Time division protocol for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio network having coordinating channel access to shared parallel data channels with separate reservation channel Number:6,807,165 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent A novel protocol for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio network that provides collision-free channel access with an emphasis on improving geographic reuse of the frequency spectrum. The protocol of the invention is executed on the reservation or control channel, and provides a method for allocating data transactions on the data channels. The system of the invention utilizes multiple parallel data channels that are coordinated by a single reservation channel. The transceiver of the system employs two modems to solve the channel reliability issues with multiple channel designs, where one is dedicated as a receive-only modem for gathering channel usage information on the reservation channel. High quality voice, video and data may be transmitted. The reservation channel implements a time division multiple access algorithm with dynamic slot allocation. In a distributed manner, nodes determine geographic reuse of slots based on channel quality extracted from the modem. Signal quality calculations are used to determine the likelihood of a slot reuse causing destructive interference within a node's neighborhood. Requests for slot usage are compared with the known traffic pattern and accepted or rejected by nodes within RF signal range based on the signal quality calculations.<H coordinating, reservation, Time, division, p, 6807165.html, Patent, pto, 6807165

Title: Time division protocol for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio network having coordinating channel access to shared parallel data channels with separate reservation channel

Abstract: A novel protocol for an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio network that provides collision-free channel access with an emphasis on improving geographic reuse of the frequency spectrum. The protocol of the invention is executed on the reservation or control channel, and provides a method for allocating data transactions on the data channels. The system of the invention utilizes multiple parallel data channels that are coordinated by a single reservation channel. The transceiver of the system employs two modems to solve the channel reliability issues with multiple channel designs, where one is dedicated as a receive-only modem for gathering channel usage information on the reservation channel. High quality voice, video and data may be transmitted. The reservation channel implements a time division multiple access algorithm with dynamic slot allocation. In a distributed manner, nodes determine geographic reuse of slots based on channel quality extracted from the modem. Signal quality calculations are used to determine the likelihood of a slot reuse causing destructive interference within a node's neighborhood. Requests for slot usage are compared with the known traffic pattern and accepted or rejected by nodes within RF signal range based on the signal quality calculations.

Patent Number: 6,807,165 Issued on 10/19/2004 to Belcea

Inventors: Belcea; John M. (W. Melbourne, FL)
Assignee: MeshNetworks, Inc. (Maitland, FL)

Appl. No.: 09/815,157

Filed: March 22, 2001

Current U.S. Class: 370/347 ; 370/316; 370/318; 370/442

Field of Search: 370/315,316,319,321,337,329,330,333,400,401,442,318,322,326,336,341,347,436,437 455/435,452,11.1,13.1,13.4,16

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Primary Examiner: Sam; Phirin
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Gardner Carton & Douglas LLP Buczynski; Joseph J.

Parent Case Text

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Priority of provision application Ser. No. 60/246,833, filed on Nov. 8, 2000 is herewith claimed.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. In an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of terminals where each said terminal is capable of making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call, each said terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other like terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, the improvement comprising: said memory means comprising software means for creating connectivity messaging and data transfer plan messaging information for transmission to other said terminals, and for receiving similar said information from other said terminals from which said terminal can receive; said software means comprising means for delivering said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging to a configuration channel for transmission to said other terminals belonging to the same service group (SG); said connectivity messaging comprising a utilization map, the power used for transmitting the messaging, and the level of the environmental noise at the transmission site of the transmitting terminal; said data transfer plan information messaging comprising messaging for use in changing the transmit power level and for determining routing paths; and said utilization map comprising information messaging on the availability of time slots of a previous time frame based on whether time slots were used in said previous time frame or were unavailable for use due to high-level noise; said software means further comprising means for generating at least one optimal connection path of a call based on said messaging received from other said terminals in said service group (SG), whereby said call is routed to its destination by routing said call along a route utilizing at least one of some of said terminals of said series of terminals based on least-energy routing, so that the least amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing a call.

2. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 1, wherein said means for generating at least one optimal connection path of a call based on said messaging received from other said terminals in said service group comprises determining the smallest path loss relative to said other terminals from which it has received similar messaging; said means for generating at least one optimal connection path of a call causing the said software means to initiate a request-to-register message in said connectivity messaging, whereby said terminal will register with the closest of said other terminals for serving as at least a first node of said optimal path.

3. In an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of terminals where each said terminal is capable of making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call, each said terminal comprising computer means, and memory means for storing program software means therein, the improvement comprising: each said terminal of said series of terminals comprising a modem means for transmitting first communications information on at least one data channel (DC) at a first chosen power level, and for transmitting second communications information on a control channel (CC) at a second chosen power level; said first power level being one of equal to or less than said second power level, whereby RF interference among said series of terminals is minimized.

4. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 3, wherein said software means of each said terminal comprises means for generating communications-information based on time division messaging.

5. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 4, wherein said communications-information comprises a series of time frames (TM) each divided into a series of time slots (TS); said communications-information comprising at least one time slot in which said control-channel messaging data is transmitted via said modem means, and at least two time slots in which is transmitted channel data (CD) messaging data via said modem means.

6. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 5, wherein said software means of each said terminal for generating said communications-information based also generates said communications-information based on frequency division multiple access (FDMA), said software means for generating said communications-information transmitting said control-channel (CC) information at a first frequency, and said data-channel (DC) information at at least one other frequency different from said first frequency.

7. The ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 6, wherein each said time frame comprises a first said time slot (TS) in which said control-channel (CC) information is transmitted at said second power level, and at least three other time slots (TS) in which said data-channel(DC) information is transmitted at said first power level; said first time slot transmitting said control-channel information at said first frequency of F0, and said at least three subsequent time slots (TS) transmitting said data-channel (DC) information at frequencies of F1, F2, and F3, respectively.

8. A protocol for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of terminals where each said terminal is capable of making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call, and where each said terminal comprising computer means, memory means for storing program software means therein, and where each said terminal is capable of being hop of a routing path connecting a call from a source to a destination, comprising: software means for said memory means of each said terminal, said software means comprising means for generating communications-information for transmission based on time-division messaging; said communications-information comprising a series of time frames (TM) each divided into a series of time slots (TS); said communications-information comprising at least one time slot in which control-channel (CC) messaging information is transmitted, and other time slots in which is transmitted channel data (CD) messaging information; said at least one time slot transmitting said control-channel information at a first frequency of F0, and said other time slots (TS) transmitting said data-channel (DC) information at frequencies of F1, F2, and F3, respectively; each said time frame (TF) comprising an inter-frame time gap (IFTG) at the end of each said time frame (TF) in which no communications-information is transmitted, whereby each said terminal is allowed time to perform necessary calculations.

9. The protocol for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 8, wherein the length of each said time slot for transmitting said communications-information is equal to each other.

10. The protocol for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 9, said software means further comprises means for switching transmission of initial control communications-information from said last time slot (TS) to another, free, earlier time slot of a subsequent time frame (TF) in order to reduce the chance of collision with other said terminals also initially registering.

11. The protocol for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 10, said initial control communications-information in said last time slot (TS) and in said another, free, earlier time slot of a subsequent time frame (TF) are transmitted at a frequency F0 of said control channel.

12. The protocol for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 8, wherein said at least one time slot (TS) for said control-channel (CC) information is transmitted at a first power level, and said other time slots (TS) for said data-channel (DC) information are transmitted at a second power level.

13. The protocol for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 12, wherein said second power level is equal to or less than said first power level, whereby RF interference is reduced.

14. In a radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals, said radio terminal capable of making at least one of an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call, and comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other like terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, the improvement comprising: said memory means comprising software means for setting the power level of a transmission of control-channel messaging to be transmitted by said transceiver means; said software means further comprising means for generating routing messaging including said power level set by said means for setting for use in determining the connection path of a call; said software means further comprising means for determining the optimal connection path of an outgoing call based on least energy use, so that the least amount of energy over a selected route is chosen for completing the call.

15. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 14, wherein said software means comprises message-generating means for generating a routing table based on said least energy use, said routing table comprising time-frame based messaging.

16. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 15, wherein time-frame based messaging is based on time division.

17. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 15, wherein time-frame based messaging comprises a series of time frames (TM) each divided into a series of time slots (TS), one said time slot being used for transmitting said control-channel (CC) messaging including said power level, said routing messaging, and said optimal path connection of an outgoing call based on least energy use.

18. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 17, wherein other time slots of said series of time-slots based are used for transmitting channel data (CD) messaging information.

19. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 18, wherein said one time slot transmits said control-channel information at a first frequency of F0, and said at other time slots (TS) transmit said data-channel (DC) information at frequencies different from said first frequency and different from each other.

20. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 18, wherein each said time frame (TF) further comprises an inter-frame time gap (IFTG) at the end of each said time frame (TF) in which no communications-information is transmitted, in order to allow time to perform necessary calculations.

21. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 20, wherein each said time frame (TF) further comprises a last time slot (LTS) at said first frequency in which is contained initial control communications-information indicating initial presence of said radio terminal in order to start communicating with other said terminals.

22. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 21, wherein said software means further comprises means for switching transmission of initial control communications-information from said last time slot (TS) to another, free, earlier time slot of a subsequent time frame (TF) in order to reduce the chance of collision with other said terminals also initially registering.

23. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 18, wherein said first time slot (TS) for said control-channel (CC) information is transmitted at a first power level, and said other time slots (TS) for said data-channel(DC) information are transmitted at a second power level.

24. The radio terminal for use in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 23, wherein said second power level is equal to or less than said first power level, whereby RF interference is reduced.

25. A method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals, each said radio terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other like terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, comprising: (a) creating a service group (SG) of said radio terminals where each said radio terminal of said service group may be connected to any other of said radio terminals of said service group via at least one connecting path; (b) creating in each said radio terminal of said service group (SG) via said software means connectivity messaging and data transfer plan messaging information for transmission to other said radio terminals of said service group, and for receiving similar said information from said other radio terminals; (c) delivering said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging to a configuration channel for transmission to said other radio terminals belonging to the same service group (SG); (d) said step (b) comprising developing by said software means a utilization map, the power used for transmitting the messaging, and the level of the environmental noise at the transmission site of the transmitting terminal; (e) said step (b) further comprising using said data transfer plan information messaging for use in adjusting the transmit power level and for determining at least one routing path.

26. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 25, wherein said step (d) comprises: (f) developing said utilization map with information messaging based on time division on the availability of time slots of a previous time frame based on whether time slots were used in said previous time frame or were unavailable for use.

27. The method of selecting an optimal routing path of a call in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 25, further comprising: (f) transmitting said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging to other said radio terminals of said service group of radio terminals via said configuration channel; (g) receiving said connectivity and data transfer plan information messaging at said other radio terminals; (h) determining the optimal routing path of a call to or from a said radio terminal based on said received connectivity and data transfer plan information.

28. The method according to claim 25, wherein said step (b) comprises: (c) applying a power-perturbation to said service group of terminals to cause at least some of said terminals to adjust the power level to a lower value.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein said time-dependent messaging is made up of a series of time frames with each time frame having a plurality of time slots, said step (c) comprising applying said perturbation in the same time frame on all said terminals of said service group.

30. The method according to claim 28, wherein said time-dependent messaging is made up of a series of time frames with each time frame having a plurality of time slots, said step (b) comprising utilizing at least three said time frames.

31. A method of reducing radio interference in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals forming a service group, each said radio terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other like terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, where a call for sending packet data from one radio terminal may be connected utilizing at least one other said radio terminal as a node in the routing connection of the call to a destination other said other radio terminal, comprising: (a) transmitting connectivity messaging from said one radio terminal to at least one other radio terminal of said service group; (b) said step (a) comprising transmitting said connectivity messaging using time division signaling having a series of time frames (TF) with each said time frame consisting of a plurality of time slots (TS); (c) said step (b) comprising dedicating one of said time slots (TS) of each said time frame (TF) as a configuration channel in which said connectivity messaging is transmitted; (d) said step (b) comprising dedicating other of said time slots (TS) of each said time frame (TF) as data channels in which data information messaging is transmitted; (e) said step (b) comprising transmitting said connectivity messaging of said configuration channel of at a power level equal to or greater than the power level at which said data information on said data channels is transmitted. terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing.

32. The method of transmitting radio calls in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 31, wherein said step (e) comprises making the length of said inter-frame time gap (IFTG) longer than the lengths of said time slots (TS).

33. A method of transmitting radio calls in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals forming a service group, each said radio terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other like terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, comprising: (a) establishing a call from a said radio terminal based on time-division access; (b) said step (a) comprising creating messaging consisting of a series of time frames (TF) with each said time frame consisting of a plurality of time slots (TS); (c) said step (b) comprising dedicating one said time slot for use as a configuration channel for transmitting information useful in establishing a routing path of a call; (d) said step (b) further comprising dedicating other of said time slots for use as a data channels for transmitting the actual call information; (e) said step (b) further comprising forming an inter-frame time gap (IFIG) between said time frames (TF) during which each radio terminal may process said data received from another terminal.

34. In a method of transmitting radio calls in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals, each said radio terminal comprising transceiver means for transmitting and receiving signals from other like terminals of said series of terminals, computer means and memory means for storing program software means therein, said radio system based on time-dependent messaging having multiple parallel data channels and a control channel, comprising: (a) said radio terminal monitoring said control channel for information about the power level at which other said terminals are transmitting over said control channel; and (b) adjusting the power level of said terminal based on the information received on said control channel in said step (a); and

before said step (a): (c) said terminal transmitting a registration request signal over said control channel for registering with at least one of: another said radio terminal and a gateway; (d) said step (a) monitoring the evolution of path loss to all radio terminals receiving said registration request of said step (c); (e) said step (b) comprising adjusting said power level in accordance with path-loss variation and noise level from said step (d).

35. The method of transmitting radio calls in an ad-hoc peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals according to claim 34, further comprising: (f) said radio terminal registering with at least one other said radio terminal, said at least one other radio terminal serving as a node of a connection routing path of a call for said radio terminal.

36. The method of transmitting radio calls in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals according to claim 35, wherein said step (f) comprises: (g) registering with a plurality of other said radio terminals for forming a multi-node connection routing path; (h) each said other radio terminal forming a said node of said connection routing path storing information in said memory means thereof about said registration (i) each said radio-terminal storing registration information in said memory means thereof about any other said radio terminal serving as a node therefor through which it has been registered; and (j) each said radio-terminal also storing registration information in said memory means thereof about any other said radio terminal for which it serves as a node therefor through which said any other radio terminal has been registered.

37. The method of transmitting radio calls in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 34, further comprising before said step (a): (f) initiating an outgoing call from one said radio terminal; (g) said step (f) comprising registering with another said radio terminal for serving as a node in the call connection by transmitting a registration request; (h) said step (g) comprising initially transmitting said registration message on the last time slot (TS) of a respective said time frame (TF), said last time slot serving as said configuration channel.

38. The method of transmitting radio calls in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system according to claim 37, further comprising after said step (h): (i) selecting in a time frame (TF), subsequent to said respective said time frame in which said registration messaging was sent by said step (h), a time slot (TS) earlier than said last time slot of said subsequent time frame as said configuration channel for transmitting configuration messaging.

39. The method of transmitting radio calls in an ad-hoc, peer-to-peer radio system comprising a series of radio terminals according to claim 34, further comprising: (f) said step (c) comprising registering initially with one other said radio terminal for forming a node by which a call to