Patent ID: 8755289

Claim:
In a home network having a plurality of network modules, at least two of the network modules being connected to a coax backbone, a method for communicating over the coax backbone between network modules, the method comprising: designating one of the at least two network modules as a master module, wherein each of the at least two network modules is capable of being designated as the master module; using the master module to receive requests sent over the coax backbone from at least some of the network modules for bandwidth to transmit bursts, the master module being located in a home; using the master module to establish an order of transmission opportunities for the at least some of the network modules to follow when transmitting the bursts; using the master module to transmit over the coax backbone an allocation burst that allocates a transmission opportunity to each of the at least some of the network modules to transmit bursts, the allocation burst being based on the transmission order; calibrating at least one unregistered network module to at least one parameter of the physical layer of the home network, the calibrating using a burst transmitted by the unregistered network module to the master module; and following the calibrating, using the unregistered network module to send a registration burst to the master module.