Patent ID: 8711873

Claim:
A method comprising: performing, by a power line communication (PLC) device, carrying out a virtual carrier sensing operation; in response to the virtual carrier sensing operation indicating that a communication channel is idle, calculating a contention window; wherein calculating the contention window includes setting a length of the contention window; carrying out a physical carrier sensing operation subsequent to the virtual carrier sensing operation, the physical carrier sensing operation based, at least in part, upon the contention window; wherein the physical carrier sensing operation is carried out at a randomly selected time within the contention window; in response to the physical carrier sensing operation indicating that the communication channel is idle, transmitting data over the channel; in response to the physical carrier sensing operation indicating that the communication channel is not idle, increasing the length of the contention window to create a modified contention window; repeating the virtual carrier sensing operation until it indicates that the communication channel is idle; carrying out a second physical carrier sensing operation subsequent to the repeated virtual carrier sensing operation, the second physical carrier sensing operation based, at least in part, upon the modified contention window; and in response to the second physical carrier sensing operation indicating that the communication channel is idle, transmitting data over the communication channel; wherein the PLC device includes a PLC modem.