Patent Application
20140122893
The invention relates generally to the field of wireless device connectivity. More particularly, one or more of the embodiments of the invention relate to a method and apparatus for a multi-tier wireless home mesh network using a secure network discovery protocol.
A wireless network can provide a flexible data communication system that can either replace or extend a wired network. Using radio frequency (RF) technology, wireless networks transmit and receive data over the air through walls, ceilings and even cement structures without wired cabling. For example, a wireless local area network (WLAN) provides all the features and benefits of traditional LAN technology, such as Ethernet and Token Ring, but without the limitations of being tethered together by a cable. This provides greater freedom and increased flexibility.
Currently, a wireless network operating in accordance with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 Standard (e.g., IEEE Std. 802.11a/b/g/n) may be configured in one of two operating modes: infrastructure mode and ad hoc mode. As of today, most installed wireless networks are configured and operate in infrastructure mode where one or more access points (APs) are configured as interfaces for a wired distribution network (e.g., Ethernet). In infrastructure mode, mobile devices with wireless connectivity (e.g., laptop computer with a radio network interface card “NIC”) are able to establish communications and associate with the AP, and thus, the users of these devices are able to access content within servers connected to the wired network.
As an optional feature, however, the IEEE 802.11 Standard specifies ad hoc mode, which allows the radio NIC within each wireless device to operate in an independent basic service set (IBSS) network configuration. Hence, the wireless devices perform peer-to-peer communications with each other instead of utilizing the AP for supporting such wireless communications. The ad hoc mode also allows users to spontaneously form a wireless LAN. For example, a group of employees with laptops implemented with IEEE 802.11 wireless chipsets may gather at a coffee house and form a small WLAN by switching their NICs to ad hoc mode. As a result, the employees could share presentation charts and spreadsheets without the need for cabling or an AP.
One type of ad hoc network is referred to as a mesh network, which allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths by “hopping” from device to another device until the destination is reached. Mesh networks differ from other networks in that the devices can all connect to each other via multiple hops without an infrastructure (e.g., an AP), and these devices generally can be mobile or stationary. Related to mesh networks, mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) are self-configuring networks of mobile routers, where the routers are free to relocate.
One of the primary advantages of mesh networks (and MANETs) is their ability to extend the range of the wireless network. For example, a user on one side of the building can send a packet destined to another user on the far side of the facility, well beyond the point-to-point range of IEEE 802.11-compliant AP, by having the radio signal hop from one mobile device to mobile device until the radio signal gets to its targeted destination. This can extend the range of the WLAN from hundreds of feet to miles, depending on the concentration of wireless users. A mesh network can also balance the network traffic load into different routes using orthogonal wireless channels (frequencies) without interfering with each other. In traditional networks connecting to APs, all traffic is routed through the access point, which can be easily saturated. In addition, all wireless links have to use the same frequency as the APs, which causes severe interference and results in low efficiency.
With recent technology advances in integrated circuits, and breakthroughs in multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) systems, wireless digital communications have entered a new era that allows faster speed for wireless networking applications. Mobile devices such as smart phones, music/movie players, personal digital assistants, gaming devices and the like, are creating a demand for new wireless communication and networking technologies to allow seamless connection of wireless mobile devices within a home network that not only support high-bandwidth demanding applications such as high-definition (HD) videos, but also relies on manufacturer compatibility between the wireless devices to mitigate interloper and rogue network activity.
One disclosed feature of the embodiments provides a method and apparatus for a multi-tier wireless home mesh network using a suite of protocols including a secure network discovery protocol. The method includes formation of a wireless home networking environment that seamlessly interconnects various proprietary devices to provide a wireless plug and play experience. A multi-tier wireless home mesh network is described that improves existing home network performance for better range/rate and interconnection with outdoor wireless networks. Home electronic devices may be classified according to a multi-tier system, comprising a collection of nodes that operate as a decentralized, wireless ad hoc network with multiple (N≧1) sub-networks (hereinafter referred to as “tiers”) that are responsible for different functions within the network. Each node of the multi-tier wireless network can be configured to a particular tier based on the node's performance capabilities, and is capable of forwarding data to other nodes.
In one embodiment, a hierarchical architecture is described where different functions can be implemented for stationary and mobile nodes in the network. In one embodiment, using the various available home electronic devices, these devices may be organized as nodes of a wireless home network. For example, a first tier of the network may resemble a traditional Internet connection (via a cable/DSL connection, 3G/WiMax, or outdoor mesh). The node directly connected to the Internet may be referred to as a gateway node and there may be multiple gateway nodes in a home network. A second tier of the network represents the backhaul of the network that interconnects various fixed-location electronics devices (e.g., flat-panel TVs, Playstations, or desktop computers) that are usually stationary and electrically coupled to a power supply (non-power constrained). A third tier of the network may include links between a device belonging to the second tier of the network and low-powered, resource-constrained mobile platform devices (e.g., laptops, cellular phones, PDAs, etc.).
In a further embodiment, the secure network discovery protocol may include the identification of surrounding wireless ad hoc networks. Once identified, one or more proprietary messages may be exchanged to detect the presence of a wireless home mesh network. Further, the messages help identify an electronics device as either a mobile node or a stationary node of the wireless home mesh network. Once a new electronics device is established as a node of the wireless home mesh network, the new electronics device is connected to an existing mesh node. Using the connection, the new electronics device may wirelessly communicate with other electronics devices that are nodes of the wireless home mesh network.
In one embodiment, when the secure network discovery protocol does not detect the presence of a wireless home mesh network, the wireless device may enter a network initiator mode. Likewise, the wireless device may enter the network initiator mode even when a wireless home mesh network is detected, if the wireless device desires to generate a new wireless home mesh network. According to such an embodiment, a user may be prompted to establish a name for the new wireless home mesh network, and a password for the network. The user may also select a channel for the network. A channel having minimal interference is generally selected and can be automatically generated using a channel selection algorithm. Once the channel is selected, a wireless interface for the network may be set with an extended service set identifier (ESSID). According to this embodiment, the new wireless network is then set to the selected channel so that a new node may begin listening for discovery requests.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which:
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In addition, the following description provides examples, and the accompanying drawings show various examples for the purposes of illustration. However, these examples should not be construed in a limiting sense as they are merely intended to provide examples of embodiments of the invention rather than to provide an exhaustive list of all possible implementations. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the details of the disclosed features of various described embodiments.
In the following description, certain terminology is used to describe certain features of the invention. For instance, the term “wireless node” is generally defined as a device with data processing and wireless communication capabilities. The term “logic” is generally defined as hardware and/or software configured to perform one or more functions. One example of a certain type of logic is a wireless chipset, being one or more integrated circuits, operating to request access to a wireless network and/or authenticate a wireless node before granting the node access to the wireless network. “Software” is generally describes as a series of executable instructions in the form of an application, an applet, or even a routine. The software may be stored in any type of machine readable medium such as a programmable electronic circuit, a semiconductor memory device such as volatile memory (e.g., random access memory, etc.) and/or non-volatile memory such as any type of read-only memory (ROM) or flash memory, a portable storage medium (e.g., USB drive, optical disc, digital tape), or the like.
The term “message” represents information configured for transmission over a network. One type of message is a frame that is generally defined as a group of bits of information collectively operating as a single data unit. The term “content” includes video, audio, images, data files, or any combination thereof.
Referring to
For instance, one embodiment of, home network 100 features a hierarchical architecture comprising three (3) tiers that are assigned based on the capabilities of the node. A first tier (“tier 1”) 1101 is responsible for establishing and controlling access to an external network such as the Internet, and may resemble a traditional Internet connection via a cable or direct subscriber line (DSL) connection or 3G/WiMax/Outdoor mesh. As illustrated, first tier 1101 comprises a first node 120, which is commonly referred to as a “gateway node.” Gateway node 120 may include, but is not limited or restricted to a cable or DSL modem, a wireless router or bridge, and the like. Although not shown, multiple gateway nodes may be present within home network 100 in order to provide multiple communication paths to external network(s).
A second tier (“tier 2”) 1102 of home network 100 may represent a wireless network backhaul that interconnects various stationary (fixed-location) wireless nodes, such as stationary (fixed-location) home electronics devices adapted for communicating over a wireless communication medium such as, for example, radio frequency (RF) waves. As described herein, an “electronics device” may be stationary or mobile. A “stationary electronics device” includes, but is not limited or restricted to: a flat-panel television 130, 131, and 132), a gaming console (140), desktop computer (150), or any other device that is usually stationary (fixed-location) and is electrically coupled to an AC power outlet. Hence, stationary wireless nodes are not subject to power constraints that are usually present in mobile wireless nodes where power usage is minimized to extend battery life between recharges.
Referring still to
Below, Table 1 summarizes a multi-tier, wireless home mesh network architecture, categorization by potential network characteristics, tier node descriptions, and traffic type that is prevalent over home network 100.
As indicated by Table 1, home network 100 is distinct from conventional ad hoc mesh-network solutions because home network 100 is directed to consumer electronics devices and video-centric applications. Based on the traffic indicated in Table 1, which may include high-definition (HD) video, audio clips and video clips, as well as user data, wireless NICs may be incorporated within some of the stationary nodes of home network 100. For example, by multiplexing one flow of compressed HD video, four Internet video sessions, plus four audio/video sessions, and some intermittent http data traffic, the load on the backhaul link 170 is approximately 60 megabits per second for TCP/UDP type traffic, which may require at least 100 megabits per second of raw radio support considering media access control (MAC) layer efficiency. According to this example, the tier 2 nodes might require an 802.11n type radio (e.g., at 5 GHz band) to meet such a bandwidth requirement.
Referring now to
Referring back to
Before conducting operations to associate (join) home network 100, tier 2 node 130 listens for response messages to a Neighbor Discovery message (see
Referring now to
To enable wireless mesh network functions, a single WiFi radio platform may be used. For example, for tier 2 nodes, one IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, dual-band card (mini PCI, PCI express, USB dongle, or the like) is used for backhaul links to operate at a 5 GHz band or higher bandwidth. In one embodiment of the invention, links connecting tier 3 nodes are compatible with legacy 802.11b/g mode simply because, at this time, most current mobile nodes support IEEE 802.11b/g WiFi. Of course, the particular wireless PHY 302 and MAC layers 310 may be altered accordingly.
As shown in
In one embodiment, WHMN functions layer 320 is transparent to both lower and higher layers, while providing support for different radio chipsets. The WHMN layer 320 can perform functions of WHMN organization and configuration such as auto-PHY (network discovery) configuration 322, layer 2 routings 326, auto-IP configuration 328, etc. In one embodiment, each node uses MAC packets with its MAC address for initial topology setup.
As shown in
In one embodiment, auto-PHY configuration 322 may provide features for initial wireless home mesh network setup, that are incorporated into an OEM electronics device such as electronics device 400, as shown in
As illustrated in
In one embodiment, when wireless node 400 is powered on, network discovery logic 420 may scan each channel to detect the presence of other wireless ad hoc networks. According to the IEEE 802.11 standard, when a wireless card operates in an ad hoc mode, various devices send out beacons in a predefined manner according to the ad hoc mode. In one embodiment, when a WHMN is established, including at least one stationary node, the stationary node will periodically transmit a beacon to maintain standard ad hoc operations.
Activation of wireless node 400 may trigger the network discovery logic 420 to issue 802.11 functions to scan each wireless channel to determine a list of available wireless networks. Based on the detected beacons, network discovery logic 420 may identify one or more wireless networks that are operating in an ad hoc mode. The network discovery logic 420 may transmit one or more security parameters to detect a WHMN from one or more identified wireless ad hoc networks. These security parameters may enable an existing node within a wireless home mesh network (WHMN) to verify wireless node 400 as an electronics device from a same OEM. Discovery response logic 430 may respond to a network discovery request when device 400 is a node of a WHMN. An authentication process, as shown in
Referring again to
More specifically, as shown in
As an example,
For control messages (e.g. discovery, authentication, routing), 4-byte control header 542 is inserted after header 530, where control header 542 includes type 508, header length 544, and message length 546. After control header 542, a message body (content) 548 of WHMN control message 540 is inserted. For Discovery messages, for instance, content 548 is a “challenge text” as described below.
For WHMN data messages 550, however, an IP data packet received from the OSI network layer is attached to Ethernet packet 520 after WHMN header 530 in lieu of control header 452 and content 548 to form a WHMN data message 550.
In one embodiment, challenge text 618 may include a secret key combined with an extended service set identification (ESSID) of a network that a new electronics device 602 is attempting to join. When Node B 604 receives the neighbor discovery broadcast message (see arrow 620), Node B 604 may verify that the challenge text 618 matches an expected value. Presuming challenge text 618 is verified to identify Node A 602 as a WHMN-enabled OEM device, Node B 604 will generate a WHMN discovery response 630 as shown in
In one embodiment, receipt of the neighbor response (see arrow 640) indicates to Node A 602 that a detected ad hoc network is identified as a WHMN. Based on the identification of a WHMN, Node A 602 may save various information regarding Node B 604. Node A 602 may repeat this process to identify multiple WHMNs, which may be presented to the user as a list, with a user selection required to join a desired network. Based on a user password for a selected WHMN, Node A 602 generates a connection request message 650 which validates the encrypted phrase 656 and Node B 604 generates a connection confirmation message 670 (see arrow 664) if the connection request is validated (see arrow 690). The authentication process for generating the connection request message 650 and connection confirmation message 670 is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/360,771, filed on Jan. 27, 2009. Procedural methods for implementing one or more embodiments are now described.
As shown in
Representatively, when an ad hoc network is not discovered at process block 720, at process block 770, Node A 702 may perform a predetermined number of retries such as, for example, three retries. Following the predetermined number of retries, at process block 772, Node A 702 may prompt the user to rescan for available wireless networks by returning to process block 712. However, if the user desires to enter network initiation mode, to create a new network, the flow continues to process block 774. At process block 774, a user is prompted for a new name for the new WHMN as well as setting a password for the network. At process block 776, a channel with, for example, minimal interference is selected. Once selected at process block 778, a wireless interface of the network may be set with an extended service set identifier (ESSID) and a channel is set for the wireless network according to the selected channel so that the new node 702 may begin listening for discovery requests.
Referring again to process block 722, for each detected ad hoc network, Node A 702 performs process blocks 724-756. At process block 724, Node A 702 sets its information to the parameters of a detected ad hoc network. At process block 726, the node prepares challenge text as described above. At process block 730, the node broadcasts a WHMN discovery request to the detected mesh network. Following the broadcast, at process block 750, Node A 702 listens on a socket for a predetermined period of time. At process block 752, it is determined whether a timeout is detected. When a timeout is detected, network initiation is performed as shown at process blocks 724-758.
Representatively, if a response is received prior to the timeout, response verification is performed at process block 754. Based on the response verification, at process block 756, the identified node and information of the identified node is saved. At process block 760, for each WHMN identified from one or more detected wireless ad hoc networks, the device may present a list of such networks to a user, and prompt a user either to join a selected WHMN (see process block 762), create a new WHMN, or perform a rescan. If the user desires to join a network, the device performs an authentication process at process block 762 to establish itself as either a stationary node or a mobile node of a WHMN.
As further illustrated in
As described above, a neighbor discovery message is a broadcast message that a node sends out in an attempt to find and join a WHMN. The message is proprietary and is recognized by other WHMN-enabled OEM devices in the neighborhood. As indicated above, in one embodiment, the WHMN features are limited to devices from a predetermined OEM. However, a non-OEM device may be modified to include WHMN functions, as shown in
Referring again to
Representatively,
As shown in
Referring again to
Furthermore, access to external networks via tier 1 devices 110, such as gateway node 120, is provided. For example, a user in the back yard, using laptop computer 166, may establish a link with gaming console 140 to join home network 100. Based on joining of the network, this user may access gateway node 120 via a multi-hop path including game console 140, digital television 132, desktop computer 150, and backhaul link 170. Similarly, a portable media player 168 may be loaded with content that is streamed from gaming console 140.
Hence, in addition to network extension capabilities, home network 100 may enable access from various tier 3 devices including handheld video recorder 162, portable media player 168, or the like, to stream content from such devices throughout the network. In addition, tier 3 devices (160-169) can load content within, for example, a media player 168 which is outside of home network 100. In the embodiments described the various tier 2 or 3 devices may be from the same OEM, such as Sony® Electronics. However, other non-OEM devices may be enabled for joining and accessing home network 100. Accordingly, such devices, once activated, automatically form a wireless mesh network with minimal user interaction beyond selection of desired networks, creation of additional networks, or password information for network authentication.
Several aspects of one implementation of the wireless home mesh network for providing improved home electronic device connectivity are described. However, various implementations of the wireless home mesh network provide numerous features including, complementing, supplementing, and/or replacing the features described above. Features can be implemented as part of the access point or as part of the wireless devices in different embodiment implementations. In addition, the foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the specific details are not required in order to practice the embodiments of the invention.
It is to be understood that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of various embodiments of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of various embodiments of the invention, this disclosure is illustrative only. In some cases, certain subassemblies are only described in detail with one such embodiment. Nevertheless, it is recognized and intended that such subassemblies may be used in other embodiments of the invention. Changes may be made in detail, especially matters of structure and management of parts within the principles of the embodiments of the present invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
Having disclosed exemplary embodiments and the best mode, modifications and variations may be made to the disclosed embodiments while remaining within the scope of the embodiments of the invention as defined by the following claims.
The application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/102,974, filed May 6, 2011 which is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/360,821, filed Jan. 27, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,961,674 and incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13102974 | May 2011 | US |
| Child | 14149461 | US | |
| Parent | 12360821 | Jan 2009 | US |
| Child | 13102974 | US |
