Patent ID: 8532003

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a synchronous timing message from a gateway as broadcast in a global data communication to a plurality of externally-powered nodes and a plurality of internally-powered nodes in a hybrid network, the global data communication occurring only at specific times and on specific channels; initially configuring the plurality of externally-powered nodes and the plurality of internally-powered nodes as routers in a router role during an initialization phase, each of the plurality of internally-powered nodes selecting a primary node for message routing, the primary node being one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes if there is a direct data path to the one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes, the primary node being one of the plurality of internally-powered nodes if there is not a direct data path to one of the plurality of externally-powered nodes; each of the plurality of internally-powered nodes periodically connecting with their selected primary node to provide a status update during an operations phase; demoting the internally-powered node to a non-router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered node has received a beacon from a neighboring node or the internally-powered node has not received a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time; and promoting the internally-powered node to a router role during the operations phase if the internally-powered node has received at least a pre-determined number of routing requests over a pre-determined amount of time.