Patent ID: 6885656

Claim:
An asynchronous interference avoiding method in a network comprising: a first step wherein a slave station, which can temporarily serve as a master station (a temporary master station), in the slave station interposition-type network receives a collision control downward packet from a first temporary master station, which temporarily serves as a master station, and judges whether or not a unique word for synchronization contained in the collision control downward packet is detected; a second step wherein, when the slave station could not have detected the unique word in the first step as a result of interference caused by the send of the collision control downward packet from the first temporary master station and a second temporary master station as another temporary master station in different timing, the slave station counts the number of times of unique word undetection; a third step wherein, when the number of times of receive of the collision control downward packet and the number of times of unique word undetection have exceeded or have become equal to respectively preset thresholds, the slave station judges, that asynchronous interference with the first temporary master station has taken place, stops an attempt to synchronize with the first temporary master station, temporarily functions as a third temporary master station, and performs send/receive in slot timing of the third temporary master station; a fourth step wherein the third temporary master station searches slots in all frequencies being used for a slot, which exceeds or is equal to a preset threshold and has the highest-receive field strength, and judges whether or not the slot meeting the requirements has been detected; a fifth step wherein, when the slot meeting the requirements has been detected in the fourth step, the third temporary master station judges that the slot is one in interference with the first temporary master station, followed by the send of an interference detection packet through a send slot corresponding to the detected slot in a continuous manner by the number of times which exceeds or is equal to a preset threshold; a sixth step wherein, when the interference detection packet from the third temporary master station has been sent in the same timing as the receive slot in the first temporary master station or the second temporary master station, the first temporary master station or the second temporary master station recognizes the receive of the interference detection packet and hops to a channel, which has been computed using random numbers, to avoid the interference of the collision control downward packet; and a seventh step wherein, when the first temporary master station has hopped to a new channel in the sixth step, the third temporary master station hops to a channel corresponding to the channel of the first temporary master station, is returned in its function to the slave station, and receives the collision control downward packet from the first temporary master station.