Patent ID: 8724485

Claim:
A method of controlling consumption of power in a home network comprising a coaxial backbone, the method comprising: selecting, by a plurality of network modules of the home network, one of the plurality of network modules to operate as a master module, wherein each of the plurality of network modules is configured to operate as the master module when selected to operate as the master module; using the master module to establish communication between the plurality of network modules over the coax backbone and to assign identifiers to the plurality of network modules; controlling the power consumption in the home network, said power being consumed at least in part by the communication between the plurality of network modules over the coax backbone, by adjusting a transmission power associated with each of the plurality of network modules to a selected power level based at least in part on a power level of a signal transmitted by each of the plurality of network modules when the signal arrives at the master module, wherein a first network module of the plurality of the network modules is associated with a different transmission power than a second network module of the plurality of network modules; and transmitting, by the master module to at least one of the plurality of network modules, a burst that is indicative of the selected power level for the at least one of the plurality of network modules.