Patent ID: 7768991

Claim:
A method for determining a state of a first node in a wireless network consisting of a plurality of nodes, the method comprising: determining one of at least two power sensitivity levels as a determined power sensitivity level by considering at least one of an available power and a standby packet; receiving a power level sensitivity level transmitted from at least one second node which corresponds to the first node; and determining whether the first node remains in an active state or an inactive state by considering the transmitted power sensitivity level and the determined power sensitivity level, wherein a lower one of the transmitted power sensitivity level and the determined power sensitivity level is a lower power sensitivity level, and wherein the power sensitivity level comprises one of four power sensitivity levels 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 , the four sensitivity levels increasing with power sensitivity level number, and if the lower power sensitivity level is 1 and a broadcast data or an asynchronous data is generated, the first node remains in the active state during a non-reserved time slot.