Patent ID: 7796536

Claim:
A method to dynamically reconfigure a network, the method comprising: receiving a data packet for transmission from a node in the network at a media access control layer of the node, wherein the media access control layer is enabled for time division multiple access; determining a slot assignment for the data packet based on an application required quality of service, wherein the application required quality of service is determined based on at least one of a number of slots required by the data packet, an application-specified data rate, an application-specified delay requirement and an application-specified number of reserved retries, and application-associated priority values for the data packet; receiving a data packet at a current data rate from another node in the network; determining if a transmitter of the received data packet is transmitting at maximum power; determining if received signal power is lower than a reliable-detection-power threshold; and transmitting a packet error to the transmitter of the received data packet based on positive determinations.