Patent ID: 7830834

Claim:
A wireless communication network comprising: a network coordinator comprising a first number of channels and a second number of wireless transceivers; and a plurality of nodes, each of said nodes comprising status information, a corresponding second number of channels and a corresponding second number of wireless transceivers, wherein at least some of said nodes are structured to communicate with said network coordinator through multi-hop communication, wherein said nodes and said network coordinator are structured to communicate in a Carrier Sense Multiple Access mode, wherein said network coordinator is structured to command said nodes to exit said Carrier Sense Multiple Access mode and enter a Time Division Multiple Access mode. wherein each of said nodes is structured to communicate the status information thereof to or toward said network coordinator in a Time Division Multiple Access mode, wherein said Time Division Multiple Access mode has a plurality of time slots, wherein said network coordinator is structured to assign said time slots and said channels to said nodes in order to provide a plurality of collision-free schedules for said nodes in said Time Division Multiple Access mode, and wherein said network coordinator is further structured to send, for each of said nodes, a corresponding one of said collision-free schedules to or toward a corresponding one of said nodes, said corresponding one of said collision-free schedules including a corresponding number of said time slots and a corresponding number of said channels that the corresponding one of said nodes employs to communicate the status information thereof to or toward said network coordinator in said Time Division Multiple Access mode.