The direction from a remote node toward a central or controlling node in a hierarchical network. The word may also be used as a verb: to upline or to upline load, i.e. to send data from a remote end-user’s node to a central node. Upline loading may be used for the storage of data that were created or modified at the remote node, but cannot be stored there permanently. Upline loading may also be used to transmit data collected at a remote node to a more central node for further processing. Compare downline.