METHOD, DEVICE, AND SYSTEM FOR BACK-END ASSISTED COMMUNICATION ROUTING IN A DISRUPTION TOLERANT NETWORK OF MOBILE STATIONS

摘要

A first mobile station (MS) in a disruption tolerant network (DTN) reports, to an infrastructure network, contact pattern information comprising identities and indications of times at which the other MSs and infrastructure devices were determined to be within direct communication range of the first MS (step 502). The first MS then receives a set of DTN routing rules for routing communications to any target device via the DTN network (step 503). The first MS detects a first communication for transmission to a target device via the DTN network (step 506) and identifies as a function of the set of the DTN routing rules, one or more but less than all intermediary MSs for storing and forwarding the first communication towards the target device (step 508). The first MS then transmits the first communication to the identified one or more intermediary MSs (step 512) when they are determined to be within direct wireless communication range (step 510). The contact pattern information may include current information and/or information collected over a period of time in the past, such as over minutes, hours, days, or weeks. The contact pattern information could include primary information such as: a timestamp indicating when the MS first detects another MS or infrastructure links, an identity of the another MS or infrastructure, and a second timestamp indicating when the MS loses contact with the another MS or infrastructure. Additionally, the contact pattern information could include secondary information relating to the MS and/or the another MS, such as: geographic coordinates at the time of each timestamp, a power and/or battery status, an average or instantaneous bandwidth utilization and/or traffic level, an available storage space, a mobility indication, a number of past geographic coordinates prior to and/ or after a timestamp sufficient to determine a velocity vector, other sensor information such as acceleration, the type of wireless interface used to achieve detection or direct connection, and the types of wireless interfaces available.