Patent ID: 8279870

Claim:
A method of routing a packet in a wireless utility network comprising: receiving, at a first node, updated link cost information from at least one other node in the wireless utility network; prioritizing, at the first node, routing table entries of alternate primary routes and secondary routes based on the updated link cost information; receiving, at the first node, a packet from a second node in the wireless utility network, the packet including a route to a destination address, wherein the route specifies a path through one or more other nodes in the wireless utility network; determining, at the first node, whether there is an alternate primary route to the destination address of the received packet; in the event of the determination of at least one alternate primary route to the destination address, comparing the alternate primary route to the route included in the received packet at the first node, to determine a preferred route; in the event the preferred route is the alternate primary route, replacing the route included in the received packet with the preferred route; and transmitting the packet from the first node according to the preferred route, wherein the determination of the preferred route includes the received updated link cost information obtained by the first node from at least one neighboring node, wherein the obtained information is used to determine an updated path cost of the route included in the received packet for comparison to determine the preferred route, and wherein each secondary route is a fallback route upon failure of the route included in the received packet.