Patent ID: 7903608

Claim:
A communications device for use in a network of devices, comprising: a memory for storing instructions; a processor that is communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the memory includes instructions which, when processed by the processor, causes: selecting, based upon performance of a plurality of communications channels at a first time, a first set of two or more communications channels from the plurality of communications channels; selecting, based upon performance of the plurality of communications channels at a second time that is later than the first time, a second set of two or more communications channels from the plurality of communications channels; and a transceiver that is communicatively coupled to the memory and that is configured to transmit to and receive from another communications device, wherein: for a first period of time, the first set of two or more communications channels is used to transmit to and receive from the other communications device; and for a second period of time that is after the first period of time, the second set of two or more communications channels is used to transmit to and receive from the other communications device instead of the first set of two or more communications channels, and wherein the number of distinct channels in the first set of two or more communications channels varies from the number of distinct channels in the second set of two or more communications channels.