Patent ID: 7783329

Claim:
A method of controlling a sleep mode to save power in a wireless mesh network, the method comprising: determining individual transmission opportunities (TXOPs); detecting individual TXOPs within a service interval (SI) among the determined individual TXOPs; setting a virtual TXOP (vTXOP) starting from a start point of the SI and ending at the end of the last of the detected individual TXOPs; and determining whether to enter into a sleep mode by comparing the vTXOP with an SI-based value, so as to enter into the sleep mode between the individual TXOPs based on the comparison, wherein the determining whether to enter into the sleep mode comprises determining not to enter into a sleep mode if the vTXOP is equal to or longer than SI/2, and determining to enter into the sleep mode if the vTXOP is shorter than the SI/2 and the SI is equal to or longer than (beacon interval)/4.