fig1 depicts a specific example of a communication system in accord with the present invention . those skilled in the art will appreciate numerous variations from this example that do not depart from the scope of the invention . those skilled in the art will also appreciate that various features described below could be combined with other embodiments to form multiple variations of the invention . those skilled in the art will appreciate that some conventional aspects of fig1 have been simplified or omitted for clarity . fig1 is a block diagram that illustrates a communication system 100 in an example of the invention . communication system 100 comprises communication devices 102 and 111 - 113 and a control system 104 . in operation , communication device 102 receives identification signals 120 from communication devices 111 - 113 . communication device 102 processes the identification signals 120 to generate a composite signal . communication device 102 transfers the composite signal . control system 104 receives the composite signal . control system 104 determines a location of communication device 102 in relation to communication devices 111 - 113 based on the composite signal . it is assumed that the location of communication devices 111 - 113 is known . control system 104 generates a virtual topology map of communication system 100 based on the composite signal and the location of communication device 102 . control system 104 generates wireless communication information based on the virtual topology map and the composite signal . control system 104 transfers the wireless communication information . communication device 102 receives the communication information . communication device 102 processes the wireless communication information to configure itself for wireless communication . a communication system that generates an information table — fig2 - 4 fig2 - 4 depict a specific example of a communication system in accord with the present invention . those skilled in the art will appreciate numerous variations from this example that do not depart from the scope of the invention . those skilled in the art will also appreciate that various features described below could be combined with other embodiments to form multiple variations of the invention . those skilled in the art will appreciate that some conventional aspects of fig2 - 4 have been simplified or omitted for clarity . fig2 is a block diagram that depicts a physical layout of a communication system 200 in an example of the invention . communication system 200 is comprised of a communication device 202 , a control system 204 , and communication devices 210 - 215 . communication device 210 is a radio tower and will be referred to herein as both communication device 210 and radio tower 210 . communication device 202 is configured to communicate with control system 204 . communication device 202 is configured to communicate with communication devices 210 - 213 . communication device 212 is configured to communicate with communication device 214 . communication device 213 is configured to communicate with communication device 215 . control system 204 is comprised of an interface 240 and a processor 242 . control system 204 typically includes a mobile telephone switching office ( mtso ). in operation , communication devices 210 - 213 transmit and receive over a band of frequencies to create cells 230 - 233 , respectively . communication devices 210 - 213 periodically transmit identification signals . the identification signals identify communication devices 210 - 213 by identification numbers , the frequency of transmission of communication devices 210 - 213 , the signal level used by communication devices 210 - 213 , and other information . communication device 202 listens to the band of frequencies that communication devices 210 - 213 transmit over . the band of frequencies is preset in communication device 202 or is provided by control system 204 . because communication device 202 is physically located within cells 230 - 233 , communication device 202 receives the identification signals from communication devices 210 - 213 . communication device 202 also measures the signal level of the identification signals received . communication device 202 collects the identification signals and processes the identification signals to generate a composite signal . the composite signal includes information on communication devices 210 - 213 , such as identification numbers and transmission frequencies of communication devices 210 - 213 . the composite signal also includes signal levels measured from the identification signals transmitted by each device 210 - 213 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that communication device 202 could transmit a request signal to communication devices 210 - 213 . communication device 202 could be programmed with a control frequency . communication device 202 would transmit the request signal over the control frequency to communication devices 210 - 213 . communication devices 210 - 213 would then transmit the identification signals to communication device 202 in response to the request signal . communication device 202 transfers the composite signal to control system 204 . communication device 202 has a dedicated connection with control system 204 , such as a digital subscriber line ( dsl ) connection or a plain old telephone service ( pots ) connection . interface 240 receives the composite signal and transfers the composite signal to processor 242 . processor 242 processes the composite signal to generate a virtual topology map of communication system 200 . the virtual topology map represents the physical locations of communication devices 210 - 213 . processor 242 determines an estimated physical location of communication device 202 based on the composite signal using triangulation . for instance , processor 242 could use the measured signal levels of the identification signals , noise levels of the identification signals , and the locations of communication devices 210 - 213 to triangulate . it is assumed that processor 242 knows the physical location of communication devices 210 - 213 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that communication device 202 could include a satellite receiver that determines the location of communication device 202 . alternatively , communication devices 210 - 213 could know their own physical location and transmit location information to communication device 202 . communication device 202 could then transmit the location information to processor 242 in the composite signal . communication devices 210 - 213 could obtain the location information from a satellite receiver such as a global positioning system . processor 242 enters communication device 202 in the virtual topology map . processor 242 generates a wireless communication information table based on the virtual topology map . the wireless communication information includes communication paths between communication device 202 and communication devices 211 - 213 . the communication paths could be frequencies available to communication device 202 for wireless communication . the wireless communication information could also include communication paths with residential devices in the same premises as communication device 202 , such as in a household . the frequencies could be public frequencies , private licensed frequencies , private unlicensed frequencies , or some other frequency . the communication paths could also include multi - point multi - channel distribution service ( mmds ) channels . the wireless communication information also includes signal levels , communication path quality , latency information of the communication paths , encoding methods , and other information . fig3 is a block diagram that depicts a wireless communication information table 342 in an example of the invention . the first column of table 342 lists communication devices 211 - 215 that communication device 202 can communicate with . the first column also lists residential device ( s ) within the same premises as communication device 202 , that communication device 202 can communicate with . the second column of table 342 lists available communication paths for communication device 202 . the third column lists the available signal levels for the communication paths in the second column . the fourth column lists the link quality of the communication paths in the second column . the fifth column lists the latency of the communication paths in the second column . the sixth column lists encoding methods used for the communication paths in the second column . the seventh column lists unusable frequencies . the remainder of table 342 is for gateway paths that will be discussed later . table 342 could contain more wireless communication information as needed . for an example of how processor 242 generates table 342 , assume that radio tower 210 transmits over a frequency f 1 at a signal level w , communication device 211 transmits over frequency f 10 at a signal level x , communication device 212 transmits over frequency f 11 at a signal level y , and communication device 213 transmits over frequency f 12 at a signal level z . based on the virtual topology map , processor 242 could determine that communication device 202 cannot use frequency f 1 because it would interfere with transmissions of radio tower 210 . processor 242 could determine that communication device 202 can use frequency f 10 at a signal level xx , frequency f 11 at a signal level yy , and frequency f 12 at a signal level zz , to communicate with communication devices 211 - 213 , respectively . processor could determine that communication device 202 can use frequency f 17 at a signal level ww to communicate with residential devices within the same premises . processor 242 selects the frequencies that communication system 202 can use based on the capabilities of communication devices 211 - 213 and the residential devices . processor 242 selects the frequencies so that they do not interfere with other frequencies in the vicinity . and processor 242 selects the frequencies based upon any authorizations or licenses that communication device 202 has obtained . fig4 is a block diagram that depicts a communication device 202 in an example of the invention . communication device 202 is comprised of a processor 402 coupled to an interface 404 . processor 402 receives table 342 from control system 204 and processes table 342 . processor 402 then configures interface 404 based on table 342 for wireless communication . for example , if communication device 202 needs to communicate with communication device 211 , then processor 402 looks to the first row of table 342 . processor 402 configures interface 404 to transmit at a frequency f 10 and at a signal level xx . processor 402 also configures interface 404 to encode the data being transmitted based on encoding method e 1 . an example of an encoding method is code division multiple access ( cdma ). processor 402 also looks for unusable frequencies ufreq . if interface 404 receives a frequency that has been labeled unusable by table 342 , then processor 402 reports the unauthorized use of the frequency to control system 204 . if communication device 202 needs to communicate with communication device 212 , then processor 402 looks to the second row of table 342 . processor 402 configures interface 404 to transmit at a frequency f 11 and at a signal level yy . processor 402 configures interface 404 to encode the data being transmitted based on encoding method e 2 . if communication device 202 needs to communicate with communication device 212 but is unable to communicate over frequency f 11 , processor 402 can look to a first gateway path in table 342 . a gateway path is an alternate route or backup route for communication devices to communicate within a communication system . the first gateway path to communication device 212 is through communication device 211 . processor 402 configures interface 404 to transmit at a frequency f 10 and at a signal level xx . those skilled in the art will appreciate that control system 204 could generate table 342 for communication device 202 in the above manner if communication device 202 were initially added to communication system 200 . control system 204 could also periodically generate table 342 for communication device 202 in the above manner to ensure that communication device 202 is not interfering with communication devices in the vicinity . once interface 404 is initially configured according to table 342 , processor 402 sends a connectivity query , through interface 404 , to communication devices 211 - 213 to identify other communication devices in the vicinity . communication device 212 transmits a reply that identifies communication device 214 . the reply also includes the physical location of communication device 214 and the communication path with communication device 214 . communication device 213 also transmits a reply to the query that identifies communication device 215 . the reply also includes the physical location of communication device 215 and the communication path with communication device 215 . processor 402 adds communication devices 214 - 215 to table 342 and updates table 342 based on the information provided by communication devices 214 - 215 . processor 402 adds gateway paths to table 342 for communication devices 214 - 215 . processor 402 could continue to add communication devices and gateway paths up to a configurable depth . for instance , processor 402 only adds communication devices that are three gateways away . those skilled in the art will appreciate variations of the above - described embodiments that fall within the scope of the invention . as a result , the invention is not limited to the specific examples and illustrations discussed above , but only by the following claims and their equivalents .