Patent ID: 8767533

Claim:
A medium interface, comprising: a filter; three input ports directly coupled to the filter; and three output ports directly coupled to the filter, wherein a signal is received through one of the three input ports and the filter directs the signal to one of the three output ports based on a frequency of the signal, wherein a first output port of the three output ports corresponds to a processing module for interfacing with a processing node of a sub-network in a first layer, wherein a second output port of the three output ports corresponds to an interface for interfacing with a processing node of a sub-network in a second layer that is higher than the first layer, and wherein a third output port of the three output ports corresponds to an interface for interfacing with a processing node of a sub-network in a third layer that is higher than the second layer, wherein the sub-network in the first layer, the sub-network in the second layer and the sub-network in the third layer are different sub-networks of a network.