Protocol for neighborhood-established transmission scheduling

Abstract

Scheduling packets are exchanged among neighboring nodes of a computer network. These scheduling packets include descriptions of a transmitting node's 2-hop neighborhood within the computer network, and nodes are able to determine transmission schedules from information received via said scheduling packets. Preferably, the computer network is a synchronized network in which time is dived into a number of frames, each of which are made up of a plurality of slots. In such cases, the exchange of scheduling packets should occur within a first number of the slots of each frame, preferably in a common communication channel. Transmission schedules may be determined, at least in part, because nodes advertise their availability using the scheduling packets. The above-mentioned descriptions may include an identification of received communication times and/or channels, an identification of requested communication times and/or channels and an identification of available communication times and/or channels. The requested communication times and/or channels should correspond to available times and/or channels advertised by one or more nodes of the computer network. In this scheme, the identification of reserved communication times and/or channels should be made after eliminating any conflicting scheduled transmissions for those communication times and/or channels.