Mesh networking of access points for load balancing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017188266-A1
Application number	US-201715456541-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 12, 2017
Priority date	Jan 31, 2014
Publication date	Jun 29, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A mesh network may be established between a plurality of access points to facilitate load balancing for one or more of the access points. The mesh network may define a plurality of communication routes through the access points having capabilities sufficient to facilitate or mimic communications underperforming or being unavailable at the access point requesting load balancing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of non-transitory instructions executable with a processor of a primary access point to facilitate load balancing, the non-transitory instructions for:
determining a plurality of clients having completed an association process sufficient for transporting data in an upstream direction to the primary access point; determining a plurality of secondary access points available for communication with the primary access point according to a mesh topology, the mesh topology including at least one of the secondary access points being in direct communication with the primary access point and each of the secondary access points not in direct communication with the primary access point being in at least indirect communication with the primary access point via at least another one of the secondary access points; and determining a plurality of routes through the mesh topology sufficient to facilitate load balancing the data received at the primary access point, each route originating at the primary access point and traversing one or more of the secondary access points.

2 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising non-transitory instructions for assigning a transport value to one or more of the routes, the transport value identifying a portion of the data received at the primary access point to be transported through the corresponding route.

3 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient determining an ending access point for each route, the ending access point being one of the secondary access points to be used in transporting data received by way of the corresponding route to a network element other than another one of the secondary access points.

4 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3 further comprising non-transitory instructions for determining each transport value as a function of a throughput available at the ending access point of the corresponding route.

5 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising non-transitory instructions for:
determining upstream throughput available through each of the routes; and
routing a percentage of the data received at the primary access point through one or more of the routes as a function of the upstream throughput available therethrough.

6 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 further comprising non-transitory instructions for determining the percentage according to the following formula:
if A≧D, then P=0; and
If A<D, then P=100*(D−A)/D; wherein P equals the percentage, A equals upstream throughput available from the primary access point and D equals upstream throughput demanded by the clients.

7 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 further comprising non-transitory instructions for routing a first percentage of the percentage through a first route of the one or more routes if the upstream throughput therethrough is sufficient, else routing the first percentage through the first route and a second percentage of the percentage remaining after the first percentage through one or more additional routes of the one or more routes.

8 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising non-transitory instructions for determining intermediary access points for one or more of the routes, each intermediary access point being one of the secondary access points facilitating communications between the primary access point and an ending access point of the corresponding route.

9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 further comprising non-transitory instructions for determining a number of hops associated with each route, the number of hops being equal to:
one when no intermediary access points are determined for the corresponding route; and
the number of intermediary access points plus one when one or more intermediary access points are determined for the corresponding route.

10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising non-transitory instructions for:
determining one or more data types for the data received at the primary access point; and
routing a percentage of the data received at the primary access point through one or more of the routes as a function of the data type associated therewith.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 further comprising non-transitory instructions for:
determining route latency for each route;
determining latency tolerance for each of the data types; and
routing the percentage through one of more of the routes as a function of the corresponding route latency.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising non-transitory instructions for constraining the mesh topology to a network element shared between the primary and secondary access points to facilitate long-haul data transport.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising non-transitory instructions for determining the secondary access points as a function of advertisement messages wirelessly transmitted therefrom.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising non-transitory instructions for:
routing a first percentage of the data received at the primary access point directly from the primary access point to a network element for subsequent long-haul transport, the first percentage being greater than zero; and
routing a second percentage of the data received at the primary access point indirectly from the primary access point to the network element through one or more of the routes, the second percentage equaling 100% minus the first percentage.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising non-transitory instructions for:
routing the first percentage through a wired interface of the primary access point to the network element; and
routing the second percentage through a wireless interface of the primary access point to at least a first one of the secondary access points associated with each of the one or more routes whereby a last one of the secondary access points associated with each of the one or more routes then communicates any received portion of the second percentage through a corresponding wired interface to the network element.

16 . A wireless access point comprising:
a wireless interface operable to receive data wirelessly transmitted from a plurality of clients in proximity thereto; a wired interface operable to transport the data to a wired medium for transport to a terminal for subsequent long-haul transport, the wired medium limiting upstream transport to a throughput; a controller configured to implement a load balancing process when an quality of server (QoS) desired for transport of the data to the wired medium exceeds capabilities of the throughput, the load balancing process including: i) determining a first percentage of the data capable of being transported through the wired medium at the desired QoS and a second percentage of the data incapable of being transported through the wired medium at the desired QoS, the first and second percentages summing to 100%; ii) routing the first percentage of the data through the wired medium to the terminal; and iii) routing a second percentage of the data through the wireless interface to a mesh network for transport to the terminal at or above the desired QoS, the mesh

Assignees

• Cable Television Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• Tian Jun
• Rice Daniel
• Colwell Justin
• Allanki Neeharika

Classifications

• H04W28/0231

  based on communication conditions (dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54) · CPC title

• H04W28/0268

  using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] (negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24) · CPC title

• H04W88/08

  Access point devices · CPC title

• H04L45/22

  Alternate routing · CPC title

• H04L47/125 Primary

  by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering · CPC title