Patent ID: 8130731

Claim:
A method for transmission of data comprising: a transmitting node sending a request message to a plurality of receiving nodes, the request message specifying at least one specified time slot that is available for the transmitting node to transmit a data transmission; a first receiving node of the plurality of receiving nodes transmitting a first time-slot grant message in response to the request message, the first time-slot grant message indicating at least one first time slot that is available for the first receiving node to receive a data transmission from the transmitting node, the at least one first time slot matching at least one time slot specified in the request message; a second receiving node of the plurality of receiving nodes receiving the first time-slot grant message and evaluating the first time-slot grant message to determine if the at least one first time slot is available for the second receiving node to receive the data transmission from the transmitting node; the second receiving node transmitting a second time-slot grant message in response to the request message and based on the evaluating of the first time-slot grant message, the second time-slot grant message indicating at least one second time slot that is available for the second receiving node to receive the data transmission from the transmitting node, the at least one second time slot matching at least one time slot specified in the request message; the transmitting node receiving the first and second time-slot grant messages and evaluating the first and second time-slot grant messages to determine at least one available time slot for transmitting the data transmission; the transmitting node transmitting a confirmation message to the first and second receiving nodes in response to the first and second received time-slot grant messages, the confirmation message confirming the at least one available time slot that is to be used for transmitting the data transmission from the transmitting node; the transmitting node transmitting the data transmission in the at least one available time slot; and wherein the request message comprises a demand level and a demand persistence.