Patent ID: 8885630

Claim:
A communications system, comprising: a plurality of nodes forming a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communications network; each node within the TDMA communications network comprising a controller and wireless communications device cooperating therewith to allow nodes to communicate to each other using respective time slots in a TDMA frame, wherein at least one node within the plurality of nodes transmits and receives a beacon positioned in time at the front of a frame that carries data regarding network configuration information about the nodes in the TDMA communications network, the configuration information comprising the number of nodes forming the TDMA communications network and the length of a time slot used by the nodes to communicate with each other within the TDMA communications network, and further comprising an external node external to said TDMA communications network that transmits a beacon to probe the TDMA communications network for the network configuration information from the at least one node indicative of the number of nodes forming the TDMA communications network and the length of a time slot used by the nodes to communicate with each other, wherein the external node receives data from the at least one node about the network configuration and changes its configuration to communicate in a length of time slot configured for the number of nodes forming the TDMA communications network.