Application US20200007269 Smart Cities: Edge Computing

Search All Applications in Smart Cities: Edge Computing

Itron | Website | LinkedIn | Stock Symbol: ITRI | Headquarters: Liberty Lake, Washington

Application US20200007269

Published 2020-01-02

Techniques For Maintaining Network Connectivity In Wireless Mesh Networks

A wireless mesh network includes a plurality of nodes coupled together in parent-child relationships. A child node is configured to cascade listening rate changes upstream to a parent node to perform low-latency communications. The child node transmits an authentication message to the parent node indicating the listening rate change. The child node sets a timer and waits for an acknowledgement from the parent node. If the child node receives the acknowledgement, then the child node and the parent node change listening rate to permit low-latency communications. In addition, if the parent node loses network access, the parent node sets a timer and then waits to abandon the child node until after the timer elapses.

Much More than Average Length Specification

View the Patent Matrix® Diagram to Explore the Claim Relationships

USPTO Full Text Publication >

3 Independent Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for increasing listen rates of nodes within a wireless mesh network to reduce communication latencies, the method comprising: determining that a latency associated with communications across a plurality of intermediate nodes within the wireless mesh network should be reduced; in response to determining that the latency should be reduced, increasing a first listen rate of a first node within the wireless mesh network from a first value to a second value; transmitting a first packet to a first intermediate node included in the plurality of intermediate nodes, wherein the first packet indicates the second value and causes the first intermediate node to increase an associated listen rate from the first value to the second value; and executing a packet exchange across the plurality of intermediate nodes, wherein increasing the second listen rate reduces the latency associated with communications across the plurality of intermediate nodes.
11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to increase listen rates of nodes within a wireless mesh network to reduce communication latencies by performing the steps of: determining that a latency associated with communications across a plurality of intermediate nodes within the wireless mesh network should be reduced; in response to determining that the latency should be reduced, increasing a first listen rate of a first node within the wireless mesh network from a first value to a second value; transmitting a first packet to a first intermediate node included in the plurality of intermediate nodes, wherein the first packet indicates the second value and causes the first intermediate node to increase an associated listen rate from the first value to the second value; and executing a packet exchange across the plurality of intermediate nodes, wherein increasing the second listen rate reduces the latency associated with communications across the plurality of intermediate nodes.
16. A system, including: a plurality of intermediate nodes included in a wireless mesh network; a first intermediate node included in the plurality of nodes; and a first node coupled to the first intermediate node and configured to perform the steps of: determining that a latency associated with communications across the plurality of intermediate nodes should be reduced, in response to determining that the latency should be reduced, increasing a first listen rate of the first node from a first value to a second value, transmitting a first packet to the first intermediate node, wherein the first packet indicates the second value and causes the first intermediate node to increase an associated listen rate from the first value to the second value, and executing a packet exchange across the plurality of intermediate nodes, wherein increasing the second listen rate reduces the latency associated with communications across the plurality of intermediate nodes.