Inventors:
Carl Ketcham - Taylorsville UT
Nathan Whitney - West Jordan UT
Allen Shupe - Sandy UT
Assignee:
3Com Corporation - Santa Clara CA
International Classification:
H04L 1226
US Classification:
370428, 370231, 370235, 370312, 370392, 370448, 709242, 709243
Abstract:
A plurality of wireless nodes in a network, such as elements of a residential or office home computer system, security system, HVAC or sprinkler system, or the like, communicate with each other over a radio frequency channel. A node generates a packet and transmits it to all the other nodes within range. All the receiving nodes in turn retransmit the packet to all the nodes within range of them. This process floods the network with packets, insuring that all of the nodes at the site receive the packet. The packet contains a de-looping code that is processed by all the nodes that receive the packet. The de-looping code insures that the packet is broadcast by any given node only once. Collisions resulting from multiple nodes simultaneously trying to gain access to the RF medium is avoided by implementing an exponential backoff algorithm, by which all the nodes wait for a random period of time before attempting transmission on the medium. The nodes may communicate with higher level logical domains by virtue of selected nodes functioning as bridges to higher domains. The higher level domains can include neighborhood, regional, or global networks, including global IP-based cabled networks.