Patent ID: 8432820
Filing Date: 2013-04-30
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for establishing an end-to-end route for data to traverse a wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes, said method comprising: at a node of said plurality of nodes, calculating a link metric function, wherein said link metric function uses media access control and physical layer protocol overhead and data size in said link metric function calculation; calculating a quantized link metric function using said calculated link metric function; determining a first channel change weight function, said first channel change weight function depending upon frequencies assigned to two consecutive links along said end-to-end route, wherein said first channel change weight function has a value of 1 if all links are weighted equally in terms of channels assigned for transmission and wherein said first channel change weight function has a first predetermined value if a first link of said two consecutive links is a last link in said end-to-end route, a second predetermined value if a first frequency used for said first link of said two consecutive links and a second frequency used for a second link of said two consecutive links are the same, a third predetermined value if said first frequency used for said first link of said two consecutive links is not the same as said second frequency used for said second link of said two consecutive links and nodes associated with each of said two consecutive links use a single radio interface, and a fourth predetermined value if said first frequency used for said first link of said two consecutive links is not the same as said second frequency used for said second link of said two consecutive links and nodes associated with each of said two consecutive links use multiple radio interfaces; determining a second channel change weight function, said second channel change weight function depending upon frequencies assigned to two consecutive links along said end-to-end route, wherein said second channel change weight function has a value of 0 if all links are weighted equally in terms of channels assigned for transmission and wherein said second channel change weight function has a first predetermined value if a first link of said two consecutive links is a last link in said end-to-end route, a second predetermined value if a first frequency used for said first link of said two consecutive links and a second frequency used for a second link of said two consecutive links are the same, a third predetermined value if said first frequency used for said first link of said two consecutive links is not the same as said second frequency used for said second link of said two consecutive links and nodes associated with each of said two consecutive links use a single radio interface, and a fourth predetermined value if said first frequency used for said first link of said two consecutive links is not the same as said second frequency used for said second link of said two consecutive links and nodes associated with each of said two consecutive links use multiple radio interfaces; calculating a quantized metric of each of a plurality of end-to-end routes for data to traverse said wireless network by applying said first channel change weight function and said second channel change weight function to the quantized link metric function, wherein said plurality of end-to-end routes include routes between a same set of nodes in said wireless network; and selecting one of a plurality of end-to-end routes for data to traverse said wireless network based on said quantized metric of each of said plurality of end-to-end routes, wherein said plurality of said end-to-end routes between a same set of nodes in said wireless network over different channels include a plurality of radio interfaces, and further wherein each of said plurality of end-to-end routes is bi-directional.