Communication protocol for a wireless mesh architecture

A method of communicating within a wireless mesh network having nodes comprising:

• establishing a plurality of time-slots in each time frame of a sequence of time frames;
• having a first node act as a PC by sending first polling information to a second node during a first time-slot in a first time frame;
• having said second node receive said first polling information in said first time-slot, wherein said second node compares said first polling information with second node database information to determine if a scheduling conflict exists;
• having said second node respond to said first node by sending first responsive information, wherein said first responsive information depends on whether a scheduling conflict exits;
• having said first node act as a PC by sending second polling information during a second time-slot in said first time frame to a third node, wherein said second time-slot overlaps with said first time-slot, and wherein said second polling information depends on said first responsive information;
• having said second node act as a PC by sending first polling information to said first node during a first time-slot in a second time frame, wherein said first time-slot in said second time frame depends on said first responsive information;
• and
• having said third node act as a PC by sending first polling information to said first node during a first time-slot in a third time frame.

A method of communicating within a wireless mesh network having nodes comprising:

• establishing a plurality of time-slots in a plurality of subframes in a sequence of time frames;
• establishing a first node as a PC;
• having said first node poll a second node for information at a predetermined first time within a first subframe;
• having said second node send said first node information during a first set of time-slots in said first subframe;
• having said first node poll a third node for information at a predetermined second time within said first subframe;
• establishing said second node as a PC during a second subframe;
• having said second node poll said first node for information at a predetermined first time within said second subframe;
• having said first node send said second node information during a first set of time-slots in said second subframe;
• and
• having said second node poll said third node for information at a predetermined second time within said second subframe;
• wherein polling said second node includes sending database information that determines a number of time-slots in said first set of time-slots in said second subframe.

A method of communicating within a wireless mesh network having a plurality of nodes comprising:

• establishing a plurality of time-slots;
• establishing a PC;
• determining the neighboring nodes of said PC;
• scheduling a first polling signal for a first neighboring node at a predetermined first time within a first time frame;
• scheduling a second polling signal for a second neighboring node at a predetermined second time within said first time frame
• having said first neighboring node look for a start of said scheduled first polling signal at said predetermined first time;
• having said first neighboring node send information to said PC if said start of said scheduled first polling signal is found;
• and
• having said second neighboring node look for a start of said scheduled first polling signal at said predetermined second time.