Patent ID: 8325728

Claim:
A power line communications system, comprising: a data collector that includes one or more processors configured to receive end point data that is encoded to specify an end point identifier for a particular end point from which the data was transmitted and a network identifier for a PLC network to which the end point belongs; a plurality of substation processing units that are each configured to: transmit a broadcast message specifying the network identifier associated for the PLC network and a unique substation identifier for the substation processing unit, and receive data that is encoded with the network identifier and the unique substation identifier; a plurality of end points, each end point including one or more processors configured to: detect a broadcast message that specifies a network identifier and a unique substation identifier that are broadcast by a substation processing unit, and encode data with a unique end point identifier for the end point, the detected network identifier, and the detected unique substation identifier.