Patent ID: 7639663

Claim:
A wireless mobile communication unit to transmit and receive information within a wireless communications network including a plurality of hops, wherein said information includes deterministic data with a periodic occurrence and non-deterministic data with a random frequency of occurrence, said wireless mobile communication unit comprising: a transmitter to transmit outgoing information to at least one other wireless mobile communication unit within the network; a receiver to receive incoming information from at least one other wireless mobile communication unit within the network; and a processor to control the transmission and reception of the outgoing and incoming information within said wireless mobile communication unit, wherein said processor includes: a circuit interface module to facilitate transfer of said deterministic data over at least one communication circuit established within said network for transferring said deterministic data by a wireless mobile communication unit of said network serving as a controller unit, wherein each communication circuit is associated with a corresponding destination communication unit, wherein said at least one communication circuit employs a time division multiplexing scheme including one or more time slots allocated to transfer said deterministic data to said associated destination unit, and wherein at least one said communication circuit spans across at least two said hops of said network and transfers said deterministic data through at least one intermediate wireless mobile communication unit to said corresponding destination unit; a transfer module to transfer said non-deterministic data with other communication units via a communication scheme other than said at least one communication circuit with said time division multiplexing scheme utilized for said deterministic data; and a controller module to establish said at least one communication circuit between communication units to transfer said deterministic data and to manage resources and allocate said time slots for each said communication circuit within said wireless network in response to said wireless mobile communication unit being designated as said controller unit, wherein said time slots for transmission of said deterministic data are allocated to at least two wireless mobile communication units in communication range of each other and within adjacent hops of said network.