Patent ID: 7796555

Claim:
A method of performing handover at a coordinator in a wireless network in which a high rate physical channel and a low rate physical channel are used for communication, the wireless network including at least one device, the method comprising: receiving information associated with a priority of a device from the device when the device joins the wireless network; transmitting a handover request message to the device if the priority of the device is higher than a priority of the coordinator based on the information received from the device; receiving a response to the handover request message from the device; broadcasting a first beacon on the low rate physical channel, the first beacon including identification information indicating that the device will be a new coordinator of the wireless network and number information indicating a number of beacons that the coordinator will broadcast before the handover occurs; and broadcasting one or more beacons, corresponding to the number indicated by the number information, on the low rate physical channel, each of the one or more beacons including updated number information indicating a number of remaining beacons that the coordinator will send before the handover occurs, wherein the updated number information included in a last beacon among the one or more beacons is set to “0.”