The present invention generally relates to methods and apparatus for communicating high data-rate data services and other data packet communication modalities, and more particularly to a system and method of data packet communication in a multi-unit structure.
Users are increasingly relying on communications networks for entertainment, shopping, education, work and other areas of commerce. Users access entertainment appliances, such as televisions, to receive cable signals for viewing television shows and movies on demand. Users access the internet to exchange e-mail communications and access audio, video, multimedia and textual data. Delivering these various data services requires a communications infrastructure.
Delivering such services to multi-dwelling buildings and other multi-unit structures often requires individual communications media extending to each individual dwelling or unit. Utility services, such as telephone, power and cable TV often may provide wiring of a type that extends into each unit. For example, unshielded twisted pair wires may be used to deliver telephone services and digital subscriber line (DSL) internet communications. Coaxial cables may be used to provide television programming and broadband communications. Power lines may be used to deliver electrical power and broadband over power line (BPL) data services.
As the demand for high data-rate services of all kind increases, there is a need for efficient and effective ways of delivering these data services to users. The present invention addresses this need.
The present invention provides a device and method for providing communications over a plurality of conductors connected to a plurality of communication devices located in a plurality of units of a multi-unit structure is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises coupling a data signal comprising a first data packet to a plurality of twisted pair conductors via a non-conductive coupler, wherein the first data packet includes a destination address. Next, the method comprises receiving the first data packet at the plurality of communication devices; providing the first data to a user device at one of the plurality of communication devices; and discarding the first data at multiple communication devices among the plurality of receiving communication devices. The plurality of sets of twisted pair conductors may form a bundle in which case the non-conductive coupler may comprise a magnetically permeable toroid configured to extend around substantially the entire circumference of the bundle and a winding wound around the toroid.
The invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The invention is further described in the detailed description that follows, by reference to the noted drawings by way of non-limiting illustrative embodiments of the invention, in which like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the drawings. As should be understood, however, the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings:
In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particular networks, communication systems, computers, terminals, devices, components, techniques, data and network protocols, software products and systems, enterprise applications, operating systems, development interfaces, hardware, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention.
However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. Detailed descriptions of well-known networks, communication systems, computers, terminals, devices, components, techniques, data and network protocols, software products and systems, operating systems, development interfaces, and hardware are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present invention.
The multi-unit structure 102 may be coupled to one or more networks 106 through one or more communications nodes 108 located at or away from the structure 102. A network 106 may be an internet protocol network (e.g., the Internet), a public switched telephone network, a power line communications network, a WiFi network, or another communications or data delivery communication network. The multi-unit structure 102 may be communicatively coupled to the node 108 over a communications medium 110. In various embodiments the communications medium 110 may comprise twisted pair conductors, coaxial cable, a T-1 line, a fiber optic cable, a wireless link, a medium voltage power line, a low voltage power line, another suitable communications medium, or any combination of the same.
As discussed, the communications media 122 of this embodiment includes unshielded conductors, such as the unshielded twisted pair conductors of the type used to deliver public switched telephone signals and DSL signals. Such twisted pair conductors may extend to a switching station (not shown) from which communications are directed. Accordingly, in large multi-unit structures there may be many sets of twisted pair conductors that are grouped together in one or more bundles. A problem with unshielded twisted pair wires and other unshielded cabling is that high frequency data signals communicated on one conductor may cross couple to another conductor even though the conductors in the bundle are not conductively connected. Such cross coupling may degrade communications performance. This can be of particular concern when delivering services using protocols lacking distinct destination addresses. For example, the DSL protocol does not use addressing (as there is no media access control layer), so any DSL modem connected to the downstream end of a twisted pair may receive and process (e.g., display) cross-coupled data. However, according to an embodiment of this invention, this problem instead is made into an advantage. As described below in a separate section, the communications interface 120 may insert an address and transmit the packet downstream to the units 104 over the entire bundle. A communication devices 132 at the receiving units 104 in turn receive the packets and determine, based on the address, whether to discard the data packet or provide the data packet (or data) to a local user device 130.
User devices 130 may communicate with the network 106 through the communication interface 120. Exemplary user devices 130 include a computer, LAN, a WLAN, router, Voice-over IP endpoint, game system, digital cable box, power meter, gas meter, water meter, security system, alarm system (e.g., fire, smoke, carbon dioxide, security/burglar, etc.), a mobile telephone, stereo system, television, fax machine, HomePlug power line communication residential network, or other device having a data interface. A user device 130 may include or be coupled to a communication device 132, such as a modem to communicate with the communications interface 120. Exemplary modems may include a substantially compatible Homeplug (1.0, A/V or Turbo) modem, an Ethernet transceiver, or other modem that includes a media access control (MAC) layer or other means for providing packet based address information to a data packet. Such modems may make the determination to process the packet (provide to a user device) or to discard the packet based on any address information (e.g., destination address and/or source address, and IP and/or MAC address) or other suitable information, which may be in the data packet. Further, in some embodiments a diplexer 134 may be included at the user end to allow one set of frequencies to pass to a telephone 136 or fax machine and another set of frequencies to pass to the user's modem 132.
Communication Protocols:
Communication within the multi-unit structure 102 also may occur using a variety of protocols and media. In one example, time division multiplexing is used while implementing one or more layers of the 7 layer open systems interconnection (OSI) model. For example, at the layer 3 ‘network’ level, the communication devices (e.g., communication interface 120, nodes 108) may implement routing technologies (including switching, routing and/or bridging), and create logical paths, known as virtual circuits, for transmitting data from device to device, (e.g., interface 120 to modem 132). Similarly, error handling, congestion control and packet sequencing can be performed at Layer 3. In one example embodiment, Layer 2 ‘data link’ activities include encoding and decoding data packets and handling errors of the ‘physical’ layer 1, along with flow control and frame synchronization. The configuration of the various communication devices may vary. In some embodiments, the communications may be time division multiple access or frequency division multiple access. Some embodiments may employ Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) (e.g., IEEE 802.3).
Communication Interface 120:
Upstream communications typically originate at a user device 130. A modem 132 may couple the user device 130 to one or more conductors of the communication media 122. The modem 132 may transmit the upstream communication to the communication interface 120 along the communications medium 122. Upstream communications may be decoupled from the communications medium 122 by the coupler 148, demodulated, decoded, and decrypted by the modem 141, and routed by the router 142 to the upstream interface 144. Specifically, the router 142 may process the communication and apply a destination address corresponding to an upstream device. Thus, the router 142 or controller 143 (acting as a router) may include a routing table to determine which address (e.g., a destination MAC address of the modem) to insert in a data packet based on a portion of the destination IP address (e.g., corresponding to the computer or other user device) or source address of the data packet. The modem 146 encodes, encrypts, and modulates the communication, and may transmit the communication toward the communication node 108. A coupler (not shown) of the upstream interface 144 may couple the transmitted communication onto the communication media 110. The transmitted upstream communication then may be received at the communication node 108 and transmitted onto the network 106 to an appropriate destination. In various embodiments, the upstream 144 and/or downstream interface 140 may also include signal conditioning circuit (e.g., amplifiers and bandpass filters) between the modem 141/146 and the coupler 148 or communications media 110. The routing table described herein, in addition to commands and other control messages, may be received via the upstream interface and stored in memory.
In some embodiments the communications interface 120 may provide communication services for user devices 130 such as security management; IP network protocol (IP) packet routing; data filtering; access control; service level monitoring; service level management; signal processing; and modulation/demodulation of signals transmitted over the communication medium. Such services may be managed by the controller 143.
Communications from the modems 132 in the units 140 will traverse through the twisted pair conductors 122 to the coupler 150, where the data signals are inductively coupled to the winding 151 of the coupler 140 and received by the modem 141. As a result, the downstream communication is transmitted along each one of multiple sets of twisted pair conductors. The data signals communicated by the interface 120 may be in a different frequency band than voice band information (e.g., fax, voice communications) carried by the twisted pair conductors (which may be carried simultaneously). The data signals communicated by the interface 120 also may be in a different frequency band than digital subscriber line (DSL) data carried by the twisted pair conductors (which may be carried simultaneously). In some embodiments a low pass filter 152 (to attenuate the data signals) also may be included to avoid or minimize egression of the data signals form the multi-unit structure along a twisted pair conductor network, such as the public switched telephone network, while allowing the voice band and/or DSL signals to pass.
In an alternative embodiment the bundled communication media 122 coupled to the communication interface 120 may be multiple LV power lines (which may or may not be conductively connected). In such embodiment the coupler 150 couples the signals to and from the LV power lines which extend to respective units 104. Within a given structural unit the modems 132 may be embodied by power line modems, such as of the type that plug into a power outlet. In such an embodiment a user device 130 may connect to the power line modem to communicate via the network 100.
In another alternative embodiment the bundled communication media 122 coupled to the communication interface 120 may be multiple shielded coaxial cables. The coaxial cables extend to the respective structural units 104. In such embodiment the coupler 150 may couple the signals to and from the outer shielding of the coaxial cables. Within a given structural unit, the modem 132 may be embodied by a cable modem or any suitable modem with a MAC layer. In such an embodiment a user device 130 may connect to the cable modem or other modem to access the network 100. Also, in some instances, only one coaxial cable may extend to multiple units with the cable being split (via a T connector) for each floor and/or unit. In some instances the coupler may be used to couple data signals to and from the coaxial cable (e.g., the shield).
The downstream communications may be received at the modems 132 within each of multiple structural units 104. The modems 132 then process the received data packets (demodulate, decode, and decrypt), and determine whether the destination address (e.g., MAC address or IP address) of the packet matches or corresponds to the address of any local destination device—for example, depending on the architecture of the system, the MAC address of local modem 132 or the IP address of a user device 130. If the destination address within the received data packet communication does not correspond to a local destination address, then the communication is discarded. When the destination address within the received data packet communication does correspond to a local destination address, the communication is processed (e.g., provided to the destination device).
In one embodiment, the router 142 may inspect the IP source address or IP destination address and set priority tags of the upstream data packets (data packets transmitted from modems 132) accordingly. For example, if the source address of the upstream data packet corresponds to a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) endpoint, the router may set the IEEE 802.1p priority to 6 and sets a DiffServ priority to EF. In a second embodiment, the DiffServ tag may already be set (e.g., by the end user device) and the router may inspect both the source and destination addresses. Accordingly, in some instances the communication interface 120 may receive multiple communications from multiple communication devices 132, and prioritize processing and further transmission of one communication over another according to predefined criteria. In addition, in some embodiment it may be desirable to perform channel encoding/decoding, source encoding/decoding, error checking, and/or error correction at each device (e.g., 120 and 132).
In an alternate embodiment, a capacitive coupler or a hybrid capacitive-inductive coupler may be employed to allow coupling. Like the inductive coupler described above, some embodiments of such couplers may allow communication of the data signals to and from the conductors without making electrical (conductive) contact and are examples of non-conductive couplers. In yet another embodiment, the downstream interface 140 may be conductively connected to one (or both) conductors of each set of the twisted pair conductors. In yet another embodiment, the downstream interface 140 may be conductively connected to one (or both) conductors of some subset of the entire bundle (in which case the signals may cross couple to and from the conductors to which the device 120 is not conductively coupled). Finally, while addressing is used to transmit data to a select device in the above embodiment, other embodiments may use other means. For example, in an alternate embodiment the device 120 may transmit the data packets with different encryption keys so that only the one or more communication devices that are the correct destination devices can decrypt and process the data packet. In one embodiment, a different encryption key may be used to communicate with each device 120.
It is to be understood that the foregoing illustrative embodiments have been provided merely for the purpose of explanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting of the invention. Words used herein are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation. In addition, the advantages and objectives described herein may not be realized by each and every embodiment practicing the present invention. Further, although the invention has been described herein with reference to particular structure, materials and/or embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed herein. Rather, the invention extends to all functionally equivalent structures, methods and uses, such as are within the scope of the appended claims. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of the teachings of this specification, may affect numerous modifications thereto and changes may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
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