Patent ID: 9270334
Filing Date: 2016-02-23
CPC Classification: H04B,H04L

Claim Text:
1. A process for selecting an optimum switch node in a Power Line Communication (PLC) network comprising: receiving requests at a base node having a data concentrator from terminal nodes asking to be promoted to a switch node in order to serve a new node trying to join the network; receiving, with the one or more processors included in a terminal node of the PLC network, a Promotion Needed Protocol Data Unit (PNPDU) request; verifying, by the terminal node in the PLC network, that there is an acceptable Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of the received PNPDU request; generating a random number for backoff purposes in reducing network congestion; and transmitting, with the one or more processors included in the terminal node, a Promotion Up process message to the base node based on a probabilistic function according to a delay based on a level of the terminal node in the PLC network and the generated random number multiplied by a level of node PNPDUs.