Patent ID: 7053770

Claim:
A method for a plurality of satellite nodes coupled to a sensing device or an actuator and logically dispersed around an access node to wirelessly communicate alarm conditions, comprising the steps of: accessing an alarm condition detected at a first satellite node; preparing an alarm message for communication to the access node that includes an alarm code corresponding to the alarm condition and an address indication for the first satellite node; receiving one or more alarm messages from one or more satellite nodes logically further from the access node than the first satellite node, wherein alarm codes contained in the one or more received alarm messages are filtered and compared to the alarm code of the prepared alarm message for the first satellite node; including with the prepared alarm message for the first satellite node a sender address for each received alarm message containing an alarm code that matches the alarm code of the prepared alarm message for the first satellite node; and transmitting the prepared alarm message from the first satellite node containing the one or more sender addresses to the access node.