Patent ID: 7697470

Claim:
A data communication system, comprising: a hard-wired network; a first network comprising a first network access point and one or more first nodes, the first network access point being directly coupled to the hard-wired network, the one or more first nodes being in direct wireless communication with the first network access point; and a second network comprising a second network access point and one or more second nodes, the second network access point being directly coupled to the hard-wired network, the one or more second nodes being in direct wireless communication with the second network access point, wherein, when a mobile wireless communication device is within a wireless coverage area of the first network, the mobile wireless communication device establishes communication with the first network access point via the one or more first nodes, wherein, when the mobile wireless communication device is not within the wireless coverage area of the first network, the mobile wireless communication device establishes communication with the second network via the one or more second nodes and the mobile wireless communication device determines a wireless internetwork path over which communications can be routed from the first network access point, wherein message information received at the first network and addressed to the first wireless node is forwarded from the first network to the second network via the wireless internetwork path, and wherein the wireless internetwork path comprises one or more wireless connections involving at least one of the one or more first nodes and at least one of the one or more second nodes to the exclusion of the first network access point and the second network access point.