Importance

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Abstract

Link-State Advertisement (LSA) and other routing control packets are transmitted within a wireless communication system or network via selective enablement of control links for transference of the packets between network nodes. Specifically, an exemplary wireless network includes a plurality of nodes arranged into clusters with each cluster having cluster member nodes and a designated cluster head node. The nodes communicate with each other via an intranet protocol, while the network may communicate with other external networks in accordance with an internetworking protocol. A database within each network head node contains link information for that node. The LSA packets contain information to update the head node databases, while other routing control packets generally contain various routing information for network nodes to facilitate message transmissions. The routing control packets are transmitted to each head node to control routing functions and enable each database to maintain current information. In order to reduce overhead traffic due to transmission of numerous LSA and other routing control packets, the present invention selectively controls enablement of control links (e.g., links that transport routing control information) to transmit the LSA and other routing control packets to head nodes within the network. In other words, the present invention selectively reduces the quantity of control links between head nodes to transmit the LSA and other routing control packets with reduced protocol overhead traffic, thereby permitting the network to utilize link-state based protocols effectively (e.g., with minimal impact on network throughput) while expanding to larger scales.

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First Claim