Patent ID: 8437249

Claim:
A method for communicating channel operation information within a wireless communication system, the method comprising: operating a node in a first mode on a first channel and one or more secondary channels; detecting a requirement to discontinue communications on the first channel by the node; transmitting by the node, in response to the requirement, a message to a plurality of other nodes, the message including at least a reason for discontinuation of communications on the first channel and availability of immediate operation of the node in a second mode on the one or more secondary channels, wherein each secondary channel comprises a channel the node was currently using for communication; wherein the first channel comprises a primary channel used for sending a request from the node to its portal to make one of the secondary channels a primary channel for future operation, the node comprises a mesh point and the portal comprise a mesh point root, and forwarding the sending request from the mesh point across multiple hops until the request is received by the mesh point root; and wherein sending the request comprises one of multicasting and broadcasting the request from the mesh point to all associated nodes which have a direct radio link with the mesh point, and forwarding the request by one of multicasting or broadcasting the request by the associated nodes across multiple hops until the request is received by the mesh point root.