Patent ID: 7787427

Claim:
A method for communicating using a wireless mesh network, comprising: determining a plurality of routes from a first node to each other node in the wireless mesh network including one or more intermediate nodes that receive and transmit the packet; selecting a frame length used for communicating a packet based on the plurality of routes from the first node to each other node in the wireless mesh network; and selecting node to node communications within the frame along one or more routes of the plurality of routes such that a predetermined average communication latency time is achieved, wherein the low average communication latency time is achieved using a predetermined number of retries of a communication between two nodes that are part of a communication route between the first node and the second node, wherein the predetermined number of retires is based at least in part on a stability of a node to node communication, and wherein selecting node to node communications includes selecting node to node communications for two or more routes from a parent node, wherein the frame comprises a matrix of time slots and channels, wherein the frame repeats in a cycle, wherein a channel associated with a particular link in the frame changes from frame to frame within the cycle according to a predefined sequence, wherein node to node communications in at least one route from the first node to a second node in the wireless mesh network is selected such that the first node communicates to an intermediate node in a first time slot of the frame and the intermediate node communicates to a third node in a second time slot of the frame, wherein the second time slot in the frame is subsequent in time to the first time slot in the frame.