Patent ID: 8396041

Claim:
A method comprising: detecting, by a first communicant that includes a computing device, a plurality of other communicants with which the first communicant can communicate, the detecting via a discovery protocol based on a pre-determined communication standard; discovering, by the first communicant via the discovery protocol, all of the communication standards supported by the each of the plurality of other communicants; determining, by the first communicant via the discovery protocol, a set of communication standards that the first communicant and the each of the plurality of other communicants support in common; further determining, by the first communicant, parameter values, including any non-standard parameter values from a set comprising error correction scheme parameter values and modulation scheme parameter values, supported by each communication standard of the set of communication standards; selecting, by the first communicant based on the determining and the further determining, at least one communication standard from the set of communication standards, and further selecting any of the determined parameter values, where a communication configuration comprises the selected at least one communication standard and the selected any of the determined parameter values; broadcasting, by the first communicant based on the pre-determined communication standard to the each of the plurality of other communicants, the communication configuration; accepting, by the first communicant from the each of the plurality of other communicants, a reply confirming that the each of the plurality of other communicants is configured for communicating with the first communicant via the communication configuration; sending and receiving data by the first communicant to and from the each of the plurality of other communicants, the sending and receiving over at least one channel via the communication configuration, where each of the at least one channel corresponds to a different one of the selected at least one communication standard; measuring, by the first communicant, properties of the at least one channel and requirements of an application involved in the sending and receiving; concluding, by the first communicant, that conditions have changed enough to warrant a change in the communication configuration, where the conditions are based on the measured properties and the measured requirements; repeating, by the first communicant in response to the concluding, the selecting, broadcasting, accepting, sending and receiving, measuring, and concluding after each concluding, where at least a portion of the most recently selected at least one communication standard and the most recently selected any of the determined parameter values are modified for the repeating from those most recently selected.