Patent ID: 7801082

Claim:
A method of performing communications in a wireless network in which a high rate physical channel and a low rate physical channel are used for communication, the wireless network including a coordinator and at least one device, the method comprising: selecting, at the coordinator, a device having a highest priority among the at least one device to be a substitute coordinator which will act as a next coordinator of the wireless network when the coordinator leaves the wireless network without handover; broadcasting a beacon comprising information indicating that the device is selected as the next coordinator from the coordinator to the at least one device; transmitting a handover request message comprising information about the at least one device which constitutes the wireless network from the coordinator to the next coordinator; and receiving a handover response message in response to the handover request message by the coordinator from the next coordinator, the handover response message comprising a reason code field set to “success,” wherein the next coordinator transmits a confirmation request command to the coordinator if the next coordinator fails to receive a beacon within a time interval during which the beacon is to be received, and wherein the next coordinator broadcasts a beacon through the low rate physical channel as a new coordinator of the wireless network after the next coordinator realizes that an acknowledgement is not received in response to the confirmation request command.