Technique for establishing a mesh network

An electronic device, comprising:

• an interface circuit configured to communicate with two or more electronic devices, wherein the electronic device is configured to:
• select candidate mesh-network nodes to a root device in a mesh network;
• measure throughputs of the candidate mesh-network nodes by providing, to one or more output nodes of the electronic device, packets intended for the candidate mesh-network nodes, and receiving, from one or more input nodes of the electronic device, acknowledgments from the candidate mesh-network nodes;
• identify one or more mesh-network nodes in the candidate mesh-network nodes and determine associated communication duty-cycle ratios based on the measured throughputs;
• and
• provide, to the one or more output nodes, information intended for the root device via the one or more mesh-network nodes based on the communication duty-cycle ratios, wherein the one or more mesh-network nodes comprise a dynamically determined communication path in the mesh network, wherein the operations of measuring, identifying, determining and communicating are repeated until a convergence criterion is achieved.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for use in conjunction with an electronic device, the computer-readable storage medium storing a program module that, when executed by the electronic device, causes the electronic device to:

• select candidate mesh-network nodes to a root device in a mesh network;
• measure throughputs of the candidate mesh-network nodes by providing, to one or more output nodes of the electronic device, packets intended for the candidate mesh-network nodes, and receiving, from one or more input nodes of the electronic device, acknowledgments from the candidate mesh-network nodes, wherein a throughput of a given candidate mesh-network node in the candidate mesh-network nodes comprises a data rate for successful communication;
• identify one or more mesh-network nodes in the candidate mesh-network nodes and determine associated communication duty-cycle ratios based on the measured throughputs, wherein a communication duty-cycle ratio of a given mesh-network node in the one or more mesh-network nodes specifies an amount of communication that occurs via the given mesh-network node in the mesh network relative to an amount of communication that occurs via a remainder of the one or more mesh-network nodes in the mesh network;
• and
• provide, to the one or more output nodes, information intended for the root device via the one or more mesh-network nodes based on the communication duty-cycle ratios, wherein the one or more mesh-network nodes comprise a dynamically determined communication path in the mesh network.

A method for establishing a mesh network, wherein the method comprises:

• by an electronic device:
• selecting candidate mesh-network nodes to a root device in the mesh network;
• measuring throughputs of the candidate mesh-network nodes by providing, to one or more output nodes of the electronic device, packets intended for the candidate mesh-network nodes, and receiving, from one or more input nodes of the electronic device, acknowledgments from the candidate mesh-network nodes, wherein a throughput of a given candidate mesh-network node in the candidate mesh-network nodes comprises a data rate for successful communication;
• identifying one or more mesh-network nodes in the candidate mesh-network nodes and determine associated communication duty-cycle ratios based on the measured throughputs, wherein a communication duty-cycle ratio of a given mesh-network node in the one or more mesh-network nodes specifies an amount of communication that occurs via the given mesh-network node in the mesh network relative to an amount of communication that occurs via a remainder of the one or more mesh-network nodes in the mesh network;
• and
• providing, to the one or more output nodes, information intended for the root device via the one or more mesh-network nodes based on the communication duty-cycle ratios, wherein the one or more mesh-network nodes comprise a dynamically determined communication path in the mesh network.