Patent ID: 8422957

Claim:
A method for use in a wireless network comprising a first station and a plurality of second stations, the method being performed by a receiving one of the second stations that has received a message from a transmitting one of the second stations, the method comprising determining whether said receiving station should forward said message within the wireless network, said determining being based on an observed signal strength of a signal received by said receiving station from the first station, and if the determining is that said receiving station should forward said message within the wireless network, then forwarding said message within the wireless network but only if a) said signal strength observed by said receiving station is greater than b) a signal strength of a signal received by said transmitting station from the first station, and inserting in said message, prior to said receiving station forwarding said message, a signal strength indication that is a function of the strength of a signal that had been received by said receiving station from said first station, wherein an indication that is a function of said signal strength b) is included in the received message, and wherein the method further comprises re-forwarding said message upon a determination that said message may not have been received by any other station, the signal strength indication in the re-forwarded message being made lower than said signal strength indication in the message when previously forwarded.