Wireless Association Relay for Reliable Mesh Handover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mesh networks face frequent handover failures due to mobile systems moving out of range of their current access point and into the range of a new access point, leading to potential overloading, poor decoding, or missed handover messages, which disrupt connectivity.
Innovation Solution
Maintaining multiple wireless associations via an over-the-wire relay mechanism, where a mobile system sends frames to its active access point for relaying to dormant access points, keeping associations alive without requiring handover exchanges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a mobile system performs handover exchanges to switch between access points, then connectivity can be maintained during movement, but handover failures occur due to access point overloading, poor message decoding, or missed messages
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile system performs preliminary association with multiple access points before handover is needed. By pre-establishing associations with both current and potential next access points, the system eliminates the need for critical handover exchanges during movement, as the association is already in place before the mobile system actually switches.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a backhaul network as an intermediary that carries traffic between the mobile system and multiple access points simultaneously. This intermediary infrastructure enables the mobile system to maintain multiple associations without requiring complex handover coordination, as the backhaul network handles the routing transparently.
2Reliability
If a mobile system maintains association with multiple access points simultaneously, then handover failures are reduced, but device complexity increases due to multiple wireless associations
Solution Approach 1:
The backhaul network acts as an intermediary that abstracts the complexity of managing multiple wireless associations. While the mobile system does maintain multiple associations, the backhaul network handles the complex routing and traffic management, reducing the burden on the mobile system's device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile system's wireless interface is designed to handle multiple associations universally, treating them similarly to a single association. The system can send and receive traffic through multiple access points using the same fundamental protocols and mechanisms, reducing the need for specialized handling logic.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a device sends data traffic to a gateway of a backhaul mesh network via a first wireless access point of the backhaul mesh network. The device maintains, while associated with the first wireless access point, an association with a second wireless access point of the backhaul mesh network by sending a frame to the first wireless access point that is relayed by the first wireless access point to the second wireless access point. The device makes a determination that additional data traffic should be sent to the gateway of the backhaul mesh network via the second wireless access point. The device sends, based on the determination, the additional data traffic to the gateway of the backhaul mesh network via the second wireless access point.