Patent ID: 8036233

Claim:
A power line communication apparatus for transmitting a signal to a first power line communication apparatus through a power line connecting to a second power line communication apparatus, the power line communication apparatus comprising: an information retriever that retrieves transmission rate information indicating both a first transmission rate and a second transmission rate, the first transmission rate corresponding to a first path of the power line along which the signal is directly transmitted to the first power line communication apparatus, and the second transmission rate corresponding to a second path of the power line along which the signal is transmitted through the second power line communication apparatus to the first power line communication apparatus; a selector that selects, based on the transmission rate information retrieved by the information retriever, a path corresponding to a higher transmission rate among the first path and the second path; and a transmitter that transmits the signal, through the path selected by the selector, to the first power line communication apparatus, wherein: the information retriever further retrieves status information indicating whether or not at least one of the first power line communication apparatus and the second power line communication apparatus joins a power line communication network, and the selector selects the path based on both the transmission rate information and the status information retrieved by the information retriever.