Patent ID: 7706282

Claim:
A method of selecting a route for communicating information in a communication network, the method comprising: receiving a connectivity metric for each of a plurality of links defining each of a plurality of routes that connect a start node with an end node, each link of the plurality of links including a first node and a second node, wherein the first node is a first type of node selected from a first master node, a first slave node, and a first multiple network participant node, wherein the second node is a second type of node selected from a second master node, a second slave node, and a second multiple network participant node, and further wherein the received connectivity metric for a link of the plurality of links is determined based on the first type of node and the second type of node; determining a total connectivity metric for each of the plurality of routes based on the received connectivity metric for each of the plurality of links defining each of the plurality of routes; and selecting a route in a communication network for communicating information between the start node and the end node from the plurality of routes based on the determined total connectivity metric.