Patent ID: 8553519

Claim:
A method of coordination of physical medium access among neighboring domains of network nodes, the method comprising: determining, by a first domain master of a first network domain, a first number of network nodes of the first network domain that interfere with data transmission on the physical medium by at least one network node of at least one other network domain, or a second number of network nodes of the at least one other network domain that interfere with data transmission on the physical medium by at least one network node of the first network domain; and scheduling, by the first domain master, each of one or more network nodes of the first network domain that interfere with or experience interference in data transmission on the physical medium by at least one network node of the at least one other network domain to transmit data during one or more of a plurality of non-overlapping time slots of a Media Access Control (MAC) cycle while allowing one or more other network nodes of the first network domain that do not interfere with or experience interference in data transmission on the physical medium by at least one network node of the at least one other network domain to transmit data anytime during the MAC cycle, each of the plurality of non-overlapping time slots allocated to a respective one of the first and the at least one other network domains.