Patent ID: 8488615
Filing Date: 2013-07-16
Classification: H04B,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for communicating among stations in a network, the method comprising: receiving, at a first station in the network from remaining respective stations in the network, information indicating which other stations from which that respective station is capable of reliably receiving transmissions; determining, at the first station, a schedule for communicating among the stations based on the information from the remaining respective stations and transmitting the schedule over the network; and assigning the stations to contention groups based on respective station levels, wherein at least one contention group includes stations from two different, consecutive levels; wherein, in the at least one contention group, the first station is at a first level, wherein each other station is at one level higher than the lowest level of stations from which it is capable of reliably receiving transmissions; wherein the schedule includes a plurality of time slots, wherein respective contention groups are each assigned to one of the plurality of time slots, wherein stations in the same contention group contend with each other to communicate over the network using a contention-based protocol.