TECHNIQUES FOR DYNAMICALLY SWITCHING BETWEEN SYNCHRONOUS AND ASYNCHRONOUS OPERATION MODES IN BODY AREA NETWORKS

摘要

Techniques for dynamically switching between synchronous and asynchronous operation modes in body area networks (BANs). One embodiment includes a method (400) for transitioning from an asynchronous mode to a synchronous mode in a medium access control (MAC) of a BAN. A device receiving a switch mode command (S410) performs the acts comprising: setting a timer to a time period specified in the switch mode command (S430); propagating the received switch mode command to other devices in the BAN (S440); upon expiration of the time period, tuning to a channel selected from a set of channels reserved for the synchronous mode (S460); and initializing a device to operate as either a master device or a slave device in the synchronous mode of operation (S470). Another embodiment includes a method (300) for transitioning from a synchronous mode to an asynchronous mode in a MAC of a body area networks (BAN).