Patent ID: 8665782

Claim:
A first mobile router for use in a moving network, the first mobile router comprising: means for receiving a beacon broadcast by a second mobile router or a fixed access point, said beacon containing a first network identifier belonging to the broadcasting second mobile router or fixed access point; a first interface for attaching to the second mobile router or fixed access point as an upstream access point; a second interface for attaching to a downstream access point; means for attaching to said second mobile router or said fixed access point using said first network identifier; means for generating a second network identifier for the first mobile router to adopt as a network identifier of the first mobile router by applying a pre-defined function to said first network identifier; and means for broadcasting beacons containing the second network identifier; wherein said means for attaching further comprises: means for iteratively calculating a result of the pre-defined function with said second network identifier as an initial input to obtain a chain of network identifiers that can possibly be assigned to access points downstream from the first mobile router; means for comparing a network identifier contained in a subsequently received beacon against the network identifiers of said chain and, if the network identifier contained in the subsequently received beacon matches one of the network identifiers of said chain, for rejecting a mobile router associated with the subsequently received beacon as a possible point of attachment to avoid creating a routing loop in the moving network.