NETWORK CHANNEL ACCESS PROTOCOL-INTERFERENCE AND LOADING ADAPTION

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a distributed, locally determined, channel access protocol that provides a network channel access protocol, adapts to load, avoids interference, and controls access by a group of nodes to a set of shared channels. SOLUTION: Shared channel space is divided into a number of communication slots that are repeated at a predetermined interval. Permission to use a slot to communicate between any two nodes is dynamically adjusted by the channel access protocol, which locally: (i) estimates load to neighboring nodes; (ii) allocates or deallocates slot usage to adapt to load and avoid interference; and (iii) asserts and advertises slot usage within an interference area about itself. COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT