Patent ID: 8826265

Claim:
A method comprising: performing, by a power line communication (PLC) device, forming a group of PLC devices to receive a transmission of a data set, the group being organized according to a hierarchical structure; transmitting the data set to the group of PLC devices using PLC; determining whether a PLC device in a lowest level of the hierarchical structure is missing one or more portions of the data set; retransmitting, using PLC, at least the missing portions of the data set until each PLC device in the lowest level group of PLC devices have the full data set; determining, one level at a time, whether a PLC device in each of a preceding level of the hierarchical structure is missing one or more portions of the data set; retransmitting, using PLC one level at a time, at least the missing portions of the data set until the each PLC device in the preceding level of the PLC devices has the full data set; transmitting, using PLC, a command to flash each PLC device in the group on a level-by-level basis, starting with the devices in the lowest level of the hierarchy, until each PLC device in the group has completed a flash operation; and wherein the hierarchical structure has at least two levels.