Patent ID: 8149816

Claim:
A header compression and packet transmission method in a sensor network, the method comprising: transmitting an inquiry message to a sensor node in the sensor network inquiring whether the sensor node supports an adaptation layer function to perform compression of an Internet Protocol (IP) header, wherein the transmitting of the inquiry message comprises: determining a value from among reserved values in a command type field of an IEEE 802.15.4 MAC (Media Access Control) frame designated as an adaptation layer capability request type, and setting the value corresponding to the adaptation layer capability request type in a command type field of an IEEE 802.15.4 MAC frame comprised in the inquiry message; receiving a reply message transmitted from the sensor node using a function of a lower layer used by the sensor node; analyzing the reply message and determining whether the sensor node supports the adaptation layer function to perform compression of an IP header, according to the analyzed reply message; compressing an IP header and transmitting a packet with the compressed IP header to the sensor node when it is determined that the sensor node supports the adaptation layer function to perform compression of an IP header; and transmitting a packet to the sensor node without compressing the IP header when it is determined that the sensor node does not support the adaptation layer function, wherein if the sensor node does not support the adaptation layer function, the transmitting the packet to the sensor node comprises fragmenting the packet into a plurality of packets and then transmitting the plurality of packets to the sensor node without compressing the IP header.