Patent ID: 7505470

Claim:
A method of resolving cliques formed in a network comprising a plurality of nodes that are communicatively coupled to one another over at least a first channel, the method comprising: at each node, wherein that node is a member of a current clique: listening asynchronously for data on the first channel from a first neighbor's neighbor node of that node; when a first valid frame is received on the first channel from the first neighbor's neighbor node of that node, listening asynchronously for a second valid frame on the first channel from a first neighbor node of that node; when the second valid frame is received on the first channel, checking if the first valid frame and the second valid frame are both from the same other clique; and if the first valid frame and the second valid frame are both from the same other clique, determining if that node should defect from the current clique towards the other clique and defecting from the current clique towards the other clique if that node determines that the node should defect from the current clique towards the other clique before the period.