Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
Method of and Devices for Supporting Selective Forwarding of Messages in a Network of Communicatively Coupled Communication Devices

Abstract:

A gateway device and a configuration client for supporting selective forwarding of messages published to a group address or a virtual address in a wireless mesh network of communicatively coupled communication devices, such as a Bluetooth Mesh system. The configuration client maintains a mapping between unicast addresses of communication devices and group and virtual addresses in the network. The gateway device receives, from the configuration client, unicast addresses of those communication devices collectively identified by the group or virtual address in a received message. When the retrieved unicast addresses are all serviced by the gateway device, the message is transmitted by the gateway device on all interfaces corresponding to the communication devices addressed by the retrieved unicast addresses. When the retrieved unicast addresses are not all serviced by the gateway device, the message is transmitted by the gateway device on all except one of the interfaces.