Patent ID: 8762820

Claim:
A method for communicating data over power distribution lines carrying alternating current using a communication protocol for communicating data between endpoint devices and an upstream data-collecting device, the method comprising: for each of a multitude of first symbols having a plurality of bits, generating at least two second symbols respectively including different subsets of the bits in the first symbol, wherein generating at least two second symbols includes, at each of at least two different endpoints, generating at least two second symbols having a number of bits that is different for the at least two endpoints, based upon communication capabilities of the endpoint for which the second symbols are generated; based at least in part on an encoding operation that operates on entire symbols having a predefined bit size that is smaller than the bit size of the first symbols, constructing encoded symbols by splitting each first symbol into second symbols having the predefined bit size, by encoding the second symbols, and by combining each of the encoded second symbols according to the communication protocol; and communicating the encoded symbols over the power distribution lines based on timing indicated at least in part by the alternating current.