Patent ID: 8693372

Claim:
A method of operating a first node, the method comprising: receiving information from a second node, said information indicating a first network affiliation of a first ad-hoc wireless network for a first link between the first node and the second node; updating a set of routing information to include a first forwarding table entry corresponding to the first link, said first forwarding table entry being associated with a first network identifier corresponding to said first indicated network affiliation; receiving additional information from a third node, said additional information indicating a second network affiliation of a second ad-hoc wireless network for a second link between the first node and the third node; updating said set of routing information to include a second forwarding table entry corresponding to the second link, said second forwarding table entry being associated with a second network identifier corresponding to said second indicated network affiliation, said first and second network identifiers corresponding to different networks; receiving a data packet including a packet destination address on a link, the packet destination address being associated with a destination node, the destination node being capable of being a part of both the first ad-hoc wireless network and a second ad-hoc wireless network; determining a network identifier corresponding to the link on which the data packet was received; and forwarding the received data packet through one of a plurality of paths to the packet destination address based on at least the packet destination address, the determined network identifier, and a network affiliation included in the set of routing information, wherein the plurality of paths comprises a first path associated with the first ad-hoc wireless network and a second path associated with the second ad-hoc wireless network.