Patent ID: 9655139
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: H04W

Claim:
1. A method for a distributed beaconing period protocol for a device in an ad hoc network of devices, the method comprising: dividing a medium access time into a sequence of at least one contiguous superframe beginning at a Beacon Period Start Time; partitioning the superframe into a slotted Beaconing Period (BP), having a plurality of contiguous beacon slots, followed by a data transfer period; associating with at least one of an existing ad hoc network BP or creating a new ad hoc network BP as the BP of the device, wherein the device stores an occupancy of the beacon slots and its own beacon slot number of the Beaconing Period, wherein when the BP of the device is not protected in at least one neighboring BP, protecting the BP by including a first reservation for the BP in the beacon of the device in the at least one neighboring BP, and when the BP of the device is protected, operating normally by receiving beacons over the medium; and when a beacon comprising a Distributed Reservation Protocol (DRP) reservation of type BP is received, scanning for a new BP, and when a new BP is detected, protecting the new BP.