Patent ID: 7376087

Claim:
A method of displaying path metrics associate with nodes and links within a network, comprising: determining path metric values associated with the network, wherein the path metric values provide an indication of a transmission link qualities and path qualities; wherein determining path metric values comprises; gateways of the network originating routing beacons at a predetermined rate; first order nodes receiving and monitoring the routing beacons, the first order nodes determining a link quality and path quality associated with the received routing beacons based on whether routing beacons are received within a routing cycle, the first order nodes retransmitting modified routing beacons if the path quality is above a threshold; second order nodes receiving and monitoring the modified routing beacons, the second order nodes determining a link quality and path quality associated with the received modified routing beacons based on whether modified routing beacons are received within a routing cycle; a network management system receiving the transmission link qualities and the transmission path qualities from each of the nodes; visually displaying on a display of the network management system observable by a network manager, only the path metric values that fall within a predetermined set, wherein the predetermined set is adjustable.