Patent ID: 6912205

Claim:
In a network region having a plurality of links, each link including a plurality of nodes, one of the nodes of each link serving as a specified router responsible for certain communications in the network region on behalf of the link, a method for configuring the nodes with network-layer addresses, comprising: for each node of each link, assigning a group-wise unique node number to a first field of the network-layer address of the node; and at the specified router of each of the links: (i) receiving messages from the specified routers of the other links, the message from each specified router containing a number selected to be used as a region-wise unique link number for the associated link, and storing the received numbers in association with the respective links in a local database; (ii) selecting a number to be used as a region-wise unique link number for the link in a second field of the network layer addresses of the nodes on the link, the selected number being a number not associated with another link in the local database; and (iii) generating a message containing the selected number and propagating the message within the network region for receipt by the other specified routers.