Systems and methods for managing the routing and replication of data in the upload direction in a network of moving things

1. A method of managing routing and replication of data at a first node of a network comprising a plurality of nodes, the method comprising:

establishing wireless communication with one or more other nodes of the plurality of nodes currently within direct wireless communication range of the first node;

gathering context information of the first node and of the one or more other nodes via one or more wireless communication links, wherein the context information comprises:

characteristics representative of node physical location and movement,

characteristics representative of node wireless communication link performance, and

characteristics representative of identity of node resident data, and

wherein the gathering produces a collection of context information at the first node;

determining whether a data bundle is available for processing by the first node, wherein the data bundle comprises one or more packets of digital information and a bundle header, sent as a unit between a sending node and a receiving node of the plurality of nodes;

if a data bundle is available for processing by the first node, choosing to perform one action of the following actions supported by the first node, with the data bundle, based on the context information and a set of rules for the first node for a direction of communication of the data bundle:

transmitting the data bundle from the first node towards a second node of the plurality of nodes using each of a number of wireless communication links of the first node to communicate the data bundle to the second node,

storing the data bundle at the first node, and

dropping the data bundle from memory of the first node; and

wherein the set of rules for the first node for a direction of communication of the data bundle is selected from two or more sets of rules comprising a set of rules for a first direction through the network and a set of rules for a second direction through the network, and wherein the first direction is towards a Cloud-based system and the second direction is away from the Cloud-based system.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first node is located in a vehicle movable about a service area of the network.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first node comprises a mobile access point configured to wirelessly communicate with end-user devices accessing the network.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nodes comprises one or more fixed nodes that are located at respective fixed geographic locations known to the respective nodes, and one or more mobile nodes that are located within a service area of the network at respective current geographic locations known to the respective nodes, and wherein each geographic location comprises a latitude and a longitude.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining whether a data bundle is available comprises one or more of:

determining that a data bundle is available and assembling the data bundle using data originating at the first node, if data originating at the first node is available for transmission by the first node;

determining that a data bundle is available and providing the data bundle from storage of the first node, if one or more data bundles are available in storage at the first node for transmission by the first node; and

determining that a data bundle is not available, otherwise.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein assembling the data bundle using data originating at the first node comprises:

forming the data bundle using data representative of signals from one or more sensors operatively coupled to the first node.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein transmitting the data bundle from the first node towards a second node of the plurality of nodes using each of the number of communication links comprises determining that the number of communication links is two or more, based on context information indicative of quality of communication of the first node with neighbor nodes of the plurality of nodes.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein transmitting the data bundle from the first node comprises replicating the data bundle to result in the number of copies of the data bundle for transmission by the first node using respective communication links.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of code sections, each code section storing a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform a method of managing routing and replication of data at a first node of a network comprising a plurality of nodes, the steps of the method comprising:

establishing wireless communication with one or more other nodes of the plurality of nodes currently within direct wireless communication range of the first node;

gathering context information of the first node and of the one or more other nodes via one or more wireless communication links, wherein the context information comprises:

characteristics representative of node physical location and movement,

characteristics representative of node wireless communication link performance, and

characteristics representative of identity of node resident data, and

wherein the gathering produces a collection of context information at the first node;

determining whether a data bundle is available for processing by the first node, wherein the data bundle comprises one or more packets of digital information and a bundle header, sent as a unit between a sending node and a receiving node of the plurality of nodes;

if a data bundle is available for processing by the first node, choosing to perform one action of the following actions supported by the first node, with the data bundle, based on the context information and a set of rules for the first node for a direction of communication of the data bundle:

transmitting the data bundle from the first node towards a second node of the plurality of nodes using each of a number of wireless communication links of the first node to communicate the data bundle to the second node,

storing the data bundle at the first node, and

dropping the data bundle from memory of the first node; and

wherein the set of rules for the first node for a direction of communication of the data bundle is selected from two or more sets of rules comprising a set of rules for a first direction through the network and a set of rules for a second direction through the network, and wherein the first direction is towards a Cloud-based system and the second direction is away from the Cloud-based system.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 9 , wherein the first node is located in a vehicle movable about a service area of the network.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 9 , wherein the first node comprises a mobile access point configured to wirelessly communicate with end-user devices accessing the network.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 9 , wherein the plurality of nodes comprises one or more fixed nodes that are located at fixed geographic locations known to the respective nodes, and one or more mobile nodes that are located within a service area of the network at respective current geographic locations known to the respective nodes, and wherein each geographic location comprises a latitude and a longitude.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 9 , wherein determining whether a data bundle is available comprises one or more of:

determining that a data bundle is available and assembling the data bundle using data originating at the first node, if data originating at the first node is available for transmission by the first node;

determining that a data bundle is available and providing the data bundle from storage of the first node, if one or more data bundles are available in storage at the first node for transmission by the first node; and

determining that a data bundle is not available, otherwise.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 13 , wherein assembling the data bundle using data originating at the first node comprises:

forming the data bundle using data representative of signals from one or more sensors operatively coupled to the first node.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 9 , wherein transmitting the data bundle from the first node towards a second node of the plurality of nodes using each of the number of communication links comprises determining that the number of communication links is two or more, based on context information indicative of quality of communication of the first node with neighbor nodes of the plurality of nodes.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 15 , wherein transmitting the data bundle from the first node comprises replicating the data bundle to result in the number of copies of the data bundle for transmission by the first node using respective communication links.

17. A system for managing routing and replication of data at a first node of a network comprising a plurality of nodes, the system comprising:

one or more processors operatively coupled to at least one wireless interface for communicatively coupling the first node to other nodes of the network, the one or more processors operable to, at least:

establish wireless communication with one or more other nodes of the plurality of nodes currently within direct wireless communication range of the first node;

gather context information of the first node and of the one or more other nodes via one or more wireless communication links, wherein the context information comprises:

characteristics representative of node physical location and movement,

characteristics representative of node wireless communication link performance, and

characteristics representative of identity of node resident data, and

wherein the gathering produces a collection of context information at the first node;

determine whether a data bundle is available for processing by the first node, wherein the data bundle comprises one or more packets of digital information and a bundle header, sent as a unit between a sending node and a receiving node of the plurality of nodes;

if a data bundle is available for processing by the first node, choose to perform one action of the following actions supported by the first node, with the data bundle, based on the context information and a set of rules for the first node for a direction of communication of the data bundle:

transmit the data bundle from the first node towards a second node of the plurality of nodes using each of a number of wireless communication links of the first node to communicate the data bundle to the second node,

store the data bundle at the first node, and

drop the data bundle from memory of the first node; and

wherein the set of rules for the first node for a direction of communication of the data bundle is selected from two or more sets of rules comprising a set of rules for a first direction through the network and a set of rules for a second direction through the network, and wherein the first direction is towards a Cloud-based system and the second direction is away from the Cloud-based system.

18. The system according to claim 17 , wherein the first node is located in a vehicle movable about a service area of the network.

19. The system according to claim 17 , wherein the first node comprises a mobile access point configured to wirelessly communicate with end-user devices accessing the network.

20. The system according to claim 17 , wherein the plurality of nodes comprises one or more fixed nodes that are located at respective fixed geographic locations known to the respective nodes, and one or more mobile nodes that are located within a service area of the network at respective current geographic locations known to the respective nodes, and wherein each geographic location comprises a latitude and a longitude.

21. The system according to claim 17 , wherein determining whether a data bundle is available comprises one or more of:

determining that a data bundle is available and assembling the data bundle using data originating at the first node, if data originating at the first node is available for transmission by the first node;

determining that a data bundle is available and providing the data bundle from storage of the first node, if one or more data bundles are available in storage at the first node for transmission by the first node; and

determining that a data bundle is not available, otherwise.

22. The system according to claim 21 , wherein assembling the data bundle using data originating at the first node comprises:

forming the data bundle using data representative of signals from one or more sensors operatively coupled to the first node.

23. The system according to claim 17 , wherein transmitting the data bundle from the first node towards a second node of the plurality of nodes using each of the number of communication links comprises determining that the number of communication links is two or more, based on context information indicative of quality of communication of the first node with neighbor nodes of the plurality of nodes.

24. The system according to claim 23 , wherein transmitting the data bundle from the first node comprises replicating the data bundle to result in the number of copies of the data bundle for transmission by the first node using respective communication links.