Patent ID: 8175101

Claim:
A method to multicast in a network comprising: determining using a processor a least amount of relay nodes to multicast a message from a source node to all other nodes in the network by using a neighbor matrix of the source node stored in the data link layer of the source node and used in Node Activation Multiple Access (NAMA) scheduling by: designating a one-hop neighbor of the source node that exclusively accesses a two-hop neighbor of the source node as a relay node; designating a one-hop neighbor of the source node with accessibility to a maximum number of two-hop neighbors of the source node as a relay node; indicating in a field of the neighbor matrix associated with the exclusive one-hop neighbor that the exclusive one-hop neighbor is covered; indicating in a field of the neighbor matrix associated with the two-hop neighbor of the source node that is accessed exclusively by the exclusive one-hop neighbor of the source node that the two-hop neighbor is covered; and notifying one-hop neighbors of the source node that are selected as relay nodes of their selection as relay nodes.