The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 20, 2010
Filed:
Feb. 03, 2005
Walter Barnum, Salt Lake City, UT (US);
Walter Barnum, Salt Lake City, UT (US);
Control4 Corporation, Draper, UT (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for device discovery and channel selection in a wireless networking environment are described. As part of an automatic network configuration process, a super node sequentially traverses the available channels, broadcasting discovery messages including the channel switching schedule. Wireless nodes that receive those broadcast messages switch channels in lock step with the super node, sending discovery replies on those channels over which the broadcast discovery messages are successfully received. An association is generated identifying accessible nodes and the channels through which those nodes may be accessed. An optimum channel may then be selected based on this association information. Sub-nodes may repeat the broadcast discovery messages, and relay any discovery replies to the super node. The super node may then identify sub-nodes that may be used as proxies to access nodes that would otherwise be inaccessible.