Patent ID: 7656804

Claim:
A method for operating a node within an ad-hoc communication system, the method comprising the steps of: associating the node within the ad-hoc communication system with a first parent node; receiving by the node within the ad-hoc communication system, a first address from the first parent node a single hop from the node; associating the node within the ad-hoc communication system, with a second parent node; receiving by the node within the ad-hoc communication system, a second address from the second parent node a single hop from the node; wherein the steps of associating with the first and the second parent node results in the node having two parent nodes and two addresses, simultaneously; wherein the first address comprises a portion comprising a whole address of the first parent node, and the second address comprises a portion comprising a whole address of the second parent node; and wherein the step of associating with the first parent node comprises the step of associating with the first parent node if no more than a predetermined number of parents exist for the node and the step of associating with the second parent node comprises the step of associating with the second parent node if no more than the predetermined number of parents exist for the node.