1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to powerline communications and in particular, powerline communication devices, and systems of use therefore.
2. Description of the Related Art With the growing need for the exchange of digital content (e.g. MP3 audio, MPEG4 video and digital photographs) there is a widely recognized need to improve digital communication systems. Powerline communication (PLC) is a technology that encodes data in a signal and transmits the signal on existing electricity powerlines in a band of frequencies that are not used for supplying electricity. Accordingly, PLC leverages the ubiquity of existing electricity networks to provide extensive network coverage. Furthermore, since PLC enables data to be accessed from conventional power-outlets, no new wiring needs to be installed in a building (or different parts of a building). Accordingly, PLC offers the additional advantage of reduced installation costs.
Referring to
Accordingly, there are a variety of distances and paths between different power outlets in the household 100. In particular, the outlets most closely located to each other are those on multi-plug strips, and the outlets furthest away from each other are those on the ends of stubs of different ring mains (e.g. power outlets in the garden shed and the attic). Communication between these furthest outlets typically passes through the junction box 112. Nonetheless, the majority of outlets associated with a particular application (e.g. Home Cinema) are normally located relatively close together.
Because the channel capacity of a powerline and connectors attenuates according to, amongst other features, the frequency of a transmitted signal, current generation PLC systems have been developed to transmit signals at relatively low frequencies (i.e. below 30 MHz) and thereby obtain suitable transmission distances. However, the use of such low transmission frequencies limits the maximum data throughput obtainable by PLC systems. Only recently have powerline systems extended beyond 30 MHz, which causes problems due to regulations that require lower injected power above 30 MHz. This requirement places additional demands on the dynamic range of transceivers servicing PLC communications in these higher frequency ranges.
The processes of receiving analog signals and injecting modulated signals are treated differently by different PLC communication standards. A number of powerline communication standards have been defined. These include the HomePlug 1.0/1.1 standards, the HomePlug AV standard, the CEPCA standard, the Digital Home Standard, IEEE 1901, and ITU-T G.9960. Current PLC approaches often include some analog conditioning to the signal-path (e.g., low-pass filtering for anti-aliasing or smoothing, or AC coupling to remove the low-frequency [<<1 KHz] high voltage content of the electricity mains). However, because differing PLC communication standards support differing communication bands, differing modulations, channel bandwidths, etc., PLC devices typically service only a single PLC communication standard. In common with most communication systems, one of the main problems with prior art PLC systems is obtaining high throughput and wide coverage at reasonable implementation cost, whilst maintaining compatibility with existing technologies. There is, therefore, a need for improved PLC systems that overcome the above and other problems.
Communications within the household 100 or within other premises may also be serviced by a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a cellular network, millimeter wave communications, e.g., 60 GHz, Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), Cable Modem Network, Local Area Network (LAN), and other communication techniques. Each of these communication types has its respective benefits and shortcomings. None of these communication types is typically able to provide a full coverage solution within the household 100 (or other premises). The shortcoming of all wired technologies is the lack of mobility thereof. Shortcomings of all wireless technologies are coverage holes, which are typical, interference from other wireless devices, including competing wireless devices, Radar, etc., and bandwidth limitations.
The PLC device 200 includes a PLC interface 206 that includes a power plug interface 208, an Analog Front End (AFE) 210, and a Digital Front End (DFE) 212. Generally the AFE 210 includes analog signal processing elements while the DFE 212 includes digital signal processing elements. At least one Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) and at least one Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) service analog to digital and digital to analog signal conversion operations, respectively. Various components of the PLC interface 206 as they relate to embodiments of the present invention will be described further herein.
The PLC device 200 also includes one or more other communication interfaces, including a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) interface 214, e.g., a WiMAX interface, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) interface 216, e.g., an 802.11x interface, a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) interface 218, e.g., a Bluetooth interface, a 60 GHz interface 220 (millimeter wave interface), a Local Area Network (LAN) interface 222, e.g., an Ethernet interface, a cable interface, e.g. Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) interface 224, an optical interface 226, a Near Field Communication (NFC) I/F 228, an Infra-Red I/F 230, and/or an RF Tag I/F 232. The user should appreciate that the PLC device 200 may bridge communications between a power plug and one or more devices, e.g., between the power plug and a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a touchpad computer, an appliance, a television, another entertainment system device, etc., via the PLC interface 206 and one or more of the other communication interfaces 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, and/or 232.
The processing module 202 may include one or more of a system processor, a digital signal processor, a processing module, dedicated hardware, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other circuitry that is capable of executing software instructions and for processing data. In particular, the processing module 202 is operable to support Medium Access Control (MAC) management, communications bridging management, and other management of the communications circuitry of the PLC device 200. The memory 204 may be RAM, ROM, FLASH RAM, FLASH ROM, optical memory, magnetic memory, or other types of memory that is capable of storing data and/or instructions and allowing processing circuitry to access same. The processing module 202 and the memory 204 supports operations of embodiments of the present invention as further described herein.
HomePlug family of operations, including the 1.0, AV1.1, AV2, and GP operations, and the HD-PLC operations. Generally, the HomePlug family of PLC communication standards is incompatible with the HD-PLC communication standard. The HomePlug PLC communication standard is widely deployed while HD-PLC is primarily deployed in Japan.
The IEEE 1901 specification includes a newer PLC communication standard that has two different PHY layers, one based on OFDM modulation (interoperable with HomePlug AV1.1), and another based on Wavelet modulation (interoperable with HD-PLC). Each PHY layer is optional, and implementers of the communication standard may, but are not required to include both. Devices that use the OFDM PHY only would not interoperate with devices based on the Wavelet PHY. The OFDM PHY is derived from HomePlug AV.
The IEEE 1905.1 specification defines an abstraction layer for multiple home networking technologies. IEEE 1905.1 provides a common data and control Service Access Point to the heterogeneous home networking technologies described in the following specifications: IEEE 1901, IEEE 802.11x, IEEE 802.3x and Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) 1.1. The IEEE 1905.1 standard is extendable to work with other home networking technologies. The abstraction layer supports dynamic interface selection for transmission of packets arriving from any interface (upper protocol layers or underlying network technologies). End-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) is supported. Also specified are procedures, protocols and guidelines to provide a simplified user experience to add devices to the network, to set up encryption keys, to extend the network coverage, and to provide network management features to address issues related to neighbor discovery, topology discovery, path selection, QoS negotiation, and network control and management.
The IEEE 1905.1 layer resides between the media access control and Internet Protocol layers. The 1905.1 abstraction layer intends to make it easier to install and manage hybrid home networks and will also provide mechanisms for bridging data among different interfaces, i.e., plug and play.
ITU's G.hn specification is a competing counterpart to IEEE 1901 that primarily defines different ways to implement PHY and MAC layers of a PLC device. G.hn is a technology standard that enables service providers, consumer electronics companies, PC makers, and consumers to connect all types of devices via any wire in the home—coax cable, phone lines and powerlines.
There are a multitude of narrow and broadband PLC technologies beyond IEEE 1901 that already exist. For example, conventional tier two coexistence mechanisms are included in ISO/IEC 14908, G3 & G3 Lite, HP C&C, ISO/IEC 14543 which employ some form of CSMA/CA. Other PLC communication standard technologies do not support any type of coexistence other than tier one. Such standards include most current broadband PLC offerings, UPB, A10, INSTEON/X-10, Ariane Controls, CEBus, CEA 600.31, TDA 5051A, etc.
With all of these PLC communication standards potentially sharing the same powerline media and defining use of the same frequency bands, major problems arise depending on the particular installation. For example, if a consumer buys and installs current PLC components, they may not function, function inadequately, or may cause major problems with currently existing PLC components operating pursuant to other standards. A first tier of conventional coexistence involved PLC frequency spectrum allocation, which has failed because there is no controlling entity enforcing conformance (such as found with over the air transmissions and the FCC).
The industry is aware of first tier conventional coexistence failures, and is currently attempting to define a second tier conventional coexistence scheme to apply to all PLC communication standards. Basically, a second tier approach involves first identifying all standards that may exist within a current installation, and then equally splitting available resources (frequency band, available time, etc.) amongst them.
A problem with prior tier one and two coexistence schemes is that a first group of devices of a first standard might be rather inactive and could afford to lose available resources, while a second group of second standard devices might be very active and could benefit from more resources. The second group might also involve many more devices than that of the first group, or be involved in communication exchanges with much higher priority. Communication management operations supported by a PLC device of the present invention address these and additional problems.
According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, one or more of these PLC devices 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, 414, and 424 supports one or more differing PLC communication standards. For example PLC device 402 supports PLC communication standard 1, PLC device 404 supports PLC communication standard 1,
PLC device 406 supports PLC communication standards 1 and 2, PLC device 408 supports PLC communication standard 3, PLC device 410 supports PLC communication standard 3, PLC device 412 supports PLC communication standard 3, and PLC device 414 supports PLC communication standards 2 and 3, and PLC device 424 supports PLC communication standards 1 and 3. As will be further described herein the differing PLC communication standards may be wideband, narrowband, consistent with one another, and/or inconsistent with one another. These PLC communication standards may be one of the PLC communication standards described with reference to
According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, one or more of the PLC devices 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, 414, and 424 may serve as masters of the powerline media servicing the premises 400, may bridge communications across differing PLC communication standards, and/or may bridge communications between PLC communications and non-PLC communications. Several of these operations will be described herein subsequently. In some embodiments, each PLC standard will have a unique master, with differing PLC devices serving as masters for differing PLC communication standards. Likewise, each supported non-PLC communication standard may have its own master.
Also located in the premises 500 are a number of appliances 550, 552, 554, 556, 558, 560, 562, 564, 566, and 568. These appliances may be kitchen appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, stoves, ovens, dishwashers, trash compactors, small appliances, ice makers, etc. Further, these appliances may be office appliances such as computers, printers, scanners, monitors, etc. Further still these appliances could be industrial equipment, air conditioning units, heating units, ventilation units, fans, etc. The scope of the term appliance is not limited by the examples provided herein.
According to one aspect of the present invention, any of the PLC devices in the premises is capable of providing network service to the appliances along with node tagging support. One or more of the appliances may have a conventional tag, e.g., an RFID, NFC tag, one dimensional or two dimensional code, or another type of tag. One or more of the illustrated PLC devices has the ability to identify proximately located appliances (devices) using near field communication and/or RFIDs and/or bar codes. In such case, the device may query locally all potential RF tag enabled devices for response in identifying based thereupon. Further, near field communication may be employed by the device to identify proximately located devices. With each device labeled or identified, this information may be uploaded to a central location to at least logically map the location of these devices with the PLC device that does the querying.
This type of technique could be used to support “network in a box” functionality within a home or business. This network in a box may include RF tags for network enabled devices in the home (or simply load devices). This invention may also be extended with the use of wireless beam forming to further identify a fixed physical location of the devices with respect to other devices. By using wireless beam forming, the logical locations of each of the devices may be related to one another and the physical positioning of the beam forming technique.
According to a multi-communication technique installation within a home, one type of communication service may be wireless communications that are serviced by devices that bridge from a powerline communications communication link to a wireless link. For example, this type of device may provide 60 GHz wireless communications within a particular room. Further, another type of device may provide 802.11 communications with a particular part of the structure. Further, another bridging type device may bridge between PLC and Ethernet communications. In such case, a software application is downloaded onto a phone 570 for use in mapping wireless services available within a home. The phone or tablet device 570 would have at least one wireless interface servicing WLAN or 60 GHz that would be able to determine service levels in all portions of the home/structure. In such case, the phone/tablet may also have a GPS receiver or another type of mapping location awareness that is employed for characterizing available communication services within the home. RFID/NFC tags associated with either or both the phone/tablet and a particular access point (powerline or otherwise) could interact along with position information to assist in generating such map. A user would enable the application and do a walkabout within the home to characterize communications characteristics that are available within various portions within the home. The data collected by the phone/tablet may be subsequently used to determine where additional points of communications are required, e.g. additional PLC/802.11 or PLC/60 GHz devices are required.
According to one aspect of the present invention, which will be described further with reference to
PLC interface processing circuitry 602 supports operations previously described herein with reference to
The PLC device 200 then directs each responding device with its corresponding
Frequency domain and Time domain allocation (Step 710). The PLC device 200 then operates with this allocation until a timeout or other triggering event occurs (Step 706). When such a timeout or triggering event occurs, operation returns to Step 702, where the querying operations commence again.
In particular, the PLC device transmits a plurality of PLC queries, each PLC query respective to a particular PLC communication standard, two of the plurality of PLC queries complying with differing and incompatible PLC communication standards. The PLC queries are sent with the expectation that PLC devices sharing the PLC media and the PLC communication standard capability will respond, indicating that they are present on the PLC media. The responses may also indicate capabilities and communication requirements of the responding devices. Each supported PLC communication standard may define such a query or a similar message/beacon. For example, G.hn has a MAP message that may serve as the PLC query in some embodiments, with or without modification. Other PLC communication standards have similar messages, which serve similar purposes.
In response to the PLC queries, the PLC device receives a plurality of responses from a plurality of other PLC devices, two responses received from respective PLC devices complying with two differing and incompatible PLC communication standards. The PLC device then directs each of the two PLC devices to transmit communications of the differing and incompatible PLC communication standards in an attempt to avoid PLC communication conflicts. Alternately, the PLC device may establish non-PLC communications with a remote communications device and bridge communications between the remote PLC device and a remote non-PLC device.
The operations 700 may enable a PLC device to allocate first time slots for a first one of differing and incompatible PLC communication standards and to allocate second time slots for a second one of the differing and incompatible PLC communication standards. In such case, the first time slots would differ from the second time slots. Thus, with reference again to
Referring again to
With the operations 700 of
The operations 700 of
When multiple PLC devices (multiples of PLC devices 200) exist within a particular installation, operations may require Cross-Medium Coexistence. For example, where a first PLC device supports first and second PLC communication standards and a second PLC device supports third and fourth PLC communication standards and where the first and third PLC communication standards operate on the same medium in competition (via single medium coexistence sharing) or in direct conflict, an abstraction layer (e.g., similar or within IEEE 1905.1) defines that either the first or the second PLC device relinquishes all or at least some use of the corresponding first or third standard, correspondingly, and is forced to rely at least more heavily if not entirely on the second or fourth standards instead. The abstraction layer makes its decision based on (i) channel conditions underlying the first, second, third and fourth standards; (ii) node impact (cost, power, etc.); (iii) user setup or real time preferences; (iv) underlying QoS concerns, etc.
Further, a PLC device 200 of the present invention may support multi-medium Mesh operations that perform flooding and/or routing of communications across multiple mediums concurrently. In such case, the routing of data by the PLC device 200 may be performed such that data is routed across multiple data paths, e.g., two or more of PLC path, WLAN path, LAN path, MoCA path, etc. The PLC device 200 may serve as an intermediate routing node that makes media routing decisions based upon media loading, data type, QoS requirements, and other characteristics of not only the serviced transaction but the available media paths and the characteristics of each media path.
The PLC devices 200 of the present invention may also support Cross-Medium Sub-Streaming, with which a source or middling PLC device breaking data flow (stream) into sub-portions (diverging), sending such sub-portions independently across multiple mediums and finally reconstructing by a destination or further middling PLC device back into the original stream (converging). This diverging-converging process can be nested and occur many times in an overall pathway between a source and destination.
One or more PLC devices 200 of the present invention may support Virtual Bridging Across Multiple Powerline Modems. Coexistence between incompatible PLC communication standards such as HPAV and G.hn may be handled by a time domain sharing, where incompatibilities exist. Some PLC devices may support only one of such multiple standards, while others support all. One sharing approach involves a time slot allocation in an equal splitting manner, to yield periods in which a first standard device grouping operates and periods wherein a second standard device grouping operates. This sharing approach is that each device will operate only pursuant to one standard throughout.
According to another aspect of the present invention, one or more supported PLC communication standards may be “disabled’ within the PLC network to avoid conflict and all nodes directed to communicate using other techniques. In such case, a PLC node may be directed to use WLAN communications instead of PLC communications when the use of the PLC communications would burden the PLC media unduly considering the benefit of allowing instantiation of the PLC communication standard. The decision to “disable” the PLC communication standard from use may be based upon the efficiency pre and post disablement, deliverable QoS pre and post disablement, throughput on a node by node basis pre and post disablement and upon other factors.
Referring again to
Operation 900 continues with the PLC device receiving a communication from the other PLC device in a PLC communication standard format (Step 906). The PLC device then converts the communication from the PLC communication standard format to a non-PLC communication standard format (Step 908). Then, the PLC device transmits the communication in the non-PLC communication standard format to the remote communications device (Step 910). In such case, the communications transmitted according to one of the communication types previously described.
The operations 900 of
According to another aspect of the PLC/non-PLC bridging operation of the present invention, upstream communications may be transmitted in one format and downstream communications may be transmitted in another format. For example, if the PLC communications may be transmitted at a higher data throughput rate, downstream communications may be transmitted via the PLC media. Further, the upstream communications may have a lesser throughput rate and may be transmitted via a non-PLC communication standard format, e.g. WLAN communications. These principles may be expanded further with differing communication types to subdivide between PLC communications and non-PLC communications.
The operations 1100 of
In a first operation, beginning at step 1104, the PLC device determines that the PLC device will service communications with a first remote PLC device according to a first PLC communication standard. Such operation 1104 may be determined based upon a request received by the PLC device from the first remote PLC device. Operation continues with the PLC device configuring the communication interface to service communications according to the first PLC communication standard (Step 1106). Operation continues with the PLC device servicing communications with the first remote PLC device according to the first PLC communication standard (Step 1108). From Step 1108, operation proceeds to Step 1102.
In a second operation, beginning at step 1110, the PLC device determines that the PLC device will service communications with a second remote PLC device according to a second PLC communication standard. Such operation 1110 may be determined based upon a request received by the PLC device from the second remote PLC device. Operation continues with the PLC device configuring the communication interface to service communications according to the second PLC communication standard (Step 1112). Operation continues with the PLC device servicing communications with the second remote PLC device according to the second PLC communication standard (Step 1114). From Step 1114, operation proceeds to Step 1102.
The reader will appreciate that the operations 1100 of
The first and second PLC communication standards may be differing and incompatible. In one particular embodiment of
In another operation of
In another operation of
In another operation of
In still another operation of
Some or all of the operations of
PLC communication standard 2, and PLC communication standard 3 are allocated in differing frequency bands of an allocated frequency spectrum. In such case, when the differing PLC communication standards being incompatible, no overlap in frequency is allowed. The frequency division may be altered over time depending upon the number and type of PLC devices being serviced by a PLC device of the present invention, the communication requirements of the serviced PLC devices, and upon other considerations. The width of the frequency bands for each PLC communication standard may be altered over time. The width of the bands may be altered based upon communication requirements. The time division aspects of
According to one or both of the PLC devices of
According to a first aspect of such reconfigurability, an AFE, e.g., 1408, of a PLC device may be reconfigured to service differing PLC standards, e.g., wideband and narrowband, differing wideband PLC standards, PLC and LAN, PLC and WiFi, PLC and MoCA, etc. A difficulty addressed in designing a reconfigurable AFE is to make the AFE for one gain/bandwidth requirement, e.g., 30 MHz of one standard while being efficient for another standard's gain/bandwidth requirements e.g., 100 MHz
According to one aspect of the present invention, the AFE may be configured or reconfigured (even on the fly for time shared operation) to support a plurality of differing PLC and other standards. The configuration of the AFE may be based upon supported media as well as multiple communication standard servicing. The AFE is configurable based upon a serviced frequency band/bands and a communication standard being serviced.
For example, the AFE may be shared between PLC and coaxial communications or between PLC and LAN communications. In such case, the characteristics of the components of the AFE are modified based upon a particular media and communication standard being supported. Switching capability built into either the integrated circuit or packaging or interface circuitry for the integrated circuit will enable switching of communication paths between differing serviced media.
PLC device constructed and operating according to one or more embodiments of the present invention. With the communication interface 1700 of
The operations 1800 of
Operations 1800 continue with the PLC device determining that the PLC device will service communications with a second remote PLC device according to a second PLC communication standard (Step 1806). Such operation 1806 may be determined based upon a request received by the PLC device from the second remote PLC device. Operation continues with the PLC device configuring the communication interface to service communications according to the second PLC communication standard (Step 1808).
Operation further continues with the PLC device servicing communications with the first remote PLC device according to the first PLC communication standard (Step 1810) and with the PLC device servicing communications with the second remote PLC device according to the second PLC communication standard (Step 1812). From Step 1812, operations may be repeated based upon current communication requirements.
The operations 1800 of
Further, the first PLC communication standard may be a narrowband PLC communication standard and the second PLC communication standard may be a wideband PLC communication standard. The PLC device may operate by receiving a communication via the first PLC interface and transmitting an Acknowledgement for the communication via the second PLC interface. Redundancy may be pursued by sending the Acknowledgement via both the first and second PLC interfaces. The Acknowledgement may be a positive Acknowledgement (ACK) or a Negative Acknowledgement (NACK).
The operations 1800 of
Alternately to the operations of
In another operation, the first PLC interface may be adjusted to have a first frequency response and the second PLC interface may be adjusted to have a second frequency response that differs from the first frequency response. In still another operation, during one period, primary communications are serviced via the first PLC interface and, during a secondary period, primary communications are serviced via the second PLC interface. For example, during normal operations, primary Internet access may be serviced via a home gateway that includes a cable modem link to a service provider. However, during an outage of the cable modem network, Internet access is serviced via a narrowband PLC link that is backhauled via a PLC network of a different service provider.
According to another aspect of the operations 1800 of
In such case, the block sizes supported by multiple communications standards are used in multiple blocks such that a total block size expands across both communication protocol standards. E.g. one block size is 2 N; a second block size is 3 N. In order to span these block sizes, a block size of 6 N is selected for communications of differing types. In this case, according to one communication protocol two blocks are transmitted, and according to a second communication protocol three blocks are transmitted within the predetermined selected block size of 6 N. Clock management is also important when supporting multiple communication standards and according to the present invention, a fractional PLL is used that has swappable coefficients to map the PLL from one clock domain to another, each clock domain supporting a unique communication protocol.
According to another aspect of an AFE of the present invention, the AFE includes multiple receive paths, e.g., 1902a and 1902b with differing gain settings. In many AFE's, especially in PLC networking, during a typical noise cycle, or during ingress noise receipt, total signal power is significantly greater than at other time periods. Typical AGC (Automatic Gain Control) tracking attempts to adjust the gain of a single receive pathway to prevent saturation. Problem occurs when very rapidly and dramatic changes in signal strength occur such, such changes in total signal strength, overcoming AGC response capabilities and ADC saturation results. Thus, according to the present invention, the gain of receive path 11902a is set to one gain setting level and the gain of receive path 2 1902b is set to a differing gain setting level. For different periods of the noise cycle or during differing signal strength operations, a differing one of the outputs of the multiple receive paths 1902a and 1902b is selected for input signal processing.
In particular, each AFE receive path is serviced by distinct Programmable Gain Amplifiers (PGAs). One of the PGA signal paths is employed for sampling during relatively low signal power periods, while the other with a lower gain setting is directed at sampling when the total signal power exceeds a predefined threshold. Of course, further PGA's could be used in this manner, with a quick pathway swap-over scheme employed. Although possibly not needed, multiple AGC approaches can also be added to each such pathway should fine tuning of gain within a particular receive pathway be necessary.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the structure 2000 of
Conventional PLC designs that do support two substantially independent modems involve integration of two independent broadband modems into one device, for example as defined within IEEE 1901. But such integration was a product of a lost battle to select only one modem to service everything, and the resulting compromise was to adopt both—which is in effect a failure in standardization.
With the structure of
In one example of operation, an ISP (Internet Service Provider) fails, due to cable modem, DSL, satellite, or other ISP service failing. However, a low bandwidth path through the power service provider is supported, for example for emergency calls, alarms, etc. Power company need not install narrow-band pathway through their power distribution infrastructure to reach a facility/home with Internet connectivity via such bridging.
The structure of
According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, the narrow-band powerline pathway (and underlying characteristics) assists wide-band communication flow and, perhaps, vice versa. With one embodiment, data is transmitted via the wide-band communication standard and ACKs/NAKs are carried in the narrow-band communication standard. This may be especially advantageous with multicast media streaming. The ACKSs/NAKs may be redundantly transmitted. Data throughput could also be increased by using multiple PHYs for single communications. With one particular embodiment, communications are serviced in a wideband frequency spectrum and acknowledgments/error reporting messaging is done using a narrow band communication frequency segment. In such case, the acknowledgments that are sent using the narrow band communications spectrum may have a more robust communications scheme, e.g. using lower order modulation to guarantee that the acknowledgments are received by the transmitting device.
Further, data communications between particular devices each of which supports multiple communication protocols on different media may be split. Further, we can actually transmit acknowledgments across differing protocol interfaces so as to assure that acknowledgments are received on a more robust communication medium. In such case, by supporting multiple communication protocols concurrently, we can increase the throughput between multiple devices even though the throughput on each particular type of media is limited, e.g. wireless, PLC, Ethernet.
In other operations of the PLC device 2000 of
Transmit signals are produced by the narrowband PLC DFE 2104 and the wideband PLC DFE 2106. A Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) 2212 receives the transmit signals in a digital format and converts the signals to an analog format. With the structure of
The terms “circuit” and “circuitry” as used herein may refer to an independent circuit or to a portion of a multifunctional circuit that performs multiple underlying functions. For example, depending on the embodiment, processing circuitry may be implemented as a single chip processor or as a plurality of processing chips. Likewise, a first circuit and a second circuit may be combined in one embodiment into a single circuit or, in another embodiment, operate independently perhaps in separate chips. The term “chip,” as used herein, refers to an integrated circuit. Circuits and circuitry may comprise general or specific purpose hardware, or may comprise such hardware and associated software such as firmware or object code.
The present invention has also been described above with the aid of method steps illustrating the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functional building blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.
The present invention has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the performance of certain significant functions. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and still perform the certain significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof.
As may be used herein, the terms “substantially” and “approximately” provides an industry-accepted tolerance for its corresponding term and/or relativity between items. Such an industry-accepted tolerance ranges from less than one percent to fifty percent and corresponds to, but is not limited to, component values, integrated circuit process variations, temperature variations, rise and fall times, and/or thermal noise. Such relativity between items ranges from a difference of a few percent to magnitude differences. As may also be used herein, the term(s) “coupled to” and/or “coupling” and/or includes direct coupling between items and/or indirect coupling between items via an intervening item (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, a component, an element, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for indirect coupling, the intervening item does not modify the information of a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or power level. As may further be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled to another element by inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two items in the same manner as “coupled to.” As may even further be used herein, the term “operable to” indicates that an item includes one or more of power connections, input(s), output(s), etc., to perform one or more its corresponding functions and may further include inferred coupling to one or more other items. As may still further be used herein, the term “associated with,” includes direct and/or indirect coupling of separate items and/or one item being embedded within another item. As may be used herein, the term “compares favorably,” indicates that a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., provides a desired relationship. For example, when the desired relationship is that signal 1 has a greater magnitude than signal 2, a favorable comparison may be achieved when the magnitude of signal 1 is greater than that of signal 2 or when the magnitude of signal 2 is less than that of signal 1.
The present invention has also been described above with the aid of method steps illustrating the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functional building blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the invention.
Moreover, although described in detail for purposes of clarity and understanding by way of the aforementioned embodiments, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments. It will be obvious to one of average skill in the art that various changes and modifications may be practiced within the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/503,060 filed Jun. 30, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61503060 | Jun 2011 | US |