Internet-orientated ad-hoc network

Abstract

A hierarchical directional internet-oriented ad-hoc network, defined by a software infrastructure, is composed of fixed gateway nodes and a plurality of wireless nodes, which may be fixed or mobile, and which may act as subscribers, routers, or both. The infrastructure hierarchy is defined by the hop count of each node (distance of that node to a fixed gateway node). The software infrastructure includes two tables associated with each node in the network: the upstream routing table which provides shortest routes to fixed gateway nodes through upstream neighbors, and the downstream routing table which provides shortest routes to subscribers through downstream neighbors. These two tables are used by routing algorithms. A peer table can also be used for alternate routes. The maintenance of the aforementioned tables is performed by autonomous algorithms operating locally on each node by receiving and processing signals from their neighbors.

1 . A network comprising: at least one fixed gateway node, the fixed gateway node being in communication with the Internet; and a plurality of wireless nodes, each of the wireless nodes including wireless transceivers, each of the wireless nodes includes an upstream routing table and a downstream routing table, each of the wireless nodes being configured to use its upstream and downstream routing tables to make routing decisions, some of the wireless nodes being mobile wireless nodes, some of the mobile wireless nodes being configured to act as a relay for other wireless nodes that cannot directly access the at least one fixed gateway node; wherein at least one first wireless node has an upstream routing table listing a second node and a corresponding hop count relative to the at least one fixed gateway node for the second node, the corresponding hop count for the second node being lower than a hop count for the first wireless node, and wherein at least one third wireless node has a downstream routing table listing at least one fourth wireless node with a corresponding hop count relative to the at least one fixed gateway node, the corresponding hop count for the fourth wireless node being higher than the hop count for the third wireless node. 
     
     
         2 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one fixed gateway node is directly connected to the Internet. 
     
     
         3 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one fixed gateway node includes a plurality of fixed gateway nodes. 
     
     
         4 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one fixed gateway node is connected to the Internet via a central node. 
     
     
         5 . The network of  claim 4 , wherein the central node is connected to at least one other fixed gateway node. 
     
     
         6 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein each of the wireless nodes is configured to act as a relay for other wireless nodes that cannot directly access the at least one fixed gateway node. 
     
     
         7 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein each wireless node further comprises a peer table that lists all directly accessible nodes having a same hop count to the at least one fixed gateway node as the wireless node. 
     
     
         8 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein all of the wireless nodes are mobile nodes. 
     
     
         9 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein some of the wireless nodes are mobile nodes and other wireless nodes are fixed nodes. 
     
     
         10 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein the downstream routing tables are indexed by destination node. 
     
     
         11 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein the downstream routing tables are indexed by downstream neighbor. 
     
     
         12 . The network of  claim 1 , wherein the downstream routing tables are indexed by both destination node and downstream neighbor. 
     
     
         13 . A method for routing a packet received performed by a first wireless node in an ad-hoc network that includes at least one fixed gateway node comprising the steps of: selecting a node to which to transmit the packet from an upstream routing table if the direction of the packet is upstream, the upstream routing table including a list of all directly accessible nodes having a hop count less than the first wireless node relative to the fixed gateway node; selecting a downstream node to which to transmit the packet from a downstream routing table if the direction of the packet is downstream, the downstream routing table including a list of all directly connected nodes and all downstream nodes having at least one shortest path that passes through the wireless node; and transmitting the packet to the selected downstream node. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising the step of receiving the packet from another wireless node prior to performing either of the selecting steps. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the packet is received in either an upstream buffer or a downstream buffer, and either upstream routing or downstream routing are performed depending on whether the packet is received in the upstream buffer or the downstream buffer. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , in which the packet includes a flag indicating whether the packet is to be routed upstream or downstream. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , further including the step of determining a direction of the packet based on a destination included in the packet. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising the steps of transmitting a trigger message including the downstream cluster if a destination node associated with the packet is not listed in the downstream routing table. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising the steps of updating the downstream routing table by removing the selected node if the packet could not be transmitted to the selected node, calculating the downstream cluster based on the updated routing table, and transmitting a trigger message including the downstream cluster to nodes listed in the upstream routing table. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising the steps of removing the selected node from the upstream routing table if the direction of the packet is upstream and the packet could not be transmitted to the selected node.