Patent ID: 7665126

Claim:
A mesh router comprising: at least one processor; a network interface configured to communicatively couple the mesh router with one or more other mesh routers on a network; and one or more media configured to store a mesh-router- producing-entity-issued certificate of a plurality of certificates issued by a mesh-router-producing entity, the stored certificate comprising a name, a signature, and a public key, wherein the name corresponds to a name of the mesh router, the signature corresponds to an authentication by the mesh-router- -producing entity, and the public key certifying that the mesh-router-producing-entity-issued certificate is bound to the name of the mesh router and configured to store processor-executable instructions capable of being executed by the at least one processor, the processor-executable instructions configured to direct the router to perform actions comprising: initializing by designating the mesh router to be a single neighborhood administrator, the designated neighborhood administrator offering to be the neighborhood administrator and being designated by at least one other mesh router of the one or more other mesh routers on a network, granting, by the designated neighborhood administrator, access to the network to mesh routers that possess at least one of the plurality of certificates issued by the mesh-router-producing entity; detecting a delinquent mesh router of the one or more mesh routers of the network and deciding whether to exclude a delinquent mesh router certificate associated with the delinquent mesh router, the delinquent mesh router certificate comprising a name of the delinquent mesh router, a signature created by a producing entity, and a public key corresponding to the delinquent mesh router; receiving the delinquent mesh router certificate and notification of the associated delinquent mesh router from the designated neighborhood administrator, the notification being signed by the designated neighborhood administrator to authenticate the notification; and excluding the delinquent mesh router responsive to the authenticated notification based on the associated delinquent mesh router certificate; wherein the router comprises a mesh router that effectively treats the associated delinquent mesh router certificate as being revoked and/or invalid based on the authenticated notification from the designated neighborhood administrator even when the associated delinquent mesh router certificate is issued and authenticated by an entity other than the designated neighborhood administrator.