METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING A ROUTING TABLE FOR EACH NODE IN A DISTRIBUTED NODAL SYSTEM

A method enables each node in a multi-nodal network to construct a routing table to all other nodes in the network. Each "home" or originating node performs a method which includes the steps of: transmitting a query to all immediate neighbor nodes and recording in a routing table, responses received which identify the neighbor node at the terminus of each link; transferring to each neighbor node, home node routing table entries and receiving routing table entries from each neighbor node; and, for each routing table entry to a node that is received from a neighbor node, if the route indicator is already present in the home node routing table, ignoring the entry; if the new entry indicates a route to a new node, entering the new node and a route identifier; and if the entry indicates a route to a node for which there is already an entry in the home node routing table, noting the new entry as a lower priority route to the node. Once the aforementioned procedure is repeated a number of times, each node in the multi-nodal network includes routes to all nodes in the network, with the routes having automatically been prioritized in accordance by sequence of receipt.