Patent ID: 7940679

Claim:
A wireless network comprising: one or more central nodes; and a plurality of bi-directional nodes in bi-directional wireless communication with the one or more central nodes, each of the bi-directional nodes having a wireless communication path to one of the central nodes that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more intermediate bi-directional nodes serving as relays, wherein each bi-directional node is configured to detect when it has become stranded such that it can no longer communicate with its assigned central node via its assigned communication path due to a presumed power outage at an upstream node in the communication path, to determine a reason for its stranding, and to transmit a stranding notification and the reason therefore, wherein each central node is configurable to broadcast a stranding request that any stranded node respond to the request, and each of the bi-directional nodes is configured to either respond to the request with the stranding notification and the reason therefore or to re-broadcast the request if not stranded.