Ascertaining a region of interest in a wireless network

One embodiment provides a method, including: detecting an event; determining, using a processor of a wireless node, one or more other wireless nodes within wireless range; generating, after the event, a packet of data including identifications of the one or more wireless nodes and positional data associated therewith; and transmitting, over a network connection, the packet of data to at least one of the one or more wireless nodes. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

BACKGROUND

Internet communication, e.g., automated messages, emails, etc., is used for reporting abnormal conditions or events at a location, e.g., a home location or a business location. This type of reporting is often used in place of more traditional communication, e.g., phone communication (landline or mobile). Internet messages, e.g., delivered through a cable-modem, usually come with only municipality-level geo-location information, unless some specific measurements have been applied. In many situations, it is immensely valuable to have an estimate of the scale of an event, such as the number of houses affected by a power outage or network interruption, their relative locations, etc.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In summary, one aspect provides a method, comprising: detecting an event; determining, using a processor of a wireless node, one or more other wireless nodes within wireless range; generating, after the event, a packet of data comprising identifications of the one or more wireless nodes and positional data associated therewith; and transmitting, over a network connection, the packet of data to at least one of the one or more wireless nodes.

Another aspect provides a method, comprising: receiving, over a network connection, information comprising: identifications of a plurality of wireless nodes; positional data associated with the plurality of wireless nodes; and event data; determining, using a processor, a network map using the information, said network map comprising positions of the plurality of wireless nodes determined according to the positional data; and determining a physical position of an event associated with the event data based on the network map.

A further aspect provides an apparatus, comprising: a network communication device; one or more processors operatively coupled to the network communication device; and a memory comprising instructions executable by the one or more processors to: detect an event; determine one or more other wireless nodes within wireless range; generate, after the event, a packet of data comprising identifications of the one or more wireless nodes and positional data associated therewith; and transmit, over a network connection, the packet of data to at least one of the one or more wireless nodes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Presently, utilities and government managers most often rely on mapping human-made reports in order to determine a location (or region) of interest that is affected by an event, e.g., a power outage, flooding, a fire, freezing conditions, etc. The manual work involved makes this difficult to scale. Alarm systems, wireless electric meters, wireless water meters, and the like might be utilized as reporting nodes and thus useful in such determinations; however, this requires large-scale deployments that many municipalities cannot afford. Some map services have location data regarding wireless transmitting devices stored in proprietary databases; however, such data is not readily available and in any case it is not a prior connected to any particular event. Thus, when an event of interest occurs, relevant parties (e.g., authorities, city managers, etc.) need to be informed about the event and have a sense of the event's scale.

An embodiment therefore leverages wireless nodes or devices, e.g., home or business WIFI Internet routers, to facilitate relative network location reporting in response to an event. Home or business routers are becoming one of the aggregation points for sensors in an Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. As such, routers and other wireless devices may be programmed to become aware of abnormal situations such as power outages, network interruptions, flooding events, fires, and freezing conditions, etc., for example as sensed directly or via nearby devices in the home or business network that are connected to the router. It is also commonplace for such routers or wireless nodes to have a battery backup, particularly if used for VoIP services, such that these devices remain powered even during atypical conditions, e.g., a power outage.

Throughout this description, examples are given with specific reference to wireless routers; however, other wireless nodes may be utilized. Furthermore, the examples herein focus on an emergency packet of data; however, other data packet(s) may be utilized, e.g., for reporting of events that are not considered as or associated with any emergency.

In an embodiment, upon detecting a trigger event, e.g., receipt of data indicative of a reportable event of interest, a router or wireless node without an Internet connection may be programmed to begin broadcasting or transmitting a packet, e.g., an emergency packet. Other nearby routers or wireless nodes may detect the packet and route it to the Internet, if a connected is available to such routers or wireless nodes, and/or repeat the packet, i.e., to all the routers or wireless nodes within wireless range. This process may be repeated until a connection to a reporting node or the broader network (e.g., the Internet) is obtained. Once a connection to the broader network is obtained, the packet may be directed to an appropriate destination.

Each router or wireless node sending a packet includes, within the packet, a list of the other routers or wireless nodes visible to it (i.e., routers or wireless nodes within wireless range), including signal strengths. Thus, when a router or wireless node receives a packet, it examines the routers or wireless nodes reported therein and compares this list against devices within range. If there is overlap, the two sets (remote and local) may be consolidated, with regions defined by the overlap(s). If the router or wireless node detects the event in addition to receiving a packet reporting the event, the router or wireless node may join itself to a region or blob for reporting purposes. The packet or packets is/are then broadcast to other nearby routers or wireless nodes. However, a router or wireless node recognizing that it is hearing a packet (or descendent content from a packet) that it previously transmitted or originated may discard the packet so as to avoid looping broadcast storms.

An embodiment therefore permits transmission of packet(s) using home or business Internet routers and other wireless nodes that currently are not utilized for event reporting as described herein. On access to a broader network, in an embodiment the data included in the packet(s) is delivered to a service that provides information regarding the relative locations of routers or wireless nodes, including the physical location of the router(s) or wireless node(s) that detected the triggering event, and data regarding the event type. Thus, a network mapping may be provided using the data of the packet(s).

System100typically includes one or more of a WWAN transceiver150and a WLAN transceiver160for connecting to various networks, such as telecommunications networks and wireless Internet devices, e.g., access points. Additional devices120are commonly included, e.g., a short range wireless device for communicating with other devices. System100often includes a touch screen170for data input and display/rendering. System100also typically includes various memory devices, for example flash memory180and SDRAM190.

Information handling device circuitry, as for example outlined inFIG. 1orFIG. 2, may be used in devices that act as routers, e.g., a home Internet router, as well as in devices that communicate with or through a router, e.g., a home appliance or other home device included in a home or business network.

As illustrated inFIG. 3, at301a network routing device may listen to other devices, e.g., other routers, in-home appliances, etc., that are in wireless range or connected to the network routing device, e.g., in a local network. If an event is detected by the network routing device, as illustrated at302, the network routing device may determine one or more other routing devices are with wireless range, as illustrated at303. An event may include, but is not necessarily limited to, a power outage, a network interruption (including a change in detectable devices), or other disruptive events for which reporting data may be useful, e.g., a change in temperature.

At304, for the other wireless routing devices in range of the network routing device, a list of identifications and signal strengths may be prepared in order to include this data in a packet of data that is transmitted or broadcast at305by the network routing device. This provides location information about the other routing devices (e.g., via signal strength value) with respect to the network routing device. The network routing device may transmit the packet to a known destination, e.g., a known wireless address of one of the other routers and/or may be broadcast generally for detection and receipt by any appropriately configured receiving device.

A router that receives the packet of data may inspect the packet to determine if the data is redundant, has originated from or was previously transmitted by the router. This permits the router to delete the packet (if redundant or previously transmitted) or modify the packet's data content (if redundant or duplicate entries are found) prior to transmitting the data packet.

For example, the network routing device used by way of example inFIG. 3may, rather than (or in addition to) detecting an event at302, determine that it has received a packet from another router, e.g., as illustrated at306. The network routing device then inspects the data of the packet at307to determine if the packet (or data included in the packet) originated from the network routing device, as indicated at308. If the packet should not be transmitted or re-broadcast, the network routing device does not do so, as indicated at309. For example, a network routing device might not re-broadcast a previously broadcast packet that contains no additional data, or might not re-transmit (more than a predetermined number of times) a packet that originated at the network routing device, or might not re-broadcast a packet that originated at the network routing device more than a predetermined number of times within a given time frame, etc.

However, if the packet inspection illustrated at307reveals that the packet is new, contains useful information that has not been seen by the network routing device in question, or otherwise should be transmitted (e.g., per a predetermined policy), the network routing device transmits the packet, as indicated at305. The network routing device may consolidate the packet of data, i.e., merge a plurality of data packets or data packet entries into a single data packet or data packet entry, as indicated at310. If the network routing device has Internet connectivity, it may forward the packet onto the broader network, e.g., to a service that uses the packet(s) to generate a network map. Further, if the network routing device has detected the event as well, as illustrated at302, in addition to receiving a packet reporting the event, the network routing device may join itself to a region or blob for reporting purposes (not explicitly illustrated inFIG. 3). Thus, the network routing device may receive a packet of data reporting an event from another router or wireless node, as illustrated at302, and additionally may sense the event itself. This information may be utilized by the network routing device for reporting purposes and building a network map, as further described herein.

Turning toFIG. 4, a service running on a network connected device receives the emergency packet(s) at401, e.g., from a router that has Internet connectivity. This service inspects the packets to separate out router IDs contained therein into unique entities. Using an algorithm that relates the router IDs through signal strength relationships, the service builds up a relational map, e.g., having nodes that represent the routers and edges that represent signal strengths, as indicated at402. Given the number of routers that may be linked indirectly through such a mapping process, a rich network of routers may be build up, with their relative positions indicated.

If at least one of the routers has a known physical position, e.g., as contained in data of the packet(s) and/or known ahead of time, the relative positions of the routers with respect to one another may be used to associate the routers with geographic locations. Likewise, if the event in question has a known location, e.g., for example a position within the network associated with a router or routers detecting and reporting the event, the service may additionally associate physical locations with the event, as illustrated at403. Accordingly, an embodiment may automatically generate a network map that indicates the extent of an event, as perceived and reported by a router network using emergency packets.

The packet(s) may include other data that may be incorporated into the network map. For example, the routers may provide data that indicates that events of several types have been detected, e.g., a loss of commercial power supply, followed by network interruptions, followed by temperature drops. This data may be used to enrich the network map, e.g., to show a time-wise progression of the event and its impacts.