US Patent 7769362 System and method for power management

The present invention provides a method for managing power of devices on a network. The method comprises: transmitting a first weighted value and a first anchor status of a first device on the network to a second device on the network, wherein the second device is a neighboring device to the first device; receiving a second weighted value and a second anchor status from the second device; and setting one of the devices as an anchor device based on one or more of weighted values and the anchor statuses, wherein the anchor device is configured to either wake up at predetermined times or to remain active.