Patent ID: 8111684

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a mesh point, mesh advertisement messages from respective advertising mesh points of a wireless mesh network having a mesh portal, the mesh portal having a wired connection to a wired network, each mesh advertisement message specifying a corresponding metric for the corresponding advertising mesh point reaching the mesh portal and having a corresponding signal strength indicator; generating by the mesh point from among the advertising mesh points an ordered group of parent access points each providing a corresponding mesh link for reachability for the mesh point to the mesh portal, the ordered group ordered based on the respective metrics specified in the respective mesh advertisement messages, the ordered group starting with a first parent access point chosen by the mesh point based on the first parent access point having a corresponding optimum metric for reaching the mesh portal and chosen independent of the corresponding signal strength indicator, and sending by the mesh point to each of the parent access points a corresponding registration message identifying a corresponding specified priority based on a corresponding position in the ordered group, for use by the corresponding parent access point in selecting a corresponding distinct minimum interframe spacing for forwarding toward the mesh portal a wireless packet received from the mesh point via the corresponding mesh link; wherein the generating includes: identifying the first parent access point based solely on the corresponding metric being the optimum metric relative to the other received metrics, identifying from among the advertising mesh points a second parent access point based on correlating the corresponding metric relative to an average of the received metrics, and based on correlating the corresponding signal strength indicator relative to an average of the received signal strength indicators, and identifying from among the advertising mesh points a third parent access point based on the corresponding signal strength indicator having a maximum value relative to the other received signal strength indicators, the ordered group of parent access points including an order of the first parent access point, the second parent access point, and the third parent access point.