Methods and apparatus for a TDMA mesh network
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
InventorSiva Kupanna Subramani
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Abstract
A concentrator is configured to reschedule a TDMA mesh network in response to an interrupted transmission. The new schedule is calculated by selectively rescheduling transmissions that are scheduled in the same time slot as the interrupted transmission. Transmissions are selected to be rescheduled based on the proximity of the sector of the transmission to the sector of the interrupted transmission. The sectors of the mesh network are defined by neck nodes, where a neck node is a node that can communicate directly with the concentrator.
Claims20
A concentrator configured to send signals to and receive signals from a plurality of neck nodes in a TDMA mesh network, wherein each neck node defines a sector of the mesh network which may comprise a plurality of further nodes, the concentrator comprising:
- a detecting unit, configured to detect for interruption of transmission between a first node and a second node scheduled in a first time slot;
- a sector establishing module, configured to establish the sector of an interrupted transmission by identifying the neck node through which at least one of said first node and said second node is scheduled to communicate with the concentrator;
- a determining module, configured to identify a sector to be checked and to determine whether any nodes in said sector are scheduled to transmit during said first time slot, wherein each sector is successively identified to be checked according to its proximity to the sector of the interrupted transmission, until at least one node scheduled to transmit during said first time slot is found;
- a scheduling module, configured to determine a different time slot for the transmission from said at least one node found by the determining module;
- a sending unit, configured to send a signal instructing rescheduling of said transmission to said different time slot.
A method of managing communication in a TDMA mesh network, wherein said mesh network comprises a concentrator and a plurality of neck nodes, wherein each neck node is configured to communicate directly with said concentrator and defines a sector of the mesh network which may comprise a plurality of further nodes, the method comprising:
- detecting for interruption of transmission between a first node and a second node scheduled in a first time slot;
- in the event that an interruption is detected:
- establishing the sector of the interrupted transmission by identifying the neck node through which at least one of said first node and said second node is configured to communicate with said concentrator;
- identifying a sector to be checked and determining whether any nodes in said sector are scheduled to transmit during said first time slot, wherein each sector is successively identified to be checked according to its proximity to the sector of the interrupted transmission, until at least one node scheduled to transmit during said first time slot is found;
- rescheduling the transmission from said at least one node to a different time slot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.