Patent ID: 8275313

Claim:
A method for a distributed wireless network including a plurality of sensor nodes, each of the plurality of sensor nodes comprising a radio, the method comprising: providing a listen time for each sensor node, wherein, during the listen time, the radio of the corresponding sensor node is activated and able to receive wireless signals and wherein, during a time other than the listen time, the radio is deactivated and unable to receive wireless signals; transmitting, by a first sensor node, to a second sensor node a first message, the first message comprising a time offset from a transmission time of the message, the time offset indicating a timing of a first listen time for the first sensor node; and in response, scheduling, by the second sensor node, a time to transmit a second message to the first sensor node, the transmit time being based on the time offset, and wherein the first node receives a third message from a third node, wherein a final destination of the third message is a fourth sensor node, wherein the third message comprises a source identifier for a prior hop, the prior hop source identifier being the third node, a target identifier for the prior hop, the prior hop target identifier being the first node, a source identifier for the third message, the source identifier being a fifth node, a target identifier for the third message, the target identifier being the fourth node, a listen time associated with the third node, and further comprising: selecting, by the first node, the second node as a next hop destination for the payload of the third message, the first node being a child of the second node; changing, by the first node, the hop source identifier to the second node, the hop target identifier to the second node, while leaving the final destination and third message source identifier the same to form a revised third message; and transmitting the revised third message to the second node.