Patent ID: 8396022

Claim:
A method for processing a source routed packet, comprising: receiving a source routed packet at a first node in a mesh network in a timeslot and on a channel as specified by a first communications schedule for the mesh network, wherein the first communications schedule comprises a set of a plurality of timeslots and a plurality of channels, wherein a combination of one of the plurality of timeslots and one of the plurality of channels comprises a slot able to specify a communication link between two nodes, wherein the first communications schedule includes a plurality of channels associated with one timeslot of the plurality of timeslots that are able to specify links that communicate at the same time on multiple channels, wherein the source routed packet includes a source route comprising an ordered list of nodes; determining a position of the first node in the source route based at least in part on the ordered list of nodes; determining a previous node in the source route based at least in part on the ordered list of nodes; determining whether a next node exists; in the event that a next node does exist: determining a next node in the source route based at least in part on the ordered list of nodes; transmitting the source routed packet to the next node in the mesh network in a timeslot and on a channel as specified by the first communications schedule; and activating a second communications schedule on the first node, wherein the second communications schedule for the mesh network includes a combination of a timeslot and a channel specifying a communication link to the next node, based at least in part on the position of the first node in the source route, and based at least in part on an instruction in the source routed packet; in the event that a next node does not exist: determining an originating node of the source route based at least in part on the ordered list of nodes; transmitting an acknowledgment packet to the originating node; and activating a third communications schedule on the first node, wherein the third communications schedule for the mesh network includes a combination of a timeslot and a channel specifying a communication link to the previous node, based at least in part on the position of the first node in the source route, and based at least in part on the instruction in the source routed packet.