| 摘要 |
A contention based communication access method is provided in which the length of a retransmission interval for a plurality of devices 14, 16, 18, 20 in a network 10 is dependent on the number of devices 14, 16, 18, 20 in the network 10. In one embodiment, the devices 14, 16, 18, 20 are in communication with at least one other unit 12, the unit being operable to modify the retransmission interval. The network 10 may utilise a slotted ALOHA multiple access protocol. The network 10 may determine the retransmission interval using a random number which is selected from a range based upon the total number of devices 14, 16, 18, 20 communicating with the network 10. The network 10 may broadcast or multicast to all devices in the network their respective retransmission intervals. |
