Patent ID: 8902745

Claim:
A method comprising: initializing a link timeout in a node of a mesh network as a function of an initially received signal strength indication (RSSI); and updating the link timeout as a function of one or more subsequent RSSIs, the updating comprising: setting the link timeout to a low timeout value if the one or more subsequent RSSIs are less than or equal to an RSSI threshold; setting the link timeout to a minimum of a high timeout value and an incremented timeout value if the one or more subsequent RSSIs are greater than the RSSI threshold and greater than or equal to the initially received RSSI, the incremented timeout value provided by incrementing a current timeout value; setting the link timeout to a maximum of an average timeout value and a decremented timeout value if the one or more subsequent RSSIs are greater than the RSSI threshold and less than the initially received RSSI, the average timeout value being higher than the low timeout value and lower than the high timeout value, the decremented timeout value provided by decrementing the current timeout value.