Patent ID: 8750305

Claim:
A method for relaying frames in a network, comprising: broadcasting a timed frame, by the relaying node, during a first scheduled uplink allocation interval, wherein the timed frame provides a shared polled allocation interval within the scheduled uplink allocation interval, wherein the second encapsulating frame is transmitted to the target hub during a second scheduled uplink allocation; sending a first encapsulating frame by a relayed node in the shared polled allocation using a first contention probability (P 1 =½); monitoring for an acknowledgement to the first encapsulating frame from the relaying node; if the acknowledgement is not received, then broadcasting the first encapsulating frame for a number of retries using a second contention probability (P 2 =max(⅛, (½)/┌(R+1)/2┐) until the acknowledgement is received, where R counts a number of retries of the first encapsulating frame, and the function ┌x┐ is defined to be a least integer not smaller than x; receiving the first encapsulating frame at a relaying node from the relayed node, the first encapsulating frame having a payload comprising an encapsulated frame; generating a second encapsulating frame at the relaying node, the second encapsulating frame having a payload comprising the encapsulated frame; and transmitting the second encapsulating frame to a target hub.