Payment reconciliation in mixed-ownership low-power mesh networks
View Patent ↗Systems and methods that enable scalable, cost-effective payment reconciliation between owners of devices at least temporarily connected in or to a particular low-power, ad hoc mesh network.
1. A method for enabling payment reconciliation in a mixed-ownership low-power mesh network, comprising:
monitoring packet traffic routed by a particular node of the mesh network;
identifying an originator node address and a number of units of data for each particular packet of the packet traffic; and
sending, in response to a trigger, data to another particular node of the mesh network that represents a total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address, wherein sending data to the another particular node comprises:
aggregating data for a plurality of particular originating nodes for which the particular node served as a router, determining based on a corresponding node address an ownership entity of each one of the plurality of particular originating nodes, deleting or ignoring the portion of aggregated data for ones of the plurality of particular originating nodes owned by a same entity as the another particular node, and sending the remaining portion of aggregated data to a reconciliation server via the another particular node.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying ownership for each originator node address;
summing the number of units of data for each originator node address with shared ownership; and
sending the summed number of units of data to the another particular node with an identifier of ownership.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
compressing the data that represents the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address prior to sending.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
encrypting and authenticating the data that represents the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address prior to sending.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
nullifying data that represents the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for at least one particular originator node address prior to sending other data to the another particular node.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining ownership of the another particular node; and
sending the data that represents the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address when a fee for routing data by the another particular node is determined to be zero.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving notification from the another particular node confirming receipt of the data that represents the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
continuing monitoring packet traffic routed by the particular node of the mesh network during the sending; and
identifying originator node address and number of units of data for each particular packet of the packet traffic during the sending.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting the trigger and sending the data to the another particular node.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
modifying an existing data structure maintained by the particular node to include the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
modifying an existing data structure maintained by the particular node to include a particular originator node address and a total number of units of data routed by the particular node for particular originator node address.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending the data to the another particular node that represents the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address in response to a periodic trigger instantiated by the particular node.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending the data to the another particular node that represents the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address in response to a trigger instantiated by the particular node based on a particular resource condition of the particular node.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending the data to the another particular node that represents the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address in response to a particular command received by the particular node from a different node connected to the mesh network.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending the data to the another particular node that represents the total number of units of data routed by the particular node for each originator node address in addition to data that represents a unique identifier for each originator node address.