Transmission system, hub and client

Abstract

The invention relates to a transmission system having a host controller (10), a hub (20), at least one client (30) and at least one sensor (40), the hub (20) being connected to the host controller (10) via a first communication interface (50) in an information-technology manner, the hub (20) is connected to the at least one client (30) via a two-wire bus (60) in an information technology manner and is arranged on the basis of the two-wire bus (60) to provide a supply voltage for the at least one client (30) and to carry out data communication with the client (30), the client (30) is connected to the at least one sensor (40) via a second communication interface (55) in an information technology manner and is configured to transmit data obtained from the sensor (40) to the host controller (10) via the hub (20). The invention also relates to a hub of a transmission system and to a client of a transmission system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a hub, a client, and a transmission system having such a hub and such a client. Background Art

[0002] In many applications (such as home appliance applications, industrial applications, etc.), communication protocols that enable the integration of sensors are increasingly being used. Various interfaces are often used as the basis for sensor networking, and these interfaces require at least four lines for providing a power supply voltage and for data transmission (such as SPI, I 2 C, CAN, ProfiBus, Ethernet, etc.).

[0003] These interfaces are not developed specifically for communication between sensors and a host controller, but for general digital communication. Therefore, for example, this has the following effects: Based on these interfaces, only a limited wire length can be used between a sensor and a host controller.

[0004] US2005024066 A1 discloses a technique for providing a power supply voltage and performing signal transmission between two electrical devices via a single line. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The transmission system according to the present invention has a host controller, a hub, at least one client, and at least one sensor. The transmission system is, for example, a transmission system that can be put into use in home appliances, industrial applications, medical technology devices, home and / or garden automation applications, vehicles, etc.

[0006] The host controller can in principle be any computing unit that undertakes the core functions (such as core control) within the transmission system or of an application having the transmission system, in such a way that the host controller, for example, requests and / or stores and / or processes different data that can be transmitted by means of the transmission system, etc.

[0007] In the broadest sense, a hub should be understood as a node of a transmission system, via which one or more communication partners in the transmission system are set to be connected (angebunden) to a host controller in an information technology manner. In the case of the hub according to the invention, it is not mandatory but possible to configure the hub as a physical node to which multiple communication partners can be connected, for example, in a star shape. Instead, the hub can be configured as a node on the logical layer. In addition, the hub according to the invention can advantageously provide additional functions that are not typically specified for conventional hubs in a network environment, such as a voltage supply function and / or a server function within a subnet of the transmission system according to the invention. Generally, the use of the term "hub" should not impose limitations on the functions that a hub can provide in principle.

[0008] In the broadest sense, at least one client represents the function of a terminal device, that is, a communication partner of the hub, without imposing limitations on the functionality of the at least one client thereby.

[0009] At least one sensor is, for example, a temperature sensor, a brightness sensor, a current sensor, a voltage sensor, a position sensor, a speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, or a sensor different from these. In addition, in the broadest sense, a sensor should also be understood as a kind of sensor that is set to monitor the operation and / or adjustment of a user interface, etc.

[0010] Specifically, the hub according to the invention has a first communication interface, via which the hub is connected to the host controller in an information technology manner. The first communication interface can be, for example, an interface that is conventionally used for sensor connection (Sensoranbindung).

[0011] In addition, the hub according to the invention is also connected to at least one client in an information technology manner via a two-wire bus, and based on this two-wire bus, the hub is set to provide a power supply voltage for the at least one client and implement data communication with the client. For example, protocols known from the prior art, such as PSI5 or similar protocols, can be used as the basis for such a two-wire bus, and these protocols can be adjusted according to the invention, for example. In addition, any other known or new protocol / interface can also be used, via which both power can be supplied to the client and data communication can be carried out.

[0012] The client is connected to at least one sensor in an information technology manner via a second communication interface, and the client is set to transmit the data obtained from the sensor to the host controller via the hub. The second communication interface can be constructed to be the same as or different from the first communication interface.

[0013] It is generally pointed out that the first communication interface and the second communication interface can in principle be any interfaces, and the any interfaces can in particular represent any protocol-based interfaces, and / or represent interfaces in which electrical components are connected via wires and / or rails for direct signal transmission (such as analog signals). Accordingly, the connection members of a single electrical component are also regarded as communication interfaces according to the present invention, and these connection members can be in electrical contact with each other (such as by means of a welding connection, etc.).

[0014] It is generally further pointed out that the transmission system can preferably have a large number of clients according to the present invention. In addition, it is possible that the client and at least one sensor (such as a temperature sensor) can be constructed in a single physical component or can be separate physical components. It is also conceivable that the hub and the host controller can be constructed as a single physical component or as separate physical components.

[0015] The transmission system according to the present invention particularly provides the following advantages: compared with the case where the sensor is connected to the host controller in a traditional (direct) manner, the scalability and / or flexibility of change of the transmission system according to the present invention can be improved, because when adding or deleting clients and / or sensors within the transmission system, for example, it is not necessary to adjust the interface of the host controller.

[0016] Another advantage of the present invention is that compared with traditional sensor applications, the distance between the sensor and the host controller can be amplified by the two-wire bus accessed according to the present invention, in such a way that a two-wire bus with correspondingly appropriate transmission characteristics is put into use.

[0017] Preferred expansion schemes of the present invention are shown below.

[0018] It is further preferred that the first communication interface and / or the second communication interface implement the SPI protocol and / or the I 2 C protocol and / or the UART protocol. Using the above-mentioned protocols or similar protocols provides the following advantages: these protocols can generally be implemented at low cost and are mostly sufficient for the transmission of sensor data via relatively short wire lengths. As described above, the first communication interface and the second communication interface can implement the same protocol. This can be obtained, for example, from the fact that a traditional transmission system for transmitting sensor data is expanded according to the present invention (by accessing a hub, a two-wire bus and at least one client therein) in order to achieve, for example, higher flexibility and / or scalability and / or a greater distance between the corresponding sensor and the host controller as described above. It is also pointed out that the second communication interface can be composed of a large number of communication interfaces that implement the same or at least partially different protocols from each other, so that multiple sensors implementing the same protocol or different protocols can be connected to the corresponding client.

[0019] Advantageously, the two-wire bus is configured as a low-power bus and / or is arranged to transmit data via wire lengths of up to 4 m, preferably up to 8 m, and particularly preferably up to 10 m or more. As an alternative or in addition, the two-wire bus is advantageously arranged to perform data transmission at a transmission rate of up to 500 kbit / s or higher. The latter particularly offers the advantage that a large number of clients with corresponding sensors can be connected to the hub, or the number of clients can be slightly increased if necessary, since this transmission rate is often sufficient for transmitting multiple sensor data. Accordingly, with a suitably high transmission rate of the two-wire bus, the configuration flexibility of the transmission system according to the invention can be increased.

[0020] In an advantageous configuration of the invention, the hub and the corresponding clients connected to the hub implement a master / slave system, in which the hub serves as the master station and the corresponding clients serve as slave stations, and the master station controls the slave stations for performing data communication. Here, the master station can, for example, predefine a transmission time window for the corresponding slave station within which the corresponding slave station can transmit and / or receive data.

[0021] In a particularly preferred configuration of the invention, the client is arranged to generate a supply voltage matched to the corresponding sensors connected to the client based on the supply voltage provided by the hub, in order to supply electrical energy provided by the hub to the sensors. In the case where multiple sensors are connected to a client and these sensors require different supply voltages, the client is preferably arranged to provide multiple different supply voltages matched to the corresponding sensors. As an alternative or in addition, the client is arranged based on a temperature sensor of the client to detect the temperature of the client and / or sensors arranged within the range of the client and to provide temperature information to the hub and / or the host controller via the two-wire bus. Such a temperature sensor can be a temperature sensor connected via a second communication interface of the client, or a temperature sensor connected to the client via an interface different from the second communication interface (for example, by direct connection of a sensor wire). The latter case can be configured, for example, such that the temperature sensor is integrated into the chip of the client and / or connected to such a chip within the housing of the client. In this way, temperature monitoring of the client and / or one or more sensors connected to the client can be achieved, based on which the operating state (for example, error state) of the client and / or the sensors can be determined.

[0022] In another advantageous configuration of the present invention, the client is configured to detect data from sensors connected to the client based on configuration data provided by the hub and / or stored in the client. With the aid of the configuration data, for example, the transmission interval and / or retrieval interval of the sensor data arriving at the hub and / or the selection of the sensor data to be transmitted by the client can be determined. The configuration data can be stored at least partially persistently in the client itself or transmitted by the hub and / or the host controller to the corresponding client during the system startup process and / or during the runtime of the transmission system. Additionally, it is possible that the configuration data between the corresponding clients can be at least partially different from each other in order to achieve an appropriate adjustment according to the corresponding clients and / or sensors. Furthermore, based on this configuration data, the corresponding packet size for the data to be transmitted can also be determined. All in all, based on the above configuration, the following advantages are achieved in particular: The client can be configured individually, and / or the sensor data can be collected first, for example, by the corresponding client (e.g., until a predefined time interval has elapsed and / or until the cache of the client has reached a predefined maximum filling degree, etc.) and then transmitted to the hub in an integrated form. In this way, the hub and / or the two-wire bus can be correspondingly relieved. By the client additionally forwarding only the currently required sensor data to the hub based on the configuration data, a further reduction of the load on the hub and / or the two-wire bus can be achieved.

[0023] In addition, the hub and / or at least one client can also be configured to perform data communication via the two-wire bus by means of current modulation and / or voltage modulation. This can be determined differently, for example, according to the corresponding communication direction.

[0024] The hub is particularly preferably set up to automatically retrieve data from one or more clients on the basis of data process control (Datenablaufsteuerung), where the data is retrieved at respectively predefined time intervals (for example in the so-called "loop mode") and / or on the basis of events. This process control is implemented, for example, on the basis of process configuration data, which can be stored in the hub itself and / or provided by the host controller. By using this process control to control the corresponding clients (for example activate and / or deactivate clients, and / or determine the sensor data required in the clients) and / or retrieve data from the corresponding clients, the host controller can be correspondingly relieved, since not all individual data has to be actively requested by the host controller. Additionally advantageously, the hub is set up to store the data obtained from one or more clients in a storage unit of the hub and to transfer it to the host controller at predefined time intervals and / or on the basis of events (for example on the basis of a request from the host controller and / or when a predefined storage fill level threshold is reached, etc.). This provides a further possibility for relieving the host controller, which, depending on the amount of data entering the hub and / or depending on the determination of the storage fill level threshold, can lead to the host controller being able to switch to an energy-saving mode (for example "sleep mode") between the corresponding data transfers by the hub.

[0025] In addition, a hub of a transmission system according to the invention is proposed, where the hub is set up to be connected in an IT manner to at least one client via a two-wire bus, to supply a supply voltage to the at least one client on the basis of the two-wire bus and to carry out data communication with the client.

[0026] Furthermore, a client of a transmission system according to the invention is proposed, where the client is set up to be connected to a hub via a two-wire bus in order to be supplied with a supply voltage via the two-wire bus and to carry out data communication with the hub. The client is further set up to be connected in an IT manner to at least one sensor via a communication interface, to convert the supply voltage provided by the hub into a supply voltage matching the sensor and to supply it to the sensor. The client is finally set up to transfer the data obtained from the sensor to the hub via the two-wire bus. Description of the Drawings

[0027] Embodiments of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The drawings show:

[0028] Figure 1 A block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a transmission system according to the invention, which transmission system has a hub according to the invention and a large number of clients according to the invention. Detailed Description

[0029] Figure 1 A block diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of a transmission system according to the present invention, the transmission system having a hub 20 according to the present invention and a large number of clients 30, 32, 33, 34 according to the present invention.

[0030] The transmission system (the transmission system here is a transmission system arranged in a household appliance) further has a host controller 10 configured as a microcontroller and a large number of sensors 40, 40'.

[0031] The hub 20 is connected to the host controller 10 in an information technology manner via a first communication interface 50 configured as an SPI interface, and is connected to a large number of clients 30, 32, 33, 34 in an information technology manner via a two-wire bus 60, wherein the two-wire bus 60 is designed as a low-power consumption bus.

[0032] The hub 20 is additionally arranged based on the two-wire bus 60 to provide a power supply voltage for a large number of clients 30, 32, 33, 34 and perform data communication with the clients 30, 32, 33, 34 at a transmission rate of 500 kbit / s.

[0033] The clients 30, 32, 33, 34 are respectively connected to the corresponding sensors 40, 40' in an information technology manner via second communication interfaces 55, 55', and in this way are arranged to transmit the data obtained by the sensors 40, 40' to the host controller 10 via the hub 20.

[0034] The second communication interface 55 and the second communication interface 55' here implement different communication interfaces with different protocols, for example. In addition, the sensor 40 is a sensor constructed differently from the sensor 40'.

[0035] In addition, according to Figure 1 It can also be seen that the number of sensors 40, 40' respectively connected to the clients 30, 32, 33, 34 can be different. It is also possible that the sensors 40, 40' can be connected to the corresponding clients 30, 32, 33, 34 via separate wires and thus via separate second communication interfaces 55, 55' and / or via a commonly used second communication interface 55, 55'.

[0036] The sensor 40 here is configured as a temperature sensor, for example, while the sensor 40' here is configured as a voltage sensor, for example.

[0037] In addition, the hub 20 is also configured to implement data communication with the corresponding clients 30, 32, 33, 34 by means of voltage modulation on the two-wire bus 60, while the clients 30, 32, 33, 34 are respectively configured to implement data communication with the hub 20 by means of current modulation.

[0038] The data communication between the hub 20 and the corresponding clients 30, 32, 33, 34 is based here on a master / slave system, in which the hub 20 serves as the master station M with respect to the two-wire bus 60, and the corresponding clients 30, 32, 33, 34 serve as slave stations S, where the master station M controls the slave stations S to perform data communication.

[0039] It is pointed out that master / slave communication is also provided between the host controller 10 and the hub 20, as well as between the clients 30, 32, 33, 34 and the corresponding sensors 40, 40'. It is also pointed out that, for the sake of clarity, only a part of the master / slave interfaces of the corresponding components of the transmission system are marked with reference signs, and the unmarked master / slave interfaces are obtained analogously to the marked master / slave interfaces.

[0040] In addition, the hub 20 is also configured to automatically retrieve data from the clients 30, 32, 33, 34 based on data process control, and the hub does not need to be addressed separately by the host controller 10 for this purpose. Here, the data is retrieved at predefined time intervals for the corresponding sensor data.

[0041] Furthermore, the hub 20 is also configured to store the data obtained from the clients 30, 32, 33, 34 in the storage unit 25 of the hub 20 and to transmit this data to the host controller 10 based on an event, where there is always an event that triggers the transmission when a predefined fill level threshold of the memory 25 is reached.

Claims

1. A transmission system, the transmission system having: - A host controller (10), - A hub (20), - At least one client (30), and - At least one sensor (40), wherein, - The hub (20) is connected to the host controller (10) in an information technology manner via a first communication interface (50), - The hub (20) is connected to at least one of the clients (30) in an information technology manner via a two-wire bus (60), and the hub is configured, based on the two-wire bus (60), to provide a power supply voltage for at least one of the clients (30) and to perform data communication with the client (30), and - The client (30) is connected to at least one of the sensors (40) in an information technology manner via a second communication interface (55), and the client is configured to transmit data obtained from the sensor (40) to the host controller (10) via the hub (20).

2. The transmission system according to claim 1, wherein, The first communication interface (50) and / or the second communication interface (55) implements - The SPI protocol, and / or -I 2 C protocol, and / or - The UART protocol.

3. The transmission system according to any one of the above claims, wherein, The two-wire bus (60) - Is configured as a low-power consumption bus, and / or - Is configured to transmit data via a wire length of up to 4 m, preferably up to 8 m, and particularly preferably up to 10 m, and / or - Is configured to perform data transmission at a transmission rate of up to 500 kbit / s.

4. The transmission system according to any one of the above claims, wherein, The hub (20) and the corresponding clients (30, 32, 33, 34) connected to the hub implement a master / slave system, in which the hub (20) serves as the master station and the corresponding clients (30, 32, 33, 34) serve as slave stations, where the master station controls the slave stations for performing data communication.

5. The transmission system according to any one of the above claims, wherein The client (30) is configured to - Based on the power supply voltage provided by the hub (20), generate a power supply voltage matching the corresponding sensor (40) connected to the client (30) in order to supply electrical energy to the sensor (40), and / or - Based on a temperature sensor of the client (30), detect the temperature of the client (30) and / or the sensor (40) arranged within the range of the client (30), and provide temperature information to the hub (20) and / or the host controller (10) via the two-wire bus (60).

6. The transmission system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, The client (30) is configured to detect data from the sensor (40) connected to the client (30) according to configuration data provided by the hub (20) and / or stored in the client (30).

7. The transmission system according to any one of the above claims, wherein, The hub (20) and / or at least one of the clients (30) is configured to perform data communication via the two-wire bus (60) by means of current modulation and / or voltage modulation.

8. The transmission system according to any one of the above claims, wherein, The hub (20) is configured to - automatically retrieve data from one or more clients (30, 32, 33, 34) based on data process control, wherein the data is retrieved at respectively predefined time intervals and / or based on events, and / or - store the data obtained from one or more of the clients (30, 32, 33, 34) in a storage unit (25) of the hub (20) and transmit it to the host controller (10) at predefined time intervals and / or based on events.

9. A hub (20) of a transmission system, wherein, The hub (20) is configured to - connect to at least one client (30) in an information technology manner via a two-wire bus (60), - provide a power supply voltage for at least one of the clients (30) based on the two-wire bus (60) and perform data communication with the client (30).

10. A client (30) of a transmission system, wherein, The client (30) is configured to - connect to the hub (20) via the two-wire bus (60) so as to be supplied with a power supply voltage via the two-wire bus (60) and perform data communication with the hub (20), - connect to at least one sensor (40) in an information technology manner via a communication interface (55), - convert the power supply voltage provided by the hub (20) into a power supply voltage matching the sensor (40) and provide it to the sensor (40), and - transmit the data obtained from the sensor (40) to the hub (20) via the two-wire bus (60).

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