodes, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

query neighboring nodes when an internal sensor within a particular node, wherein the internal sensor senses environmental factors, detects a potential failure within the particular node to determine a capability of the neighboring nodes to store a data component currently stored currently stored within the one node;

copy a data component currently stored within the particular node to at least one of the neighboring nodes based on the querying, the data component being that portion of a data set of the sensor network that is stored in the one node; and

update a routing table when the data component is copied.

33. Computer software embodied in a propagated signal, stored in a computer hardware system for copying data components between nodes in a wireless network of peer to peer nodes, the computer software comprising instructions to cause the computer system to perform the following functions:

query neighboring nodes when an internal sensor within a particular node, wherein the internal sensor senses environmental factors, detects a potential failure within the particular node to determine a capability of the neighboring nodes to store a data component currently stored within the one node;

copy a data component currently stored within the particular node to at least one of the neighboring nodes based on the querying, the data component being that portion of a data set of the sensor network that is stored in the one node; and

update a routing table when the data component is copied.