Methods and systems for reliable broadcasting using re-transmissions
AssigneeTrellisWare Technologies, Inc.
InventorMark Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems for reliable broadcasting that use re-transmissions, in a multi-hop, time-slotted wireless network, is presented. The methods and systems evaluate the trade-off between power consumption and communication reliability, and are consequently able to provide increasing degrees of robustness for broadcasts in the wireless network. Embodiments of the present invention are able to incrementally use re-transmissions, therein trading-off battery life for an increased message completion rate or a lower packet error rate, for example, in order to reliably broadcast critical or high-priority message network-wide.
Claims12
A system for reliably broadcasting a transmission in a wireless network over a plurality of timeslots, comprising:
- a source node;
- and
- a plurality of relay nodes,
- wherein at least one of the plurality of relay nodes is N hops from the source node,
- wherein the source node is configured to broadcast the transmission in a first timeslot of the plurality of timeslots with a time-to-live (TTL) field set to M and a hop count field set to 1,
- wherein M is greater than or equal to N,
- wherein the source node is further configured to evaluate a trade-off between power consumption and communication reliability, and re-broadcast the transmission in a second timeslot subsequent to the first timeslot based on the evaluation and as long as the hop count field is less than or equal to the TTL field, wherein the hop count field of the transmission is incremented prior to the source node re-broadcasting the transmission,
- wherein each of the plurality of relay nodes is configured to receive the transmission in at least one of the plurality of timeslots, and re-broadcast the transmission in a relay timeslot that is subsequent to the at least one of the plurality timeslots as long as the hop count field is less than or equal to the TTL field, and wherein the hop count field of the received transmission is incremented prior to each of the plurality of relay nodes re-broadcasting the transmission.
A method for reliably broadcasting a transmission in a wireless network over a plurality of timeslots, the wireless network comprising a source node and a plurality of relay nodes, at least one of the plurality of relay nodes being N hops from the source node, the method at the source node comprising:
- broadcasting the transmission in a first timeslot with a time-to-live (TTL) field set to M and a hop count field set to 1, wherein M is greater than or equal to N;
- evaluating a trade-off between power consumption and communication reliability;
- and
- re-broadcasting the transmission in a second timeslot subsequent to the first timeslot based on the evaluation and as long as the hop count field is less than or equal to the TTL field,
- wherein the hop count field is incremented prior to the source node re-broadcasting the transmission,
- wherein each of the plurality of relay nodes is configured to receive the transmission in at least one of the plurality of timeslots, and re-broadcast the transmission in a relay timeslot that is subsequent to the at least one of the plurality of timeslots as long as the hop count field is less than or equal to the TTL field, and
- wherein the hop count field of the received transmission is incremented prior to each of the plurality of relay nodes re-broadcasting the transmission.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.