Patent ID: 7697504

Claim:
A method of selecting a routing path through a mesh network that includes a mobile access node, comprising: each access node of the mesh network capable of receiving routing beacons from at least one upstream access node, the routing beacons including information of upstream access nodes along a path to a gateway access node, wherein the routing beacons originate at the gateway access node at a predetermined rate; the mobile access node selecting a route through an upstream access node based upon; a) a quality of routing beacons received from at least one upstream access node, and b) whether the at least one upstream access node is a fixed access node or another mobile access node; wherein the quality of routing beacons is determined by a percentage of routing packets per unit of time transmitted from the upstream access node that are received from the upstream access node; and further comprising each access node that receives routing beacons, modifying the routing beacons of a selected route by attaching an address of the access node, and re-broadcasting the modified routing beacons, wherein the routing beacons include addresses of all access nodes included in a selected routing path to the originating gateway.