Patent ID: 8638703
Filing Date: 2014-01-28
Classification: H04L,H04W,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A method for determining a route for sending a message in a mesh network, comprising: interpreting routing messages sent by a source node along various paths through a plurality of mesh nodes of the mesh network to a target node to determine a best path for sending data packets from the source node to the target node, wherein in each routing message sent from the source node through various paths to the target node, a parameter p with a number of bits indicates a number of mesh nodes in a path that are operating in a state selected from the group consisting of energy-saving mode and battery-operated mode, and wherein remaining bits of the routing message comprise a metric field that identifies a path metric that identifies a hop count for a path along which that routing message passed; each mesh node that receives one of the routing messages that is one of battery operated and operated in energy-saving mode, increasing a value of parameter p by a predetermined value when the path metric is updated by that node unless parameter p has already reached a maximum value for parameter p; and selecting the best path between the source node and target node based on at least one predetermined selection rule that takes into account information about how many battery-operated mesh nodes is located in each of the available paths between the source node and the target node; wherein a number of bits for the parameter p that indicates the number of mesh nodes in the path that are operating in a state selected from the group consisting of energy-saving mode and battery-operated mode is at least two bits and is within a thirty-two bit metric field of the routing message that is used for the path metric, a portion of the metric field that does not include the parameter p being a number of bits that is equal to thirty-two bits minus a size in bits of parameter p.