Dynamic allocation of hierarchical information paths for the organization of interconnected systems

A technique is presented for dynamically selecting the "best" path for disseminating information throughout a network on the basis of assigning ranks to the nodes and demerits to the links. One possible application of this technique is in the selection of paths for disseminating precise time information throughout a network from the best nodal clock to nodes whose clocks have less precision. The method uniquely defines and iteratively selects the path of least demerit from each node to the highest ranking node regardless of the initial conditions or perturbations to the network structure.