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Sprint International Communications Corporation

Roy Dahl

Michael Leroy Ball

Paul Nemirovsky

A method and apparatus for aggregating terminals into clusters that assists in the construction of a distributed data communication network. Terminal locations to be clustered are used as input along with a weight for each one representing the traffic carried by that location. The terminals are placed into boxes based on their geographic coordinates and only boxes with substantial traffic are retained. Any terminals included in a box not retained are assigned to the closest retained box. The retained boxes are merged into clusters so long as the maximum cluster traffic and maximum cluster radius are not exceeded. The center of mass of the resulting clusters are then determined. The representative locations of the resulting clusters are determined as the location of the terminal in the cluster closest to the center of mass.

Method and apparatus for aggregating terminals into clusters to assist

A method for selecting the most cost-efficient locations for backbone nodes in a distributed data network is disclosed. The method iteratively evaluates candidate backbone node locations, adding in each iteration the candidate whose addition to the network would create the greatest savings in total network cost. After all candidates which produce savings are added to the network, the method iteratively evaluates the backbone node locations and removes those whose removal would create cost savings. Data terminals are reassigned among the backbone nodes in the least cost manner. The method also estimates total network cost based on the resulting network configuration.

Method for efficient distributed data communications network backbone

A method for locating and selecting concentrators and local access links in a distributed data network in the most cost-efficient way is disclosed. The method first identifies a median concentrator from among a set of candidate concentrators to which all of the data terminals are initially assigned. The method then iteratively evaluates and adds to the network those concentrators which produce savings in the network's cost. The method first adds all of a set of concentrators specified to be mandatory and then adds from among a set of candidate concentrators those which produce cost savings. The method then evaluates concentrators in the network and removes those concentrators whose removal produces savings in the network cost.

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Greenbelt, MD, United States of America

Roy Dahl