Patent ID: 7782831

Claim:
A method for dynamically implementing a TDMA management cycle for a wireless network, the method comprising: communicating between nodes in the wireless network using a time division multiple access structure, the time division multiple access structure including time divisions having time frames, each time frame having a plurality of time slots, the plurality of time slots including TDMA management slots; defining a node partition, the node partition including all of the nodes within the wireless network that are able to route messages to each other; defining a TDMA management cycle, the TDMA management cycle configured to include a TDMA management slot assigned to every node within the partition; storing, at each node, an assignment of the node to a TDMA management slot number; and dynamically adapting the size of the TDMA management cycle based on the number of active nodes in the partition, wherein the size of the TDMA management cycle is a multiple of a fixed base cycle, the fixed base cycle being more than 2 and the multiple being an integer, wherein the multiple is increased when a free TDMA management slot is not available for a new node and is decreased when a number of free TDMA management slots are greater than or equal to the fixed base cycle.