Patent ID: 7660304

Claim:
A point-to-multipoint network interface for transferring data packets between a plurality of lower level nodes and a higher level node, wherein each of the data packets includes a destination address, comprising: a plurality of upstream receivers, wherein each of said plurality of upstream receivers is configured to receive data packets from a respective one of the plurality of lower level nodes; a multiplexer configured to multiplex said data packets received by said plurality of upstream receivers into a first stream of data packets; an upstream transmitter that is configured to transmit said first stream of data packets to the higher level node regardless of destination addresses of said data packets in said first stream of data packets, wherein the upstream transmitter cannot transmit said first stream of data packets from a respective one of the plurality of lower level nodes to any other respective one of the plurality of lower level nodes; a downstream receiver that is configured to receive a second stream of data packets from the higher level node; a demultiplexer; and a plurality of downstream transmitters; wherein said demultiplexer is configured to demultiplex said second stream of data packets into individual data packets and is configured to selectively provide each of said individual data packets to one of said plurality of downstream transmitters for transmission to a respective one of the plurality of lower level nodes; and wherein, at least one of the lower level nodes is not an end user device.