Multicast Acknowledgment Method for Wireless Multi-Hop Networks
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In wireless multi-hop networks, existing methods for acknowledging receipt of broadcast or multicast communications often lead to network overload and prolonged reaction times, especially when using flooding, as all network participants send acknowledgments simultaneously, causing collisions and delays.
Innovation Solution
The method involves repeatedly sending the communication only to network participants that have not acknowledged receipt, with each iteration step using a data structure to track acknowledged participants and setting a shorter expiry time to reduce network load and increase acknowledgment efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If all network participants send acknowledgments simultaneously after receiving a broadcast or multicast communication, then the originating network subscriber can confirm receipt from all participants, but network overload and collisions occur leading to prolonged reaction times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the acknowledgment process into multiple rounds. In each round, only a subset of participants (those who have not yet acknowledged) send acknowledgments. This is achieved by maintaining a list of unacknowledged participants and processing them in batches, thereby avoiding simultaneous transmissions from all participants and reducing network collisions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic acknowledgment rounds with defined intervals. Between rounds, the system waits for a specified duration to allow acknowledgments to be transmitted and received. This periodic structure prevents continuous network traffic and allows the network to recover from congestion between rounds.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If random delay times are used for acknowledgment transmission, then collision resolution is improved, but the reaction time becomes too long for practical use in networks with many participants
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using long random delays for all participants, the patent segments participants into groups and assigns shorter, structured delay intervals between groups. Each group transmits acknowledgments in sequence with controlled timing, reducing overall reaction time while maintaining collision avoidance through the segmented structure.
3Reliability
If the originating network subscriber waits for all acknowledgments before considering transmission successful, then reliable delivery is ensured, but network overload occurs especially in large networks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by processing acknowledgments in rounds rather than requiring all acknowledgments to be received simultaneously. In each round, a portion of the remaining unacknowledged participants are processed. This partial processing approach reduces the instantaneous network load while still ensuring eventual reliable delivery through multiple rounds.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses periodic acknowledgment collection rounds with defined waiting periods between rounds. This periodic approach spreads the acknowledgment processing over time, preventing network overload that would occur if all acknowledgments were expected simultaneously, while still ensuring reliable delivery through repeated rounds.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
This document describes a method for transmitting acknowledgments of receipt in a broadcast or multicast communication within a multi-hop network, particularly a wireless one. In this method, each network participant sends an acknowledgment after a randomly chosen delay. A key feature of this method is that the originating network participant sending the broadcast or multicast communication retransmits the communication in at least one iteration step, with a time interval after the initial transmission, if the originating network participant (TU) has not yet received acknowledgments of receipt from all designated network participants (T1-T7) within a specified timeframe.