Patent ID: 7194463

Claim:
A method for selecting a data routing path in a sensor network with a plurality of queried sensors and a plurality of unqueried sensors, comprising: determining a current belief state at a current sensor based on information obtained from the plurality of queried sensors; selecting a set of neighboring sensors from the plurality of unqueried sensors; determining at the current sensor an information utility function value that indicates an information quality for information obtained from each of the plurality of queried sensors, the indicated information quality based on a set of predefined information quality parameters; determining at the current sensor a cost function value that indicates at least one of power and bandwidth usage required to transmit information obtained from each of the neighboring sensors; determining at the current sensor a weighted sum of the information utility function value and the cost function value; applying the determined weighted sum to the selected set of neighboring sensors to select a next sensor from the selected set of neighboring sensors; determining a new belief state for the next sensor based on the current belief state and information obtained by the current sensor; and transmitting at least the new belief state to the next sensor.