Patent · US Expired

Protocol and structure for self-organizing network

US7171476B2 · kind B2 · utility

113Cited by
52References
51Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 19, 2002
Grant dateJan 30, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 9, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04W84/18
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A cluster tree network formed by self-organization of a number of nodes. The method of self-organization includes processes for cluster formation, cluster network maintenance, intra-cluster communication. In the cluster formation process, each node discovers if any neighboring node is a cluster head or if any node is already a member of a cluster (thus making it a networked node), and if a cluster head or a networked node is discovered, each node establishes a communication link with the cluster head or the networked node. If no cluster head or networked node is discovered, the node itself becomes a cluster head. The network is maintained by each node periodically broadcasting a HELLO message to neighboring nodes, receiving responses to the HELLO message and updating a neighbor list in accordance with responses to the HELLO message. Multi-cluster networks are also provided using the processes of inter-cluster network formation, inter-cluster network maintenance, and inter-cluster communication. The resulting network has one or more clusters of nodes, each with a cluster head and a number of member nodes, each assigned a node identifier by the cluster head. In a multi-cluster networ…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.