Patent ID: 8000307

Claim:
A communications method for use in a wireless network of devices, comprising: transmitting, from a first device, data in a first time slot to each of at least two receiving devices in the wireless network; and transmitting, from each of the receiving devices, either a first acknowledgement state in a second time slot after the first time slot, or a second acknowledgement state in a third time slot after the second time slot, wherein the first and second acknowledgement states are either a positive acknowledge and a negative acknowledge, respectively, or a negative acknowledge and a positive acknowledge, respectively, the second time slot is a slot for all devices in the wireless network for transmitting the first acknowledgement state, the third time slot is a slot for all devices in the wireless network for transmitting the second acknowledgement state, and each device in the wireless network monitors time slots during which they are not transmitting to determine an overall acknowledgement state of the wireless network.