Patent ID: 7787399

Claim:
A first node for a network comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links, the plurality of nodes comprising the first node, wherein: (a) the first node is configured to be part of a flow-through mesh group (FTMG) including the plurality of nodes of the network and a subset of the plurality of links of the network, wherein at least one link of the network is not part of the flow-through mesh group; (b) each node of the network comprises one or more ports, wherein: (1) each port is configured to connect via a link to a peer port at an other node of the network; (2) each port has a first transmission mode; and (3) the first transmission mode is one of transmitting mode and non-transmitting mode; and (c) the first node is configured to: (1) receive, at a first port of the first node, an FTMG set-up message from the first port's peer port, wherein the FTMG set-up message identifies: a root node of a first spanning tree for the network; and the first transmission mode of the peer port; and (2) set the first transmission mode of the first port based on at least one of (i) the identified first transmission mode of the peer port and (ii) the identified root node of the first spanning tree.