363results about "Transmission/receiving using protocols" patented technology

An apparatus is provided for high frequency multiplexed electrical line communication for cable TV, telephone, internet, security and other control applications over the mid and low voltage power lines and directly through the transformers. The apparatus includes a transmitter, a receiver, a modem, a multiplexer and multiple couplers at each of two or more locations along an electrical line. The couplers have capacitive circuits serially connected with an air-core or dielectric-core transformer. The capacitive circuits resonate with the transformer at a preselected frequency. The coupler eliminates noise and is matched to the characteristic impedance of the line at the preselected frequency, which linearizes communication on the line and allows high speed data and voice communication over long distances. Multiple modulators and demodulators are used to produce multiple modulated carrier frequencies.

There is provided a powerline network that includes a number of stations including a central coordinator for coordinating transmissions of each of the stations. Each of the stations is configurable to generate one or more tone maps for communicating with each of the other stations in the powerline network. Each tone map includes a set of tones to be used on a communication link between two of the stations. Each tone map further includes a unique set of modulation methods for each tone. Each of the stations is further configurable to generate a default tone map for communicating with each of the other stations, where the default tone map is valid for all portions of a powerline cycle. Each of the stations is further configurable to monitor its bandwidth needs and to request additional bandwidth from the central coordinator.

A method of providing broadband data services over power lines for moving vehicles is provided herein. Using broadband over power line (BPL) networking, a data signal is connected to a vehicle that is connected to a transport power line. The signal is communicated from the transport power line to the vehicle. The signal is then demodulated for use aboard the vehicle. The data signal connection allows for access to wide area networks such as the Internet. Access points can wirelessly broadcast wide area network signals from stationary locations to define meshed wireless networks in metropolitan areas.

A system, method and device for providing a power line communication system via an ad hoc network protocol is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes transmitting and receiving Alive Notifications via a power line. Each Alive Notification may include data identifying an interface of the transmitting power line node and information identifying an interface of one or more other power line nodes from which the transmitting node has previously received an Alive Notification and reliability information all such nodes. The method may further include regularly transmitting and receiving topology information and routing information via the power line and updating topology and routing information in memory. The method may further include selecting a route to a network for transmission of data based on the routing information stored in memory, wherein the selected route includes the fewest hops and satisfies reliability requirements. The method may further include identifying a first power line node that comprises the first hop of the selected route and transmitting data to the first power line node.

A system for providing communications with a plurality of power distribution equipment via a broadband over power line communication system that provides broadband internet access to a plurality of consumers is provided. In one embodiment, the system may include a computer system having executable program code executable to generate control messages for controlling the plurality of power distribution automation equipment and a plurality of interface devices, wherein each interface device is communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of power distribution equipment. The computer system may be configured to transmit control messages to the plurality of power distribution equipment via a communication path that includes the broadband over power line communication system and the plurality of interface devices.

A Power Line Communications (PLC) device includes a processing module, memory, and a communication interface. In a first operation, the PLC device determines that the PLC device will service communications with a first remote PLC device according to a first PLC communication standard and configures the communication interface to service communications according to the first PLC communication standard. In a second operation, the PLC device determines that the PLC device will service communications with a second remote PLC device according to a second PLC communication standard and configures the communication interface to service communications according to the second PLC communication standard, wherein the first PLC communication standard and the second PLC communication standard are differing and incompatible PLC communication standards. The PLC device may also configure the communication interface to service non-PLC communications such as LAN, WAN, WLAN, cable modem, and other communications.

A method of communicating utility usage data is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises transmitting real-time utility usage data from a plurality of utility meters, receiving the real-time utility usage data from the plurality of utility meters, storing the real-time utility usage data in a memory, storing address information of the plurality of utility meters in memory, receiving requests from a plurality of utility users for real-time utility usage information and wherein the requests traverse a communication path that includes the Internet, processing the utility usage data of the utility users to provide the real-time utility usage information for each utility user, and transmitting the real-time utility usage information to the utility users over a communication path that includes the Internet.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for detecting grid events. In one aspect, a method includes receiving signal characteristic data that specify signal characteristic values for signals that are received over each of a plurality of communications channels of a power line communications network. A determination is made that the signal characteristic values for the signals that are received over at least one of the communications channels are outside of a baseline signal value range. An endpoint that communicates over the at least one communications channel is identified, and a determination is made that a set of the signal characteristic values for the identified endpoint matches one of a plurality a grid event signatures for the identified endpoint. Data that identify the endpoint and a particular grid event that is represented by the matched grid event signature are provided.

One embodiment of the present invention may include of plurality of wireless hops that provide a multi-hop wireless link for facilitating the communication of voice, video, audio, and other data in a packet based network between a broadband power line communications network and a conventional telecommunications link (such as a fiber optic link), which may be connected to another network such as the Internet via a point-of-presence.

An inventive Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for powerline networking systems is described. The inventive MAC protocol controls access to and use of a physical medium (power lines) in a powerline networking system. The MAC protocol method and apparatus includes a method of providing “blanking intervals” in which devices using newer versions of the protocol “clear out” earlier version devices. The use of blanking intervals greatly eases backward compatibility of the network when the protocol is upgraded with new versions. The method of using blanking intervals is closely coupled to a technique of using “beacons.” The beacons are used to propagate blanking interval information throughout the network. The beacons also include a mechanism for informing devices of the expiration of blanking information. The MAC also includes a method of establishing and maintaining “virtual circuit” connections between selected devices on the network. The virtual circuits can be established in powerline networking systems not having a central controller. A method of assigning unique Logical Network Identifiers (LNIs) to logical networks in the powerline networking system is also described. The LNIs uniquely identify each of the logical networks in the network. A means for creating, managing and distributing network encryption keys is also described. The encryption keys are used by the devices in the powerline networking system to prevent data from being shared with unauthorized users.

A system for powerline networking. The system has an external data source, which is derived from a world wide networks of computers. A router is coupled to the external data source and coupled to a first datasource connection. A powerline network switch apparatus is coupled to the first datasource connection. The apparatus has a second datasource connection, which is coupled to the first data source connection. The apparatus also has a powerline device coupled to the second datasource connection. Preferably, the powerline device is adapted to receive and transmit information in a first format from the second data source connection and adapted to receive and transmit information in a second format. The apparatus also has a virtual local area network device including a first input / output port and a plurality of second input / output ports. Each of the second input / output ports is numbered from 1 through N, where N is an integer greater than 1. A plurality of modem devices are coupled to the virtual local area network device. The plurality of modem devices are numbered from 1 through N, where each of the plurality of modem devices being coupled respectively to one of the plurality of second input / output ports and where each of the plurality of modem devices also being coupled to one of a plurality of power lines numbered from 1 through N, each of the power lines being capable of communicating information to and from the second data source connection.

A sensor device integrates ZigBee® technology into power switch device to provide monitoring and control of power usage, as well as operational control of connected devices. The sensor device uses a power line communication (PLC) network to transfer collected data and to provide remote control capability to connected appliances. The sensor device, in conjunction with a master switch device, a communication enabled switching device, and the power switch device, provides an integrated home environment for communication, streaming media, monitoring, and remote control of power usage, as well as remote operational monitoring and control of connected appliances in the home.

A novel and useful media access control (MAC) protocol that is intended for use over noisy shared media channels. The MAC protocol provides layer 2 functionality over a network using a shared medium including a backoff mechanism for CSMA / CA channel access, link addressing that reduces the overhead of long MAC addresses, a flooding scheme having controlled exposure for broadcast transmissions, multicast transmissions using selective ACKs, implementation of traffic prioritization using an adaptive backoff scheme, a second layer repeater establishment process and multi-packet transport for short packets and fragmentation for long packet transport.

A transceiver device for coupling between a power line and a network interface unit includes a power line modem for transmitting and receiving data between the power line and the network interface unit and a power circuit coupled to the power line modem that is adapted to deliver a DC power signal to the network interface unit.

A new method and system for adapting standard home network protocol communication signals for communication between networked computation devices over the AC power line is provided. This invention provides improvements to the standard home network protocol required for use over the AC power line, including such features as encrypting, signal amplification and improved signal to noise ratio.

A method and system for providing coexistence of power line communication technologies on a common powerline and to communicate with each other. A plurality of devices is provided, each of a different and non-compatible powerline communication technologies. A set of predefined beacon signals for each device is also provides, each signal having a frequency bands. The bands are continuously monitoring for activity. From the activity, necessary changes are derived to accommodation modes to identify devices which may operate outside a norm causing the network of devices to operate incorrectly.

An illuminating light communication device, which is for establishing a communication system capable of controlling fluctuation in intensity of illuminating light when transmitting data using a power line and illuminating light, and satisfactorily carrying out communication using the power line and communication using the illuminating light, is provided. When data is transmitted through the power line, a signal component is extracted by a filter unit 12, and the demodulated by a power line modulator-demodulator 13, thereby retrieving the data. The retrieved data is temporarily stored in a protocol converter 14. Afterward, the data is converted to the optical communication protocol, and blinking or amount of light of a semiconductor light emitting element 16 is controlled according to the data transmitted from a light source control unit 15, thereby modulating the illuminating light. This allows transmission of data utilizing the illuminating light. Multiple-valued PPM, which defines that existing pulses correspond to OFF while no pulse corresponds to ON, may be used as a modulation system for optical communication.

We disclose an apparatus capable of receiving control command data for one or more electrical fixtures and modulating an alternating current by modifying firing phase angles to transmit the data corresponding to the control commands via a power line transmitting the alternating current.

In one embodiment, a system and method for receiving information over a power line in accordance with the HomePlug specification is described. The receiver side of the method involves separation of the data within a payload of an incoming frame into a plurality of blocks. Thereafter, both frame control symbols and data within the blocks are processed by Frame Control Forward Error Correction (FEC) decoding logic.

A scalable networking protocol that allows multiple nodes to communicate via a multi-channel network medium is described. The networking protocol allows any node on the network to assign itself as the active network server. The active network server polls client nodes based on a lineup card. The lineup card includes a high priority queue for low-latency devices, and a low priority queue for devices that can tolerate higher latencies. Network information is sent on the channels as fragments. The protocol provides bad-channel detection and retransmission of fragments in a fragment-by-fragment basis. Support for streaming data or asynchronous data is provided by allocating time slots on the network and allowing two intelligent nodes to talk directly to each other during count-limited token sessions, as arbitrated by the active network server. The network node serving as the active network server can be changed on a dynamic basis, and is typically determined by the first node initiating a transmit request on a sleeping network. Client nodes are addressed by dynamic-polling using an address isolation scheme.

One embodiment of the present invention may include of plurality of wireless hops that provide a multi-hop wireless link for facilitating the communication of voice, video, audio, and other data in a packet based network between a broadband power line communications network and a conventional telecommunications link (such as a fiber optic link), which may be connected to another network such as the Internet via a point-of-presence.

An apparatus and method for equitably allocating bandwidth to virtual networks operating on a common physical network, such as a power-line network for homeowners sharing a single power-line distribution transformer. An ad-hoc master is selected from the virtual power-line network controllers. The master allocates bandwidth to streams based on their priority group categorization. By way of example, four priority groups (A-D) are described into which stream priority is classified, with the highest priority group for communicating isochronous streams, the lowest priority for transferring asynchronous streams and the other priority groups for communicating streams having an intermediate level of transmission priority. Within a given priority group all bandwidth requests are fulfilled for virtual networks requesting up to their fair share of the bandwidth within the priority group, and bandwidth available from virtual networks not utilizing their full share is allocated equally amongst those requesting more bandwidth.

An apparatus for coupling signals to a transmission line, such as a power line (120). The apparatus comprises an input for receiving a wanted signal; a first coupler for coupling the wanted signal (Vmain) onto the line at a first position (Y); a cancelling means (WB, WR, WY), coupled to the input, for deriving a cancelling signal (Vaux) from the wanted signal; a second coupler for coupling the cancelling signal onto the line at a second position (X), spaced from the first position; wherein the wanted signal and the cancelling signal destructively combine in a single direction of propagation along the line while enabling the wanted signal to propagate in the other direction along the line. The apparatus can be used to minimise radiation from an unshielded part of an electricity distribution network, such as substation (100), or to allow re-use of a frequency band on other power lines.

A communication apparatus has a electrical outlet that is electrically connected to a power connector so as to supply power externally; a connection detector that detects connection of an external plug to the electrical outlet; and a controller that uses a receiver and a transmitter so as to perform setting with a device connected to the electrical outlet, when external connection is detected at the electrical outlet.

A noise cancellation system configured to isolate and process a common mode noise signal to generate a cancellation signal. The cancellation signal is combined with a differential signal to cancel unwanted differential mode noise that coupled onto the differential signal. In one embodiment a multi-channel communication system utilizes two or more channels that are in close proximity to other alien channels. A common mode signal isolation unit is configured to isolate common mode noise. The common mode noise signal is processed with a filter or other means to generate a cancellation signal. The cancellation signal is combined with the differential signal to thereby cancel noise that coupled onto the differential signal. The processed common mode noise signal may be made to approximate the differential mode noise signal. The common mode signal may be obtained from a center tap of a transformer, or a sensing winding of a three winding transformer.

An apparatus and method for equitably allocating bandwidth to virtual networks operating on a common physical network, such as a power-line network for homeowners sharing a single power-line distribution transformer. An ad-hoc master is selected from the virtual power-line network controllers. The master allocates bandwidth to streams based on their priority group categorization. By way of example, four priority groups (A-D) are described into which stream priority is classified, with the highest priority group for communicating isochronous streams, the lowest priority for transferring asynchronous streams and the other priority groups for communicating streams having an intermediate level of transmission priority. Within a given priority group all bandwidth requests are fulfilled for virtual networks requesting up to their fair share of the bandwidth within the priority group, and bandwidth available from virtual networks not utilizing their full share is allocated equally amongst those requesting more bandwidth.

A communication apparatus has a electrical outlet that is electrically connected to a power connector so as to supply power externally; a connection detector that detects connection of an external plug to the electrical outlet; and a controller that uses a receiver and a transmitter so as to perform setting with a device connected to the electrical outlet, when external connection is detected at the electrical outlet.

The present invention relates to a system and method for signaling among a plurality of devices via a communication carrier over a noisy medium such as a power line and particularly relates to an innovative method and system for high speed signaling using an innovative modulating scheme. The scheme is particularly well adapted for signaling over multiple channels and over direct current (DC) power lines. At the transmitter end, a modem modulates data to be transmitted according to a modulation scheme and a signaling shifter modifies the carrier according to a modification scheme. At the receiver end, a modem demodulates the data according to the modulation scheme and a detector detects the signal in accordance with the modification scheme. Signals may be received over multiple channels. A signal is sent over a subset of the channels. Remaining channels can be used for competing signals avoiding interference. The channel chosen for sending a signal may also indicate signal priority. An innovative device is presenting for testing communication over DC power lines with adjustable attributes.

A method of negotiating channel sharing between adjacent cells when there are a plurality of cells in a power line communication (PLC) network. The method includes attempting to negotiate the channel sharing during a minimum contention access period (CAP) which starts after a maximum beacon period ends and ends before a CAP of each PLC cell ends, wherein the maximum beacon period indicates a maximum size that a beacon frame in a super-frame transmitted from a coordinator of each PLC cell can have. When an attempt to negotiate the channel sharing is made using this method, interference does not occur during channel sharing negotiation, and effective channel sharing can be achieved, thereby eliminating interference between adjacent cells.