Patent ID: 8189494

Claim:
A system comprising: a first cluster comprising multiple first wireless nodes, one first wireless node configured to act as a first cluster master, other first wireless nodes configured to receive time synchronization information provided by the first cluster master; a second cluster comprising multiple second wireless nodes, one second wireless node configured to act as a second cluster master, other second wireless nodes configured to receive time synchronization information provided by the second cluster master; and a manager configured to merge the clusters into a combined cluster, one of the wireless nodes configured to act as a single cluster master for the combined cluster, the other wireless nodes configured to receive time synchronization information provided by the single cluster master; wherein the manager is configured to merge the clusters into the combined cluster by: selecting a first specified wireless node in the first cluster and a second specified wireless node in the second cluster for use in merging the clusters; altering the first cluster so that the first specified wireless node becomes the first cluster master in order to merge the clusters through the first cluster master; and causing the first specified wireless node to become a child node of the second specified wireless node to merge the clusters, wherein the first specified wireless node is configured to at least temporarily provide time synchronization information received from the second specified wireless node to the other first wireless nodes in the combined cluster.