In addition to computers, home networks now typically include multiple types of subscriber equipment configured to deliver subscriber services through the home network. The subscriber services include the delivering of multimedia, such as streaming audio and video, through the home network to the subscriber equipment where it is presented to a user. As the number of available subscriber services increases, so does the number of devices being connected to a home network. The increase in the number of services and devices increases the complexity of the coordination between the network nodes as each node may be produced by a different manufacturer at different times. Some home networking technologies have emerged in an attempt to facilitate simple home network solutions and take advantage of existing network infrastructure that may be present in a number of homes. For example, the Home Phone Network Alliance (HPNA) allows users to network home computers by using the existing telephone and coaxial cable wiring within a home. HPNA-enabled devices utilize a different frequency spectrum than the spectrum used by faxes and phones. Instead of using existing telephone and coaxial wiring, the Homeplug® Power Alliance utilizes the existing electrical power wiring in a home to create a home network. In a Homeplug® network, all Homeplug®-enabled devices that are plugged into a wall outlet connected to a common electrical circuit may be wired together in a home network. One issue with Homeplug® is that the network bandwidth is susceptible to significant reduction due to large variations of the home electrical wiring and reactive loads in the outlets.
Additionally, problems arise in implementing network devices that correctly interact with other network devices. These problems may inhibit the deployment of newer devices that provide later-developed services in the presence of older (legacy) devices. The emerging Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) standard architecture impacts this problem in that (1) network behaviors dynamically assign a device the “Network Coordinator” (NC) role in order to optimize performance, (2) only the device in the NC role is known to be able to schedule traffic for all other nodes in the network, and (3) a full mesh network architecture may be formed between any device and its peers.
With many potential applications sharing the same digital network, various applications have to compete for a limited amount of bandwidth, which compounds the distribution problem. A bandwidth intensive application, such as a high-throughput download, may cause the degradation of other more important applications sharing the network. This outcome may be unacceptable when the other application requires a high quality of service.
Various solutions to solve this problem have been proposed, usually involving a high-level network controller or having high-level applications setting priority to data packets or data streams within the network. Moreover, intelligent network devices require high computational power, and are consequently more expensive than they need to be. Finally, complex network devices are impractical for home use, as most consumers do not have the sophistication or experience to configure a computer network.