Patent ID: 7693051

Claim:
A method for controlling congestion in an ad-hoc wireless communication network, the method comprising: establishing a communication route from a source node to a destination node, at least one of the source node and destination node being in the ad-hoc wireless communication network; detecting congestion by a congested node, along the communication route, based on dynamic behavior of the congested node and at least one neighboring node associated with the congested node, and channel and traffic characteristics of the ad-hoc wireless communication network; when congestion is detected at the congested node, operating the congested node to send a congestion warning message for delivery to a source node via at least one intermediate node in the route that forward packets addressed to the destination node through the congested node, wherein the congestion warning message includes a congestion metric, and further wherein the congestion warning message informs the source node and the at least one intermediate node to regulate packet flow that contributes to the congestion in the communication route; and operating the source node, and the at least one intermediate node to each set a timeout value representing a duration of congestion at the congestion node based on information included in the congestion warning message.