Patent ID: 9743370
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04W,Y02D

Claim:
1. In a wireless linear network comprising a first node, a plurality of second nodes proximate the first node and a plurality of additional nodes, all arranged along a branch, wherein each node has a node identifier and the node identifiers monotonically vary along the branch, from one end of the branch to the other end of the branch, a method for routing a plurality of packets from the first node via one of the second nodes, the plurality of packets comprising an initial packet and at least one subsequent packet, the method comprising: the first node wirelessly sequentially broadcasting each packet of the plurality of packets, wherein each packet is broadcast exactly once and each packet contains: each second node wirelessly receiving at least one packet of the plurality of packets directly from the first node and, in response, wirelessly transmitting an acknowledgement message to the first node, the acknowledgement message containing the node identifier of the second node and identifying which at least one packet was received by the second node, the plurality of second nodes thereby collectively transmitting a plurality of transmitted acknowledgement messages; the first node receiving at least one acknowledgement message of the plurality of transmitted acknowledgement messages; if, according to the at least one acknowledgement message received by the first node, at least one second node received all packets of the plurality of packets: otherwise, within a predetermined number of make-up attempts: