Patent ID: 7697516

Claim:
In a mesh network comprising first and second network nodes that are operable to communicate using a scheduled communications protocol, a method for pre-admitting a given node to the mesh network via a link between the first network node and the given node, the method comprising: listening, at the given node, for an advertisement message broadcast at a first time in a given slot of a communication channel between the first and second network nodes, wherein the advertisement message comprises an identifier of the first network node, transmitting, from the given node to the first network node in the given slot at a second time, a first unicast message comprising a request for negotiating pre-admittance to the mesh network; and exchanging, prior to handover to a protocol for admitting the given node to the mesh network, at least one second unicast message between the given node and the first network node, in the given slot at at least one third time, to exchange any of pre-admission information and pre-authentication information.