Patent ID: 8910141

Claim:
In a multihop network that includes a plurality of nodes, including nodes of different types that execute correspondingly different types of software, each node being within communication range of its immediate one or more neighboring nodes, a method for distributing software upgrades within the network, the method comprising: storing, on a first node, software of a first type and software of a second type, wherein the software of the first type is native to the first node and the software of the second type is not native to the first node; receiving by the first node, from a neighboring second node, version information representing software types and corresponding versions, the version information including information corresponding to the second type of software; comparing, by the first node, received version information corresponding to the second type of software against version information corresponding to a locally-stored copy of the second type of software that is stored on the first node; and sending, by the first node, an upgrade for the second type of software to the neighboring second node in response to a result of the comparing being indicative of the received version information corresponding to the second type of software representing an older version of the second type of software than the version information of the locally-stored copy of the second type of software.