Patent ID: 9439128
Filing Date: 2016-09-06
CPC Classification: H04L,H04W

Claim Text:
1. A node device within a network that includes a plurality of node devices, the node device comprising: a receiver configured to receive a packet from an adjacent node device; a processor configured to: a transmitter configured to broadcast the first hello packet, wherein upon receipt of, from a free-node device that does not belong to a cluster, a second hello packet that includes information that associates the cluster identification information with device identification information of the free-node device, the processor adds the device identification information of the free-node device to the cluster list until a number of node devices recorded in the cluster list reaches a threshold, when the number of node devices recorded in the cluster list reaches the threshold, the processor generates a third hello packet that includes a generation request that makes a request to generate another cluster that is different from the cluster, so as to cause a free-node device that has recognized the generation request to start generating the another cluster and to specify a node device included in the another cluster.