Node query in ad hoc home mesh network

• US 8,780,762 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2009
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Patil, Abhishek, Jing, Xiangpeng, Liu, Aixin, Nguyen, Djung N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHAU, PETER P
• Application Number:
  US12/402,439
• Publication Number:
  US 20100232354A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,952 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/255
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/085 Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/34 Signalling channels for network management communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/103 with adaptive polling, i.e. dynamically adapting the polling rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/24 Transfer of terminal data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An embodiment is a technique to collect network and device information. A request for local information is responded to. The request is sent by a remote node in an ad hoc home mesh network. A first node listed in a local route table is queried for node information of the first node. Querying is expanded to a second node in the ad hoc home mesh network using the node information. The second node is a neighbor of the first node.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

responding to a request for local information, the request being sent by a remote node in an ad hoc home mesh network, the local information being associated with a local route table, wherein responding to the request for the local information includes listening to the request on a pre-determined port, and decrypting the request;

querying a first node listed in the local route table for node information of the first node, wherein querying the first node includes encrypting a query for the node information; and

expanding querying to a second node in the ad hoc home mesh network using the node information, the second node being a neighbor of the first node,

wherein the node information includes a node network capability and a node power attribute, wherein the node network capability includes at least one of multi-channel capability, Quality of Service (QoS) capability, and QoS priority, and wherein the node power attribute includes a battery level, wherein the expanding querying comprises;

analyzing the node information to obtain neighbor information of the first node, and building a local knowledge base using the neighbor information, wherein building the local knowledge base comprises organizing the analyzed node information, the organizing including rearranging a list of nodes to be queried or have been queried.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein responding comprises:

retrieving the local information;

encrypting the local information to form a reply message; and

sending the reply message to the remote node.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein querying comprises:

sending a unicast query message containing the encrypted query to the first node; and

processing a reply to the unicast query message from the first node, the reply including the node information.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein processing the reply comprises:

waiting for a reply time-out period;

receiving the reply;

decrypting the reply; and

extracting the node information from the decrypted reply.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein expanding querying comprises:

sending a next query to the second node based on the local knowledge base.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein building the local knowledge base comprises:

identifying the second node as not having been queried.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein sending the next query comprises:

avoiding sending a duplicate query.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein querying the first node comprises:

querying the first node at a first periodicity according to an application.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein expanding querying to the second node comprises:

expanding querying to the second node at a second periodicity according to an application.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

constructing a global network topology.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the node information further includes at least one of a node routing table, a node neighbor table, a node identifier, a node address, a node type, a node service capability, and a node communication attribute.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the first periodicity or the second periodicity is adjustable.

13. An article of manufacture comprising:

a non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising;

responding to a request for local information, the request being sent by a remote node in an ad hoc home mesh network, a local information being associated with a local route table, wherein responding to the request for the local information includes listening to the request on a pre-determined port, and decrypting the request;

querying a first node listed in the local route table for node information of the first node, wherein querying the first node includes encrypting a query for the node information;

expanding querying to a second node in the ad hoc home mesh network using the node information, the second node being a neighbor of the first node, wherein the node information includes a node network capability and a node power attribute, wherein the node network capability includes at least one of multi-channel capability, Quality of Service (QoS) capability, and QoS priority, and wherein the node power attribute includes a battery level;

querying the first node at a first periodicity according to an application; and

expanding querying to the second node at a second periodicity according to a predetermined frequency as established by network conditions and a query mesh protocol.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the data causing the machine to perform responding comprise data that, when accessed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

retrieving the local information;

encrypting the local information to form a reply message; and

sending the reply message to the remote node.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the data causing the machine to perform querying comprise data that, when accessed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

sending a unicast query message containing the encrypted query to the first node; and

processing a reply to the unicast query message from the first node, the reply including the node information.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the data causing the machine to perform processing the reply comprise data that, when accessed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

waiting for a reply time-out period;

receiving the reply;

decrypting the reply; and

extracting the node information from the decrypted reply.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the data causing the machine to perform expanding querying comprise data that, when accessed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

analyzing the node information to obtain neighbor information of the first node;

building a local knowledge base using the neighbor information; and

sending a next query to the second node based on the local knowledge base.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the data causing the machine to perform building the local knowledge base comprise data that, when accessed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

organizing the analyzed node information; and

identifying the second node as not having been queried.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the data causing the machine to perform sending the next query comprise data that, when accessed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

avoiding sending a duplicate query.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the data further comprise data that, when accessed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

constructing a global network topology.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the node information further includes at least one of a node routing table, a node neighbor table, a node identifier, a node address, a node type, a node service capability, and a node communication attribute.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the first periodicity or the second periodicity is adjustable.

23. An apparatus comprising:

a hardware responder to respond to a request for local information, the request being sent by a remote node in an ad hoc home mesh network, the local information being retrieved from a local route table, wherein the hardware responder listens to the request on a pre-determined port;

a query module coupled to the local route table to query a first node listed in the local route table for node information of the first node;

a query expander coupled to the query module expanding querying to a second node in the ad hoc home mesh network using the node information, the second node being a neighbor of the first node; and

a cryptographic engine coupled to the hardware responder and the query module to decrypt the request or to encrypt a query for the node information according to a cryptographic procedure, wherein the node information includes a node network capability and a node power attribute, wherein the node network capability includes at least one of multi-channel capability, Quality of Service (QoS) capability, QoS priority, and wherein the node power attribute includes a battery level wherein the query expander analyzes the node information to obtain neighbor information of the first node, builds a local knowledge base using the neighbor information, and sends a next query to the second node based on the local knowledge base, wherein the query expander builds the local knowledge base by organizing the analyzed node information and identifying the second node as not having been queried, wherein the query module queries the first node at a first periodicity according to an application.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the hardware responder retrieves the local information, encrypts the local information to form a reply message, and sends the reply message to the remote node.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the query modules comprises:

a query sender to send a unicast query message containing the encrypted query to the first node; and

a reply processor coupled to the query sender to process a reply to the unicast query message from the first node, the reply including the node information.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the reply processor waits for a reply time-out period, receives the reply, decrypts the reply, and extracts the node information from the decrypted reply.

27. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the query expander avoids sending a duplicate query.

28. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the query expander expands querying to the second node at a second periodicity according to an application.

29. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the query expander constructs a global network topology.

30. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the node information further includes at least one of a node routing table, a node neighbor table, a node identifier, a node address, a node type, a node service capability, and a node communication attribute.