Systems and methods for bidirectional network geography delivery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10440620-B2
Application number	US-201615217374-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 22, 2016
Priority date	Jul 22, 2016
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus for bidirectional network geography delivery are disclosed. The methods include receiving a reference subnet network geography from a main network device, storing the received reference subnet network geography, retrieving an actual subnet network geography of a subnet network, comparing the reference subnet network geography to the actual subnet network geography and determining if they are compatible, and commissioning the subnet network based on the received reference subnet network geography when the received reference subnet network geography is compatible with the actual subnet network geography of the subnet network. The methods also include retrieving an actual subnet network geography of a subnet and sending it a main network device, causing it to become a new reference subnet network geography and sending the new reference subnet network geography to a main network device.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of bidirectional network geography delivery, the method comprising:
receiving, by a network gateway, a reference subnet network geography from a device on a main network, wherein the reference subnet network geography comprises a complete set of reference device keys for all devices in a subnet network, and each reference device key comprises one or more device identifying attributes of a reference device in the subnet network as well as a reference device key component to enumerate a reference relative geographic location on the subnet network;
storing the received reference subnet network geography;
retrieving an actual subnet network geography of the subnet network, wherein the actual subnet network geography comprises a complete set of actual device keys for all devices in the subnet network, and each actual device key comprises one or more device identifying attributes of an actual device in the subnet network as well as an actual device key component to enumerate an actual relative geographic location on the subnet network;
comparing the reference subnet network geography to the actual subnet network geography and determining compatibility; and
in response to determining compatibility:
commissioning, via a commissioning tool, the subnet network based on the received reference subnet network geography.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each device in the subnet network has an associated device key, wherein the device key comprises one or more device identifying attributes as well as a network position attribute for the device in the subnet network.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the network position attribute identifies a geographic position of the device in the subnet network.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising accepting the reference subnet network geography from a user by using the commissioning tool, and wherein receiving the reference subnet network geography by the network gateway is from the commissioning tool on the main network.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending the actual subnet network geography of the subnet network to the commissioning tool, wherein the commissioning tool is on the main network, and wherein the main network is external to the subnet network.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising building the subnet network according to a user design, wherein the user design is used for developing the reference subnet network geography.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising causing the actual subnet network geography to become a new reference subnet network geography.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising sending the new reference subnet network geography of the subnet network to the commissioning tool, wherein the commissioning tool is on the main network, and wherein the main network is external to the subnet network.

9. A network apparatus comprising: a processor and non-transitory computer readable medium storing processing instructions for bidirectional network geography delivery, wherein the processing instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive, by the network apparatus, a reference subnet network geography from a device on a main network, wherein the reference subnet network geography comprises a complete set of reference device keys for all devices in a subnet network, and each reference device key comprises one or more device identifying attributes for a reference device in the subnet network as well as a reference device key component to enumerate a reference relative geographic location on the subnet network;
store the reference subnet network geography;
retrieve an actual subnet network geography of the subnet network, wherein the actual subnet network geography comprises a complete set of actual device keys for all devices in the subnet network, and each actual device key comprises one or more device identifying attributes of an actual device in the subnet network as well as an actual device key component to enumerate an actual relative geographic location on the subnet network;
compare the actual subnet network geography with the reference subnet network geography, and determine compatibility; and
in response to determining compatibility:
commission, via a commissioning tool, the subnet network based on the received reference subnet network geography.

10. The network apparatus of claim 9 , wherein each device in the subnet network has an associated device key, wherein the device key comprises one or more device identifying attributes as well as a network position attribute for the device in the subnet network.

11. The network apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the network position attribute identifies a geographic position of the device in the subnet network.

12. The network apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processing instructions further cause the processor to accept the reference subnet network geography from a user by using the commissioning tool, and wherein the reference subnet network geography is received by the network apparatus from the commissioning tool on the main network.

13. The network apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processing instructions further cause the processor to send the actual subnet network geography of the subnet network to the commissioning tool, wherein the commissioning tool is on the main network, and wherein the main network is external to the subnet network.

14. The network apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processing instructions further cause the processor to cause the actual subnet network geography to become a new reference subnet network geography.

15. The network apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processing instructions further cause the processor to send the new reference subnet network geography of the subnet network to a commissioning tool, wherein the commissioning tool is on the main network, and wherein the main network is external to the subnet network.

16. A system comprising:
a subnet network having devices;
a main network having main network devices; and
a network apparatus having a processor and non-transitory computer readable medium storing processing instructions for bidirectional network geography delivery, wherein the processor comprises:
a subnet receiver to receive a reference subnet network geography from a main network device on the main network, wherein the reference subnet network geography comprises a complete set of reference device keys for all devices in the subnet network, and each reference device key comprises one or more device identifying attributes of a reference device in the subnet network as well as a reference device key component to enumerate a reference relative geographic location on the subnet network;
a subnet storage processor to store the received reference subnet geography;
a subnet retriever to retrieve an actual subnet network geography of the subnet network, wherein the actual subnet network geography comprises a complete set of actual device keys for all devices in the subnet network, and each actual device key comprises one or more device identifying attributes of an actual device in the subnet network as well as an actual device key component to enumerate an actual relative geographic location on the subnet network;
a subnet comparator to compare the actual subnet network geography with the reference subnet network geography, and determine compatibility; and
a subnet commissioner to commission the subnet network based on the received reference subnet network geography in response to the determination of compatibility.

17. The

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Caspers John P
• Telljohann Patrick D

Classifications

• H04W36/0083

  Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists · CPC title

• H04W36/08 Primary

  Reselecting an access point · CPC title

• H04L41/14

  Network analysis or design · CPC title

• H04L41/0806 Primary

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title