Patent ID: 8976835
Filing Date: 2015-03-10
Classification: H04B

Abstract:
1. A method of interference-triggered frequency hopping in a wireless communication system, comprising: providing in the wireless communication system a master in wireless communication with a plurality of slave nodes using different preselected communication frequencies to permit frequency hopping; selecting a current channel from among a plurality of channels in the wireless communication system in which the master and the plurality of the slave nodes simultaneously use the current channel to send and receive wireless communications after the master checks to ensure that all of the plurality of slave nodes are connected to the master, said checking comprising determining whether acknowledgements have been received from the plurality of slave nodes, wherein each of the plurality of channels use a different frequency from the preselected communication frequencies; maintaining wireless communications between the master and the plurality of the slave nodes in the current channel such that no frequency hopping occurs away from the current channel until interference is detected in the current channel; detecting interference in the current channel; selecting a new channel from the plurality of channels different from the current channel only in response to detecting the interference, wherein the selecting of the new channel is based on a seed randomly generated by the master using a characteristic unique to the master, wherein the seed is communicated by the master to the plurality of the slave nodes, and wherein the seed is used by the master and the plurality of the slave nodes as an input to a pre-determined frequency hopping algorithm to determine the new channel; and switching from the current channel to the new channel in response to detecting the interference, such that communications between the master and the plurality of slave nodes use the new channel after the master checks to ensure that all of the plurality of slave nodes are reconnected to the master.