Patent ID: 7636343

Claim:
A wireless ad-hoc communication system for transmitting and receiving beacons between a plurality of communication terminals to synchronize the communication terminals, comprising: a first network to which first subset of a plurality of communication terminals belong; a second network to which second subset of a plurality of communication terminals belong; and one or more synchronizing terminals capable of transmitting a beacon to the communication terminals and receiving a beacon from the communication terminals, wherein at least one of the communication terminals belonging to the first network and at least one of the communication terminals belonging to the second network exist within a reachable range of the beacons from one of the one or more synchronizing terminals to construct one synchronized network with the first network, the second network, and the synchronizing terminals, wherein the beacons include information about a priority, and the communication terminals compare the information about the priority in received beacons to construct the synchronized network based on a beacon of a highest priority, and wherein if the communication terminal receives a new beacon not synchronous with the synchronized network to which the communication terminal belongs, then the communication terminal compares a priority assigned to the new beacon with a priority assigned to the beacon from a terminal in the synchronized network to which the communication terminal belongs, and if the communication terminal determines that the priority assigned to the new beacon is higher, then the communication terminal is synchronized to a synchronized network as a sender of the new beacon.