Patent Publication Number: US-2023155946-A1

Title: Mesh network system and communication method of the same having data flow transmission sorting mechanism

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a mesh network system and a mesh network communication method of the same having data flow transmission sorting mechanism. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Network topology is the arrangement of the elements of a communication network and is used to define or describe the arrangement of various types of telecommunication networks. A wide variety of network topologies can be used, including more conventional topologies of star and tree. Mesh network is also one of the network topologies. 
     Mesh topology may be contrasted with conventional star/tree network topologies in which each of nodes therein can serve as a router or a terminal device. The nodes can be connected to each other to perform communication like a mesh. However, when a multiple of data flows are transmitted, the priorities of these data flows are not defined. The network transmission efficiency decreases since the data flows are not transmitted according to the priorities thereof. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In consideration of the problem of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to supply a mesh network system and a mesh network system communication method of the same having data flow transmission sorting mechanism. 
     The present invention discloses a mesh network system having data flow transmission sorting mechanism that includes a plurality of computing devices, a plurality of mesh network devices and a portal network device electrically coupled between an external network and the mesh network devices. The portal network device is configured to manage the computing devices to perform communication with the external network through the mesh network devices and the portal network apparatus, detect a plurality of outward data flows and a plurality of inward data flows related to the computing devices, perform priority ranking on the outward data flows and the inward data flows according to device priority information and relative flow amount information that the outward data flows and the inward data flows correspond to, so as to generate outward priority ranking information and inward priority ranking information and transmit the outward priority ranking information and the inward priority ranking information to the mesh network devices such that the mesh network system transmits the outward data flows and the inward data flows respectively according to the outward priority ranking information and the inward priority ranking information. 
     The present invention also discloses a mesh network system communication method having data flow transmission sorting mechanism that includes steps outlined below. A plurality of computing devices are managed to perform communication with an external network through a plurality of mesh network devices and a portal network device by a portal network device connected between the external network and the mesh network devices. A plurality of outward data flows and a plurality of inward data flows related to the computing devices are detected by the portal network apparatus. Priority ranking is performed on the outward data flows and the inward data flows according to device priority information and relative flow amount information that the outward data flows and the inward data flows correspond to by the portal network device, so as to generate outward priority ranking information and inward priority ranking information. The outward priority ranking information and the inward priority ranking information are transmitted to the mesh network devices by the portal network device such that the mesh network system transmits the outward data flows and the inward data flows respectively according to the outward priority ranking information and the inward priority ranking information. 
     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art behind reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments that are illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    illustrates a block diagram of a mesh network system having data flow transmission sorting mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    illustrates a flow chart of a clock data recovery method having quick locking and bandwidth stabilizing mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     An aspect of the present invention is to provide a mesh network system and a mesh network system communication method of the same having data flow transmission sorting mechanism to determine a priority rank of outward data flows and inward data flows according to the detection of the portal network device such that the priority ranking information is transmitted to mesh network devices in the mesh network system to allow the whole mesh network system to perform transmission of the outward data flows and the inward data flows according to the priority ranking information. The data transmission efficiency of the whole system is thus increased. 
     Reference is now made to  FIG.  1   .  FIG.  1    illustrates a block diagram of a mesh network system  100  having data flow transmission sorting mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mesh network system  100  includes a plurality of computing devices  110 , a plurality of mesh network devices  120  and a portal network device  130 . 
     The computing devices  110  are station devices including such as, but not limited to a smartphone, a tablet PC, a notebook PC or a desktop equipped with network communication function. Each of the mesh network devices  120  and the portal network device  130  can be an access point. The mesh network devices  120  can establish such as, but not limited to mesh links therebetween, in which these mesh links are illustrated as dashed lines in  FIG.  1   , by using the wireless network. The computing devices  110  and the mesh network devices  120  can establish such as, but not limited to basic service set (BSS) links therebetween, in which these BSS links are illustrated as solid lines in  FIG.  1   . The portal network device  130  is connected between an external network EXT and the mesh network devices  120 . 
     By using the network connection method described above, the portal network device  130  manages the computing devices  110  to perform communication with the external network EXT through the mesh network devices  120  and the portal network device  130 . 
     The portal network device  130  is configured to detect a plurality of outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and a plurality of inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  related to the computing devices  110 . 
     The data flows transmitted in the mesh network system  100  can be established by such as, but not limited to the computing devices  110  according to the programs operated therein. The data flows can be used to perform transmission of audio data, video data or other types of data. 
     Since the mesh network system  100  has to perform communication with the external network EXT through the portal network device  130 , the portal network device  130  can detect all the data flows transmitted between the portal network device  130  and the external network EXT. According to the data transmission direction, the data flows can be distinguished into the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and the inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  illustrated in  FIG.  1   . 
     The outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  are the data flows transmitted from internal nodes of the mesh network system  100  to the external network EXT, such as but not limited to the data flows transmitted from the computing devices  110 , through the mesh network devices  120  and the portal network device  130 , and to the external network EXT. The inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  are the data flows transmitted from the external network EXT to the internal nodes of the mesh network system  100 , such as but not limited to the data flows transmitted from the external network EXT, through the portal network device  130  and the mesh network devices  120 , and to the computing devices  110 . 
     The portal network device  130  is configured to perform priority ranking on the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and the inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  according to device priority information and relative flow amount information (not illustrated in the figure) that the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and the inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  correspond to, so as to generate outward priority ranking information PR and inward priority ranking information DS. 
     In an embodiment, the computing devices  110  can be set to be in a station device white list, to be in a station device black list or to be not in either of these two lists. The portal network device  130  is configured to determine the device priority information according to whether the computing devices  110  that outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and the inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  correspond to is in the station device white list or the station device black list. 
     In an embodiment, the portal network device  130  determines that a data flow that one of the computing devices  110  in the station device white list establishes has a relatively higher priority, determines that a data flow that one of the computing devices  110  in the station device black list establishes has a relatively lower priority, and determines that a data flow that one of the computing devices  110  not in the either lists has a priority between the two priorities described above. 
     In an embodiment, the content of the station device white list and the station device black list is recorded according to identification information of the computing devices  110 , such as but not limited to a media access control (MAC) address. As a result, the portal network device  130  determines whether the computing devices  110  are in the station device white list or the station device black list according to a comparison between the identification information of each of the computing devices  110  that the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and the inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  correspond to and the recorded content of the station device white list and the station device black list. 
     In an embodiment, the portal network device  130  is configured to determine the relative flow amount information according to a relative flow amount between each two of the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14 . For example, some data flows are used to transmit videos and have relative larger flow amounts. Some data flows are used to transmit audios and have relative smaller flow amounts. 
     In an embodiment, the portal network device  130  determines that a data flow having a relatively smaller flow amount has a higher priority and determines that a data flow having a relatively larger flow amount has a lower priority. 
     The portal network device  130  further performs priority ranking, according to the device priority information and the relative flow amount information, to rank the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  that correspond to conditions in an order of being in the station device white list, having a relatively smaller flow amount, having a relatively larger flow amount and being in the station device black list from a highest rank to a lowest rank. According to the ranking result, the portal network device  130  generates the outward priority ranking information PR and the inward priority ranking information DS. 
     The processing of the portal network device  130  performed on the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  is described first in the following paragraphs. 
     In an embodiment, the outward priority ranking information PR is used to assign a priority order value to each of the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4 . 
     For example, according to the device priority information and the relative flow amount information, the outward data flow FO 1  has a relatively smaller flow amount and is not in any list, the outward data flow FO 2  is in the station device black list, the outward data flow FO 3  has a relatively larger flow amount and is not in any list and the outward data flow FO 4  is in the station device white list. 
     As a result, the ranking result generated by the portal network device  130  ranks the outward data flows from the highest priority to the lowest priority as the outward data flows FO 4 , FO 1 , FO 3  and FO 2 . Under such a condition, the portal network device  130  assigns the priority order values 3, 2, 1 and 0 respectively to the outward data flows FO 4 , FO 1 , FO 3 , FO 2  and records the result in the outward priority ranking information PR. 
     The processing of the portal network device  130  performed on the inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  is described subsequently in the following paragraphs. 
     In an embodiment, the inward priority ranking information DS is used to assign an entry value corresponding to a class entry to each of the inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14 . The class entry is a differentiated services code point (DSCP) entry of an Internet protocol (IP) header of the packets. 
     For example, accordingly to the device priority information and the relative flow amount information, the inward data flow FI 1  has a relatively smaller flow amount and is not in any list, the inward data flow FI 2  is in the station device black list, the inward data flow FI 3  has a relatively larger flow amount and is not in any list and the inward data flow FI 4  is in the station device white list. 
     As a result, the ranking result generated by the portal network device  130  ranks the inward data flows from the highest priority to the lowest priority as the inward data flows FI 4 , FI 1 , FI 3  and FI 2 . Under such a condition, the portal network device  130  assigns the entry values 48, 32, 0 and 8 respectively to the inward data flows FI 4 , FI 1 , FI 3 , FI 2  based on the DSCP entry and records the result in the inward priority ranking information DS. 
     In an embodiment, the portal network device  130  transmits the outward priority ranking information PR and the inward priority ranking information DS to the mesh network devices  120 . It is appreciated that in order to keep the figure clear, the outward priority ranking information PR and the inward priority ranking information DS is illustrated to be only within the portal network device  130  in  FIG.  1   . Actually, after the transmission of the portal network device  130 , each of the mesh network devices  120  stores the outward priority ranking information PR and the inward priority ranking information DS. 
     The mesh network system  100  transmits the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and inward data flows FI 1 ˜F 14  according to the outward priority ranking information PR and the inward priority ranking information DS. 
     According to the outward priority ranking information PR, the mesh network system  100  that includes the portal network device  130  and the mesh network devices  120  set a priority queue according to the priority order value of each of the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  to perform packet transmission. As a result, when the devices described above receive the packets of the data flows, the devices performs transmission according to an order of the outward data flows FO 4 , FO 1 , FO 3  and FO 2  from the highest priority to the lowest priority according to the priority order values thereof, which are 3, 2, 1 and 0. 
     On the other hand, according to the inward priority ranking information DS, the portal network device  130  sets the entry value corresponding to the class entry, e.g., DSCP entry, of each of a plurality of packets of each of the inward data flows FI 1 ˜FI 4  to perform packet transmission with the mesh network devices  120  and the computing devices  110 . As a result, the mesh network devices  120  perform packet transmission based on a Wi-Fi multimedia (WMM) access class that the entry value of the DSCP entry, assigned according to the inward priority ranking information DS, corresponds to. 
     More specifically, the communication standard, such as but not limited to IEEE 802.11e, defines the mapping relation between the DSCP entry and the WMM access class. When the entry value is 48, the WMM access class corresponds to “voice”. When the entry value is 32, the WMM access class corresponds to “video”. When the entry value is 0, the WMM access class corresponds to “best effort”. When the entry value is 8, the WMM access class corresponds to “background”. 
     The priority ranking of the WMM access classes described above from the highest ranking to the lowest ranking is “audio”, “video”, “best effort” and “background”. 
     As a result, upon receiving the packets of the inward data flows FI 1 ˜FI 4 , the mesh network devices  120  that have the inward priority ranking information DS can map the entry values of the DSCP entry of each of the packets to the corresponding WMM access classes and perform packet transmission of the data flows accordingly. 
     By using the mechanism described above, the mesh network system  100  can determine the priority rank of the outward data flows and the inward data flows according to the detection of the portal network device such that the priority ranking information is transmitted to the mesh network devices in the mesh network system to allow the whole mesh network system to perform transmission of the outward data flows and the inward data flows according to the priority ranking information. The data transmission efficiency of the whole system is thus increased. 
     It is appreciated that the priority ranking performed based on the priority order value and the DSCP entry described above is merely an example. In other embodiment, the mesh network system  100  may use other methods to set the priority of the outward data flows and the inward data flows. The present invention is not limited thereto. 
     Reference is now made to  FIG.  2   .  FIG.  2    illustrates a flow chart of a mesh network system communication method  200  having data flow transmission sorting mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     In addition to the device described above, the present disclosure further provides the mesh network system communication method  200  having data flow transmission sorting mechanism that can be used in such as, but not limited to, the mesh network system  100  in  FIG.  1   . As illustrated in  FIG.  2   , an embodiment of the mesh network system communication method  200  includes the following steps. 
     In step S 210 , the computing devices  110  are managed to perform communication with the external network EXT through the mesh network devices  120  and the portal network device  130  by the portal network device  130  connected between the external network EXT and the mesh network devices  120 . 
     In step S 220 , the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and the inward data flows FI 1 ˜FI 4  related to the computing devices  110  are detected by the portal network device  130 . 
     In step S 230 , the priority ranking is performed on the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and the inward data flows FI 1 ˜FI 4  according to the device priority information and the relative flow amount information that the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and the inward data flows FI 1 ˜FI 4  correspond to by the portal network device  130 , so as to generate the outward priority ranking information PR and inward priority ranking information DS. 
     In step S 240 , the outward priority ranking information RP and the inward priority ranking information DS are transmitted to the mesh network devices  120  by the portal network device  130  such that the mesh network system  100  transmits the outward data flows FO 1 ˜FO 4  and the inward data flows FI 1 ˜FI 4  respectively according to the outward priority ranking information PR and the inward priority ranking information DS. 
     It is appreciated that the embodiments described above are merely an example In other embodiments, it should be appreciated that many modifications and changes may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing, from the spirit of the disclosure. 
     In summary, the present invention discloses the mesh network system and the mesh network system communication method of the same having data flow transmission sorting mechanism that determine a priority rank of outward data flows and inward data flows according to the detection of the portal network device such that the priority ranking information is transmitted to mesh network devices in the mesh network system to allow the whole mesh network system to perform transmission of the outward data flows and the inward data flows according to the priority ranking information. The data transmission efficiency of the whole system is thus increased. 
     The aforementioned descriptions represent merely the preferred embodiments of the present invention, without any intention to limit the scope of the present invention thereto. Various equivalent changes, alterations, or modifications based on the claims of present invention are all consequently viewed as being embraced by the scope of the present invention.