Method and apparatus for layer 2 discovery in a managed shared network
View Patent ↗According to various embodiments of the disclosed method and apparatus, a node on a network submits to a network controller a request for discovery of information regarding communication capabilities of other network nodes. The network controller sends a request for node communication capabilities to the other nodes in the network; receives responses from the other nodes that include information regarding communication capabilities of each respective node; and send the received information regarding communication capabilities of the nodes to a plurality of nodes in the network.
1. A method for determining node communication capabilities in a MoCA network having a network controller node and associated network nodes, the method comprising;
a) the network controller node receiving a submission requesting a discovery of communication capabilities of a first plurality of nodes in the network from a first node, wherein the submission is transmitted while the first node is entering the network;
b) in response to the submission, the network controller node sending a request for the discovery of the communication capabilities to the first plurality of nodes in the network;
c) the network controller node receiving responses from the first plurality of nodes, wherein each response comprises respective communication capabilities of the responding node of the first plurality of nodes; and
d) the network controller node sending the communication capabilities of the first plurality of nodes to a second plurality of nodes in the network.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the submission received in operation a) identifies nodes that comprise the first plurality of nodes.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication capabilities for a given node comprise at least one of:
a) a Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) specification version supported by the node:
b) whether the node supports Layer 2 Management Entity (L2ME);
c) the aggregation capability of the node;
d) whether the node supports 16-node;
e) whether the node supports a preferred network controller node;
f) receive capabilities of the node;
g) transmit capabilities of the node;
h) node personality;
i) the node's host interface; and
j) whether the node supports channel bonding.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the receive and the transmit capabilities comprise whether the node supports TSpec.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request in operation b) is broadcast by the network controller node to all nodes in the MoCA network.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the submission received by the network controller node comprises information specifying nodes that make up the first plurality of nodes.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the submission received by the network controller node comprises information specifying which communication capabilities to include in the request for the discovery of the communication capabilities.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein operation d) comprises the network controller node broadcasting the communication capabilities of the first plurality of nodes to all of the nodes in the MoCA network.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network controller node discovers communication capabilities of all nodes, in the MoCA network, stores the communication capabilities of all nodes, and sends the communication capabilities of all nodes to a second node that requests the communication capabilities of all nodes,
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network controller node discovers capabilities of all nodes in the MoCA network, stores the communication capabilities of all nodes, and sends the communication capabilities of all nodes to a new node in the MoCA network.
11. The method of claim 1 , Wherein the network controller node discovers capabilities of all nodes in the MoCA network, stores the communication capabilities of all nodes, and sends the communication capabilities of all nodes to a higher-layer network management system.
12. A system, comprising:
a first node on a communications network, the first node comprising a first processor and a first computer executable program code embodied on a first computer usable medium, the first computer executable program code configured to transmit a submission to a network control node while the first node is entering the communications network, the submission requesting a discovery of communication capabilities of a first plurality of nodes in the communications network; and
the network control node on the communications network, the network control node comprising a second processor and it second computer executable program code embodied on a second computer usable medium, the second executable program code configured to, in response to the submission, send a request for the discovery of the communication capabilities to the first plurality of nodes in the communications network, receive responses from the first plurality of nodes, wherein each response comprises respective communication capabilities of a corresponding node of the first plurality of nodes; and send the communication capabilities of the first plurality of nodes to a second plurality of nodes in the communications network.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the submission by the first node identifies nodes that comprise the first plurality of nodes.
14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the communication capabilities for a given node comprise at least one of:
a) a Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) specification version supported by he node;
b) whether the node supports Layer 2 Management Entity (L2ME);
c) the aggregation capability of the node;
d) whether the node supports 16-node;
e) whether the node supports a preferred network control node;
f) receive capabilities of the node;
g) transmit capabilities of the node;
h) node personality;
i) the nodes host interface; and)
j) whether the node supports channel bonding.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein at least one of the receive and the transmit capabilities comprise whether the node supports TSpec.
16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the request is broadcast by the network control node to all nodes on the communications network.
17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the submission received by the network control node comprises information specifying nodes that make up the first plurality of nodes.
18. The system of claim 12 , wherein the submission received by the network control node comprise information specifying which communication capabilities to include in the request for the discovery of the communication capabilities.
19. The system of claim 12 , wherein the communication capabilities of the first plurality of nodes are broadcast to all of the nodes in the communications network.
20. The system of claim 12 , wherein the network control node sends the request for the discovery of the communication capabilities in response to the submission requesting discovery of information from the first node.
21. The system of claim 12 , wherein the network control node discovers communication capabilities of all nodes in the communications network, stores the communication capabilities of all nodes, and sends the communication capabilities of all nodes to a second node that requests the communication capabilities of all nodes.
22. The system of claim 12 , wherein the network control node discovers communication capabilities of all nodes in the communications network, stores the communication capabilities of all nodes, and sends the communication capabilities of all nodes to a new node in the communications network.
23. The system of claim 12 , wherein the network control node discovers communication capabilities of all nodes in the communications network, stores the communication capabilities of all nodes, and sends the communication capabilities of all nodes to a higher-layer network management system.