Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (publ)

Piergiuseppe Di Marco

Per Skillermark

Pontus Arvidson

Roman Chirikov

Jingcheng Zhang

Dennis Sundman

Miguel Lopez

Gustav Wikström

Anna Larmo

Thomas Rimhagen

Per Elmdahl

Wei Shen

Francesco Militano

Embodiments include methods, for an intermediate node in a wireless mesh network, to identify a critical link in a path between a source node and a destination node in the wireless mesh network. Such methods include receiving a first message relating to a discovery of a path between the source node and the destination node. Such methods also include forwarding the first message to one or more other nodes in the wireless mesh network based on an entry in a discovery table, stored in the intermediate node, that indicates that the intermediate node is part of a critical link in the path. The first message can be a path request message or a path reply message, and the methods can include various other operations associated with each type of first message. Other embodiments include wireless devices configured to operate as intermediate nodes in accordance with these methods.

Detecting critical links in bluetooth mesh networks

There is provided a method and corresponding arrangements and network nodes/devices for enabling packet forwarding in a wireless mesh network comprising a plurality of nodes. Basically, the method comprises conforming, for transmission of the same network layer information from at least two different nodes, the corresponding over-the-air packets to be node-independent, and scheduling the conformed over-the-air packets for synchronized and simultaneous transmission from the at least two different nodes.

Packet forwarding in a wireless mesh network

Embodiments include methods, performed by a first mesh node, of forwarding a received message in a wireless mesh network. Such methods include receiving, from a third mesh node in the wireless mesh network, a message whose destination is a second mesh node in the wireless mesh network. Such methods also including forwarding a plurality of repetitions of the message to the second mesh node. Successive repetitions of the message are separated by respective time delays, which are based on whether the first mesh node has an established friendship relationship with the second mesh node. For example, if the first and second mesh nodes have a friendship relationship, at least three repetitions of the message are forwarded by unicast transmission, and the respective time delays are equal and are between 100-200 &#x3bc;s. Embodiments also include complementary methods performed by a second mesh node, and mesh nodes configured to perform such methods.

Method of forwarding a received message in a mesh network comprising a plurality of communicatively interconnected mesh nodes as well as a corresponding mesh node

A method for supporting the establishment of a path for transmitting a message in a mesh network, wherein said message is to be transmitted from a source node in said mesh network to a destination node, via one or more intermediary nodes, in said mesh network. The method comprises the steps of receiving, by an intermediary node in said mesh network, a path discovery message originating from said source node in said mesh network, said path discovery message comprising a path quality parameter, updating, by said intermediary node, said path quality parameter based on a quality of link associated with a node from which said intermediary node received said path discovery message, and broadcasting, by said intermediary node, said path discovery message wherein said broadcasted path discovery message comprises said updated path quality parameter. A complementary method and corresponding node are also presented herein.

Model based path selection in a Bluetooth low energy, BLE, mesh network

Method of establishing a route between a Route Originator, RO, mesh node and a Route Destination, RD, mesh node in a mesh network, said mesh network comprising a plurality of mesh nodes, said method comprising the steps of assembling a Route Request, RREQ, message, broadcasting said assembled RREQ message in said mesh network, receiving, by said RD mesh node, via any of said plurality of mesh nodes, said RREQ message, and transmitting, by said RD mesh node, a Route Reply, RREP, message towards said RO mesh node, and receiving, by said RO mesh node, via any of said plurality of mesh nodes, said RREP message thereby establishing said route between said RO mesh node and said RD mesh node, wherein an Route Sequence Number is used, which is a number specific for a pair of RO mesh node and RD mesh node.

Method, devices and a wireless mesh network for establishing a route between a route originator, RO, mesh node and a route destination, RD, mesh node in a mesh network

A relay node is configured to discover a route between a route origination node and a route destination node in a mesh communication network. The relay node in this regard generates a route request message that requests a route from the route origination node through the mesh communication network to the route destination node. The relay node transmits the route request message via unicast or broadcast, depending respectively on whether a routing table at the relay node has or does not have an entry indicating a known route to the route destination node.

Route discovery in a mesh communication network

A method of operating a node device in a network of communicatively interconnected node devices wherein a node device is arranged to transmit a message once in said network, the node device comprising a host part and a controller part. The host part is arranged for maintaining a list identifying messages received at the node device and the controller part is arranged for storing messages to be transmitted by the node device in a cache buffer. The method comprises the steps of removing, by the controller part, a message from the cache buffer, forwarding, by the controller part, to the host part, upon removal of the message, an update message identifying the removed message, and updating, by the host part, based on the update message, the list of messages. A corresponding node device arranged for performing a method according to the present disclosure and a computer program product are also presented herein.

Message cache management in a mesh network

A method of operating a node device () in a network () of communicatively interconnected node devices wherein a node device () is arranged to transmit a message once in said network (), the node device () comprising a host part () and a controller part (). The host part () is arranged for maintaining a list () identifying messages received at the node device () and the controller part () is arranged for storing messages to be transmitted by the node device () in a cache buffer (). The method comprises the steps of removing, by the controller part (), a message from the cache buffer (), forwarding, by the controller part (), to the host part (), upon removal of the message, an update message identifying the removed message, and updating, by the host part (), based on the update message, the list of messages (). A corresponding node device () arranged for performing a method according to the present disclosure and a computer program product are also presented herein.

A method performed by a first network node for reducing the number of colliding transmissions in a mesh network is provided. The first network node and the second network node are configured to use periodic advertising for transmissions in the mesh network. The first network node calculates () a first duration related to a transmission of data of a first size to be transmitted to the second network node. The first network node further calculates () a second duration related to a period of time until a reception or a transmission of data is scheduled for second network node will occur. Based on the first and second duration the first network node decides () whether or not to decrease the first size of the transmission to a second size, so that first duration becomes shorter than the second duration. The first network then performs () the transmission according to the outcome of the deciding ().

Network node and methods in a mesh network

A method for identifying a critical link in a path between a source node and a destination node in a wireless mesh network, wherein said method comprises the steps of receiving, a forwarding path request, PREQ, message relating to a discovery of a path between said source node and said destination node, determining that further PREQ message relating to the discovery of said path are not received during a predetermined duration, and, triggered by said determination, setting a first critical flag in a discovery table entry associated with said path between said source node and said destination node, and forwarding said received PREQ message to one or more other nodes in said wireless mesh network.

Method for operating a capillary network gateway (-), wherein the capillary network gateway (-) comprises an interface to a base station () of a cellular network for connecting the capillary network gateway (-) to a mobile telecommunication network and an interface for connecting at least one machine device (---) via at least one radio connection () to the capillary network gateway (-), comprising the steps of determining (S), by the capillary network gateway (-), a condition to switch into a power-saving mode; instructing (S) the at least one machine device (-) to associate to a further capillary network gateway (-), if the condition is fulfilled; and connecting (S) the capillary network gateway (-) to a further capillary network gateway (-) via a radio connection.

Method for operating a capillary network gateway

A first Bluetooth device and a method performed thereby for operating in a network of Bluetooth devices, the first Bluetooth device being capable of operating according to at least two different configurations, wherein a first configuration is of lower functionality than a second configuration. The method comprises, when the Bluetooth device is being switched on: associating () with other Bluetooth devices by (i) when the first Bluetooth device is operating according to the any configuration not being the highest functionality, transmitting a request, REQ, message in order to discover Bluetooth devices operating according to the configuration having the highest functionality; and (ii) when the first Bluetooth device is operating according to the configuration having the highest functionality, periodically and/or upon reception of the REQ, transmitting an announcement, ANN, message; determining () which configuration to operate according to, based at least partly on the association with the other Bluetooth devices; and operating () according to the determined configuration.

Energy efficient BLE mesh initialisation and operation

A method of forwarding a received message in a mesh network comprising a plurality of communicatively interconnected mesh nodes, said method comprising the steps of receiving, by a mesh node of said plurality of interconnected mesh nodes, a message to be forwarded in said mesh network, determining, by said mesh node, that said message to be forwarded is to be unicasted to a particular neighbour mesh node of said mesh node, said particular neighbour mesh node being one hop away from said mesh node, and unicasting, by said mesh node, said message to be forwarded to said particular neighbour mesh node a plurality of times, wherein each time delay between subsequent unicasted messages is predetermined. A corresponding mesh node is also described herein.

The present disclosure relates to an access point () and to a sensor station () and methods performed therein. The access point () is adapted to communicate with the sensor station () and vice versa, over a communication channel using a contention based channel access. The access point () monitors () the traffic of the communication channel and estimates a congestion level of the communication channel. Information indicating the congestion level is incorporated () into a synchronization frame () which is transmitted () to the sensor station (). The sensor station () uses the congestion information when it selects which modulation and coding scheme it should use when sending data to the access point.

Method and apparatus for communication between an access point and a sensor station

The present disclosure relates to a technique of supporting access to a wireless medium of a wireless communication network. A method embodiment comprises: when access of a station () to the wireless medium is delayed, determining (S; S), by the station, a back-off period indicating the period of time the access of the station to the wireless medium is delayed, and entering (S; S), by the station (), into a sleep mode for a sleep period based on the determined back-off period.

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Sollentuna, Sweden

Piergiuseppe Di Marco