Patent ID: 8995361
Filing Date: 2015-03-31
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: communicating, between nodes of a network that include at least one different communication capability, one or more messages via a control channel, the at least one different communication capability being due to the nodes comprising different types of devices, different generations of devices, different versions of devices, and/or different models of devices, the one or more messages indicating a maximum data rate that is supported by at least one of the nodes, each of the nodes being associated with a utility meter; determining, based at least in part on the communicating the one or more messages, a particular data channel from multiple data channels, the control channel and the multiple data channels being channels of the network; determining a maximum common data rate that is supported by the nodes based at least in part on the one or more messages; switching to the particular data channel based at least in part on the determining the particular data channel; sending or receiving, by one of the nodes, data via the particular data channel at the maximum common data rate; and switching to the control channel upon completion of sending or receiving the data via the particular data channel.