Patent ID: 8031683

Claim:
A method, comprising: transmitting, by a node within a network, a plurality of route requests to a plurality of portals of the network; receiving, by the node, a plurality of route responses to the plurality of route requests, respectively, the plurality of route responses include operational performance information pertaining to a plurality of links correspondingly linking the node to the plurality of portals; selecting, by the node, one of the portals to service network transmission between the node and another network external to the network, based at least in part on the operational performance information received; transmitting, by the node, a register message comprising address information of the node and the selected portal to a router associated with the external network to facilitate network transmission between the node and the external network if the selected portal is different from a current portal, the router being distinct from the plurality of portals; and regularly repeating the transmitting, receiving, selecting and conditional transmitting by the node after each elapse of a time period.