Patent ID: 7948966

Claim:
A method for determining routes in an ad hoc network comprising: receiving a resource metric from each one of a plurality of neighbors of a node, the resource metric indicative of network resources needed by the corresponding one of the plurality of neighbors, wherein the resource metric includes a node weight representing a ratio of bandwidth required for data in to bandwidth required for data out for a corresponding one of the plurality of neighbors, thereby providing a data link layer resource metric for a route calculation; determining a data rate for a link to each one of the plurality of neighbors using physical layer data that characterizes a rate of data selected according to the physical performance of a wireless communication channel, thereby providing a data rate metric for the route calculation; determining a reliability for a link to each one of the plurality of neighbors using physical layer data that characterizes a physical reliability of the wireless communication channel, thereby providing a reliability metric for the route calculation; applying the reliability metric, the data rate metric, and the data link layer bandwidth metric to the route calculation to calculate a plurality of routes within a scope of a Scoped Link State Routing (SLSR) protocol that employs multi-level scoping to reduce overhead, the plurality of routes including a route for each one of a plurality of service levels; and sharing network reachability information between a first router in the node for an ad hoc wireless network that routes data according to the SLSR protocol and a second router in the node for at least one wired network that routes data according to a protocol selected from the group consisting of Open Shortest Path First, Border Gateway Protocol, and Routing Information Protocol.