Patent ID: 8433368

Claim:
A wireless cable network comprising: a first transceiver associated with a cable access point and configured to transmit and receive data over a cable network and to a node of a wireless mesh network; and a plurality of second transceivers, each second transceiver being associated with one of a like plurality of end user devices, wherein the plurality of second transceivers are communicatively coupled to each other in a wireless mesh network configuration, and wherein the plurality of second transceivers provide access to the cable network through the first transceiver for the transfer of information to and from the like plurality of end user devices; wherein, the first transceiver and at least one of the second transceivers are each equipped with an electronically steerable phased array antenna and wherein the first transceiver and the at least one of the second transceivers are each capable of steering the beams of their electronically steerable phased array antenna to form a first link between the first transceiver and the one of the second transceivers when the first transceiver determines that a second link between the first transceiver and another one of the second transceivers is unavailable, wherein determining that the second link is unavailable comprises determining that no acknowledgement message has been received in response to a message sent to the other one of the second transceivers.