Asynchronous ubiquitous protocol

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for requesting data from a set of remote units in a network, the method comprising: defining an Asynchronous Ubiquitous Protocol, the Asynchronous Ubiquitous Protocol comprising a schedule of a plurality of time slots, each time slot defined by a distinct start time and end time pair; broadcasting transmitting instructions to the set of remote units, the transmitting instructions comprising the Asynchronous Ubiquitous Protocol and selection instructions for selecting a time slot from the Asynchronous Ubiquitous Protocol to use for data transmission; and, receiving data transmitted from a remote unit in the set of remote units in accordance with the transmitting instructions.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for requesting data from a set of remote units in a network, the method comprising:
 defining a schedule of a plurality of time slots, each time slot defined by a distinct start time and end time pair, the start time and end time pairs defining a set of non-overlapping time slots within which data may be transmitted, wherein the plurality of time slots of the schedule are unallocated time slots eligible to be selected by remote units;   broadcasting the schedule; and   receiving data transmitted from a remote unit in the set of remote units in accordance with the schedule, the data indicating an emergency event or occurrence.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising transmitting an acknowledgement message to the remote unit. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the number of times slots and the duration of the time slots are dynamic and dependent on performance of the network. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 monitoring one or more conditions of the network, and wherein the schedule is defined based on the monitored one or more conditions. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the one or more conditions comprise one of:
 an increased rate of data retransmission; an increase in the number of poll requests from remote units; and an increase in the number of timeslots within which data is not included. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein receiving data transmitted from one or more of the set of remote units comprises extracting data from one or more of the time slots. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising: associating the data with a remote unit based on a portion of the extracted data. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the remote unit is configured to select a time slot based on any one or more of:
 a serial number of the remote unit;   a random number;   a pseudo-random number; or   a geo-location of the remote unit.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising, polling one or more remote units directly to request polling data. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the polling data comprises a confirmation of the existence that a functioning transmission path to the remote unit. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the data is received on a single radio frequency channel. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the schedule broadcast on the single radio frequency channel. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the data transmitted from the remote unit comprises a request to transmit a long message, wherein the long message comprises a message that takes longer to transmit than a duration of the time slot. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising:
 in response to receiving the data transmitted from the remote unit, transmitting a polling request directly to the remote unit to request the long message; 
 receiving the long message; and 
 transmitting an acknowledgement to the remote unit that the long message was received. 
 
     
     
         15 . A method of transmitting data, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a remote unit, a schedule, the schedule including a set of time slots each defined by a start time and end time pair, the start time and end time pairs defining a set of non-overlapping time slots within which data may be transmitted, wherein the time slots of the schedule are unallocated time slots eligible to be selected by remote unit;   detect an emergency event or occurrence;   selecting a time slot from the schedule within which to transmit remote unit data; and   in response to detecting the emergency event or occurrence, transmitting the remote unit data in accordance with the selected time slot.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  further comprising receiving an acknowledgment message. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising transmitting the data to a hop unit selected from an ordered list of hop units stored at the remote unit, the ordered list of hop units comprising a list of units within transmission range of the remote unit. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising monitoring the data transmitted from of the selected hop unit. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the time slot is selected based on one or more of:
 a serial number of the remote unit;   a random number;   a pseudo-random number; or   a geo-location of the remote unit.   
     
     
         20 . A communication network comprising:
 a set of one or more remote units, each remote unit arranged to transmit data;   a base for communicating with the set of one or more remote units and for managing the communication network, the base associated with a processor, the processor configured to:
 define a schedule of plurality of time slots, each time slot defined by a distinct start time and end time pair, the start time and end time pairs defining a set of non-overlapping time slots within which data may be transmitted, wherein the plurality of time slots of the schedule are unallocated time slots eligible to be selected by remote units; and 
 receive data transmitted from one of the remote units, the data indicating an emergency event or occurrence.