Patent ID: 8265100

Claim:
A method for start-up of a network, the network comprising a number of nodes, which are connected via channels, and wherein the nodes are able to exchange information in the form of messages via said channels, wherein the transition of a synchronizing node from its initial phase to a synchronized phase is separated in a so-called integration phase and a so-called cold-start phase, wherein the integration phase and the cold-start phase are executed in sequence in the same node, and wherein a) the synchronizing node in the integration phase is listening to messages being sent from nodes in the synchronized phase and wherein the synchronizing node reacts to an integration message (i-frame), which is instructing a node to change into the synchronized phase, only if said integration message is a valid message, and wherein b) said node in integration phase is capable of receiving a sequence of i-frames, and wherein c) a synchronizing node, in the case that integration of said synchronizing node to a set of already synchronized nodes was not successful after a specifiable period, changes into the cold-start phase, in which a cold-start procedure of the node is executed, and wherein d) in the cold-start phase said node does not react to integration messages (i-frames) of a node in the synchronized phase, and wherein e) in the cold-start phase said node is capable of triggering a transition back to the integration phase when an i-frame is received or after a number of unsuccessful coldstart attempts, and wherein f) in the cold-start phase said node is capable of counting the number of messages received per TDMA round.