Patent ID: 7298757

Claim:
A method for providing access to a communications medium, the communications medium being suitable for allowing use of a plurality of Home Phoneline Network Association (HPNA) v2 frames, each HPNA v2 frame being timed to allow an Inter-Frame Gap (IFG) having a duration that is substantially a duration defined by an HPNA v2 protocol specification, the method comprising steps of: generating a message for transmission to an enhanced station (STA), the enhanced STA being one of a Media Control Station (MC STA) and a non-Media Control Station (non-MC STA); and generating at least one enhanced frame containing the message on the communications medium, each enhanced frame having timing to allow a Shortened Inter-Frame Gap (SIFG), each SIFG having a duration that is not recognized by a HPNA v2 STA as a duration defined by the HPNA v2 protocol specification for the IFG and permitting each enhanced frame priority over pending HPNA v2 frames, the SIFG comprising a blocking signal adapted to prevent the HPNA v2 STA from recognizing an existence of the SIFG.