US Patent 7224272 Power line repeater system and method

A PLCS network element that provides communications to one or more user devices and may also repeat data for other network elements is provided. In one embodiment, the device includes software for discovering its upstream gateway, for acting as a gateway for other devices, and for relaying DHCP transmissions. In addition, the device includes software for receiving and processing commands from a remote computer system that may include commands enabling and disabling the repeater functionality. Finally, the device may also include software for receiving and processing configuration information that may include, for example, information of the other network devices for which it will repeat.