CN112040492B

CN112040492B - Method for autonomously establishing WiFi network by multiple WiFi nodes

Info

Publication number: CN112040492B
Application number: CN202010986456.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张余款; 王祥; 潘小明
Original assignee: Hangzhou Honyar Electrical Co Ltd; Putian Intelligent Lighting Institute Co Ltd
Current assignee: Putian Hongyan Internet Of Things Technology Co ltd; Hangzhou Honyar Electrical Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-09-18
Filing date: 2020-09-18
Publication date: 2022-07-05
Anticipated expiration: 2040-09-18
Also published as: CN112040492A

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi nodes, comprising: step S11: in response to the presence of unsaturated nodes in the vicinity, each node is connected to the unsaturated node in its vicinity having the best signal strength to form at least one sub-network among the plurality of nodes; step S12: the temporary central node of each sub-network inquires the number of unknown nodes of all nodes in the sub-network, and determines the node with the most unknown nodes as a new temporary central node of the sub-network; and step S13: the new temporary central node of each sub-network is disconnected from its parent node and connected to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength among the unknown nodes, thereby being connected to other sub-networks. The disclosure also relates to a method for autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi devices, and to a WiFi device and a method of operating the same.

Description

Method for automatically establishing WiFi network by multiple WiFi nodes

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method for autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi nodes, a method for autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi devices, and a WiFi device and an operating method thereof.

Background

WiFi technology has become very popular, and many devices communicate using WiFi technology, for example, WiFi technology is often used in smart home networks. Due to the fact that the capacity of each WiFi access point AP is limited, the WiFi access point AP is easily in a connection saturation state, and when the number of WiFi devices (for example, each smart terminal in the smart home network) is large, it is easy to cause that the WiFi devices access the WiFi network. In addition, in the existing WiFi network, if the number of APs is large, the configuration of the hierarchy and the routing is troublesome and complicated.

Disclosure of Invention

One of the objects of the present disclosure is to provide a method of autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi nodes, a method of autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi devices, and a WiFi device and an operation method thereof.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi nodes, comprising: step S11: in response to the presence of unsaturated nodes in the vicinity, each node is connected to the unsaturated node in its vicinity having the best signal strength to form at least one sub-network among the plurality of nodes; step S12: the temporary central node of each sub-network inquires the number of unknown nodes of all nodes in the sub-network, and determines the node with the most unknown nodes as a new temporary central node of the sub-network; and step S13: the new temporary central node of each sub-network is disconnected from its parent node and connected to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength among the unknown nodes, thereby being connected to other sub-networks.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi devices, comprising: broadcasting the number of child nodes by the first device; judging whether the first equipment is an unsaturated node with the best signal strength near the second equipment or not by the second equipment according to the broadcast of the first equipment; connecting, by the second device as a child node of the first device, to the first device in response to determining that the first device is an unsaturated node with the best signal strength in the vicinity of the second device; responding to the first device without a parent node, inquiring the number of unknown nodes of all nodes in a subnet of the first device by the first device; and responding to the third device in the subnet having the most unknown nodes, disconnecting the third device from the parent node thereof and connecting to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength in the unknown nodes of the third device.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of operation of a WiFi device, comprising: receiving a routing table reported by a child node, wherein the routing table comprises identifications and connection levels of all subordinate nodes of the child node; in response to no parent node, establishing and maintaining a routing table of the whole subnet; responding to no change of a routing table of the whole subnet in a preset time period, and sending a query request to each other node in the subnet so as to query the number of unknown nodes of each node; and responding to the unknown nodes with the most unknown nodes, and connecting to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength in the unknown nodes.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a WiFi device comprising operating circuitry configured to perform the method as described above.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a WiFi device comprising: a processor; and a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method as described above.

Other features of the present disclosure and advantages thereof will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

The present disclosure may be understood more clearly and in accordance with the following detailed description, taken with reference to the accompanying drawings,

wherein:

fig. 1 schematically illustrates a plurality of WiFi devices within a particular physical space.

Fig. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams schematically illustrating a special network structure formed by a plurality of WiFi devices in a process of connecting to form a WiFi network according to a method of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a network structure of a plurality of WiFi devices shown in fig. 1 at one step in a process of connecting to form a WiFi network according to a method of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a network structure of a WiFi network formed by connecting a plurality of WiFi devices shown in fig. 1 based on a method of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a network structure of the WiFi network of fig. 4 after one WiFi device is offline.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a network structure of a WiFi network reformed by the WiFi network of fig. 5 after the WiFi device is offline according to the method of the embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a flow diagram schematically illustrating at least a portion of a method for autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi nodes, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a WiFi device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9A and 9B are diagrams schematically illustrating an upper node of a new temporary central node being reversely connected in a method of autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi nodes according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate several embodiments of the disclosure. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, the embodiments described below are intended to provide a more complete disclosure of the present disclosure, and to fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. It is also to be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein can be combined in various ways to provide further additional embodiments.

It should be understood that like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the several views. In the drawings, the size of some of the features may be varied for clarity.

It is to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art unless otherwise defined. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

In this document, the term "coupled" is intended to encompass a physical, electrical, and/or communicative coupling of one feature to another, and may or may not have intervening features between the one feature and the other feature. When the connection is a communication connection, even though reference is made to a and B as being "directly connected," it is intended to merely emphasize that one or more features emphasized by the present disclosure are not present between the connection of a and B, but does not represent a limitation that the connection between a and B is not through any element, and those skilled in the art will understand that the connection between a and B may be through a cable, a router, a gateway, a channel, a link, a network, and the like. In the drawings of the present disclosure, the direct connection or the indirect connection between a and B is represented by a straight line connecting a and B.

Herein, the term "a or B" includes "a and B" and "a or B" rather than exclusively including only "a" or only "B" unless otherwise specifically stated.

In this document, the term "exemplary" means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration," and not as a "model" that is to be reproduced exactly. Any implementation exemplarily described herein is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. Furthermore, the disclosure is not limited by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the detailed description.

In this document, the term "substantially" is intended to encompass any minor variations due to design or manufacturing imperfections, tolerances of the devices or components, environmental influences and/or other factors. The term "substantially" also allows for differences from a perfect or ideal situation due to parasitics, noise, and other practical considerations that may exist in a practical implementation.

In addition, "first," "second," and like terms may also be used herein for reference purposes only, and thus are not intended to be limiting. For example, the terms "first," "second," and other such numerical terms referring to structures or elements do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context.

It will be further understood that the terms "comprises/comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As shown in fig. 1, there are a plurality of WiFi devices, including WiFi devices a through L, for example, within a particular physical space (e.g., within a home or office). These multiple WiFi devices may establish communication connections with each other to form a local area network, such as the WiFi network referred to herein. There is no need to configure one or more of these WiFi devices as a central node of the WiFi network, i.e. none of the WiFi devices is configured to always be the highest level of connectivity node in the WiFi network. Each WiFi device may have both a routing function and a terminal function, and may be, for example, a mobile phone with a WiFi hotspot function. Devices connected in the network are also referred to as nodes of the network, and thus, herein, the device A, B, C, etc. are also referred to as nodes A, B, C, etc.

In the method for establishing a WiFi network according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, each node broadcasts its own two Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs) alternately, where one is a static SSID and the other is a dynamic SSID. The static SSID and the dynamic SSID have associated portions, e.g., each include a specific identifier, e.g., a character or string that may be agreed upon to indicate that the node broadcasting the SSID supports the method of establishing a WiFi network as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. The associated portion may also indicate that the two SSIDs originate from the same node. For example, both the static and dynamic SSIDs also include an identification of the node broadcasting the SSID, which may be, for example, the MAC address of the node. In one particular example, both static and dynamic SSIDs may include "POINT _ XXX", where the string "POINT _" at the head of the SSID serves as a specific identifier to indicate that the node supports the methods of embodiments of the present disclosure, and the string "XXX" is a hexadecimal character of the MAC address of the node, which may be 12 bits in length. For example, if the binary MAC address of a node is 0b000000000001, which is 0x001 in hexadecimal form, the character string "XXX" may be "001". The MAC address of the node is used as the identifier of the node, so that the SSID repetition of different nodes can be avoided. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the specific identifier in the SSID may not be located at the head of the SSID, as long as the character content of the specific identifier in the SSID and its location in the SSID string are defined between the devices supporting the method for establishing a WiFi network according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In addition to the specific identifier and the identification of the node, the dynamic SSID also includes the connectivity status of the node in the WiFi network and the number of its child nodes. The next-level node directly connected to a certain node is a child node thereof, and for example, in the example shown in fig. 3, the node a is a child node of the node B, the node B is a child node of the node C, and the like. Accordingly, the node at the upper level to which a certain node is directly connected is a parent node thereof, for example, in the example shown in fig. 3, the node B is a parent node of the node a, and the node C is a parent node of the node B. The dynamic SSID includes the connection status of the node to indicate whether the node is connected to its previous node.

In one particular example, the dynamic SSID can include the string "POINT _ XXX _ BCC," where "POINT _ XXX" can be as described above, i.e., the "POINT _ XXX" in the dynamic SSID of a node is identical to the static SSID of that node. "B" may be used to indicate the connection status of the node, for example, a "B" of "0" indicates that the node is not connected to a previous node, and a "1" indicates that the node is connected to a previous node. "CC" may be used to indicate the number of children of the node (i.e., nodes directly connected to the node), e.g., "CC" of "01" indicates that 1 child has been connected to the node, "CC" of "02" indicates that 2 children have been connected to the node, and so on.

In the method for establishing the WiFi network in the embodiment of the disclosure, each node broadcasts two SSIDs of the node, wherein the dynamic SSID can be used by other nodes to judge whether the node can be used as a connection target of other nodes; and the static SSID is fixed, so that other nodes can be conveniently connected to the node through the static SSID.

A method of establishing a WiFi network of an embodiment of the present disclosure is described below using one specific example in conjunction with fig. 1 through 4. Each of the WiFi devices a to L shown in fig. 1 within a particular physical space may implement the method of the present disclosure.

Each WiFi device broadcasts its static SSID and dynamic SSID alternately, which may begin to broadcast alternately after power-up, for example. At the same time, each WiFi device searches for SSIDs within its signal reception range (also referred to herein as "nearby"). For example, node a searches for 5 SSIDs, respectively test _ wifi, POINT _001_102, POINT _001, POINT _002_102, and POINT _002, by receiving the broadcast. Node a may first determine that test _ wifi, the SSID, does not conform to the format of "POINT _ XXX _ BCC" or "POINT _ XXX", and therefore ignore the SSID. Since the MAC addresses carried by the two SSIDs POINT _001_102 and POINT _001 are both 0x001, the two SSIDs are from the same node. Point _001_102 is a dynamic SSID, and Point _001 is a static SSID. Likewise, Point _002_102 and Point _002 are the dynamic SSID and the static SSID, respectively, of the other node.

After discovering the SSID in the POINT _ XXX _ BCC format, each node can start to select the node with the best signal strength and not saturated among the nodes transmitting the SSID in the format as a connection target and connect to that node. For example, node a may be preconfigured with a saturation threshold to determine whether the connections of other nodes are saturated. For example, if a saturation threshold value of 5 is preset, that is, if the number of child nodes to which each node is connected at most is 5, it can be determined that the node is saturated (the number of child nodes of the node is saturated, or the connection of the node is saturated, or the like) if the number of child nodes is 5. In the SSID in POINT _ XXX _ BCC format, a value of "CC" of less than 5 indicates that the node sending the SSID is an unsaturated node. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this threshold is merely an example, and may be configured according to the connectivity capabilities of the WiFi device. In one example, node a searches for a respective SSID from node B, C, G, F, with the "CC" field in the SSID indicating that nodes B and F have each connected 0 child nodes, and nodes C and G have each connected 1 child node, i.e., node B, C, G, F is both an unsaturated node. Node a selects the node with the best signal strength, e.g., node B, as the connection target based on its measured signal strength (which may be, for example, the strength of the broadcast signal) of each of the nodes B, C, G, F. Node a then connects to node B based on node B's static SSID and node B's predetermined connection password. In one embodiment, node a connects to node B through a static SSID and password after delaying a random time, which is delayed to avoid collisions with simultaneous connections. It should be noted that after each node successfully connects to its parent node, both its own dynamic SSID (e.g., "B" field) and the dynamic SSID of its parent node (e.g., "CC" field) may change. Therefore, after the connection is successful, the node needs to send the updated dynamic SSID.

Each node searches the SSID in its own receiving range, and finds the unsaturated node with the strongest signal for connection, so that after the operations described above, each WiFi device shown in fig. 1 can form a connection structure as shown in fig. 3, and a plurality of WiFi subnets SN1, SN2, and SN3 are established independently. The term "subnet" refers to a network of one or more nodes that establish a connection. This network is called a "child" network since it does not necessarily include all nodes that need to be interconnected to apply the method of the present disclosure. In the example shown in fig. 3, subnet SN1 includes nodes a through D, subnet SN2 includes nodes F through I, and subnet SN3 includes nodes E and J through L. In the drawings of the present application, a connection between two nodes is indicated by a line segment with an arrow, and the node pointed to by the arrow is a parent node of the connection. For example, in subnet SN1, node B is the parent of node A, node C is the parent of node B, and node D is the parent of node C.

In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, after each node is successfully connected to a node at a previous stage, all nodes at its lower stage and connection level information (hereinafter, referred to as a routing table) of each node need to be reported to its parent node through UDP. In addition, any change in its routing table, such as an increase or decrease of a subordinate node, needs to be reported to the parent node. For example, in the example shown in fig. 3, node B, C, D has formed a connection as shown before node a connects to node B. Then after node a connects to node B, node a may report an empty routing table to node B since it has no subordinate nodes. After receiving the routing table reported by node a, node B knows that all nodes under node a only include node a, and the connection level of node a is the node under node a. Thus, node B may report its own updated routing table to its parent node C, as shown in table 1 below:

TABLE 1

Node point	Hierarchy level
		A	1

The "node" information may be the identification of node a, such as the MAC address of node a. The "hierarchy" information may be a hierarchy of the node a with respect to the node B, for example, when the node a is a node next to the node B, the hierarchy information may be represented by a numeral 1; when the node is the next two levels, the hierarchy information may be represented by the number 2, and so on.

After receiving the routing table reported by the node B, the node C knows that the node at its lower level has changed from originally including only the node B to including the nodes a and B, and also knows the connection level information of the two nodes. Thus, node C updates its routing table and reports to its parent node D, as shown in table 2 below:

TABLE 2

Node point	Hierarchy level
		B	1
A	2

Similarly, after receiving the routing table reported by node C, node D knows that there is a change in the nodes at its lower level, from the original node B, C, to the node A, B, C, and also knows the connection level information of these three nodes. Node D therefore updates its routing table as shown in table 3 below. The routing table is not reported since it has no parent node for the moment.

TABLE 3

Node point	Hierarchy level
		C	1
B	2
		A	3

Node D, as the highest level node of subnet SN1, maintains a routing table that includes information for each node in the subnet, and thus, the routing table is the routing table for the entire subnet. After updating its own routing table, node D may share the routing table throughout the sub-network SN1 so that each node in the sub-network can know the connection information of each node within the sub-network.

In the above embodiment, each node maintains a routing table that includes only all its subordinate nodes and not itself. It should be appreciated that in another embodiment, a node may maintain a routing table that includes both all of its subordinate nodes and itself. For example, in this embodiment, the routing table maintained by node D having the connection structure shown in fig. 3 may be as shown in table 4 below:

TABLE 4

In table 4, the meaning of the numbers indicating the hierarchy information is different from those in tables 1 to 3. In table 4, numeral 1 denotes the present-stage node, and numeral 2 denotes the next-stage node. And in tables 1 to 3, numeral 1 denotes a next-stage node. It should be understood that the meaning of the numbers herein may be arbitrarily defined, and it is only necessary that each node agree. For example, in another embodiment, the node of the present stage may be represented by the number 0 and the node of the next stage may be represented by the number 1 in the above table 4.

It should be appreciated that in embodiments where the routing table maintained by a node includes both all of its subordinate nodes and itself, node a may report to node B a routing table that includes only its own information, rather than an empty routing table.

After the various subnets are formed, each subnet SN 1-SN 3 may establish a routing table for the subnet, as shown in fig. 3. The routing table of the subnet may be established and maintained (i.e., updated when the state of each node in the subnet changes), for example, by the node at the highest level in the subnet (i.e., the temporary central node described below). It should be understood that the routing table of a subnet includes information for all nodes within the entire subnet and their connectivity levels. For example, for subnet SN1 in fig. 3, the routing table for the subnet may be as shown in table 4. In one embodiment, the nodes at the highest hierarchical level in a subnet share the routing table of the subnet so that other nodes within the subnet can query the routing table of the subnet. In one embodiment, after the routing table of the subnet is established or updated each time, the node at the highest level in the subnet sends the routing table of the subnet to each node in the subnet, and each node stores the routing table of the subnet for use.

In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, each node is not allowed to connect its own lower level node (including the lower level node, the lower two level node … …). Therefore, if a node finds that an interconnect situation as shown in fig. 2A occurs (i.e., the node connects its own child node), for example, finds that the MAC address of its child node is the same as the MAC address of the parent node, the node with the smaller MAC address among nodes a and B actively disconnects between the two nodes. If a node finds that a loopback condition occurs as shown in fig. 2B (i.e., the node connects its subordinate nodes except for the child nodes), for example, finds that the MAC address of its parent node is the same as the MAC address of some node in its maintained routing table, the node which first found the loopback condition disconnects its connection with its child node. Since both cases are disconnected nodes, reconnection to the same node is not allowed for a predetermined period of time.

After a predetermined period of time has elapsed, if the routing table of each node is not updated, the connection structure between the nodes enters a temporary intermediate state, and a plurality of independent subnets SN1 to SN3 may be established to be completed, for example, as shown in fig. 3. At this time, there is inevitably one node in each sub-network without a superior node, and the node temporarily serves as a central node of the whole sub-network. For example, in the temporary intermediate state, node D temporarily acts as a temporary central node for subnet SN1, node I temporarily acts as a temporary central node for subnet SN2, and node E temporarily acts as a temporary central node for subnet SN 3.

Each temporary central node queries all other nodes in its subnet for the condition of unknown nodes around each node. An "unknown node" of a node, as referred to herein, refers to a node that is not in the same subnet as the node. Each node can judge whether the received node of each SSID is a node in the subnet or not, namely an unknown node, based on the routing table of the subnet where the node is located through the received SSID of other nodes. The query may be implemented by sending a query request message (e.g., over UDP) and receiving a query response message. For example, the temporary central node I of subnet SN2 queries all other nodes F, G, H of its subnet for the condition of unknown nodes around each node. First, the number of unknown nodes around the temporary central node I itself is 1 (only node J). The number of unknown nodes around the node F is 0, the number of unknown nodes around the node G is 3 (node A, B, C), and the number of unknown nodes around the node H is 5 (node B, C, D, L, J).

After the query is completed, the temporary central node gives the identity of the temporary central node to the node with the most unknown nodes, namely the identity of the temporary central node of the subnet is transferred to the node with the most unknown nodes. For example, in the above example, after node I queries the number of unknown nodes around each of nodes F, G, H, node I finds that there are the most unknown nodes around node H, and therefore node I gives the identity of the temporary central node to node H. The transfer of the identity of the temporary central node may be accomplished by the old temporary central node (e.g., node I) messaging (e.g., via UDP) to the new temporary central node (e.g., node H). For example, node I may send a message instructing node H to disconnect from its parent node, so that node H becomes the highest connection level node, i.e., the temporary central node.

After the new temporary central node is generated, the connection with the father node of the new temporary central node is disconnected, and the father node and the nodes above all levels are all reversely connected. The reverse connection referred to herein means that the original connection from the child node X to the parent node Y becomes the connection from the node Y to the node X, that is, the node Y becomes the child node of the node X from the parent node of the node X, and the node X becomes the parent node of the node Y from the child node of the node Y. It should be understood that when referring to establishing or making a reverse connection between nodes X and Y, this may include disconnecting the original connection between nodes X and Y and then reestablishing the reverse connection between the nodes X and Y as previously described. For example, in the above example, after node I gives the identity of the temporary central node to node H, node H is the new temporary central node. Node H disconnects its parent node I and its parent node I connects back to node H as shown in fig. 4. At this point, node H may become a temporary central node for subnet SN 2.

In one embodiment, the parent node of the new temporary central node and the nodes at each level above the parent node do not need to be all backward connected, but only the nodes at each level on the path that can be routed to the new temporary central node. For example, in the example shown in figures 9A and 9B, after the old temporary central node a has handed over the identity of the temporary central node to the new temporary central node E in the sub-network, the connections between the various levels of nodes A, B, E on the path a-B-E that can be routed to the new temporary central node E need to be re-established for the reverse connection. For example, node B originally connects to node a and node E connects to node B as shown in fig. 9A, and node a connects to node B and node B connects to node E as shown in fig. 9B. While the connection may not change for each level of node C, D that is not on the path a-B-E that can be routed to the new temporary central node E, as shown in fig. 9A and 9B.

After the query is completed, if the temporary central node is the node with the most unknown nodes, the identity of the temporary central node is not transferred. For example, in the example shown in fig. 3, temporary central node D of subnet SN1 is queried to find that the number of unknown nodes around itself is the largest among the nodes in its subnet, and therefore, node D is also the temporary central node of subnet SN 1.

After the query is completed, the re-determined temporary central node (which may be identical or different from the previously determined one) of each subnet is connected to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength among the unknown nodes around it, thereby enabling the present subnet to be connected to other subnets. For example, the re-determined temporary hub node D of subnet SN1 (which coincides with the previously determined temporary hub node) is connected to the best signal strength unsaturated node E (the node in previous subnet SN 3) among its surrounding unknown nodes, and the re-determined temporary hub node H of subnet SN2 (which is different from the previously determined temporary hub node) is connected to the best signal strength unsaturated node J (the node in previous subnet SN 3) among its surrounding unknown nodes. Thus forming a WiFi network containing all the WiFi devices shown in fig. 1, as shown in fig. 4, and having only one central node, node E.

It should be understood that after the re-determined temporary central node of each subnet is connected to nodes in other subnets, it is still possible that all WiFi devices are not connected into one network, where the connection structure of all WiFi devices forms multiple subnets, and the operations described above can be repeatedly performed, namely: the temporary central node of each sub-network inquires the condition of unknown nodes around the node to all other nodes in the sub-network; if the query result shows that the temporary central node is the node with the most unknown nodes, the identity of the temporary central node of the sub-network is not transferred; if the query result shows that the other node except the temporary central node is the node with the most unknown nodes, the temporary central node of the sub-network is determined as the other node again. Thereafter, the re-determined temporary central node of each sub-network is connected to the unsaturated node having the best signal strength among the unknown nodes around it. The operations are repeatedly executed until all the nodes can not inquire the unknown nodes, and finally all the nodes form a WiFi network containing all the nodes.

After the WiFi network shown in fig. 4 has been formed, a node, for example, node J, goes offline for some reason (e.g., shutdown, crash, etc.), and a child node of access node J, for example, node H, disconnects from node J and becomes a temporary central node. As shown in fig. 5, after node J goes offline, node H becomes the temporary central node of the subnet that includes node F, G, H, I. The temporary central node H performs the operations that the temporary central node should perform as described above, namely: inquiring the condition of unknown nodes around the node from all other nodes in the subnet; if the query result shows that the temporary central node is the node with the most unknown nodes, the identity of the temporary central node of the sub-network is not transferred; if the query result shows that the other node except the temporary central node is the node with the most unknown nodes, the temporary central node of the sub-network is determined as the other node again. Thereafter, the re-determined temporary central node of each sub-network is connected to the unsaturated node having the best signal strength among the unknown nodes around it. These operations are repeated until all nodes cannot query unknown nodes, and finally all nodes can be recombined into a WiFi network containing all nodes, as shown in fig. 6.

Any node in the formed WiFi network may initiate communication, such as sending a data packet to any other node in the WiFi network. Each communication needs to indicate the originator and destination of the communication, e.g. the transmitted data packet includes the identity of the node that transmitted the data packet and the identity of the destination node that expects to receive the data packet. In addition, the data packet may further include a frame sequence number, so that the receiving side determines whether the data packet is repeatedly received, whether the data packet is retransmitted, or the like. And each node needing communication sends the data packet needing to be sent to all the child nodes of the node and the parent node of the node. After any node receives the data packet, if the destination node of the data packet is not itself, the data packet is forwarded to all child nodes of itself and the parent node thereof, except the node from which the data packet was sent. If the destination node of the data packet is self, the data packet is not forwarded after being received. Thus, as long as the destination node of the data packet is within the WiFi network, the data can be received with certainty. If the destination node is not present, i.e. not within the WiFi network, the data will propagate once in all nodes within the WiFi network.

Data communication in a WiFi network formed according to a method of establishing a WiFi network of an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated in a specific example below with reference to fig. 4. If the node D sends data to the node K, the node D prepares the data, the MAC of the node D is indicated as an initiator in the data, and the MAC of the node K is indicated as a target. Node D then sends the data to its parent E and all its children (currently only node C). And the node C finds that the node C is not the destination of the data, and continues to forward to the direction of the child node until the node A. Node E finds itself as not the destination of the data and forwards it to its parent node (node E has no parent node in this example and therefore does not transmit) and all child nodes except node D (node L only). The node L finds itself not to be the destination of the data and needs to forward the data. Because the data comes from the father node, the data does not need to be forwarded to the father node, and only needs to be forwarded to all the child nodes (only the node K) of the data. After receiving the data, the node K finds that the destination party is the node K, processes the data and does not forward the data. And finishing the communication.

In addition, embodiments of the present disclosure may also include the following examples:

example 1: as shown in fig. 7, a method 100 for autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi nodes. The method 100 comprises: step S11: in response to the presence of unsaturated nodes in the vicinity, each node is connected to the unsaturated node in its vicinity having the best signal strength to form at least one sub-network among the plurality of nodes; step S12: the temporary central node of each sub-network inquires the number of unknown nodes of all nodes in the sub-network, and determines the node with the most unknown nodes as a new temporary central node of the sub-network; and step S13: the new temporary central node of each sub-network is disconnected from its parent node and connected to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength among the unknown nodes, thereby being connected to other sub-networks.

Example 2: as shown in fig. 8, a WiFi device 200. The device 200 includes a processor 210 and a memory 220. The memory 220 stores computer-executable instructions 221 and data 222 needed to execute the instructions 221. The computer-executable instructions 221, when executed by the processor 210, cause the processor 210 to perform the methods as described above.

Example 3: a WiFi device comprising operating circuitry configured to perform the method as described above.

1. a method of autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi nodes, comprising:

step S11: in response to the presence of unsaturated nodes in the vicinity, each node being connected to an unsaturated node in its vicinity having the best signal strength to form at least one sub-network among the plurality of nodes;

step S12: the temporary central node of each sub-network inquires the number of unknown nodes of all nodes in the sub-network, and determines the node with the most unknown nodes as a new temporary central node of the sub-network; and

step S13: the new temporary central node of each sub-network is disconnected from its parent node and connected to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength among the unknown nodes, thereby being connected to other sub-networks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein,

the step S11 further includes: in response to being connected to a node with the best signal strength in its vicinity and in response to a change in subordinate nodes, each node reporting to its parent node the identity and connection level of all its subordinate nodes, such that the temporary central node of each subnet establishes and maintains a routing table for the entire subnet that includes the identity and connection level of each node within the subnet; and

the step S12 further includes: and each node determines the number of unknown nodes according to the routing table of the whole sub-network of the sub-network where the node is located.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein,

the step S11 further includes: in response to the occurrence of a closed-loop connection, the respective node breaks the closed-loop connection according to a predetermined rule to form the at least one subnet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein,

the step S13 further includes: and responding to the disconnection of the new temporary central node from the father node thereof, and establishing reverse connection for all the superior nodes of the new temporary central node.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, after step S13:

step S14: connecting to other subnets to form at least one new subnet, and repeatedly performing steps S12 and S13 for each new subnet until the plurality of WiFi nodes each establish a connection relationship or connection relationships of the plurality of WiFi nodes are stable for a predetermined period of time, thereby establishing the WiFi network.

6. A method of autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi devices, comprising:

broadcasting the number of child nodes by the first device;

judging whether the first equipment is an unsaturated node with the best signal strength near the second equipment or not by the second equipment according to the broadcast of the first equipment;

connecting, by the second device, to the first device as a child node of the first device in response to determining that the first device is a non-saturated node in the vicinity of the second device having the best signal strength;

responding to the first device without a parent node, inquiring the number of unknown nodes of all nodes in a subnet of the first device by the first device; and

and responding to the third device in the subnet having the most unknown nodes, disconnecting the third device from the parent node thereof, and connecting to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength in the unknown nodes of the third device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to the third device disconnecting from its parent node, connecting back to the third device by the parent node, and connecting back to the third device by the first device either directly or indirectly.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to the first device having the most unknown nodes, the unsaturated node with the best signal strength among the unknown nodes connected by the first device to the first device.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

reporting, by the second device, to the first device, a routing table of the second device in response to the second device being connected to the first device and in response to a change in a subordinate node of the second device, the routing table of the second device including an identification and a connection hierarchy of all subordinate nodes of the second device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

and responding to the condition that the first device does not receive the routing table reported by any child node including the second device within a preset time period, and inquiring the number of unknown nodes of all nodes in the subnet of the first device.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

establishing and maintaining a routing table of the whole sub-network by the first device according to the routing tables reported by all the child nodes including the second device; and

and determining the number of unknown nodes by each node in the subnet according to the routing table of the whole subnet.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

checking by the first and second devices whether a closed loop connection is present in response to the second device being connected to the first device; and

in response to the occurrence of a closed loop connection, the closed loop connection is broken by the first and/or second device according to a predetermined rule.

13. The method of 12, wherein responsive to the closed-loop connection being a parent node of the second device, the first device being a child node of the second device, actively disconnecting the connection between the first and second devices by a device of the first and second devices having a smaller MAC address.

14. The method of 12, wherein the second device disconnects from all its children nodes in response to the second device discovering that one of its subordinate nodes other than a child node is the first device as its parent node.

15. The method of claim 13 or 14, further comprising:

in response to the disconnection, the device does not connect the same device as the disconnected counterpart for a predetermined time.

16. A method of operation of a WiFi device, comprising:

receiving a routing table reported by a child node, wherein the routing table comprises identifications and connection levels of all subordinate nodes of the child node;

in response to no parent node, establishing and maintaining a routing table of the whole subnet;

responding to no change of a routing table of the whole subnet in a preset time period, and sending a query request to each other node in the subnet so as to query the number of unknown nodes of each node; and

responding to the unknown nodes with the most unknown nodes, and connecting to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength in the unknown nodes.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

instructing a subordinate node to disconnect from its parent node in response to the subordinate node having the most unknown nodes.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

in response to receiving an indication to disconnect from a parent node, the parent node is disconnected and connected to the unsaturated node of the unknown node having the best signal strength.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

in response to a subordinate node having the most unknown nodes, disconnecting a child node routable to the subordinate node and connecting back as its child node to the child node routable to the subordinate node.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

in response to having a parent node and a change in the condition of the subordinate node, reporting its routing table to the parent node.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

in response to receiving a query request, determining the number of unknown nodes based on a routing table of the whole subnet, and reporting the number to a sender of the query request through a query response.

22. A WiFi device comprising operational circuitry configured to perform the method of any of claims 16-21.

23. A WiFi device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions,

wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 16-21.

Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail by way of example, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing examples are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. The various embodiments disclosed herein may be combined in any combination without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that various modifications might be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

step S11: in response to the presence of unsaturated nodes in the vicinity, each node connecting to its nearest unsaturated node of best signal strength to form at least one subnet among the plurality of WiFi nodes, wherein in response to connecting to its nearest unsaturated node of best signal strength and in response to a change in an inferior node, each node reports to its parent node the identity and connection level of all its inferior nodes such that the temporary central node of each subnet establishes and maintains a routing table for the entire subnet, the routing table for the entire subnet including the identity and connection level of each node within the subnet;

step S12: the temporary central node of each sub-network inquires the number of unknown nodes of all nodes in the sub-network, and determines the node with the most unknown nodes as a new temporary central node of the sub-network, wherein each node determines the number of the unknown nodes according to the routing table of the whole sub-network of the sub-network where the node is located;

step S13: the new temporary central node of each sub-network is disconnected from the parent node and connected to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength in the unknown nodes, so that the new temporary central node is connected to other sub-networks; and

2. The method of claim 1, wherein,

3. The method of claim 1, wherein,

4. A method of autonomously establishing a WiFi network by a plurality of WiFi devices configured as routing devices or terminal devices, in which there is no node with the highest level of connection hierarchy, comprising:

broadcasting the number of child nodes by the first device;

connecting, by the second device as a child node of the first device, to the first device in response to determining that the first device is an unsaturated node with the best signal strength in the vicinity of the second device;

responding to the third device in the subnet having the most unknown nodes, disconnecting the third device from the parent node thereof, and connecting to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength in the unknown nodes of the third device, wherein

Reporting, by the first device, to the first device, a routing table of the second device in response to the first device having a maximum number of unknown nodes, an unsaturated node of best signal strength among the unknown nodes connected to the first device by the first device, in response to the second device being connected to the first device, and in response to a change in a subordinate node of the second device, the routing table of the second device including an identification and a connection hierarchy of all subordinate nodes of the second device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

establishing and maintaining a routing table of the whole subnet by the first device according to the routing tables reported by all child nodes including the second device; and

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

checking, by the first and second devices, whether a closed loop connection occurs in response to the second device being connected to the first device; and

9. The method of claim 8, wherein responsive to the closed-loop connection being a child node of the second device of the first device being a parent node of the second device, actively disconnecting the connection between the first and second devices by a device of the first and second devices having a smaller MAC address.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the second device disconnects from all of its children nodes in response to the second device discovering that one of its subordinate nodes other than a child node is the first device as its parent node.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, further comprising:

12. A method of operation of a WiFi device, comprising:

responding to no father node, and establishing and maintaining a routing table of the whole sub-network as a temporary central node of the sub-network;

responding to no change of a routing table of the whole subnet in a preset time period, and sending a query request to each other node in the subnet so as to query the number of unknown nodes of each node;

instructing a subordinate node to disconnect from its parent node in response to the temporary central node being a subnet and one subordinate node having the most unknown nodes to determine the subordinate node as a new temporary central node of the subnet;

responding to the unknown nodes with the most unknown nodes, and connecting to the unsaturated node with the best signal strength in the unknown nodes; and

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

in response to a subordinate node having the largest number of unknown nodes, disconnecting a child node routable to the subordinate node and connecting back as its child node to the child node routable to the subordinate node.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising: