Patent ID: 8243601

Claim:
At a first station of a wireless network, a communication method comprising the steps of: receiving from a second station of the wireless network an incoming solicitation message that identifies a first traffic flow handled by the second station as a candidate for rerouting; evaluating whether rerouting of the first traffic flow through the first station for being handled using one or more multi-tier signals is capable of increasing data throughput for the first traffic flow without decreasing one or more data throughputs for respective one or more other traffic flows presently handled by the first station; determining whether a second traffic flow presently handled by the first station is being handled using at least one multi-tier signal; transmitting, based on said determination, an outgoing solicitation message that identifies the second traffic flow as a candidate for rerouting; and receiving from a third station of the wireless network an offer to reroute the second traffic flow through the third station, said offer generated in response to receipt of the outgoing solicitation message.