Patent ID: 7941149

Claim:
A communication apparatus comprising: a first node configured to communicate directly with a plurality of second nodes and indirectly with at least a third node accessible via one or more of the second nodes, the first node including a media access control (MAC) module configured to facilitate communications with the second and third nodes over communication links with the second nodes; wherein the MAC module is configured to determine available routes between the first and third node by: (i) identifying which communication links with the second nodes have a sufficient number of timeslots available to meet a minimum quality of service (QoS) level, (ii) transmitting a routing request to the respective second nodes over the identified communication links indicating a requested number of timeslots that need to be reserved at each communication link to meet the minimum QoS level, the routing request indicating the first node as the ultimate source and the third node as the ultimate destination, and refraining from transmitting the routing request over communication links with respective second nodes that have not been identified as having a sufficient number of timeslots available to meet the minimum QoS level, and (iii) responsive to receiving one or more route replies from the third node indicating one or more available routes between the first and third nodes meeting or exceeding the minimum QoS level, to send communications to the third node via the indicated one or more available routes.