Decentralized wireless communication network and method having a plurality of devices

1. A method of determining a location of a location-incapable device of a plurality of devices of a decentralized wireless communication network comprising the location-incapable device, a plurality of location-aware devices communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device, and a location-capable device communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device, said method comprising:

the location-incapable device transmitting location determination information, relevant to the location of the location-incapable device in the network and sufficient to perform a calculation of the location of the location-incapable device, to the location-capable device;

the location-capable device receiving the location determination information and calculating the location of the location-incapable device in the network; and

communicating the location of the location-incapable device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating the location of the location-incapable device comprises transmitting the location of the location-incapable device to at least one of the location-incapable device, a device of the plurality of devices, and a location function of the network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location-capable device is a location-aware device of the plurality of location-aware devices of the network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location determination information comprises measurements of one or more parameters related to distance made by the location-incapable device and location information of one or more of the plurality of location-aware devices communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location-capable device does not calculate the location of the location-incapable device instead delegating said calculation to a second location-capable device of the network, further comprising:

the location-capable device transmitting the location determination information relevant to the location of the location-incapable device in the network to said second location-capable device of the network;

the second location-capable device calculating the location of the location-incapable device in the network using the location determination information relevant to the location of the location-incapable device; and

the second location-capable device transmitting the location of the location-incapable device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the location-capable device delegates the calculation to the second location-capable device in response to a network condition of the network.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

the location-incapable device selecting to transmit the location determination information to the location-capable device on the basis of one or more criteria.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location-incapable device is operable to calculate its location in the network but delegates said calculation to the location-capable device in response to a network condition of the network.

9. A method of determining a location of a location-incapable device of a decentralized wireless communication network comprising the location-incapable device, a plurality of location-aware devices communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device, and a location-capable device communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device, said method comprising:

the location-incapable device transmitting location determination information relevant to the location of the location-incapable device in the network and sufficient to perform a calculation of the location of the location-incapable device to the location-capable device of the plurality of location-capable devices of the network.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

the location-incapable device receiving the location of the location-incapable device calculated by the location-capable device from the location determination information.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the location determination information comprises measurements of one or more parameters related to distance made by the location-incapable device and location information of one or more of the plurality of location-aware devices communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

the location-incapable device measuring received waveforms from the one or more of the plurality of location-aware devices communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device to obtain the measurements.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the location-incapable device:

listening for message transmissions from the one or more location-aware devices; and

receiving message transmissions from the one or more location-aware devices; and

measuring waveforms of the received message transmissions from the one or more location-aware devices to obtain the measurements from the location-incapable device to the one or more location-aware devices.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the location-incapable device:

transmitting a request for message transmissions from the one or more location-aware devices;

receiving message transmissions from the one or more location-aware devices; and

measuring waveforms of the received message transmissions from the one or more location-aware devices to obtain the measurements from the location-incapable device to the one or more location-aware devices.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

the location-incapable device selecting to transmit the location determination information to the location-capable device on the basis of one or more criteria.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the location-incapable device is operable to calculate its location in the network but delegates said calculation to the location-capable device in response to a network condition of the network.

17. A decentralized wireless communication network having a plurality of devices, comprising:

a location-incapable device inoperable to directly determine its location within the network;

a plurality of location-aware devices communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device;

a plurality of location-capable devices operable to perform location determination calculations and communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device;

wherein in response to receiving from the location-incapable device location determination information relevant to the location of the location-incapable device in the network, a location-capable device of the plurality of location-capable devices determining the location of the location-incapable device in the network using the location determination information.

18. The network of claim 17 , wherein the location-capable device comprises a

location determination element operable to calculate the location of the location-incapable device in the network using the location determination information.

19. The network of claim 17 , wherein the location-capable device is operable to communicate the calculated location of the location-incapable device to at least one of the location-incapable device, a device of the plurality of devices of the network, and a location function of the network communicatively coupled to the location-capable device.

20. The network of claim 17 , wherein the location determination information comprises measurements of one or more parameters related to distance made by the location-incapable device and location information of one or more of the plurality of location-aware devices communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device.

21. The network of claim 20 , wherein the measurements are measured by the location-incapable device from waveforms received from one or more of the plurality of location-aware devices communicatively coupled to the location-incapable device.

22. The network of claim 17 , wherein the location-capable device is a location-aware device of the plurality of location-aware devices.

23. The network of claim 17 , wherein the network is a 802.15.4 system.

24. The network of claim 17 , wherein the location-incapable device is operable to calculate its location in the network but delegates said calculation to the location-capable device in response to a network condition of the network.

25. The device of claim 17 , wherein the location-capable device does not calculate the location of the device and delegates said calculation to a second location-capable device of the plurality of devices of the network.

26. The device of claim 25 , wherein delegation by the location-capable device to the second location-capable device occurs in response to a network condition of the network.