Patent ID: 7697459

Claim:
A method for selecting a routing path in a communication network, wherein the communication network includes a plurality of serial communication links, wherein each of the plurality of serial communication links use either a first communication channel or a second communication channel, the method comprising: determining, at a receiving wireless mesh node, a first desired path to use if the first communication channel is operating as a bottleneck channel, the first desired path including a first plurality of serial communication links between a plurality of adjacent nodes that include a source wireless mesh node, one or more intermediate wireless mesh nodes, and the receiving wireless mesh node, wherein at least one of the first plurality of serial communication links in the first desired path use the first communication channel and at least another of the first plurality of serial communication links in the first desired path use the second communication channel; determining, at the receiving wireless mesh node, a second desired path to use if the second communication channel is operating as the bottleneck channel, the second desired path including a second plurality of serial communication links between another plurality of adjacent nodes that include the source wireless mesh node, at least one intermediate wireless mesh node, and the receiving wireless mesh node, wherein at least one of the second plurality of serial communication links in the second desired path use the first communication channel and at least another of the second plurality of serial communication links in the second desired path use the second communication channel; generating, at the receiving wireless mesh node, a matrix of metric information to provide an indication of a number of the first plurality of serial communication links of the first desired path that use the first communication channel when the first communication channel is operating as a bottleneck channel and to further provide an indication of a number of the second plurality of serial communication links of the second desired path that use the second communication channel when the second communication channel is operating as a bottleneck channel.