Patent ID: 8077666

Claim:
A method of assigning channels to links in a wireless mesh network, the network comprising a first mesh router and a second mesh router, the first mesh router having a first radio component and the second mesh router having a second radio component, wherein the first mesh router and the second mesh router are within transmission ranges of the first radio component and the second radio component, the first radio component having a first unidirectional link and a second unidirectional link between the first mesh router and the second mesh router, directions of the first unidirectional link and the second unidirectional link are opposite to each other, the method comprising: measuring a first average busy time of the first unidirectional link and a second average busy time of the second unidirectional link, wherein the first average busy time is a period of time in which the first unidirectional link transmits traffic over a given period and the second average busy time is a period of time in which the second unidirectional link transmits traffic over the given period; and assigning, by a processor, a first channel to the first unidirectional link based on the first average busy time and a second channel to the second unidirectional link based on the second average busy time, wherein the method is performed periodically in at an interval of two successive channel assignments, wherein the step for assigning a channel to each link based on the link load of each of the links includes following steps: dividing the link load of each of the links by an average of link loads of all links in the wireless mesh network to determine a relative link load of each link, in the period; for each of the links, deciding whether the link has existed in the last t periods, wherein the t is an integer that is larger than 0, if the link has not existed in the last t periods, setting a weight of the link to be I, and if the link has existed in the last t periods, calculating the weight of the link based on relative link loads of the link in the last t periods; and assigning a channel to each link based on the link weight of each of the links, and wherein the step for calculating link weight of the link includes following steps: for each link L, if μ(L)−h×σ(L)>1 or μ(L)+h×σ(L)<1, setting the link weight of link L to be μ(L), if μ(L)−h×σ(L)≦1 and μ(L)+h×σ(L)≧1, setting the link weight of link L to be 1, wherein, μ(L)and σ(L) are a mean value and a standard error of relative loads on link L in the last t periods, respectively, and h is an integer that is larger than 0 or equal to 0.