Patent ID: 7558206

Claim:
A device for communicating data packets via an electric distribution network that includes a low voltage power line subnet, comprising: a first modem configured to be communicatively coupled to the low voltage power line subnet; a second modem configured to be communicatively coupled to a communications medium; a processor in communication with said first modem and said second modem; a memory communicatively coupled to said processor; a computer readable medium being encoded with executable instructions to cause said processor to store in said memory rate limit information received via said second modem; said computer readable medium encoded with executable instructions to cause said processor to determine a rate limit for a plurality of received data packets based, at least in part, on the rate limit information; said executable instructions cause said processor to cause transmission of at least some of the plurality of data packets in accordance with the rate limit; and wherein said computer readable medium is encoded with executable instructions to cause said processor to determine quality of service information for a remote power line modem connected to the low voltage power line subnet and to cause said first modem to transmit said quality of service information to the remote power line modem via the low voltage power line subnet.