Patent ID: 8634329
Filing Date: 2014-01-21
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method in a wireless communication system for determining a network topology among a plurality of mobile nodes forming a cluster and having a common communication link to a base station, each mobile node having a unique identity, the method comprising: causing at least one of the mobile nodes to transmit a signal during a transmission slot, the at least one node thereby becoming a cluster head (CH); selecting, at mobile nodes other than the CH (hereafter “non-CH nodes”), one or more transmission intervals in a transmission frame; causing ones of the non-CH nodes to transmit a signal during the selected interval for given non-CH nodes; forming, by the CH, a first digest of transmitted signals received from non-CH nodes according to the transmission interval in which at least one signal is received; constructing a compact topology graph for the node cluster as a function of the digest, a node identity for the CH and the transmission slot in which the CH signal was transmitted.