# US 8,787,389 B2 · Low power media access control protocol > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,787,389 B2 - Document ID: US8787389B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 12/227,253 - Filed: 2007-05-11 - Published: 2009-12-31 - Granted: 2014-07-22 - Earliest claimed: 2006-05-12 - Assignees: The University Court of the University of Edinburgh - Applicants: Damal K. Arvind; Kai Juan Wong - Inventors: Damal K. Arvind; Kai Juan Wong - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8787389B2 ## CPC - H04L 1/08: by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system {(H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence)} - H04L 1/0083: {Formatting with frames or packets; Protocol or part of protocol for error control} - H04W 84/18: Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks - Y02D 30/70: in wireless communication networks - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE ## Abstract A method of transmitting data from a transmitter to a receiver in an unsynchronized, ad-hoc, low-power, wireless network including: creating a packet including a header and data; and retransmitting the same created packet a plurality of times in succession. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method comprising: creating a packet comprising a header and data; and transmitting, from a transmitter to a receiver in an unsynchronised, ad-hoc, low-power, wireless network, without a schedule, the same created packet a plurality of times in succession one after the other as a concatenated sequence in the same communication channel, wherein the same created packet is an information packet comprising a time field and not comprising a data payload. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the start of the sequence is random. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the concatenated sequence has a predefined constant length that is greater than a period during which a receiver is regularly switched off. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of packets comprises a field that enables a receiver to determine when the sequence ends and comprises a field that enables a receiver to determine when the packet ends. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein packets transmitted in the concatenated sequence of packets within the same communications channel and the concatenated sequence comprise a data packet that terminates the sequence. ### Claim 6 An electronic communications device comprising: a transmitter configured to transmit data to a receiver using an unsynchronized, ad hoc, low power, wireless network; and processing circuitry configured to create a packet comprising a header and data; wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit, without a schedule, the same created packet a plurality of times in succession one after the other as a concatenated sequence in the same communication channel, and wherein the same created packet is an information packet comprising a time field and not comprising a data payload. ### Claim 7 A method comprising: switching on a receiver according to a first schedule; detecting reception of one of a succession of same packets transmitted, from a transmitter to a receiver in an unsynchronised, ad-hoc, low-power, wireless network, without a schedule one after the other as a concatenated sequence in the same communication channel; wherein the same packet is an information packet comprising a time field and not comprising a data payload; extracting data from the received packet; and switching off the receiver until it is next scheduled to be switched on. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein detecting reception of a packet includes detecting the correct receipt of a packet or identifying an address contained in the packet. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first schedule is periodic. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the period is less than a length of the concatenated sequence. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the extracted data is the time field of the information packet and is used to augment the first schedule to include a new wake-up time before the next scheduled wakeup, and wherein the receiver is switched off until the new scheduled wake-up time. ### Claim 12 An electronic communications device, the device comprising: a receiver configured to detect reception of one of a succession of same packets transmitted, from a transmitter in an unsynchronised, ad-hoc, low-power, wireless network, without a schedule one after the other as a concatenated sequence in the same communication channel, wherein the same packet is an information packet comprising a time field and not comprising a data payload; and processing circuitry configured to switch on the receiver according to a first schedule, to extract the time field from a received information packet and to switch off the receiver until a time, dependent upon the extracted time field, for receiving a data packet comprising a data payload. ### Claim 13 A method comprising: at an unscheduled time, transmitting, from a transmitter to a receiver in an unsynchronised, ad-hoc, low-power, wireless network, a plurality of times in succession, one after the other as a concatenated sequence in the same communications channel, an information packet for determining a wake-up time at a receiver; wherein the same packet is an information packet comprising a time field and not comprising a data payload; and transmitting, from the transmitter to the receiver in the unsynchronised, ad-hoc, low-power, wireless network, a data packet comprising a data payload at the wake-up time. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) A computer readable physical entity tangibly embodying a computer program which when loaded into a processor enables the processor to perform the method of claim 1. ### Claim 15 (depends on 7) A computer readable physical entity tangibly embodying a computer program which when loaded into a processor enables the processor to perform the method of claim 7. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) A computer readable physical entity tangibly embodying a computer program which when loaded into a processor enables the processor to perform the method of claim 13.