Patent ID: 8468252

Claim:
In a power line data transmission network, a method of determining a process for transmitting data on said network, the method comprising: notifying a central coordinator of a group of devices to receive a transmission; obtaining system parameters from the central coordinator, wherein the system parameters include a bandwidth merit parameter and a delay merit parameter; determining whether (a) to transmit a packet in minimum time or (b) to minimize the amount of bandwidth for the packet; if it is determined to transmit the packet in minimum time: computing the delay merit parameter for a contention access method of transmitting data, a direct broadcast method of transmitting data, a dedicated relay method of transmitting data, and a dual channel relay method of transmitting data; and selecting a method of transmitting data on said network, the transmission method selected being from the group consisting of (a) the contention access method, (b) the direct broadcast method, (c) the dedicated relay method, and (d) the dual channel relay method, said selection being based upon said computed delay merit parameter; if it is determined to minimize the amount of bandwidth for the packet: computing the bandwidth merit parameter for the contention access method of transmitting data, the direct broadcast method of transmitting data, the dedicated relay method of transmitting data, and the dual channel relay method of transmitting data; and selecting a method of transmitting data on said network, the transmission method selected being from the group consisting of (a) the contention access method, (b) the direct broadcast method, (c) the dedicated relay method, and (d) the dual channel relay method, said selection being based upon said computed bandwidth merit parameter; and transmitting data to said group of devices utilizing said selected method.