Communication method, device and system

Abstract

The invention relates to a communication method, device and system. In the method, a first PLC site can receive discovery lists from other PLC sites through an MIMO mode and an SISO mode respectively, so that a PLC system is maintained by adopting an MIMO technology. Moreover, the first discovery list received by the first PLC site in the MIMO mode can indicate the PLC site of the first type, and the second discovery list received by the first PLC site in the SISO mode can indicate the PLC site of the first type and / or the PLC site of the second type, so that the first PLC site can distinguish the type of each site in the PLC system. And the first PLC station can communicate with the corresponding PLC stations according to the types of the different PLC stations. For example, if the target site is a PLC site of the first type, the first PLC site can communicate with the target site in an MIMO mode to improve the data transmission rate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, device, and system. Background Art

[0002] Power line communication (PLC) is a communication technology that uses power lines as a communication medium and transmits signals through a carrier mode. PLC technology is usually applied in low-voltage areas, that is, in scenarios of collecting electricity consumption information (such as electricity meter reading services) in the low-voltage power supply area of a transformer. However, with the expansion of the services of the new power system, PLC technology has gradually been applied in scenarios such as line branch monitoring, photovoltaic grid connection, and charging piles. With the expansion of service scenarios, the number of PLC stations gradually increases, and the requirements for the amount of data exchanged between PLC stations, the real-time nature of the exchange, and reliability are gradually upgraded, thus gradually increasing the demand for the communication bandwidth of the PLC system.

[0003] However, the spectrum resources suitable for PLC communication are limited. In the case of limited available spectrum resources, the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology implemented using three-phase four-wire can improve the utilization rate of spectrum resources for PLC communication, and this technology has also become one of the effective solutions to improve the communication rate and anti-interference ability of PLC communication. If two PLC stations want to communicate based on the MIMO technology, these two PLC stations need to have the condition of multi-line connection, that is, these two PLC stations are correspondingly connected through four wires: three-phase lines and a neutral line. However, some PLC stations (such as single-phase electricity meters, single-phase circuit breakers, etc.) only have the condition of two-line connection, that is, there are only two wires, a phase line and a neutral line, connected between two PLC stations. Therefore, only the single input single output (SISO) technology can be used, and the MIMO technology cannot be used.

[0004] However, currently, the MIMO technology cannot be used to maintain the PLC system, or for the PLC stations in the PLC system, even if the PLC station has the MIMO communication ability, the MIMO technology cannot be used for communication in this PLC system, which makes this PLC system unable to achieve a higher transmission rate. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Embodiments of this application provide a communication method, device, and system for implementing network maintenance in a mixed networking scenario of MIMO and SISO.

[0006] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a PLC station in a PLC system. The PLC station can be a station device in the PLC system that can implement PLC functions, or can be other devices including PLC functions, or can also be a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules that can implement PLC functions. The chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the station device. The terminal device is, for example, the first PLC station. In the following description, it is taken as an example that this method is executed by the first PLC station. The method includes: The first PLC station receives a first message from a first adjacent station in a MIMO manner. The first message includes a first discovery list. The first discovery list includes information of M PLC stations of a first type. The M PLC stations of the first type include the first adjacent station. The PLC stations of the first type have MIMO communication capabilities, and M is an integer. The first PLC station receives a second message from a second adjacent station in a SISO manner. The second message includes a second discovery list. The second discovery list includes information of N PLC stations. The N PLC stations include the second adjacent station. The N PLC stations include PLC stations of the first type and / or PLC stations of a second type. The PLC stations of the second type have SISO communication capabilities, and N is an integer. The first PLC station determines the discovery list stored by the first PLC station according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list.

[0007] In an embodiment of this application, the first PLC station can receive discovery lists from other PLC stations in MIMO and SISO manners respectively, achieving the maintenance of the PLC system using MIMO technology. Moreover, the first discovery list received by the first PLC station in MIMO manner can indicate PLC stations of the first type, and the second discovery list received by the first PLC station in SISO manner can indicate PLC stations of the first type and / or PLC stations of the second type, enabling the first PLC station to distinguish the types of each station in the PLC system. Then, when communicating, the first PLC station can communicate with corresponding PLC stations according to the types of different PLC stations. For example, if the destination station is a PLC station of the first type, the first PLC station can communicate with the destination station in MIMO manner to improve the data transmission rate.

[0008] In an alternative embodiment, the discovery list stored by the first PLC site may include a third discovery list and a fourth discovery list. The third discovery list is associated with the MIMO mode, and the fourth discovery list is associated with the SISO mode. Then, when the first PLC site determines the discovery list stored by the first PLC site according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list, it may update the third discovery list stored by the first PLC site according to the first discovery list. The updated third discovery list will include information of the M first-type PLC sites; and / or, the first PLC site updates the fourth discovery list stored by the first PLC site according to the second discovery list. The updated fourth discovery list will include information of the N PLC sites.

[0009] Through this embodiment, the first PLC site can update its stored third discovery list according to the first discovery list received in the MIMO mode and update its stored fourth discovery list according to the second discovery list received in the SISO mode, so as to realize the information maintenance of sites with different communication capabilities, which helps the first PLC site to distinguish the types of each site in the PLC system, and then it can be capable of selecting to communicate with the destination site through the MIMO mode or the SISO mode during communication.

[0010] In an alternative embodiment, the updated third discovery list includes one or more of the following information: the type of the proxy site of the first PLC site; a first value, where the first value is the total number of packets including the discovery list sent by the first PLC site in the MIMO mode in the last routing cycle; a first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate the first-type PLC sites discovered by the first PLC site; a second value, where the second value is the total number of packets including the discovery list received by the first PLC site in the MIMO mode in the last routing cycle. In the embodiments of the present application, a discovery list corresponding to the MIMO mode is newly defined, and the first PLC site can maintain each of the above contents in this type of discovery list, which helps the first PLC site and other PLC sites to distinguish the types of each PLC site in the PLC system, so that they can be capable of selecting to communicate with the corresponding site through the MIMO mode during subsequent communication.

[0011] In an alternative embodiment, the second value includes the number of beacon packets received by the first PLC site in the MIMO mode in the last routing cycle, where the value of the beacon usage flag bit in the beacon packet is a third value.

[0012] In an alternative embodiment, when the first PLC site updates the third discovery list stored in the first PLC site according to the first discovery list, the first communication quality information and the second communication quality information may be determined according to the first discovery list. The first communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and the first adjacent node based on the MIMO mode, and the second communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the first adjacent node is used as the proxy site. Furthermore, the first PLC site may update the third discovery list according to one or more of the first discovery list, the first communication quality information, or the second communication quality information.

[0013] Through the above embodiment, the first PLC site determines and updates the first communication quality information and the second communication quality information through the first discovery list. For example, the first communication quality information may be information such as the communication success rate and channel quality when the first PLC site communicates with the first adjacent site, and the second communication quality information is information such as the full-link communication success rate, channel quality, and hierarchy when communicating with other PLC sites with the first adjacent site as the proxy site, which helps the first PLC site select a communication path with better communication quality according to this information during subsequent communication and improve the PLC communication quality.

[0014] In an alternative embodiment, when the first PLC site determines that the first adjacent site has the MIMO communication ability, the first PLC site may update the third discovery list stored in the first PLC site according to the first discovery list. Among them, one implementation method is to determine that the first adjacent site has the MIMO communication ability according to the reception mode of the first message being the MIMO mode. Another implementation method is to determine that the first adjacent site has the MIMO communication ability according to the second indication information included in the first discovery list, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the first adjacent site has the MIMO communication ability. Through the above embodiment, the first PLC site can specifically update the first discovery list sent by the first adjacent site with the MIMO communication ability to the third discovery list stored in itself, ensuring that the third discovery list is used to store information related to the MIMO mode.

[0015] In an alternative embodiment, when the first PLC site updates the fourth discovery list stored in the first PLC site according to the second discovery list, the third communication quality information and the fourth communication quality information may be determined according to the second discovery list. The third communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and the second adjacent node based on the SISO mode, and the fourth communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the second adjacent node is used as the proxy site. Furthermore, the first PLC site may update the fourth discovery list according to one or more of the second discovery list, the third communication quality information, and the fourth communication quality information.

[0016] Through the above embodiment, the first PLC site determines and updates the third communication quality information and the fourth communication quality information through the first discovery list. For example, the third communication quality information may be information such as the communication success rate and channel quality when the first PLC site communicates with the second adjacent site, and the fourth communication quality information is information such as the full-link communication success rate, channel quality, and level when communicating with other PLC sites with the second adjacent site as the proxy site, which helps the first PLC site select a communication path with better communication quality according to this information during subsequent communication and improve the PLC communication quality.

[0017] In an alternative embodiment, after the first PLC site determines the discovery list stored in the first PLC site according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list, the proxy site of the first PLC site may also be determined according to the updated third discovery list and the updated fourth discovery list. The updated third discovery list and fourth discovery list contain the updated site information in the current PLC system, and the first PLC site can select a proxy site with better communication quality for itself based on this to improve the communication quality and communication efficiency during its own communication.

[0018] In an alternative embodiment, when determining the proxy site, on the one hand, the first PLC site can determine the fifth communication quality information corresponding to the first candidate site in the third discovery list. The first candidate site is a PLC site adjacent to the first PLC site, and the fifth communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the first candidate site is used as the proxy site. Then, based on the fifth communication quality information and the first weight corresponding to the MIMO mode, the sixth communication quality information is determined. On the other hand, the first PLC site can also determine the seventh communication quality information corresponding to the second candidate site in the fourth discovery list. The second candidate site is a PLC site adjacent to the first PLC site, and the seventh communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the second candidate site is used as the proxy site. Then, based on the seventh communication quality information and the second weight corresponding to the SISO mode, the eighth communication quality information is determined. Finally, the first PLC site can determine the proxy site from the first candidate site and the second candidate site according to the sixth communication quality information and the eighth communication quality information.

[0019] Through the above embodiment, when selecting a proxy site, the first PLC site can respectively evaluate the communication quality of the first candidate site with MIMO communication ability and the second candidate site with SISO communication ability, and obtain the final communication quality evaluation value according to the weights corresponding to the MIMO mode and the SISO mode, so as to select a site with better communication quality as its proxy site.

[0020] In an alternative embodiment, the first weight is greater than or equal to the second weight, so as to preferentially select the first candidate site with MIMO communication ability as the proxy site to improve the data transmission efficiency in the subsequent communication process.

[0021] In an alternative embodiment, the first PLC site can also receive the third message from the first adjacent site and / or the second adjacent site in the SISO mode. The third message is a beacon message or a heartbeat detection message. For example, for beacon messages or heartbeat detection messages, PLC sites with any communication ability uniformly send them in the SISO mode. Correspondingly, the receiving site also receives them in the SISO mode, so as to reduce the number of messages involved in the maintenance of the PLC system and reduce the maintenance overhead of the PLC system.

[0022] Second aspect, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a PLC station in a PLC system. The PLC station can be a station device in the PLC system that can implement PLC functions, or can be other devices including PLC functions, or can also be a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules that can implement PLC functions. The chip system or functional module is, for example, arranged in the station device. The terminal device is, for example, the second PLC station. In the following description, it is taken as an example that this method is executed by the second PLC station. The method includes: the second PLC station sends a first message in MIMO mode; the first message includes a first discovery list, and the first discovery list includes information of M PLC stations of the first type. The M PLC stations of the first type include the second PLC station and the PLC stations of the first type discovered by the second PLC station. The PLC stations of the first type have MIMO communication capabilities, and M is an integer. The second PLC station sends a second message in SISO mode; the second message includes a second discovery list, and the second discovery list includes information of N PLC stations. The N PLC stations include the second PLC station, and the PLC stations of the first type and / or the PLC stations of the second type discovered by the second PLC station. The PLC stations of the second type have SISO communication capabilities, and N is an integer.

[0023] In the embodiments of the present application, the first discovery list received by the first PLC station in MIMO mode can indicate the PLC stations of the first type, and the second discovery list received by the first PLC station in SISO mode can indicate the PLC stations of the first type and / or the PLC stations of the second type, enabling the first PLC station to exchange site communication capability information with adjacent sites respectively through MIMO mode and SISO mode. Furthermore, the first PLC station can distinguish the types of each PLC station in the PLC system, and thus has the ability to select to communicate with the destination site through MIMO mode or SISO mode during communication. For example, when the destination site is a PLC station of the first type, the first PLC station can choose to communicate with the destination site in MIMO mode to improve the data transmission rate during the communication process.

[0024] In an alternative embodiment, the first discovery list includes one or more of the following information: the type of the proxy site of the second PLC site; a fourth value, where the fourth value is the total number of packets including the discovery list sent by the first PLC site in the last routing cycle in the MIMO mode; a third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate the first type of PLC sites discovered by the second PLC site; a fifth value, where the fifth value is the total number of packets including the discovery list received by the second PLC site in the last routing cycle in the MIMO mode.

[0025] In an alternative embodiment, the fifth value includes the number of beacon packets received by the second PLC site in the last routing cycle in the MIMO mode, where the value of the beacon usage flag in the beacon packet is a third value.

[0026] In an alternative embodiment, the second PLC site may further send a third packet in the SISO mode, where the third packet is a beacon packet or a heartbeat detection packet.

[0027] Regarding the technical effects brought by the second aspect or various alternative embodiments, reference may be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or the corresponding embodiments.

[0028] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to a PLC system. The PLC system includes a first PLC site and a second PLC site, and both the first PLC site and the second PLC site are the first type of PLC sites, and the first type of PLC sites has MIMO communication capabilities. The method includes: the second PLC site sends a first packet in the MIMO mode, and the first PLC site receives the first packet in the MIMO mode; the first packet includes a first discovery list, and the first discovery list includes information of M first type of PLC sites, where the M first type of PLC sites include the second PLC site and the first type of PLC sites discovered by the second PLC site, and M is an integer; the second PLC site sends a second packet in the SISO mode, and the first PLC site receives the second packet in the SISO mode; the second packet includes a second discovery list, and the second discovery list includes information of N PLC sites, where the N PLC sites include the second PLC site, and the first type of PLC sites and / or the second type of PLC sites discovered by the second PLC site, and N is an integer; the first PLC site determines the discovery list of the first PLC site according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list.

[0029] In an alternative embodiment, the PLC system further includes a third PLC station, which is a second type of PLC station with SISO communication capability. The method further includes: the third PLC station sends a fourth message in the SISO mode, and the first PLC station receives the fourth message in the SISO mode; the fourth message includes the fifth discovery list, and the fifth discovery list includes information of L PLC stations, where the L PLC stations include the third PLC station, and the first type of PLC stations and / or the second type of PLC stations discovered by the third PLC station, and L is an integer; the first PLC station further determines the discovery list of the first PLC station according to the fifth discovery list.

[0030] In an alternative embodiment, the method further includes: the first PLC station sends a third message to the second PLC station and / or the third PLC station in the SISO mode, and the third message is a beacon message or a heartbeat detection message. The second PLC station receives the third message in the SISO mode, and / or, the third PLC station receives the third message in the SISO mode.

[0031] In an alternative embodiment, the method may further include the method performed by the first PLC station in the first aspect, and / or, the method performed by the second PLC station in the second aspect.

[0032] Regarding the technical effects brought by the third aspect or various alternative embodiments, reference may be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or the second aspect and their corresponding embodiments.

[0033] In a fourth aspect, a PLC device is provided. The PLC device may be the first PLC station described in any one of the first to third aspects above. The PLC device has the functions of the first PLC station described above. The PLC device is, for example, the first PLC station, or a larger device including the first PLC station, or a functional module in the first PLC station, such as a chip or a chip system, etc. In an alternative implementation, the PLC device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit can implement the sending function and the receiving function. When the transceiver unit implements the sending function, it can be referred to as a sending unit (sometimes also referred to as a sending module), and when the transceiver unit implements the receiving function, it can be referred to as a receiving unit (sometimes also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit may be the same functional module, and this functional module is called the transceiver unit, which can implement the sending function and the receiving function; or, the sending unit and the receiving unit may be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a general term for these functional modules.

[0034] In an alternative embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is configured to receive a first message from a first neighboring site in a MIMO manner. The first message includes a first discovery list, and the first discovery list includes information of M PLC sites of a first type. The M PLC sites of the first type include the first neighboring site. The PLC sites of the first type have MIMO communication capabilities, and M is an integer. And receive a second message from a second neighboring site in a SISO manner. The second message includes a second discovery list, and the second discovery list includes information of N PLC sites. The N PLC sites include the second neighboring site. The N PLC sites include PLC sites of the first type and / or PLC sites of a second type. The PLC sites of the second type have SISO communication capabilities, and N is an integer.

[0035] The processing unit is configured to determine the discovery list stored in the first PLC site according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list.

[0036] In an alternative embodiment, the PLC device further includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module). The processing unit is configured to be coupled to the storage unit and execute the programs or instructions in the storage unit to enable the PLC device to perform the functions of the first PLC site described in any one of the first aspect to the third aspect above.

[0037] In a fifth aspect, a PLC device is provided. The PLC device may be the second PLC site described in any one of the first aspect to the third aspect above. The PLC device has the functions of the second PLC site described above. The PLC device is, for example, the second PLC site, or a larger device including the second PLC site, or a functional module in the second PLC site, such as a chip or a chip system, etc. In an alternative implementation, the PLC device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit can implement the sending function and the receiving function. When the transceiver unit implements the sending function, it can be referred to as a sending unit (sometimes also referred to as a sending module). When the transceiver unit implements the receiving function, it can be referred to as a receiving unit (sometimes also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit may be the same functional module, and this functional module is called the transceiver unit, and this functional module can implement the sending function and the receiving function; or, the sending unit and the receiving unit may be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a general term for these functional modules.

[0038] In an alternative embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the transmitting unit) is configured to transmit a first message in MIMO mode; the first message includes a first discovery list, the first discovery list includes information of M first-type PLC stations, the M first-type PLC stations include the second PLC station and the first-type PLC stations discovered by the second PLC station, the first-type PLC stations have MIMO communication capabilities, and M is an integer. Further, a second message is transmitted in SISO mode; the second message includes a second discovery list, the second discovery list includes information of N PLC stations, the N PLC stations include the second PLC station, and the first-type PLC stations and / or second-type PLC stations discovered by the second PLC station, the second-type PLC stations have SISO communication capabilities, and N is an integer.

[0039] In an alternative embodiment, the PLC device further includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is configured to be coupled to the storage unit and execute programs or instructions in the storage unit to enable the PLC device to perform the functions of the second PLC station described in any one of the first aspect to the third aspect above.

[0040] In a sixth aspect, a PLC system is provided, including a first PLC device and a second PLC device; wherein, the first PLC device is configured to execute the method performed by the first PLC station described in the first aspect above, and the second PLC device is configured to execute the method performed by the second PLC station described in the fourth aspect above. For example, the first PLC device can be implemented by the PLC device described in the fourth aspect; the second PLC device can be implemented by the PLC device described in the fifth aspect.

[0041] In a seventh aspect, a PLC device is provided. The PLC device can be a PLC station in a PLC system, or a chip or chip system used in a PLC station. The PLC device includes a communication interface and a processor. Optionally, a memory is further included. The memory is configured to store computer programs, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer programs or instructions, the PLC device is enabled to execute the methods performed by the first PLC station or the second PLC station in the above aspects.

[0042] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium is configured to store computer programs or instructions, and when it is run, the methods performed by the first PLC station or the second PLC station in the above aspects are implemented.

[0043] In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product including instructions, which, when running on a computer, enables the methods described in the above aspects to be implemented.

[0044] In a tenth aspect, there is provided a chip or a chip system, including a processor and an interface, where the processor is configured to call and run instructions from the interface so that the chip or the chip system implements the methods in the above aspects. Description of the Drawings

[0045] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a wiring method for devices in a PLC system;

[0046] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a PLC system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 3 A schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Figure 4A and Figure 4B A schematic diagram of the transmission timing of a discovery list message provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a routing evaluation process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 6 Another schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] Figures 7A - 7C A schematic diagram of the topology of a PLC system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a PLC device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] Figure 9 A schematic diagram of another PLC device provided by an embodiment of the present application. Detailed Embodiments

[0054] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0055] In the embodiments of the present application, for the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, it means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, or B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally means that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "At least one (item)" or its similar expression refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item or plural items. For example, at least one (item) of a, b, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0056] In the embodiments of the present application, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the size, content, order, time sequence, priority, or importance of multiple objects. In addition, for the numbering of steps in each embodiment introduced in the present application, it is only for distinguishing different steps and does not limit the sequence of steps. For example, S302 may occur before S301, may occur after S301, or may occur simultaneously with S301.

[0057] PLC refers to a communication technology that uses power lines as a communication medium and transmits signals through carrier wave mode. A main advantage of PLC compared with other communication technologies is that PLC can use existing power lines as a transmission medium without the need to erect new lines, thus greatly reducing the upfront deployment cost, and also does not require separate line maintenance, further reducing the later maintenance cost. And because the popularity of power line deployment is very high, the application of power line communication is also very extensive.

[0058] In the embodiments of the present application, a PLC site can also be referred to as a PLC device or a PLC node. A PLC system (which can also be referred to as a PLC network) consists of one or more PLC sites. Generally speaking, a PLC site is a device that supports PLC functions in a PLC system. For example, a PLC site can be any device among the substation side device, line side device, and user side device in a low-voltage area. Line side devices such as intelligent switches, fault indicators, and switches before the meter; substation side devices such as distribution transformer terminals, outgoing switches, incoming switches, and fault indicators; user side devices such as intelligent meters (energy meters, gas meters, water meters, etc.), three-phase unbalance devices, reactive power compensators, leakage protectors, lighting control devices, smoke alarms, exhaust fans, door magnets, local amplifiers, environmental monitors, or temperature sensors.

[0059] In a PLC system, when using low-frequency band communication, the noise is large but the attenuation is small; when using high-frequency band communication, the noise is small but the attenuation is large. Moreover, in actual situations, the physical distances between devices that need to be networked using PLC technology are usually far, ranging from several meters, dozens of meters to hundreds of meters. The physical distance will affect the reliability of PLC communication. Therefore, considering factors such as noise, attenuation, and reliable communication distance, the spectrum resources suitable for PLC communication are very limited. Then, in the case of limited available spectrum resources, the MIMO technology implemented using three-phase four-wire becomes one of the effective technical solutions to improve the PLC communication rate and anti-interference ability, etc.

[0060] However, due to the different device structures of each PLC site, different wiring methods can be adopted between different PLC sites. Refer to Figure 1 As shown, it is a schematic diagram of a device wiring method. Among them, devices that support three phases can be connected in the three-phase four-wire manner. For example, Figure 1 as shown, between the transformer and the fusion terminal, between the transformer and the branch circuit breaker, and between the branch circuit breaker and the three-phase meter are connected in the three-phase four-wire manner. The three-phase four-wire includes three-phase phase lines (i.e., Figure 1 the A, B, and C phase lines shown in Figure 1 ) and the neutral line (i.e., Figure 1 the N line shown in

[0061] However, if two PLC sites want to communicate based on MIMO technology, they need to have the condition of multi-line connection between these two PLC sites. But in actual scenarios, a considerable part of PLC sites only have two wires, namely the phase line and the neutral line, connected, such as single-phase electric meters, single-phase circuit breakers, etc. Therefore, not all PLC sites can adopt MIMO technology. For PLC sites connected in the single-phase two-wire manner, only SISO technology can be used for communication. Therefore, there may be a situation in the PLC system where two types of PLC sites, namely PLC sites with MIMO communication capabilities (hereinafter referred to as MIMO sites) and sites with SISO communication capabilities (hereinafter referred to as SISO sites), are mixedly networked.

[0062] However, when maintaining a PLC system, it is maintained on the assumption that each PLC station in it has the same communication ability. Since a PLC station with MIMO communication ability can operate in MIMO mode or switch to SISO mode, while a PLC station with SISO communication ability can only operate in SISO mode, this network maintenance solution defaults that all PLC stations only have SISO ability. Therefore, in the PLC system, each PLC station communicates only through the SISO method. This communication method restricts PLC stations with MIMO communication ability. Even if a PLC station has MIMO communication ability, it cannot use MIMO technology to communicate in this PLC system, and a higher transmission rate cannot be achieved. Therefore, it is very necessary to design a network maintenance solution that can support mixed networking of MIMO and SISO.

[0063] In view of this, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. In this method, a MIMO station can receive discovery lists from other PLC stations through MIMO and SISO methods respectively, realizing the use of MIMO technology to maintain the PLC system. Moreover, for a MIMO station, it can receive a first discovery list associated with the MIMO method in the MIMO method and receive a second discovery list associated with the SISO method in the SISO method. The first discovery list is used to indicate the MIMO station, and the second discovery list is used to indicate the MIMO station and / or the SISO station, enabling the MIMO station to distinguish the types of each station in the PLC system and realizing network maintenance in the case of mixed networking of MIMO and SISO. Then, when communicating, the MIMO station can communicate with the corresponding station according to the types of different stations. For example, when the destination station is a MIMO station, the MIMO station can choose to communicate with the destination station through the MIMO method to improve the data transmission rate.

[0064] The method provided by the embodiment of the present application can be applied to PLC systems in scenarios such as smart home, intelligent lighting, intelligent photovoltaics, remote meter reading, urban lighting, smart community, parking lot management system, security anti-theft or fire alarm system.

[0065] As an example, see Figure 2 shown, which is a schematic diagram of a PLC system provided by the embodiment of the present application. The PLC system includes PLC stations of a first type and PLC stations of a second type. The PLC stations of the first type have MIMO communication ability, and the stations with MIMO communication ability also have SISO communication ability. Such stations can also be called MIMO stations. The PLC stations of the second type have SISO communication ability. For example, they can only have SISO communication ability. Such stations can also be called SISO stations.

[0066] Exemplarily, as Figure 2 shown, the PLC system includes a first PLC station, a second PLC station, and a third PLC station. Among them, the first PLC station and the second PLC station can be PLC stations of the first type, that is, MIMO stations. The third PLC station can be a PLC station of the second type, that is, SISO stations. Both the second PLC station and the third PLC station are adjacent stations of the first PLC station. As Figure 2 shown, the first PLC station and the second PLC station are connected by a multi-line connection method, so the first PLC station and the second PLC station can communicate through the MIMO method or through the SISO method. The first PLC station and the third PLC station are connected by a two-line connection method, so the first PLC station and the third PLC station can only communicate through the SISO method.

[0067] Among them, in the PLC system, the PLC station may include one or more of a central coordinator (CCO), a proxy coordinator (PCO), or a station (STA). For example, the CCO can be a PLC station, the PCO can be a PLC station, and the STA can also be a PLC station. The CCO is a PLC gateway and is responsible for network management, such as managing the online status of the PCO and STA in the PLC system. The PCO can also be called a proxy station, which can assist STAs with a relatively long communication distance from the CCO to access the PLC system, and can also manage the device status of the STAs under the PCO and report the device status of the STAs under the PCO to the CCO. In addition, the STA can also be called a discovery station. Unless otherwise specified, the PLC station in the embodiments of the present application can refer to any one of the CCO, PCO, and STA, or can also be other nodes in the PLC system. For example, the first PLC station, the second PLC station, or the third PLC station involved in the embodiments of the present application can be any one of the CCO, PCO, or STA.

[0068] To better introduce the embodiments of the present application, the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application will be introduced below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Unless otherwise specified in the following text, in the accompanying drawings corresponding to the embodiments of the present application, the steps indicated by the dotted lines are all optional steps. The methods provided by the embodiments of the present application can all be executed by the PLC stations in the PLC system. For the convenience of description in the following text, Figure 1 the first PLC station, the second PLC station, and the third PLC station in the PLC system shown are taken as examples for description.

[0069] Please refer to Figure 3, which is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0070] S301. The first adjacent site of the first PLC site sends a first message in the MIMO mode. Correspondingly, the first PLC site receives the first message in the MIMO mode.

[0071] The adjacent sites of the first PLC site may include PLC sites directly connected to the first PLC site through a power line, or may include PLC sites that can communicate with the first PLC site through one hop. The adjacent sites of the first PLC site may include one or more. When there are multiple adjacent sites of the first PLC site, the multiple adjacent sites may include the first type of PLC sites and / or the second type of PLC sites. The first adjacent site may be the first type of PLC site. When there are multiple first type of PLC sites among the adjacent sites of the first PLC site, the first adjacent site may be any one of the multiple first type of PLC sites.

[0072] Among them, the first type of PLC site has MIMO communication capabilities, that is, the first type of PLC site has the condition of multi-line connection with other PLC sites, and the first type of PLC site also has SISO communication capabilities. The first type of PLC site can also be called a MIMO site. For the convenience of subsequent description, it will be referred to as a MIMO site. The second type of PLC site has SISO communication capabilities, while the second type of PLC site does not have MIMO communication capabilities, that is, the second type of PLC site does not have the condition of multi-line connection with other PLC sites. The second type of PLC site can also be called a SISO site. For the convenience of subsequent description, it will be referred to as a SISO site. Two PLC sites need to be MIMO sites and connected by a multi-line connection method to communicate with each other in the MIMO mode. Generally, any two PLC sites in a PLC system can communicate with each other in the SISO mode.

[0073] In the embodiments of the present application, sending a message in the SISO mode means processing the data to be transmitted using the modulation and coding methods corresponding to SISO, and transmitting the SISO message signal through the single-phase line and the neutral line. Correspondingly, receiving a message in the SISO mode means receiving the SISO message signal from the single-phase line and the neutral line, and obtaining the aforementioned data after processing using the demodulation and decoding methods corresponding to SISO. Sending a message in the MIMO mode means processing the data to be transmitted using the modulation and coding methods corresponding to MIMO, and transmitting the MIMO message signal through the three-phase line and the neutral line. Correspondingly, receiving a message in the MIMO mode means receiving the MIMO message signal from the three-phase line and the neutral line, and obtaining the aforementioned data after processing using the demodulation and decoding methods corresponding to MIMO.

[0074] In the embodiments of the present application, the first message is used to exchange the MIMO communication capabilities between adjacent PLC stations. The communication capabilities may include its own communication capabilities and the communication capabilities of the MIMO stations discovered by itself, so as to help the PLC stations perform routing evaluation and select a more reliable and higher communication rate route.

[0075] In a possible implementation manner, the discovery list message is used to exchange the discovery lists maintained by adjacent PLC stations. The discovery list includes one or more of the basic attribute information of the local station, the number of messages received from adjacent stations by the local station, or the channel quality, etc. Furthermore, by broadcasting the discovery list message between PLC stations, a direct connection routing entry can be formed between the PLC stations as the basis for path selection during subsequent communication. For a PLC station, if it can receive the discovery list message sent by other PLC stations, it means that the other PLC stations are the adjacent stations of the PLC station. The first message in the embodiments of the present application may be a newly defined discovery list message (MMeDiscoverNodeList). The newly defined discovery list message is associated with the MIMO mode and can also be called the MIMO discovery list message, which is used to exchange the MIMO communication capabilities between MIMO stations. For example, the discovery list message can be used for the MIMO stations in the PLC system to broadcast one or more of the basic attribute information of the local station, the number of messages received from adjacent stations, or the channel quality, etc. to adjacent stations, so as to determine the communication success rate and evaluate the route for each MIMO station.

[0076] Among them, the first message includes a first discovery list. The first discovery list includes information of M MIMO stations. The M MIMO stations may include a first adjacent station, where M is an integer. It can also be understood that the first discovery list is used to carry information of MIMO stations that the first adjacent station itself knows in the PLC system. For example, it may include the first adjacent station and information of other MIMO stations discovered by the first adjacent station. Other PLC stations may be adjacent stations of the first adjacent station or MIMO stations discovered by the first adjacent station through discovery list messages or other means.

[0077] Taking Figure 2 the PLC system shown as an example, the first adjacent station may be the second PLC station. Then, the first discovery list may be a discovery list stored by the second PLC station itself that contains information of MIMO stations. Among them, the M MIMO stations included in the first discovery list may include the second PLC station and MIMO stations discovered by the second PLC station.

[0078] Through the above method, MIMO stations can send the first discovery list in MIMO mode to realize the exchange of information of MIMO stations between MIMO stations, so that MIMO stations can sense MIMO stations in the PLC system, and then can choose to communicate with MIMO stations in MIMO mode during subsequent communication. Compared with the SISO mode, the data transmission rate of the MIMO mode is higher, which can effectively improve the communication rate, and the anti-interference ability of the MIMO mode is stronger, which can also effectively improve the communication reliability. For example, the information carried by the discovery list message can be used for route evaluation between PLC stations. Therefore, through the above method, MIMO stations can send the first discovery list in MIMO mode to realize the information interaction of MIMO stations between PLC stations, thus realizing network maintenance under the mixed networking of MIMO and SISO, and helping to select a proxy station and a communication path with better reliability and communication rate when performing route evaluation later. For example, a MIMO station with better reliability and communication rate can be preferentially selected as the proxy station.

[0079] In the embodiment of the present application, the first discovery list stored by the second PLC station may include (or indicate) one or more of the following information: the type information of the proxy station of the second PLC station, the fourth value, the third indication information, or the fifth value. The following will be introduced separately.

[0080] (1) The type information of the proxy site of the second PLC site can indicate the type of the proxy site of the second PLC site. For example, it can indicate that the proxy site of the second PLC site is a MIMO site or a SISO site. If there are multiple proxy sites of the second PLC site, the type information can indicate the type of each of the proxy sites one by one. For example, the type information can include an entry in a table corresponding to each of the proxy sites, and the entry corresponding to a certain proxy site can store the relevant information of the proxy site. For example, the relevant information of a proxy site can include the terminal endpoint identifier (TEI) of the proxy site and / or the type of the proxy site, etc. Among them, one TEI is used to uniquely identify a PLC site, and the proxy site can be determined from the PLC system through the TEI of the proxy site.

[0081] (2) The fourth value is the total number of packets including the discovery list sent by the second PLC site in the last routing cycle in the MIMO mode. For example, for the second PLC site, the packets including the discovery list can be regarded as a type of packet, and the fourth value can be the total number of such packets sent by the second PLC site in the last routing cycle in the MIMO mode. For example, in the next routing cycle of the current routing cycle, the corresponding fourth value of the current routing cycle will be determined, that is, the total number of the first packets sent in the current routing cycle.

[0082] (3) The third indication information is used to indicate the MIMO sites discovered by the second PLC site. For example, the third indication information can be indicated in the form of a bitmap. When the bit in the bitmap is the sixth value, it means that the TEI site corresponding to this bit is discoverable. And when the bit in the bitmap is the sixth value, it can also indicate that the corresponding discovery site information is carried in this packet. The sixth value is, for example, 1 or 0. Alternatively, the third indication information can also indicate the MIMO sites discovered by the second PLC site in the form of a list, such as indicating the identifiers of the MIMO sites discovered by the second PLC site in the form of a list; or the third information can also indicate the MIMO sites discovered by the second PLC site in other ways.

[0083] (4) The fifth value is the total number of packets including the discovery list received by the second PLC site in the last routing cycle in the MIMO mode, that is, the total number of packets including the discovery list received by the second PLC site in the last routing cycle in the MIMO mode. For example, in the embodiments of the present application, the packets including the discovery list can be regarded as a type of packet, and the fifth value can be the total number of such packets received by the second PLC site in the last routing cycle in the MIMO mode.

[0084] In one embodiment, the fifth value may also be the sum of a seventh value and an eighth value. The seventh value is the total number of packets including the discovery list received by the second PLC site in the last routing cycle in MIMO mode, and the eighth value is the total number of beacon packets received by the second PLC site in the last routing cycle in MIMO mode, and the value of the beacon usage flag in the beacon packet is the third value. That is to say, if among the beacon packets received in the last routing cycle, there is a beacon packet with the value of the beacon usage flag being the third value, then the total number of such beacon packets will be accumulated into the fifth value. The third value may be, for example, 1 or 0.

[0085] In addition to the above information, the first discovery list may further contain other information, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0086] Referring to Table 1 below, it is an example of the content included in the MIMO discovery list packet. The MIMO discovery list packet in the embodiments of the present application may include one or more pieces of information in Table 1, or may further include information not given in Table 1.

[0087] Table 1

[0088]

[0089] Among them, the "local site" refers to the site that stores the discovery list or the site that sends the discovery list. For example, for the aforementioned first discovery list, the local site refers to the second PLC site. The hierarchy in the local site basic information may refer to the network hierarchy of the local site; the MAC address of the CCO in the local site basic information refers to the MAC address of the CCO in the PLC system where the local site is located; the minimum communication success rate in the local site basic information may represent the communication success rate of the weakest connection at a certain level in the entire path from the local site to the CCO. For example, the weakest connection refers to the connection between the two PLC sites with the lowest communication success rate in the entire path. The proxy basic information may indicate the information of the proxy site of the local site. Among them, the proxy basic information may include (or indicate) the type of the proxy site. In the embodiments of the present application for MIMO sites, a field for indicating the type of the proxy site of the MIMO site is newly added in the MIMO discovery list packet to indicate the type of the proxy site, for example, indicating that the proxy site of the MIMO site is a MIMO site or a SISO site.

[0090] S302. The second adjacent site of the first PLC site sends a second packet in SISO mode, and correspondingly, the first PLC site receives the first packet in SISO mode.

[0091] The second adjacent site may be any one of the adjacent sites of the first PLC site. The second adjacent site may be a first type of PLC site or a second type of PLC site.

[0092] The second message is used to exchange SISO communication capabilities with adjacent stations. Such communication capabilities may include its own communication capabilities and the communication capabilities of other PLC stations discovered by itself. Since a MIMO station has both MIMO communication capabilities and SISO communication capabilities, the other PLC stations may include MIMO stations and / or SISO stations.

[0093] In a possible implementation, the second message may also be a discovery list message. This type of discovery list message is associated with the SISO mode and may also be referred to as a SISO discovery list message. It is used for PLC stations (which may be SISO stations and / or MIMO stations) in a PLC system to broadcast one or more of the basic attribute information of this station, the number of messages received from adjacent stations, or the channel quality to adjacent stations, so as to determine the communication success rate and evaluate the routing among PLC stations. Since generally any PLC station in a PLC system has SISO communication capabilities, the SISO discovery list can be used for the exchange of communication capabilities between any two PLC stations to be compatible with the communication capability exchange of SISO stations in the case of mixed MIMO and SISO networking.

[0094] Among them, the second message includes a second discovery list. The second discovery list includes information of N PLC stations. The N PLC stations include MIMO stations and / or SISO stations, and N is an integer. Since all stations in the PLC system can have SISO communication capabilities, it can also be understood that the second discovery list is used to carry information of all PLC stations known to the second adjacent station itself in the PLC system. For example, it may include the second adjacent station and information of other PLC stations discovered by the second adjacent station. The other PLC stations may be adjacent stations of the second adjacent station or PLC stations discovered by the second adjacent station through discovery list messages or other means. The other PLC stations can be either SISO stations or MIMO stations.

[0095] Through the above method, any PLC station can broadcast the second discovery list in SISO mode, ensuring that SISO stations can normally exchange routing information with MIMO stations through discovery list messages (such as the above-mentioned second message), and realizing normal communication between SISO stations and other PLC stations.

[0096] In the embodiments of the present application, the first adjacent station and the second adjacent station may be the same or different. Figure 2Taking the PLC system shown as an example, both the second PLC site and the third PLC site have SISO communication capabilities. Then, the second adjacent site can be either the second PLC site or the third PLC site. For example, if the first adjacent site is the second PLC site and the second adjacent site is the second PLC site, it means the first adjacent site can be the same as the second adjacent site. Another example is that if the first adjacent site is the second PLC site and the second adjacent site is the third PLC site, it means the first adjacent site can be different from the second adjacent site.

[0097] When the second adjacent site is the second PLC site, since the second PLC site is a MIMO site, the second PLC site can send a first message including a first discovery list to the first PLC site in MIMO mode or send a second message including a second discovery list to the first PLC site in SISO mode. Here, the second discovery list is the discovery list stored in the second PLC site, and the second discovery list can contain information about all PLC sites that the second PLC site can discover. Among them, the N PLC sites included in the second discovery list can include the second PLC site and all the sites discovered by the second PLC site.

[0098] When the second adjacent site is the third PLC site, since the third PLC site is a SISO site, the third PLC site can only send a message to the first PLC site in SISO mode. Here, to distinguish it from the second message sent by the second PLC site, the discovery list message sent by the third PLC site is called the fourth message (i.e., the second message sent when the third site is the second adjacent site). The fourth message includes a fifth discovery list (i.e., the second discovery list included in the second message sent when the third site is the second adjacent site). The fifth discovery list includes information about L PLC sites. The L PLC sites include the third PLC site and other PLC sites discovered by the third PLC site. The other PLC sites include MIMO sites and / or SISO sites, and L is an integer.

[0099] Among them, the fourth message corresponding to the third PLC site and the second message corresponding to the second PLC site are both SISO discovery list messages. Refer to Table 2 below, which is an example of the content included in the SISO discovery list message. The SISO discovery list message in the embodiments of the present application can include one or more of the information in Table 2, or can also include information not given in Table 2.

[0100] Table 2

[0101]

[0102] In an embodiment of the present application, in a PLC system, the CCO may configure configuration information related to discovery list messages for a MIMO site or a SISO site. For example, the configuration information includes the transmission frequency or transmission period of the discovery list messages.

[0103] Taking the transmission frequency as an example, for any MIMO site, the CCO may configure a first transmission frequency corresponding to the MIMO discovery list message and a second transmission frequency corresponding to the SISO discovery list message for the MIMO site. The first transmission frequency and the second transmission frequency may be the same or different. When the first transmission frequency and the second transmission frequency are different, the MIMO site sends the corresponding type of message according to the transmission frequency of each type of message. When the first transmission frequency and the second transmission frequency are the same, when the MIMO site faces the transmission opportunity of the discovery list message, it needs to send the MIMO discovery list message and the SISO discovery list message. The MIMO discovery list message corresponds to a first transmission opportunity, and the SISO discovery list message corresponds to a second transmission opportunity. The first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity may be continuous in the time domain, that is, the SISO discovery list message is sent immediately after the MIMO discovery list message is sent, or the MIMO discovery list message is sent immediately after the SISO discovery list message is sent. Or, the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity may also be discontinuous in the time domain, that is, other messages may also be transmitted between the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity.

[0104] For a SISO site, the CCO may configure the transmission frequency of the SISO discovery list message for it, and the SISO sends the SISO discovery list message according to the configured transmission frequency. In some embodiments, the transmission frequency of the SISO discovery list message of the SISO site may be the same as or different from the transmission frequency of the first transmission frequency or the second transmission frequency of the MIMO site.

[0105] In an embodiment of the present application, for the transmission of the discovery list message, the following two implementation methods may be adopted:

[0106] (1) Implementation method one

[0107] See Figure 4A As shown, for a MIMO site, taking the first transmission frequency and the second transmission frequency as the same example, each time the MIMO discovery list message and the SISO discovery list message need to be sent, the MIMO site may sequentially send the SISO discovery list message in the SISO mode and send the MIMO discovery list message in the MIMO mode. In other words, in a transmission opportunity of the list message, the SISO discovery list message is transmitted first, and then the MIMO discovery list message is transmitted, as Figure 4AWhen discovering that the list message is to be sent 1, first send the SISO discovery list message and then send the MIMO discovery list message.

[0108] Among them, for MIMO sites connected in a three-phase four-wire manner, when sending the SISO discovery list message in SISO mode, it can be sent on any phase wire and the neutral wire. For example, the MIMO sites of the PLC system can uniformly send on the A phase and the neutral wire.

[0109] See Figure 4A As shown, for SISO sites, when it is necessary to send the discovery list message each time, just send the SISO discovery list message in SISO mode.

[0110] Exemplarily, taking Figure 2 the PLC system shown as an example, for the second PLC site, the sending frequency configured by the CCO for the second PLC site can be used. When it is necessary to send the first message and the second message, first send the second message in SISO mode and then send the first message in MIMO mode. Correspondingly, for the first PLC site, it will first receive the second message in SISO mode and then receive the first message in MIMO mode. For the third PLC site, the fourth message can be sent at the sending frequency configured by the CCO for the third PLC site. Correspondingly, the first PLC site can receive the fourth message in SISO mode.

[0111] (2) Implementation method 2

[0112] See Figure 4B As shown, for MIMO sites, taking the first sending frequency and the second sending frequency being the same as an example, when it is necessary to send the MIMO discovery list message and the SISO discovery list message each time, the MIMO site can successively send the MIMO discovery list message in MIMO mode and send the SISO discovery list message in SISO mode. In other words, in a transmission opportunity of sending a list message, first transmit the MIMO discovery list message and then transmit the SISO discovery list message. For example, Figure 4B when discovering that the list message is to be sent 1, first send the MIMO discovery list message and then send the SISO discovery list message.

[0113] See Figure 4B As shown, for SISO sites, when it is necessary to send the discovery list message each time, just send the SISO discovery list message in SISO mode.

[0114] Exemplarily, taking Figure 2Taking the PLC system shown as an example, for the second PLC site, the sending frequency configured for the second PLC site can be used as the CCO. When the first message and the second message need to be sent, the first message is first sent in the MIMO mode, and then the second message is sent in the SISO mode. Correspondingly, for the first PLC site, the first message will be received in the MIMO mode first, and then the second message will be received in the SISO mode. For the third PLC site, the fourth message can be sent at the sending frequency configured for the third PLC site as the CCO. Correspondingly, the first PLC site can receive the fourth message in the SISO mode.

[0115] S303. The first PLC site determines the discovery list of the first PLC site according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list.

[0116] In a possible implementation manner, the discovery list stored by the first PLC site may include a third discovery list and a fourth discovery list. The third discovery list corresponds to the MIMO mode and is used to store the information of the MIMO sites discovered by the first PLC site. The MIMO sites discovered by the first PLC site may include the first PLC site and the MIMO sites determined by the first PLC site according to the discovery list messages sent by adjacent sites. Of course, it is not limited to the MIMO sites discovered in this way. The fourth discovery list corresponds to the SISO mode and is used to store the information of the MIMO sites and / or SISO sites discovered by the first PLC site. It can also be understood that the fourth discovery list is used to store the information of all sites discovered by the first PLC site.

[0117] Specifically, corresponding to the MIMO mode, after the first PLC site receives the first message from the first adjacent site, the third discovery list can be updated according to the first discovery list. For the information of the M MIMO sites included in the first discovery list, the updated third discovery list will also include this information. Taking the first adjacent site as the second PLC site as an example, the M MIMO sites included in the first discovery list may include the second PLC site and the adjacent site 1 of the second PLC site. Then the updated third discovery list will include the information of the second PLC site and the adjacent site 1 of the second PLC site. Through the mutual broadcast method of the MIMO discovery list, the MIMO sites in the PLC system can exchange routing information in the MIMO mode with each other, so as to realize network maintenance between MIMO sites.

[0118] In a possible implementation manner, after the first PLC site receives the first message from the first adjacent site, the communication quality information with the first adjacent site and other PLC sites can be calculated according to the information in the first discovery list, so that the first discovery list and the calculated communication quality information can be updated to the third discovery list.

[0119] Specifically, the first PLC site can determine the first communication quality information according to the first discovery list, and the first communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and the first adjacent node based on the MIMO mode. For example, the first PLC site can determine, according to the communication success rate, the lowest communication success rate, the number of sent messages, and the number of messages received from the adjacent site in the first discovery list, in combination with one or more of the number of sent messages and the number of received messages of the local site stored by the first PLC site, one or more of the communication success rate and the channel quality when the first PLC site communicates with the first adjacent site in the MIMO communication mode.

[0120] The first PLC site can also determine the second communication quality information according to the first discovery list, and the second communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the first adjacent node is used as the proxy site. For example, according to one or more of the communication success rate, the lowest communication success rate of the first adjacent site, the channel quality between the first adjacent site and the proxy site, the communication success rate with the proxy site, the uplink communication success rate with the proxy site, the number of sent messages, and the number of messages received from the adjacent site in the first discovery list, in combination with one or more of the communication success rate, the number of sent messages, and the number of received messages of the local site stored by the first PLC site, one or more of the communication success rate and the channel quality when the first PLC site communicates with other PLC sites with the first adjacent site as the proxy site can be determined. Other PLC sites may include one or more of the PLC sites that the first PLC site can discover.

[0121] In specific implementation, the first PLC site can first determine the adjacent nodes that can be used as the proxy site of the first PLC site, and then can select the candidate proxy sites from these adjacent sites according to the discovery lists sent by each adjacent site, and then can calculate the second communication quality information for these candidate proxy sites. The adjacent sites that are not selected as the proxy site do not need subsequent calculations, thereby reducing the calculation amount. Or, after receiving the first discovery list of the first adjacent site, the first PLC site can judge whether the first adjacent site can be used as the proxy site according to the first communication quality information. For example, if the communication success rate of the first adjacent site is greater than or equal to the set communication success rate threshold, the first adjacent site can be used as the proxy site, and the calculation of the second communication quality information for the first adjacent site can be continued.

[0122] Furthermore, the first PLC site can update the third discovery list according to one or more of the first discovery list, the first communication quality information, or the second communication quality information. For example, update the first discovery list, the first communication quality information, and the second communication quality information to the third discovery list.

[0123] In a possible implementation, it is also possible to update the third discovery list according to the first discovery list only when it is determined that the first adjacent station has MIMO communication capabilities. For example, the first PLC station can determine that the first adjacent station has MIMO communication capabilities based on the reception mode of the first message being the MIMO mode. That is to say, when the first PLC station receives the first message of the first adjacent station in the MIMO mode, it indicates that the first adjacent station necessarily supports the MIMO mode, that is, it belongs to the MIMO station. Alternatively, the first discovery list may include relevant information of the first adjacent station. For example, it may include second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the first adjacent station has MIMO communication capabilities, that is, the second indication information can indicate whether the type of the first adjacent station is a MIMO station or a SISO station. Then, the first PLC station can also determine that the first adjacent station has MIMO communication capabilities according to the second indication information included in the first discovery list.

[0124] The third discovery list (or, the updated third discovery list) may include (or, indicate) one or more of the following information: the type information of the proxy station of the first PLC station, the first value, the first indication information, or, the second value. The following is a separate introduction.

[0125] (1) The type information of the proxy station of the first PLC station can indicate the type of the proxy station of the first PLC station. For example, it indicates that the proxy station of the first PLC station is a MIMO station or a SISO station.

[0126] (2) The first value, and the first value is the total number of messages including the discovery list sent by the first PLC station in the MIMO mode in the previous routing cycle. For example, the message including the discovery list can be regarded as a type of message, and the first value can be the total number of messages of this type sent by the first PLC station in the MIMO mode in the previous routing cycle.

[0127] (3) The first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate the MIMO stations discovered by the first PLC station. For example, the first indication information can be indicated by a bitmap, a list or other possible ways.

[0128] (4) The second value, and the second value is the total number of messages including the discovery list received by the first PLC station in the MIMO mode in the previous routing cycle. In one implementation, the second value may also include the number of beacon messages received by the first PLC station in the MIMO mode in the previous routing cycle, where the value of the beacon usage flag bit in the beacon message is the third value. That is to say, when the value of the beacon usage flag bit of the beacon message received in the MIMO mode is the third value (for example, it can be 1), then this beacon message will also be counted into the second value.

[0129] The content included in the third discovery list is similar to that of the first discovery list. Therefore, the description of the above content can also refer to the foregoing introduction to the first discovery list and will not be repeated here. Moreover, since the third discovery list corresponds to the MIMO mode, the third discovery list can include the content included in the MIMO discovery list message in Table 1 above. Therefore, the description of the third discovery list can also refer to the description of Table 1 above and will not be repeated here.

[0130] Specifically, corresponding to the SISO mode, after the first PLC site receives the second message from the second PLC site (or the fourth message from the third PLC site), the first PLC site can update the fourth discovery list according to the second discovery list (or the fifth discovery list). Taking the second discovery list as an example, for the information of N PLC sites included in the second discovery list, the updated fourth discovery list will include this information. For example, if the N PLC sites included in the second discovery list include the second PLC site, the adjacent site 1 of the second PLC site, and the adjacent site 2 of the second PLC site, the updated fourth discovery list will include the information of the second PLC site, the adjacent site 1 of the second PLC site, and the adjacent site 2 of the second PLC site. Through the mutual broadcast method of the SISO discovery list, it is possible to exchange communication routing information in the SISO mode between MIMO sites, between SISO sites and MIMO sites, and between SISO sites in the PLC system, so as to achieve network maintenance between PLC sites.

[0131] In a possible implementation manner, after the first PLC site receives the second message from the second adjacent site, the first PLC site can calculate the communication quality information with the second adjacent site and other PLC sites according to the second discovery list, so as to update the second discovery list and the calculated communication quality information to the fourth discovery list.

[0132] Specifically, the first PLC site can determine the third communication quality information according to the second discovery list. The third communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and the second adjacent node, such as the communication quality in the SISO mode. For example, the first PLC site can determine one or more of the communication success rate and the channel quality when communicating between the first PLC site and the second adjacent site as the third communication quality information based on the communication success rate, the lowest communication success rate, the number of sent messages, and the number of received messages from adjacent sites in the second discovery list, combined with one or more of the number of sent messages and the number of received messages of the local site stored in the first PLC site.

[0133] The first PLC station can also determine the fourth communication quality information according to the second discovery list, and the fourth communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC station and other PLC stations when the second adjacent node is used as the proxy station. For example, according to one or more of the communication success rate, the lowest communication success rate of the second adjacent station in the second discovery list, the channel quality between the second adjacent station and the proxy station, the communication success rate with the proxy station, the uplink communication success rate with the proxy station, the number of transmitted packets, and the number of received packets from adjacent stations, combined with one or more of the communication success rate, the number of transmitted packets, and the number of received packets of the local station stored in the first PLC station, the communication success rate and the channel quality when the first PLC station communicates with other PLC stations with the second adjacent station as the proxy station can be determined.

[0134] Furthermore, the first PLC station can update the fourth discovery list according to one or more of the second discovery list, the third communication quality information, or the fourth communication quality information. For example, update the second discovery list, the third communication quality information, and the fourth communication quality information to the third discovery list.

[0135] Through the above implementation manners, the MIMO station can respectively maintain the discovery lists corresponding to the MIMO mode and the SISO mode. For example, for the MIMO mode, the MIMO station only counts the relevant information of the discovery list packets received in the MIMO communication mode. For the SISO mode, the MIMO station only counts the relevant information of the discovery list packets received in the SISO communication mode. The SISO station can only receive the discovery list packets in the SISO communication mode, and can only maintain the discovery list corresponding to the SISO mode. For example, calculate one or more of the communication success rate and the channel quality with the adjacent station in the SISO communication mode according to the discovery list packets, and one or more of the full-link communication success rate, the channel quality, the hierarchy, etc. when communicating with other stations with the adjacent station as the proxy station. Thus, the network information maintenance in the case of MIMO and SISO hybrid networking can be realized. Therefore, it is convenient for the MIMO station to distinguish between the MIMO station and the SISO station, and to selectively communicate with other PLC stations. For example, when the receiving end is a MIMO station, it can communicate with it through the MIMO mode with higher communication rate and reliability, improving the data transmission efficiency.

[0136] In a possible implementation manner, only one discovery list can also be maintained in the first PLC station, and a field can be added to the discovery list to indicate the information of the MIMO mode and the SISO mode, so that the routing information of the two modes can be maintained through one discovery list, saving storage resources.

[0137] In the embodiments of the present application, for the first PLC site, the first PLC site may also send a MIMO discovery list message and / or a SISO discovery list message to its adjacent sites at the transmission frequency arranged by the CCO. Specifically, since the first PLC site is a MIMO site, the first PLC site will send a MIMO discovery list message carrying a third discovery list to adjacent MIMO sites (such as the first adjacent site) in the MIMO mode, and send a SISO discovery list message carrying a fourth discovery list to adjacent SISO sites (such as the first adjacent site and / or the second adjacent site) in the SISO mode, so as to exchange routing information with adjacent sites.

[0138] S304. The first PLC site determines the proxy site of the first PLC site according to the discovery list. Or, the first PLC site determines the proxy site of the first PLC site according to the updated discovery list.

[0139] In the embodiments of the present application, each PLC site may perform routing evaluation in each routing period, select a currently better proxy site, for example, select a proxy site with a higher communication success rate and / or better channel quality. Among them, the routing period may be configured by the CCO in the PLC system, and each PLC site may perform routing evaluation periodically according to the routing period. Hereinafter, the routing evaluation performed by the first PLC site will be taken as an example for introduction.

[0140] In a possible implementation manner, the first PLC site may determine, from the discovery list stored in itself, a PLC site that can be used as the proxy site of the first PLC site, that is, the adjacent site of the first PLC site. Furthermore, according to the information in the discovery list, the first PLC site may evaluate each adjacent site as a proxy site respectively, so as to select a proxy site with a better evaluation value. For example, evaluation is performed from dimensions such as communication success rate and channel quality to obtain the index values corresponding to each adjacent site, and then an adjacent site with a better index value is comprehensively selected as the proxy site according to the index values, so as to improve the communication quality of the first PLC site.

[0141] In a possible implementation manner, for a MIMO site, the discovery list may include a MIMO discovery list and a SISO discovery list. Then, the information in the SISO discovery list and the MIMO discovery list may be respectively counted, and a better adjacent site may be determined from the comprehensively counted information as the proxy site. For example, for an adjacent site that supports the MIMO communication mode, the discovery list information in the SISO communication mode is compared with it. When the communication reliability is comparable, a MIMO site with a higher communication rate is preferentially selected.

[0142] Specifically, taking the first PLC site as an example, when the discovery list stored in the first PLC site includes the third discovery list and the fourth discovery list, the proxy site of the first PLC site can be determined according to the updated third discovery list and the updated fourth discovery list.

[0143] Specifically, refer to Figure 5 As shown, it is a schematic flowchart of the routing evaluation process provided by the embodiment of the present application. After starting the routing evaluation, corresponding to the MIMO mode, the first PLC site can execute step S501, that is, the first PLC site can perform information statistics according to the third discovery list (i.e., the MIMO discovery list). And execute step S502, that is, the first PLC site adds the first weight corresponding to the MIMO mode on the basis of the statistically obtained information to obtain the evaluation information corresponding to the MIMO mode.

[0144] For example, the first PLC site can determine the fifth communication quality information corresponding to the first candidate site in the third discovery list, and determine the sixth communication quality information according to the fifth communication quality information and the first weight. The first candidate site is a PLC site adjacent to the first PLC site. When there are multiple PLC sites adjacent to the first PLC site in the third discovery list, the number of first candidate sites can be multiple, and the first PLC site can respectively determine the fifth communication quality information and the sixth communication quality information corresponding to each first candidate site. The fifth communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the first candidate site is used as the proxy site. For example, it can be one or more of the full-link communication success rate, channel quality, and level. The sixth communication quality information can be the information after adding the first weight on the basis of these information, or it can be the final evaluation value after adding the first weight on the basis of the evaluation value determined comprehensively based on these information. Of course, it can also include other possible information.

[0145] Corresponding to the SISO mode, the first PLC site can execute step S503, that is, the first PLC site can perform information statistics according to the fourth discovery list (i.e., the SISO discovery list). And execute step S504, that is, the first PLC site adds the second weight corresponding to the SISO mode on the basis of the statistically obtained information to obtain the evaluation information corresponding to the SISO mode.

[0146] For example, the first PLC station may determine the seventh communication quality information corresponding to the second candidate station in the fourth discovery list, and determine the eighth communication quality information according to the seventh communication quality information and the second weight. Among them, the second candidate station is a PLC station adjacent to the first PLC station, and the seventh communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC station and other PLC stations when the second candidate station is the proxy station. The determination method for the SISO mode is similar to the determination method for the above MIMO mode, so it will not be elaborated here.

[0147] Furthermore, the first PLC station may execute step S505 to evaluate the route by comprehensively considering the evaluation information of the MIMO mode and the evaluation information corresponding to the SISO mode, and determine the proxy station of the first PLC station. For example, the first PLC station may determine the proxy station from the first candidate station and the second candidate station according to the obtained sixth communication quality information and eighth communication quality information.

[0148] In the embodiments of the present application, there is no limitation on the form of adding weights. For example, it can be in the forms of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc., and when different forms are adopted, the corresponding weight assignment methods may be different. For example, the weight can be added by multiplying the weight value on the basis of the evaluation information. In response to this method, the first weight is greater than or equal to the second weight, so as to be able to preferentially select the MIMO station as the proxy station to improve the data transmission rate and reliability of the first PLC station. In one implementation, the values of the first weight and the second weight can be determined according to the routing communication rate of the MIMO mode and the routing communication rate of the SISO mode. In addition, both the first weight and the second weight can set corresponding sub-weight values for different information dimensions, and the sub-weight values corresponding to different information dimensions can be the same or different.

[0149] For the SISO station, the proxy station can be evaluated by comprehensively comparing one or more of the full-link communication success rate, channel quality, and level of each adjacent station in the discovery list determined according to the SISO discovery list message.

[0150] In an actual application scenario, for each PLC station, the selected proxy station in the above process may be a candidate station, that is, it is not directly changed to the proxy station of the PLC station. The PLC station can determine whether the candidate station is its current actual proxy station. If so, it continues to be the proxy station. If the candidate station is different from its current actual proxy station, the PLC station can send a proxy update request to the CCO to request the CCO to change the proxy station of the PLC station.

[0151] Generally speaking, for a PLC system, the message types used to implement network maintenance of the PLC system may also include beacon messages and heartbeat detection messages. The beacon message is used to publish one or more of the basic attribute information of this network, time slot management information, and routing evaluation period to all PLC stations in the PLC system. The heartbeat detection message is used for each PLC station in the PLC system to report the neighboring stations in the network discovered by this station to the CCO, for the CCO to maintain the online status of the network stations.

[0152] In the embodiments of the present application, for MIMO stations and SISO stations, beacon messages and heartbeat detection messages can be sent in the SISO mode. Thus, when the beacon message or the heartbeat detection message is sent only once, any message sent by a PLC station can be received by the PLC stations within the communication capability coverage range of this message. Compared with the method of the MIMO station sending in the MIMO mode and the SISO mode respectively once, it can save the number of messages required for network maintenance and reduce the overhead of network maintenance. For example, for the first PLC station, if the first neighboring station and / or the second neighboring station send the third message in the SISO mode, then the corresponding first PLC station can receive the third message in the SISO mode. Among them, the third message is a beacon message or a heartbeat detection message.

[0153] The embodiments of the present application also provide another communication method. Please refer to Figure 6 , which is the flow schematic diagram of this method. In this method, a Figure 2 PLC system is taken as an example for introduction.

[0154] S601: The second PLC station sends the third message in the SISO mode. Correspondingly, the first PLC station receives the third message sent by the second PLC station in the SISO mode.

[0155] S602: The first PLC station sends the third message in the SISO mode. Correspondingly, the second PLC station and the third PLC station receive the third message sent by the second PLC station in the SISO mode.

[0156] S603: The third PLC station sends the third message in the SISO mode. Correspondingly, the first PLC station receives the third message sent by the second PLC station in the SISO mode.

[0157] Refer to Figure 6As shown, both the MIMO site and the SISO site send the third message only in the SISO mode. For example, the first PLC site and the second PLC site are MIMO sites and send the third message only in the SISO mode; the third PLC site is a SISO site and also sends the third message only in the SISO mode. Thus, for both the MIMO site and the SISO site, the beacon message and the heartbeat detection message can be sent in the SISO mode, which can save the number of messages required for network maintenance and reduce the overhead of network maintenance.

[0158] To introduce the solution provided by the embodiments of the present application more clearly, the above technical solution will be introduced below with specific examples.

[0159] Example 1

[0160] See Figure 7A As shown, it is a topology example of a mixed network of MIMO and SISO. Among them, the CCO is connected to the first-level proxy sites PCO1 and PCO2 through a multi-line connection method, PCO1 is connected to the second-level proxy sites PCO3 and PCO4 through a multi-line connection method, and PCO4 to PCO6 are all connected to the discovery sites STA2 to STA24 through a multi-line connection method. Then, these sites can communicate with each other in the MIMO mode or in the SISO mode. PCO2 is connected to the second-level proxy sites PCO5 and PCO6 through a two-line connection method, and PCO3 is connected to STA1 through a two-line connection method. Then, these sites can only communicate with each other in the SISO mode.

[0161] Then for Figure 7A the topology example shown, network maintenance can be performed in the following ways respectively:

[0162] (1) For the beacon message and the heartbeat detection message, the beacon message and the heartbeat detection message are sent between any two PLC sites in the SISO mode. For example, the CCO can send the beacon message and the heartbeat detection message to PCO1 in the SISO mode, and PCO3 can send the beacon message and the heartbeat detection message to STA1 in the SISO mode.

[0163] (2) For the discovery list message, the discovery list message is sent once in the MIMO mode and once in the SISO mode respectively between the sites with MIMO communication capabilities, and the sent list message sent in the MIMO mode is only used to indicate information related to the MIMO mode. The discovery list message is sent only in the SISO mode between the sites with SISO communication capabilities.

[0164] See Figure 7AAs shown, between CCO and PCO1, between PCO1 and PCO3, and between PCO5 and STA3, it is necessary to send MIMO discovery list messages in MIMO mode and SISO discovery list messages in SISO mode respectively to send the MIMO discovery list and the SISO discovery list to each other; while between PCO2 and PCO5, and between PCO3 and STA1, SISO discovery list messages are sent in SISO mode to send the SISO discovery list to each other.

[0165] Among them, the first PLC site or the second PLC site in the embodiments of the present application can be any one of CCO or PCO1 - PCO6 shown in 7A, and the third PLC site can be any one of STA1, PCO2, PCO5 or PCO6 shown in 7B. For example, taking Figure 7A PCO2 in as the first PLC site as an example, its adjacent sites include CCO, PCO5 and PCO6. When sending the discovery list between PCO2 and CCO, PCO2 can send the MIMO discovery list to CCO in MIMO mode and send the SISO discovery list to CCO in SISO mode respectively. Similarly, PCO2 can receive the MIMO discovery list sent by CCO in MIMO mode and receive the SISO discovery list sent by CCO in SISO mode. Between PCO2 and PCO5, and between PCO2 and PCO6, only SISO discovery list messages will be sent in SISO mode. For example, PCO2 can send SISO discovery list messages to PCO5 and PCO6 in SISO mode. Similarly, it can also receive SISO discovery list messages sent by PCO5 and PCO6 in SISO mode, so as to support route maintenance between sites with different communication capabilities and achieve the ability of hybrid networking.

[0166] See Figure 7B As shown, it is another topology example of MIMO and SISO hybrid networking. Among them, CCO is connected to the first-level proxy sites PCO1 and PCO2 through a multi-line connection method, PCO1 is connected to the second-level proxy sites PCO3 and PCO4 through a multi-line connection method, and PCO2 is connected to the second-level proxy sites PCO5 and PCO6 through a multi-line connection method. Then, these sites can communicate in MIMO mode or SISO mode. PCO3 - PCO6 are all connected to the discovery sites STA1 - STA24 through a two-line connection method, and these sites can only communicate in SISO mode.

[0167] Then for Figure 7B the topology example shown, network maintenance can be carried out in the following ways respectively:

[0168] (1) For beacon messages and heartbeat detection messages, the beacon messages and heartbeat detection messages are sent between any two PLC stations in SISO mode. For example, the CCO can send beacon messages and heartbeat detection messages to the PCO1 in SISO mode, and the PCO3 can send beacon messages and heartbeat detection messages to the STA1 in SISO mode.

[0169] (2) For discovery list messages, the stations with MIMO communication capabilities send the discovery list messages once each in MIMO mode and SISO mode respectively, and the discovery list messages sent in MIMO mode are only used to indicate information related to MIMO mode. The stations with SISO communication capabilities only send the discovery list messages in SISO mode. Refer to Figure 7B As shown, between the CCO and the primary proxy station or between the primary proxy station and the secondary proxy station, the MIMO discovery list messages need to be sent in MIMO mode and the SISO discovery list messages need to be sent in SISO mode respectively, for sending the MIMO discovery list and the SISO discovery list to each other; while between the PCO3 - PCO6 and the STAs they are connected to respectively, the SISO discovery list messages are sent in SISO mode to send the SISO discovery list to each other.

[0170] Among them, the first PLC station or the second PLC station in the embodiments of the present application can be any one of the CCO or PCO1 - PCO6 shown in 7A, and the third PLC station can be any one of the STA1 - STA4 shown in 7B. For example, taking Figure 7B the PCO4 as the first PLC station as an example, its adjacent stations include the PCO1 and the STA2. When sending the discovery list between the PCO4 and the PCO1, the PCO4 can send the MIMO discovery list to the PCO1 in MIMO mode and the SISO discovery list to the PCO1 in SISO mode respectively. Similarly, the PCO4 can receive the MIMO discovery list sent by the PCO1 in MIMO mode and the SISO discovery list sent by the PCO1 in SISO mode. Between the PCO4 and the STA2, only the SISO discovery list is sent in SISO mode. For example, the PCO4 can send the SISO discovery list to the STA2 in SISO mode. Similarly, it can also receive the SISO discovery list sent by the STA2 in SISO mode, so as to support route maintenance between stations with different communication capabilities and achieve the ability of hybrid networking.

[0171] Refer to Figure 7C As shown, it is another topological example of MIMO and SISO hybrid networking. It should be noted that Figure 7CWhat is shown can be part of the network topology, that is, the CCO and other stations are not shown. Among them, STA1 is connected to PCO1 and PCO3 through a multi-line connection method, STA2 is connected to PCO1, PCO2 and PCO3 through a multi-line connection method, and is connected to PCO4 through a two-line connection method, and STA2 is connected to PCO2 and PCO4 through a two-line connection method.

[0172] For STA1, it is necessary to send the MIMO discovery list to PCO1 and PCO3 in the MIMO mode and send the SISO discovery list to PCO1 and PCO3 in the SISO mode. Similarly, STA1 can receive the MIMO discovery list sent by PCO1 and PCO3 in the MIMO mode and receive the SISO discovery list sent by PCO1 and PCO3 in the SISO mode. Based on this, STA1 can select its own proxy station from them. Since both PCO1 and PCO3 are MIMO stations, STA1 can select a better proxy station according to the actual communication quality.

[0173] For STA2, it is necessary to send the MIMO discovery list to PCO1 - PCO3 in the MIMO mode and send the SISO discovery list to PCO1 - PCO4 in the SISO mode. Similarly, STA1 can receive the MIMO discovery list sent by PCO1 - PCO3 in the MIMO mode and receive the SISO discovery list sent by PCO1 - PCO4 in the SISO mode, and respectively maintain its own SISO discovery list and MIMO discovery list. When performing route evaluation, STA2 can select its own proxy station according to the SISO discovery list and MIMO discovery list. When the communication quality is comparable, any one of PCO1 - PCO3 can be preferentially selected as the proxy station to give full play to the characteristics of high reliability and large communication rate of the MIMO station and improve the data transmission rate.

[0174] For STA3, it is necessary to send the SISO discovery list to PCO2 and PCO4 in the SISO mode. Similarly, STA1 receives the SISO discovery list sent by PCO2 and PCO4 in the SISO mode. Based on this, STA3 can select its own proxy station from them. Since both PCO2 and PCO4 are connected to STA3 through two lines and only support SISO communication capabilities, STA3 can select a better proxy station according to the actual communication quality.

[0175] Figure 8 The structural schematic diagram of a PLC device provided by an embodiment of the present application is given. The PLC device 800 can be Figure 3 or Figure 6The PLC station or the circuit system of the PLC station shown in any one of the accompanying drawings is used to implement the method corresponding to the PLC station in the above method embodiments. For example, the PLC station may be a first PLC station, a second PLC station, or a third PLC station. Among them, for example, a circuit system is a chip or a chip system.

[0176] The PLC device 800 includes at least one processor 801. The processor 801 can be used for internal processing of the device to implement certain control processing functions. Optionally, the processor 801 includes instructions. Optionally, the processor 801 can store data. Optionally, different processors can be independent devices, can be located at different physical locations, and can be located on different integrated circuits. Optionally, different processors can be integrated in one or more processors, for example, integrated on one or more integrated circuits.

[0177] Optionally, the PLC device 800 includes one or more memories 803 for storing instructions. Optionally, data can also be stored in the memory 803. The processor and the memory can be set separately or integrated together.

[0178] Optionally, the PLC device 800 includes a communication line 802 and at least one communication interface 804. Among them, since the memory 803, the communication line 802, and the communication interface 804 are all optional, they are Figure 8 shown as dashed lines in all.

[0179] Optionally, the PLC device 800 may further include a transceiver. Among them, the transceiver can be used to send information to other devices or receive information from other devices. The transceiver can be called a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, an input / output interface, etc., and is used to implement the transceiver function of the PLC device 800. Optionally, the transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver. Exemplarily, the transmitter can be used to generate a PLC signal based on a digital signal, and the receiver can be used to convert the PLC signal into a digital signal.

[0180] The processor 801 may include a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application solution.

[0181] The communication line 802 may include a path for transmitting information between the above components.

[0182] A communication interface 804, using any transceiver-like device, is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), wired access network, etc.

[0183] The memory 803 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or it can also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but not limited thereto. The memory 803 can exist independently and be connected to the processor 801 through the communication line 802. Alternatively, the memory 803 can also be integrated with the processor 801.

[0184] Among them, the memory 803 is used to store computer execution instructions for implementing the solution of this application, and is controlled by the processor 801 to execute. The processor 801 is used to execute the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 803, so as to implement Figure 3 Or Figure 6 The steps executed by any one of the PLC stations described in the embodiments shown in any one of the attached drawings.

[0185] Optionally, the computer execution instructions in the embodiments of this application can also be referred to as application code, and this application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0186] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 801 can include one or more CPUs, such as Figure 8 CPU0 and CPU1 in

[0187] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the PLC device 800 can include multiple processors, such as Figure 8The processors 801 and 805 therein. Each of these processors can be a single-CPU processor or a multi-CPU processor. The processors here can refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (such as computer program instructions).

[0188] When Figure 8 The device shown is a chip, for example, the chip of any PLC station. Then the chip includes a processor 801 (processor 805 can also be included), a communication line 802, and a communication interface 804. Optionally, it can include a memory 803. Specifically, the communication interface 804 can be an input interface, a pin, or a circuit, etc. The memory 803 can be a register, a cache, etc. The processors 801 and 805 can be a general-purpose CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of programs of the communication methods in any of the above embodiments.

[0189] The embodiments of the present application can divide the device into functional modules according to the above method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, only a logical function division, and there can be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, in the case of dividing each functional module corresponding to each function, Figure 9 A schematic diagram of a device is shown. The device 900 can be any PLC station involved in the above method embodiments, or a chip in any PLC station. The device 900 includes a processing unit 902 and a transceiver unit 901.

[0190] It should be understood that the device 900 can be used to implement the steps executed by any PLC station in the communication method of the embodiments of the present application, and the relevant features can be referred to the embodiments shown in any one of the attached drawings above Figure 3 Or Figure 6 and will not be elaborated here.

[0191] Optionally, Figure 9 the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver unit 901 and the processing unit 902 therein can be implemented by the processor 801 in Figure 8 calling the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 803. Or, Figure 9 the functions / implementation processes of the processing unit 902 therein can be implemented by the processor 801 in Figure 8 calling the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 803, Figure 9The function / implementation process of the transceiver unit 901 in [it] can be implemented through Figure 8 the communication interface 804 in [it].

[0192] Optionally, when the device 900 is a chip or a circuit, the function / implementation process of the transceiver unit 901 can also be implemented through pins or circuits, etc. Optionally, the transceiver unit 901 may include a sending unit and / or a receiving unit. The sending unit is used to implement the sending function, and the receiving unit is used to implement the receiving function; or, the transceiver unit 901 may be an integrated module that can implement the sending function and / or the receiving function. Optionally, the transceiver unit 901 can be implemented through a transceiver.

[0193] The embodiment of the present application further provides a PLC system, including a first PLC device and a second PLC device; wherein, the first PLC device is used to execute the method executed by the first PLC station as described above, and the second PLC device is used to execute the method executed by the second PLC station as described above. For example, the first PLC device may be the first PLC station or a chip or functional module included in the first PLC station; the second PLC device may be the second PLC station or a chip or functional module included in the second PLC station.

[0194] Optionally, the PLC system may further include a third PLC device, and the third PLC device is used to execute the method executed by the third PLC station as described above. The third PLC device may be the third PLC station or a chip or functional module included in the third PLC station.

[0195] Among them, each of the above-mentioned PLC stations can refer to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments and will not be elaborated herein.

[0196] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are run, the method executed by any PLC station in the foregoing method embodiments is implemented. In this way, the functions described in the above embodiments can be implemented in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present application essentially or the part that makes a contribution or a part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a PLC station device to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of the present application. The storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.

[0197] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes computer program code that, when running on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method performed by any PLC station in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0198] An embodiment of the present application also provides a processing device, including a processor and an interface; the processor is configured to execute the method performed by any PLC station involved in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0199] An embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor for implementing the functions of any PLC station in the foregoing method (for example, executing the corresponding method or steps). The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0200] Optionally, the chip system further includes a memory for storing program instructions for the above-mentioned processor to read and execute to implement the corresponding method.

[0201] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wirelessly (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or a data center that includes one or more available media integrated. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0202] In the embodiments of the present application, the various illustrative logical units and circuits described can be implemented or operate the described functions through a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination of the above designs. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor. Optionally, the general-purpose processor can also be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor can also be implemented through a combination of computing devices, such as a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

[0203] The steps of the methods or algorithms described in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embedded in hardware, software units executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. The software units can be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), EEPROM, registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium in the art. Exemplarily, the storage medium can be connected to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium can also be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be disposed in an ASIC, and the ASIC can be disposed in a PLC station. Optionally, the processor and the storage medium can also be disposed in different components of a terminal device.

[0204] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device, so that a series of operation steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to generate a computer-implemented process, and thus the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in a process Figure 1 a process or multiple processes and / or blocks Figure 1 steps for implementing the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0205] The content in the various embodiments of the present application can be referred to each other. Without special instructions and logical conflicts, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referred to each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0206] It can be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, any PLC station can execute some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application. These steps or operations are only examples. In the embodiments of the present application, other operations or variations of various operations can also be executed. In addition, the various steps can be executed in different orders presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all of the operations in the embodiments of the present application need to be executed.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, applied to the first PLC station in a power line communication (PLC) system, the method comprising: receiving, in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) manner, a first message from a first adjacent station, the first message including a first discovery list, the first discovery list including information of M PLC stations of a first type, the M PLC stations of the first type including the first adjacent station, the PLC stations of the first type having MIMO communication capabilities, and M being an integer; receiving, in a single-input single-output (SISO) manner, a second message from a second adjacent station, the second message including a second discovery list, the second discovery list including information of N PLC stations, the N PLC stations including the second adjacent station, the N PLC stations including PLC stations of the first type and / or PLC stations of a second type, the PLC stations of the second type having SISO communication capabilities, and N being an integer; determining a discovery list of the first PLC station according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, determining the discovery list stored by the first PLC station according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list includes: updating a third discovery list stored by the first PLC station according to the first discovery list, the updated third discovery list including information of the M PLC stations of the first type; and / or, updating a fourth discovery list stored by the first PLC station according to the second discovery list, the updated fourth discovery list including information of the N PLC stations.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, the updated third discovery list includes one or more of the following information: type information of a proxy station of the first PLC station; a first value, the first value being the total number of messages including a discovery list sent by the first PLC station in the last routing cycle in the MIMO manner; a first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate the PLC stations of the first type discovered by the first PLC station; a second value, the second value being the total number of messages including a discovery list received by the first PLC station in the last routing cycle in the MIMO manner.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, the second value includes the number of beacon messages received by the first PLC station in the last routing cycle in the MIMO manner, wherein the value of a beacon usage flag bit in the beacon message is a third value.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that, updating the third discovery list stored by the first PLC station according to the first discovery list includes: Determine first communication quality information and second communication quality information according to the first discovery list, where the first communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and the first adjacent node based on the MIMO mode, and the second communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the first adjacent node is the proxy site; Update the third discovery list according to one or more of the first discovery list, the first communication quality information, or the second communication quality information.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that Updating the third discovery list stored by the first PLC site according to the first discovery list includes: If it is determined that the first adjacent site has MIMO communication capabilities according to the reception mode of the first message being the MIMO mode, then update the third discovery list according to the first discovery list; or, If it is determined that the first adjacent site has the MIMO communication capabilities according to the second indication information included in the first discovery list, then update the third discovery list according to the first discovery list, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the first adjacent site has the MIMO communication capabilities.

7. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that Updating the fourth discovery list stored by the first PLC site according to the second discovery list includes: Determine third communication quality information and fourth communication quality information according to the second discovery list, where the third communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and the second adjacent node based on the SISO mode, and the fourth communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the second adjacent node is the proxy site; Update the fourth discovery list according to one or more of the second discovery list, the third communication quality information, or the fourth communication quality information.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that After determining the discovery list stored by the first PLC site according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list, the method further includes: Determine the proxy site of the first PLC site according to the updated third discovery list and the updated fourth discovery list.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that Determining the proxy site of the first PLC site according to the updated third discovery list and the updated fourth discovery list includes: Determine the fifth communication quality information corresponding to the first candidate site in the third discovery list, where the first candidate site is a PLC site adjacent to the first PLC site, and the fifth communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the first candidate site is the proxy site; Determine the sixth communication quality information according to the first weight corresponding to the fifth communication quality information and the MIMO mode; Determine the seventh communication quality information corresponding to the second candidate site in the fourth discovery list, where the second candidate site is a PLC site adjacent to the first PLC site, and the seventh communication quality information is used to indicate the communication quality between the first PLC site and other PLC sites when the second candidate site is the proxy site; Determine the eighth communication quality information according to the seventh communication quality information and the second weight corresponding to the SISO mode; Determine the proxy site from the first candidate site and the second candidate site according to the sixth communication quality information and the eighth communication quality information.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein, the first weight is greater than or equal to the second weight.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein, the method further includes: Receive a third message from the first adjacent site and / or the second adjacent site in the SISO mode, where the third message is a beacon message or a heartbeat detection message.

12. A communication method, wherein, applied to a second PLC site in a PLC system, the method includes: Send a first message in the MIMO mode; the first message includes a first discovery list, and the first discovery list includes information of M PLC sites of the first type, where the M PLC sites of the first type include the second PLC site and the PLC sites of the first type discovered by the second PLC site, and the PLC sites of the first type have MIMO communication capabilities, and M is an integer; Send a second message in the SISO mode; the second message includes a second discovery list, and the second discovery list includes information of N PLC sites, where the N PLC sites include the second PLC site, and the PLC sites of the first type and / or the second type discovered by the second PLC site, and the PLC sites of the second type have SISO communication capabilities, and N is an integer.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, the first discovery list includes one or more of the following information: Type information of the proxy site of the second PLC site; A fourth value, where the fourth value is the total number of messages including discovery lists sent by the second PLC site in the MIMO mode in the previous routing cycle; A third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate the PLC sites of the first type discovered by the second PLC site; A fifth value, where the fifth value is the total number of messages including discovery lists received by the second PLC site in the MIMO mode in the previous routing cycle.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, the fifth value includes the number of beacon messages received by the second PLC site in the MIMO mode in the previous routing cycle, where the value of the beacon usage flag bit in the beacon message is a third value.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein, the method further includes: Send the third message in the SISO mode, where the third message is a beacon message or a heartbeat detection message.

16. A communication method Characterized in that Applied to a PLC system, the PLC system includes a first PLC site and a second PLC site, both the first PLC site and the second PLC site are PLC sites of the first type, and the PLC sites of the first type have MIMO communication capabilities; the method includes: The second PLC site sends a first message in the MIMO mode, and the first PLC site receives the first message in the MIMO mode; the first message includes a first discovery list, and the first discovery list includes information of M PLC sites of the first type, and the M PLC sites of the first type include the second PLC site and the PLC sites of the first type discovered by the second PLC site, and M is an integer; The second PLC site sends a second message in the SISO mode, and the first PLC site receives the second message in the SISO mode; the second message includes a second discovery list, and the second discovery list includes information of N PLC sites, and the N PLC sites include the second PLC site, and the PLC sites of the first type and / or the second type discovered by the second PLC site, and N is an integer; The first PLC site determines the discovery list of the first PLC site according to the first discovery list and / or the second discovery list.

17. The method according to claim 16 Characterized in that The PLC system further includes a third PLC site, the third PLC site is a PLC site of the second type, and the PLC sites of the second type have SISO communication capabilities; the method further includes: The third PLC site sends a fourth message in the SISO mode, and the first PLC site receives the fourth message in the SISO mode; the fourth message includes a fifth discovery list, and the fifth discovery list includes information of L PLC sites, and the L PLC sites include the third PLC site, and the PLC sites of the first type and / or the second type discovered by the third PLC site, and L is an integer; The first PLC site further determines the discovery list of the first PLC site according to the fifth discovery list.

18. The method according to claim 17 Characterized in that The method further includes: The first PLC site sends a third message in the SISO mode to the second PLC site and / or the third PLC site, and the third message is a beacon message or a heartbeat detection message; The second PLC site receives the third message in the SISO mode, and / or, the third PLC site receives the third message in the SISO mode.

19. A PLC device Characterized in that The PLC device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit. The processing unit is coupled to the transceiver unit to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or execute the method described in any one of claims 12 to 15, or execute the method described in any one of claims 16 to 18.

20. A PLC device Characterized in that the PLC device includes a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to execute the computer program stored on the memory, so that the PLC device executes the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or so that the PLC device executes the method described in any one of claims 12 to 15, or so that the PLC device executes the method described in any one of claims 16 to 18.

21. A PLC system Characterized in that the PLC system includes a first PLC device and a second PLC device; wherein the first PLC device is used to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10; the second PLC device is used to execute the method described in any one of claims 12 to 15.

22. A computer-readable storage medium Characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program. When the computer program is run on a computer, it causes the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or causes the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 12 to 15, or causes the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 16 to 18.

23. A computer program product Characterized in that the computer program product includes a computer program. When the computer program is run on a computer, it causes the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or causes the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 12 to 15, or causes the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 16 to 18.

24. A chip system Characterized in that the chip system includes: a processor and an interface. The processor is used to call and run instructions from the interface. When the processor executes the instructions, it implements the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or implements the method described in any one of claims 12 to 15, or implements the method described in any one of claims 16 to 18.

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