Patent ID: 7092713

Claim:
In a network environment that includes a plurality of wireless computing systems and wherein at least one such system serves as a source wireless computing system from which a wireless communication is to be sent, and one such system serves as a remote wireless computing system intended to receive the wireless communication from the source wireless computing system, and wherein the source and remote wireless computing systems communicate with each other over a wireless path created by one or more intermediary wireless computing systems including a proximate wireless computing system that is most proximate the source wireless computing system in the wireless path, a method for the proximate wireless computing system facilitating wireless communication between the source wireless computing system and the remote wireless computing system by identifying a wireless path for connecting the source and remote wireless computing systems despite the source and remote wireless computing systems being out of range of each other's transmitter/receiver circuitry, the method comprising the following: a step for creating a first transmission link in a wireless path between the source and remote wireless computing systems, by performing an act of receiving at the proximate wireless computing system a wireless communication from the source wireless computing system, the wireless communication specifying either the remote wireless computing system or a computing system that is communicatively coupled to the remote wireless computing system as a destination of the wireless communication; and an act of determining at the proximate wireless computing system that the proximate wireless computing system is not the destination of the wireless communication; a step for creating a next transmission link in the wireless path between the source and remote wireless computing systems, by performing an act of identifying at the proximate wireless computing system a next wireless computing system in the wireless path; and an act of transmitting the wireless communication to the next wireless computing system in the wireless path; and if the next wireless computing system is the intended remote wireless computing system, then performing an act by which the proximate wireless computing system informs the source wireless computing system of each transmission link in the completed wireless path between the source and remote wireless computing systems, but if the next wireless computing system is not the intended remote wireless computing system, then continuing to perform a further step for creating a next transmission link in the wireless path until the remote wireless computing system is reached and the wireless path is completed, and thereafter performing an act of informing the source wireless computing system of each transmission link in the completed path.