Patent ID: 7649875

Claim:
A device including a multiplicity of logical layers, for networking to a plurality of destinations, comprising: a networking layer; a medium access control layer including a networking interface for interfacing with the networking layer; and an 802.15.4 interface for connecting to an 802.15.4 physical layer; wherein the medium access control layer further includes: at least one alternate interface for connecting to a respective alternate physical layer; a switch layer between the networking interface, the 802.15.4 interface and the at least one alternate interface capable of switching instructions and data received from and sent to the networking interface (i) through the 802.15.4 interface to the 802.15.4 physical layer (ii) through the alternate interface to the respective alternate physical layer, or (iii) through both the alternate interface and the 802.15.4 interface; wherein the switch layer includes a database storing information about which physical layer connects to which destination; and the switch layer is arranged to process a message received from the networking layer requiring transmission of a message to a specific destination, by: checking the database to determine whether the database contains information as to which interface connects to the specific destination and if the database contains the information as to which interface connects to the specific destination, by passing a command to the corresponding interface, and if the database does not contain information as to which interface connects the specific destination, by passing the command to both the alternative and 802.15.4 interfaces.