Patent ID: 8750392

Claim:
A powerline communications (PLC) device comprising: a PLC interface operable to couple at least two differing communication signals to at least two differing pairs of at least three conductors of a powerline medium, including: at least two two-wire interfaces, each two-wire interface for servicing a respective Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) PLC signal; and coupling circuitry for coupling MIMO signals produced by the two-wire interfaces to respective conductor pairs of the powerline medium to support at least 2×2 MIMO; a processing module coupled the PLC interface, the processing module and the PLC interface operable to: interact with a remote PLC device to determine connectivity of the remote PLC device to the PLC device via the at least three conductors of the powerline medium; select at least two conductor pairs of the powerline medium that communicatively couple the PLC device to the remote PLC device for MIMO signal servicing; and simultaneously transmit MIMO PLC signals to the remote PLC device via the at least two conductor pairs.