Patent ID: 8406126

Claim:
A system for fault-tolerant communication, comprising: N nodes, out of which one is a gateway node; N data links, each data link connecting two of the nodes, forming a ring structure comprising at least four nodes, wherein at least two of the data links are wireless data links; the system is configured to not use one of the wireless data links to send data, effectively partitioning the ring structure into a first chain and a second chain, each chain connected to the gateway node; the system is further configured to send data downstream direction, from the gateway node, through the first and second chains, and send data upstream direction, to the gateway node, through the first and second chains; and the system is further configured to detach at least one node from the first chain, by stop using a wireless data link having a reduction in performance and belonging to the first chain, and connect the at least one node to the second chain by starting to use the wireless data link that was not in use; wherein the at least one node that was detached and connected is configured to adjust to the downstream direction and upstream direction of the second chain.