Hierarchical mesh network for wireless access

Abstract

In one embodiment, a wireless mesh network is configured as a multiple-level hierarchical network, with each level of the hierarchy having a plurality of nodes. Several clusters of nodes each acting as access points may be organized in numerous first-level meshes, with each of the first-level meshes being coupled to a second-level mesh having nodes that act as gateways to the first-level meshes.

1 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly storing thereon computer readable instructions, the instructions to cause self-assembly by a first plurality of nodes into a first-level mesh, at least two of the first plurality of nodes each to operate as a gateway node for the first-level mesh, and each respective gateway node comprising a first radio and a second radio, wherein the respective first radio is to communicate with another one of the first plurality of nodes, the respective second radio is to communicate with a second-level mesh, and at least one of the first plurality of nodes is to perform load balancing on communication traffic across each of the at least two gateway nodes in response to a change in a number of active gateway nodes for the first-level mesh. 
     
     
         2 . The storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are to further cause:
 a second plurality of nodes to organize into the second-level mesh; and   a third plurality of nodes to organize into a third-level mesh, wherein at least one of the second plurality of nodes is a gateway node coupled to communicate with the third-level mesh.   
     
     
         3 . The storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are to further cause each of the at least two gateway nodes to control the radio signal power output of each of the respective first and second radios. 
     
     
         4 . The storage medium of  claim 3 , wherein the instructions are to further cause each of the first plurality of nodes to limit the self-assembly so that the first-level mesh has a size no greater than a predetermined maximum number of nodes. 
     
     
         5 . A system, comprising:
 a first plurality of nodes, each respective node comprising a first radio, a second radio, at least one processor, and memory storing computer-executable instructions to select a route for communications sent from the respective node, each respective node configured to organize into a first-level mesh by scanning for the presence of other nodes and, in response, updating routing information stored in the respective memory, wherein the respective first radio is configured to communicate with another node in the first plurality of nodes and to limit its signal power output to reduce radio interference with other nodes outside of the first-level mesh, and at least one of the first plurality of nodes is further configured to operate as a gateway node to communicate with a second-level mesh using its respective second radio; and   a second plurality of nodes, each respective node comprising a first radio, a second radio, at least one processor, and memory storing computer-executable instructions to select a route for communications sent from the respective node, each respective node configured to organize into the second-level mesh by scanning for the presence of other nodes and, in response, updating routing information stored in the respective memory, wherein each respective first radio is configured to communicate with another node in the second plurality of nodes.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein each of the first plurality of nodes is further configured to update the routing information in the respective memory to record an identifier of the closest nodes detected during the scanning along with the respective relative signal strengths received from the closest nodes. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein each of the first plurality of nodes further comprises a third radio configured to communicate with an end-user device, and the respective second radio of each of the second plurality of nodes is configured to communicate with an external network. 
     
     
         8 . A mesh network, comprising:
 a first plurality of nodes organized in a first-level mesh, wherein one of the first plurality of nodes is a gateway node;   a second plurality of nodes organized in a second-level mesh, wherein the second-level mesh communicates with the first-level mesh through the gateway node; and   wherein each of the first plurality of nodes and each of the second plurality of nodes comprises memory storing computer-executable instructions to select one or more routes for communications by the respective node within the mesh network, and the computer-executable instructions of each respective node of the first plurality of nodes is to further control assembly of the first-level mesh to a size of no more than a first predetermined total number of nodes.   
     
     
         9 . The mesh network of  claim 8 , wherein the first predetermined total number is no more than 50. 
     
     
         10 . The mesh network of  claim 8 , wherein the computer-executable instructions of each respective node of the second plurality of nodes is to further control assembly of the second-level mesh to a size of no more than a second predetermined total number of nodes. 
     
     
         11 . The mesh network of  claim 10 , wherein the second predetermined total number is less than the first predetermined total number. 
     
     
         12 . The mesh network of  claim 8 , wherein each of the first plurality of nodes comprises first and second radios, the first radio configured to limit its signal power output to reduce radio interference with other nodes outside the first-level mesh. 
     
     
         13 . The mesh network of  claim 12 , wherein the second radio communicates with an end-user device. 
     
     
         14 . The mesh network of  claim 8 , wherein the memory of each of the first plurality of nodes further stores a session identifier so that packets associated with the session identifier are directed from the respective node using a common route. 
     
     
         15 . A mesh network, comprising:
 a first plurality of nodes organized in a first-level mesh, each respective node storing computer-executable instructions to select one or more routes for communications by the respective node; and   a second plurality of nodes organized in a second-level mesh and comprising a plurality of gateway nodes, each gateway node providing a communications path to an external network, wherein the second-level mesh is coupled to communicate with at least one node of the first plurality of nodes through one or more of the gateway nodes, and the mesh network is configured to do load balancing of communication traffic through the plurality of gateway nodes when the number of gateway nodes in the second-level mesh changes.   
     
     
         16 . The mesh network of  claim 15 , wherein the number of gateway nodes changes due to adding a gateway node to the second-level mesh. 
     
     
         17 . The mesh network of  claim 15 , wherein the number of gateway nodes changes due to failure of one of the gateway nodes. 
     
     
         18 . The mesh network of  claim 15 , wherein each of the first plurality of nodes comprises first and second radios, each respective first radio configured to communicate with one or more nodes in the first-level mesh, and each respective second radio configured to communicate with one or more nodes in the second-level mesh. 
     
     
         19 . The mesh network of  claim 18 , wherein each respective first radio is further configured to limit its signal power output to reduce radio interference with other nodes. 
     
     
         20 . The mesh network of  claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions of each of the first plurality of nodes is to further control self-assembly by the respective node so that the first-level mesh has a size of no more than a predetermined total number of nodes.