Patent ID: 8014329

Claim:
A method performed by an apparatus comprising: maintaining power state information for one or more neighboring wireless mesh nodes, wherein the power state information for each of the neighboring wireless mesh nodes comprises whether the wireless mesh node is a battery-powered device, whether the wireless mesh node is in a power save state, and whether the wireless mesh node is in a critical battery state; receiving a path request message from a first wireless mesh node, wherein the path request message identifies a source node and a destination node; propagating the path request message to selected ones of the one or more neighboring wireless mesh nodes based on the power state information corresponding to the one or more neighboring wireless mesh nodes, by: propagating the path request message to first ones of the one or more neighboring wireless mesh nodes that are not in the power save state; if a valid route is not yet found between the source node and the destination node, then: waking up second ones of the one or more neighboring wireless mesh nodes that are in the power save state and are outlet powered; propagating the path request message to the second ones of the one or more neighboring wireless mesh nodes; and if a valid route is not yet found between the source node and the destination node, then: waking up third ones of the one or more neighboring wireless mesh nodes that are in the power save state and are battery powered and are not in the critical battery state; and propagating the path request message to the third ones of the one or more neighboring wireless mesh nodes.