Nokia Corporation

Nokia Siemens Networks Gmbh & Co Kg

Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy

Naheed Vora

Meghana Sahasrabudhe

Kevin Tang

Cedric Westphal

Ying Ye

A heterogeneous wireless communication network includes a home access network with a home network characteristic and a home network policy, and a visiting access network with a visiting network characteristic and a visiting network policy. A packet data node gateway is adapted to communicate with the home access network and the visiting access network over a first communication path. An out-of-band communication path substantially separate from the first communication path is adapted to carry the visiting network policy from the visiting access network to the packet data node gateway. When the terminal is handed off from the home network to the visiting network, the packet data node gateway retrieves the visiting network policy, and the terminal accesses the visiting network over the first communication path using the visiting network policy.

Optimization in heterogeneous networks

An architecture by which combined scheduling and network coding can be used in mesh networks, and more particularly wireless mesh networks. In various embodiments, this architecture includes a scheduling MAC protocol for scheduling nodes in the mesh network in order to take advantage of network coding opportunities. The schedule takes advantage of these opportunities by assigning a gain to transmit packets based upon the number of packets that are transmitted concurrently and choosing a schedule which minimizes the gain over the scheduling horizon. Regarding the assigned gain, in one embodiment this value is one for basic non-encoded operations and two or more for encoded operations. A scheduling MAC protocol is also used to announce and arbitrate network coding opportunities by indicating which packets (as characterized by their transmission slot) are to be encoded with each other.

Combined scheduling and network coding for wireless mesh networks

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Naheed Vora