Patent ID: 8488482

Claim:
A method for an advanced metering system mesh network with multiple mode downlink routing, comprising: establishing a network including a central facility and a plurality of node devices, with at least some of the node devices comprising metrology devices, and with at least some of the node devices comprising cell masters which provide communications between the central facility and others of the node devices associated therewith in respective cells formed by each respective cell master; configuring the network for bi-directional communications between the central facility and each of the plurality of node devices; from each node device associated with a given specific cell master in a respective cell formed thereby, providing information to the given specific cell master about communications links of each of the node devices in the respective cell; selectively sending a monocast downlink message from a given respective cell master to a specific node device associated therewith, using a monocast downlink path determined by the given respective cell master based on its received information from all node devices associated therewith; and selectively sending a broadcast downlink message from a given respective cell master to all node devices associated therewith.