Data forwarding method, chip, and electronic device

By transforming the physical layer of the on-board Ethernet and adopting the data forwarding method, the problems of insufficient bandwidth, low transmission rate and time delay in the existing on-board data transmission solutions are solved, and high-bandwidth, high-speed, and high-precision data transmission is realized, and large-scale node interconnection and complex communication structures are supported.

WO2025043406A1PCT designated stage expired Publication Date: 2025-03-06SHENZHEN GOODIX TECH CO LTD

Patent Information

Application Number
PCT/CN2023/115046
Authority / Receiving Office
WO · WO
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2023-08-25
Publication Date
2025-03-06

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

The existing on-board data transmission solutions have problems such as insufficient bandwidth, low transmission rate, and long time delay, and cannot support the application of large-scale node interconnection and complex communication structures.

Method used

By transforming the on-board Ethernet physical layer, using data forwarding methods and chip design, network data forwarding solutions are realized, and physical transmission media is used to connect to each child node, improving the rate of data transmission, reducing delay and improving data accuracy.

Benefits of technology

It realizes data transmission with high bandwidth, high speed, high precision and low latency, supports large-scale node interconnection and complex communication structures, and improves user experience.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

The present application provides a data forwarding method, a physical layer chip, and an electronic device, capable of achieving high-rate, high-bandwidth, high-precision and low-latency data transmission. The data forwarding method is used for physical layer devices of child nodes in networking transmission, the networking comprises a head node and multiple child nodes, the head node is connected to the multiple child nodes by means of a physical transmission medium, and each child node further comprises a transmission processing device. The forwarding method comprises: a physical layer device comprising a first branch, and by means of a physical transmission medium, the first branch receiving a first downlink signal sent by a head node or a previous adjacent child node; the physical layer device comprising a forwarding module and a second branch, and by means of the forwarding module, the first branch enabling the second branch to acquire the first downlink signal; and the second branch sending the first downlink signal to a next adjacent child node by means of the physical transmission medium.
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Description

Data forwarding method, chip and electronic device Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of Ethernet communications, and more specifically, to a data forwarding method, chip, and electronic device. Background Art

[0002] Nowadays, in-vehicle devices and functions are becoming increasingly diverse. A vehicle can include a master device and multiple slave devices, with data transmission and interaction taking place between the master and multiple slave devices. For example, in an in-vehicle audio data transmission scenario, the vehicle includes an audio master unit and multiple speakers. The speakers can provide entertainment functions such as music playback, call making and receiving, and voice control functions such as speech recognition. As the number of in-vehicle speakers continues to increase, implementing speaker audio data transmission at the physical layer can coordinate multiple speakers in the vehicle to achieve a high-quality user experience.

[0003] However, how to increase the data transmission rate at the physical layer, achieve shorter transmission delays and higher-precision data has become a problem that needs to be solved.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present application provides a data forwarding method, chip and electronic device that can improve the data transmission rate, achieve shorter latency and higher-precision data transmission.

[0006] In a first aspect, a data forwarding method is provided, which is used for a physical layer device of a sub-node in networking transmission, wherein the networking includes a head node and multiple sub-nodes, the head node and the multiple sub-nodes are connected via a physical transmission medium, and the sub-nodes also include a transmission processing device, and the forwarding method includes: the physical layer device includes a first branch, the first branch receives a first downlink signal sent by the head node or the previous adjacent sub-node via the physical transmission medium; the physical layer device includes a forwarding module and a second branch, the first branch enables the second branch to obtain the first downlink signal via the forwarding module; and the second branch sends the first downlink signal to the next adjacent sub-node via the physical transmission medium.

[0007] In one possible implementation, the first branch enables the second branch to obtain the first downlink signal through the forwarding module, including: the first branch performs signal processing on the first downlink signal to obtain a second downlink signal, the forwarding module forwards the second downlink signal to the second branch, and the second branch receives the second downlink signal and performs signal processing on the second downlink signal to obtain the first downlink signal.

[0008] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: the physical layer device also includes a third branch, the third branch includes a first interface, the third branch receives the second downlink signal through a forwarding module, processes the second downlink signal to obtain a third downlink signal, and then sends the third downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the first interface.

[0009] In a possible implementation, the first branch includes a first PCS module, the second branch includes a second PCS module, the forwarding module connects the first PCS module and the second PCS module, the first PCS module is used to descramble the signal, and the second PCS module is used to scramble the signal.

[0010] In a possible implementation, the first branch includes a first PMA module, the second branch includes a second PMA module, the forwarding module connects the first PMA module and the second PMA module, the first PMA module is used to demodulate the signal, and the second PMA module is used to modulate the signal.

[0011] In a possible implementation, the first branch includes a third PCS module, the second branch includes a fourth PCS module, the forwarding module connects the third PCS module and the fourth PCS module, and the third PCS module and the fourth PCS module are used to implement data adaptation.

[0012] In one possible implementation, the physical layer device also includes a third branch and a fourth branch, the third branch includes a first interface, the fourth branch includes a second interface, the third branch and the fourth branch jointly receive the second downlink signal through the forwarding module and process it to obtain a fourth downlink signal and a fifth downlink signal respectively, the third branch sends the fourth downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the first interface, and the fourth branch sends the fifth downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the second interface.

[0013] In a possible implementation, the second branch receives the first uplink signal sent by the next adjacent child node through the physical transmission medium; the second branch enables the first branch to obtain the first uplink signal through the forwarding module; the first branch sends the first uplink signal to the previous adjacent child node or the head node through the physical transmission medium.

[0014] In one possible implementation, the second branch enables the first branch to obtain the first uplink signal through a forwarding module, including: the second branch performs signal processing on the first uplink signal to obtain a second uplink signal, the forwarding module forwards the second uplink signal to the first branch, and the first branch receives the second uplink signal and performs signal processing on the second uplink signal to obtain the first uplink signal.

[0015] In one possible implementation, the physical layer device also includes the third branch, the third branch includes the first interface, the third branch receives the third uplink signal sent by the transmission processing device through the first interface and processes the third uplink signal to obtain a fourth uplink signal; the first branch receives the fourth uplink signal through the forwarding module and processes the fourth uplink signal to obtain a fifth uplink signal, and the first branch sends the fifth uplink signal to the previous adjacent subnode or the head node through the physical transmission medium.

[0016] In a possible implementation, the second branch includes a second PCS module, the first branch includes a first PCS module, the forwarding module connects the first PCS module and the second PCS module, the second PCS module is used to descramble the signal, and the first PCS module is used to scramble the signal.

[0017] In a possible implementation, the second branch includes a second PMA module, the first branch includes a first PMA module, the forwarding module connects the first PMA module and the second PMA module, the second PMA module is used to demodulate the signal, and the first PMA module is used to modulate the signal.

[0018] In a possible implementation, the second branch includes a fourth PCS module, the first branch includes a third PCS module, the forwarding module connects the third PCS module and the fourth PCS module, and the third PCS module and the fourth PCS module are used to implement data adaptation.

[0019] In a second aspect, a physical layer chip is provided, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory to execute the method described in the first aspect above.

[0020] According to a third aspect, an electronic device is provided, comprising the physical layer chip and a transmission processing device as described in the second aspect, wherein the transmission processing device is connected to the physical layer chip, and the transmission processing device is used to interact with an external environment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a network structure provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network structure provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0023] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a subnode

[0024] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the PHY device

[0025] FIG5 is a flow chart of a physical layer-based data forwarding method 200 applied to a PHY device provided by the present application.

[0026] FIG6 is a flow chart of a physical layer-based data forwarding method 200 applied to a PHY device provided by the present application.

[0027] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a specific structure of a PHY device 300.

[0028] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the specific structure of the PHY device 300

[0029] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of the specific structure of the PHY device 300

[0030] FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a physical layer-based data forwarding method 200 applied to a PHY device provided by the present application.

[0031] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a specific structure of a PHY device 400

[0032] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a specific structure of the PHY device 400.

[0033] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of the specific structure of the PHY device 400

[0034] FIG. 14 is a flow chart of a physical layer-based data forwarding method 500 applied to a PHY device provided by the present application.

[0035] FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a physical layer-based data forwarding method 500 applied to a PHY device provided by the present application.

[0036] FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a physical layer-based data forwarding method 500 applied to a PHY device provided by the present application.

[0037] FIG17 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a PHY chip provided by this application

[0038] FIG18 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided by this application DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] Nowadays, in-vehicle devices and functions are becoming more diverse. A vehicle may include a master device and multiple slave devices, and data transmission and interaction are carried out between the master device and multiple slave devices. For example, in the scenario of in-vehicle audio data transmission, the vehicle includes an audio master unit and multiple speakers. The functions of the speakers are becoming more diverse. For example, in-vehicle speakers can realize the entertainment function of music playback, the call function of making or answering calls, the voice control function of voice recognition, etc. The number of in-vehicle speakers is also gradually increasing. Realizing speaker audio data transmission through the physical layer can coordinate multiple speakers in the car to achieve a high-quality user experience. A current mainstream method is to realize data transmission between various speakers in the car, i.e., audio nodes, through a digital daisy chain networking transmission solution based on a serial bus. However, this transmission solution has disadvantages such as insufficient bandwidth and low transmission rate, and cannot support the application of large-scale node interconnection and complex communication structures.

[0040] It should be understood that the terms "vehicle", "on-board" or "in-vehicle" or other similar terms used herein generally include various private or commercial vehicles such as sedans, sport utility vehicles, buses, trucks, etc., as well as various boats, ships, aircraft, etc., and include hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles.

[0041] Therefore, the present application provides a data forwarding method based on the physical layer of an in-vehicle Ethernet. By modifying the physical layer of the in-vehicle Ethernet, a networked data forwarding solution is implemented, and then each sub-node is connected through a physical transmission medium to achieve high-bandwidth, high-speed, high-precision, and low-latency data transmission. For example, 100Base-T1, as a physical layer communication standard in in-vehicle Ethernet, can achieve data communication between various electronic systems in the vehicle, such as in-vehicle entertainment, in-vehicle information systems, and assisted driving systems, through physical transmission media such as twisted pair cables. 100Base-T1 supports data transmission rates of up to 100Mbps, which can meet the needs of large-capacity data, such as high-quality audio and video data transmission, and at the same time has good anti-interference performance. However, 100Base-T1 only supports point-to-point communication. Therefore, the present application provides a data forwarding method based on the physical layer of an in-vehicle Ethernet. By modifying the in-vehicle Ethernet to achieve a networked forwarding solution, and then connecting each sub-node through a physical transmission medium such as twisted pair cables, high-bandwidth, high-speed, and high-precision data transmission can be achieved to solve the problems existing in the current in-vehicle data transmission solution based on daisy chain networking.

[0042] The following is a clear and complete description of the technical solutions in this application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the embodiments described are only used to explain the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making any creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention. It should also be noted that, for ease of description, only the parts related to the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, not all structures.

[0043] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a network structure provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG1 , the network includes a head node and multiple sub-nodes. The head node is usually a master device, and the sub-nodes are usually slave devices. The head node and the multiple sub-nodes are connected by a physical transmission medium, and the physical transmission medium is, for example, a twisted pair. The number of sub-nodes in the figure is 7 as an example. It should be understood that the embodiment of the present application does not limit the number of sub-nodes. In FIG1 , the head node and sub-node A are connected by a physical transmission medium, and then sub-nodes B, C, D, E, F, and G are connected in turn by physical transmission medium. Sub-node G is connected to the head node by a physical transmission medium, thereby forming a complete ring link, wherein each sub-node can support data forwarding function. For example, sub-node A adjacent to the head node can receive data sent by the head node and forward the data to sub-node B, and sub-node B adjacent to sub-node A can forward the data to sub-node C after receiving the data, thereby forming a complete ring link to realize data transmission.

[0044] For example, in the transmission of in-vehicle audio data, the first node shown in Figure 1 can be an audio master control device, i.e., an audio source, such as an in-vehicle audio master control unit, an in-vehicle media player, an in-vehicle entertainment system master control unit, etc. The child node can be an audio slave device, and the child node is connected to the first node through a physical transmission medium such as a twisted pair cable for communication. The child node is specifically an audio playback device with a speaker, a microphone, an audio amplifier, a digital signal processor, etc.

[0045] In downlink data transmission, the downlink data transmission refers to the data transmission in the transmission direction from the head node to the child node. The head node can send data, remote control instructions, etc. to the child nodes in sequence according to the networking structure shown in Figure 1. Each child node supports data forwarding function. For example, the head node acts as a car media player to transmit the generated audio data to multiple car audio systems, i.e., multiple child nodes for playback. Specifically, the head node first transmits the generated audio data to child node A, which is received by child node A and then forwarded to child node B. Then, child node B receives and forwards it to the next node, until all nodes in the network shown in Figure 1 receive the audio data through a complete ring link to play the audio. It should be understood that in downlink data transmission, only forwarding transmission between child nodes can be realized. That is, the data transmitted downward by a child node may not be generated first by the head node, but may be generated by the child node itself and transmitted to another child node in the downlink direction for reception.

[0046] In uplink data transmission, the uplink data transmission refers to the data transmission in the transmission direction from the child node to the head node. The head node can receive the data transmitted by the child node according to the networking structure shown in Figure 1 to perform active noise reduction (Active Noise Control, ANC), echo cancellation, call data processing, etc., wherein each child node also supports data forwarding function. For example, the head node as a car media player can collect noise signals in the audio data of multiple car audio systems, that is, multiple child nodes, and actively suppress these noise signals, that is, active noise reduction, to eliminate the impact of noise signals on audio quality. Specifically, the audio data with noise signals generated by each sub-node will be transmitted to the head node through the network. For example, sub-node G transmits its audio data with noise signals to sub-node F, and then forwards it to sub-node E via sub-node F, and sub-node E forwards it to the next node, and finally the head node receives the audio data with noise signals sent by sub-node G; while sub-node F transmits its audio data with noise signals to sub-node E, and then forwards it to sub-node D via sub-node E, and sub-node D forwards it to the next node, and finally the head node receives the audio data with noise sent by sub-node F; and so on, the head node can collect the noise signals in the audio data of multiple sub-nodes through the forwarding transmission of each sub-node in the network, thereby performing active noise reduction. It should be understood that in uplink data transmission, only forwarding transmission between sub-nodes can be realized, that is, the data transmitted upward by a sub-node may not be finally received by the head node, but by another sub-node in the uplink direction.

[0047] FIG2 is a second schematic diagram of a networking structure provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG2 , the networking includes a head node and multiple sub-nodes. The head node is usually a master device, and the sub-nodes are usually slave devices. The head node and the multiple sub-nodes are connected through a physical transmission medium. The number of sub-nodes in the figure is 7 as an example. Different from the networking structure shown in FIG1 , the networking structure shown in FIG2 supports disconnection between sub-nodes. Specifically, in FIG2 , the head node and sub-node A are connected through a physical transmission medium, while two adjacent nodes between sub-nodes B, sub-node C, sub-node D, sub-node E, sub-node F, and sub-node G can be disconnected, and the other nodes are connected in turn through a physical transmission medium. It should be understood that the disconnection of two adjacent nodes can be achieved by software configuration to disconnect the nodes, or by hardware to disconnect the nodes, such as disconnecting the physical transmission medium between the nodes. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the method of disconnection. For example, subnode C and subnode D can be disconnected, meaning they are not connected via a physical transmission medium. However, the head node, subnode B, and subnode C are sequentially connected via a physical transmission medium. Subnodes D, E, F, G, and the head node are also sequentially connected via a physical transmission medium. In other words, the overall network structure can be divided into two links: the first link includes the head node, subnode A, subnode B, and subnode C, while the second link includes the head node, subnode G, subnode F, subnode E, and subnode D. Each subnode can support data forwarding. For example, subnode A, which is adjacent to the head node, can receive data sent by the head node and forward the data to subnode B. Subnode B, which is adjacent to subnode A, can then forward the data to subnode C. For another example, subnode G, which is adjacent to the head node, can also receive data sent by the head node and forward the data to subnode F. Subnode F, which is adjacent to subnode G, can then forward the data to subnode E.

[0048] The networking structure shown in Figure 2 supports disconnection between subnodes, improving the system's fault tolerance and shortening transmission latency to ensure synchronous and real-time transmission. Specifically, if, in an actual vehicle application scenario, a car audio system fails, such as subnode D, then in the complete ring link network shown in Figure 1, only the head node, subnodes A, B, and C can normally transmit audio data. If the networking structure shown in Figure 2 is used, if subnode D fails, subnodes C and D can be disconnected, and the overall network structure can be divided into two links. The first link includes the head node, subnodes A, B, and C, and the second link includes the head node, subnodes G, F, E, and D. The failure of subnode D will not affect data transmission on the first link, nor will it affect data transmission on the head node, subnodes G, F, and E in the second link. Therefore, the networking structure shown in Figure 2 can improve the system's fault tolerance and reduce the impact of subnode failures on data transmission. In addition, the networking structure shown in Figure 2 can support the disconnection between sub-nodes and thus be divided into two links. Then, the data sent by the first node can be transmitted on the first link and the second link at the same time. Compared with the networking structure of a complete ring link shown in Figure 1, the networking structure shown in Figure 2 for data transmission can shorten the data transmission delay, thereby ensuring the synchronization and real-time transmission of data between different nodes, and improving the user experience.

[0049] In vehicle audio transmission, the head node shown in Figure 2 can be an audio master control device, such as a vehicle media player, a vehicle entertainment system master control unit, etc., and the child node can be an audio slave device. The child node is connected to the head node through a physical transmission medium such as a twisted pair cable for communication. The child node is specifically an audio playback device with a speaker, a microphone, an audio amplifier, a digital signal processor, etc.

[0050] In downlink data transmission, the head node can send audio data, remote control instructions, etc. to the child nodes in sequence according to the networking structure shown in Figure 2, where each child node supports data forwarding function. For example, the head node acts as an in-vehicle media player to transmit the generated audio data to multiple in-vehicle audio systems, i.e., multiple child nodes, for playback. Specifically, the networking structure shown in Figure 2 can be divided into two links. The first link includes the head node, child node A, child node B, and child node C, and the second link includes the head node, child node G, child node F, child node E, and child node D. The head node first transmits the generated audio data to child node A and child node G respectively. In the first link, the audio data is received by child node A and forwarded to child node B, which then receives the audio data and forwards it to child node C. In the second link, the audio data is received by child node G and forwarded to child node F, which then receives the audio data and forwards it to the next node, until child node D receives the audio data generated by the head node. Thus, the child nodes in both links receive the audio data and play the audio.

[0051] In uplink data transmission, the head node can also receive data transmitted by the child nodes according to the networking structure shown in Figure 2 to perform active noise reduction (ANC), echo cancellation, call data processing, etc., wherein each child node also supports data forwarding function. For example, the head node can collect noise signals from the audio data of multiple car audio systems, i.e., multiple child nodes, as an in-vehicle media player, and actively suppress these noise signals, i.e., perform active noise reduction, to eliminate the impact of noise signals on audio quality. Specifically, the audio data with noise signals generated by each child node will be transmitted to the head node through the network. The networking structure shown in Figure 2 can be divided into two links. The first link includes the head node, child node A, child node B and child node C, and the second link includes the head node, child node G, child node F, child node E and child node D. For example, in the first link, child node C transmits the audio data with noise signals to child node B, which is then forwarded to child node A via child node B, and then forwarded to the head node by child node A; in the second link, child node D transmits its audio data with noise signals to child node E, which is then forwarded to child node F via child node E, and child node F is forwarded to the next node, and finally the head node receives the audio data with noise signals sent by child node D; and so on, the head node can collect noise signals in the audio data of multiple child nodes through the forwarding transmission of each child node in the two links of the networking structure, thereby performing active noise reduction.

[0052] Furthermore, in the networking structure shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2, each sub-node can support the data forwarding function to realize data transmission. However, the traditional in-vehicle Ethernet only supports point-to-point communication. In order to realize a networking transmission solution with high transmission rate and high bandwidth, the embodiment of the present application provides a structural schematic diagram of a sub-node supporting the forwarding function in Figure 1 or Figure 2, which can realize high-bandwidth, high-speed and high-precision data transmission.

[0053] FIG3 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a sub-node supporting the forwarding function in FIG1 or FIG2 . As shown in FIG3 , each sub-node in the network shown in FIG1 or FIG2 may include a physical layer (PHY) device and a transmission processing device, wherein the PHY device includes a first interface, and the PHY device is connected to the transmission processing device via the first interface. The transmission processing device may include a data processing module and an input / output module, and the data processing module and the input / output module may be connected via, for example, an I2S (Inter-IC Sound) interface. The PHY device is connected to the data processing module via the first interface, and the first interface may specifically be a physical interface such as an MII interface, an I2S (Inter-IC Sound) interface, a TDM interface, or an SPI interface.

[0054] Optionally, the transmission processing device may not include a data processing module, and the PHY device is connected to the input and output module via a first interface. The first interface may specifically be a physical interface such as an I2S interface, a TDM interface, or an SPI interface.

[0055] It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation method of the first interface. The specific implementation method of the first interface depends on the module in the transmission processing device to which the PHY device is connected. It is only necessary to satisfy the first interface so that the PHY device and the transmission processing device can communicate normally.

[0056] Among them, the PHY device is mainly used to realize the data forwarding function between each sub-node in the networking structure shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2. Through the PHY device, each sub-node can realize the data forwarding function, thereby realizing the data transmission of the overall network, and the PHY device is responsible for the data transmission and conversion of the physical layer, and sends the converted data to the transmission processing device. The PHY device can be a PHY chip.

[0057] The data processing module is connected to the PHY device through the first interface. The data processing module is used to receive data transmitted by the PHY device and perform data processing. For example, in audio data transmission, the data processing module may include audio data algorithm processing and sound enhancement functions such as equalizer, reverberation, compression, etc. The audio processing module processes the audio signal in real time to meet specific audio effect requirements. The data processing module can be, for example, a microcontroller unit (MCU) or a digital signal processor (DSP). The data processing module can send the processed data to the input and output module through an interface such as I2S;

[0058] The input and output module is connected to the data processing module. The input and output module is used to interact with the external environment. For example, in audio data transmission, the input and output module is used to play audio data or collect audio data. The input and output module can be a speaker for playing audio data, and the input and output module can also be a microphone for collecting audio data in the environment.

[0059] Furthermore, an embodiment of the present application provides a PHY device 100, as shown in Figure 4, which is a structural diagram of the PHY device 100. In addition, for the transmission of downlink signals, an embodiment of the present application provides a physical layer-based data forwarding method 200, which is used for the PHY device of the sub-node shown in Figure 3 in the networking transmission, that is, the PHY device shown in Figure 4. The PHY device can be a PHY chip or other PHY device that can realize the physical layer function of the in-vehicle Ethernet. As shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2, the network includes a head node and multiple sub-nodes.

[0060] FIG5 is a flowchart of a physical layer-based data forwarding method 200 for a PHY device provided by the present application. As shown in FIG5 , the method 200 includes some or all of the following steps:

[0061] S210: The PHY device includes a first branch, which receives a first downlink signal sent by a head node or a previous adjacent sub-node through a physical transmission medium.

[0062] S220: The PHY device includes a forwarding module and a second branch. The first branch enables the second branch to obtain a first downlink signal through the forwarding module.

[0063] S230: The second branch sends a first downlink signal to the next adjacent subnode through the physical transmission medium.

[0064] In S220 of the above-mentioned method 200, as shown in Figure 6, the first branch enables the second branch to obtain the first downlink signal through the forwarding module, which specifically includes: the first branch performs signal processing on the first downlink signal to obtain a second downlink signal, the forwarding module forwards the second downlink signal to the second branch, and the second branch receives the second downlink signal and performs signal processing on the second downlink signal to obtain the first downlink signal.

[0065] Furthermore, as shown in FIG6 , the method 200 may further include S240:

[0066] The physical layer device also includes a third branch, which includes a first interface. The third branch receives the second downlink signal through the forwarding module, processes the second downlink signal to obtain a third downlink signal, and then sends the third downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the first interface.

[0067] Based on the method 200 , the present application further proposes three embodiments. Accordingly, for the PHY device 100 in FIG. 4 , there are three specific structural diagrams.

[0068] Example 1

[0069] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the specific structure of the PHY device. As shown in Figure 7, the PHY device 300 includes a first branch 310, a second branch 320, and a third branch 330. The first branch 310 includes a first medium-dependent interface (Medium Dependent Interface, MDI) module 311, a first physical medium attachment sublayer (Physical Medium Attachment Sublayer, PMA) module 312, and a first physical coding sublayer (Physical Coding Sublayer, PCS) module 313. Correspondingly, the second branch 320 includes a second MDI module 321, a second PMA module 322, and a second PCS module 323.

[0070] During downlink signal transmission, in S210 and S220, the first branch 310 first receives the first downlink signal sent by the head node or the previous adjacent child node via the physical transmission medium and processes the first downlink signal to obtain a second downlink signal. It should be understood that the previous adjacent child node here refers to the previous adjacent child node in the downlink signal transmission direction. Specifically, the first MDI module 311 is used to connect the PHY device and the physical transmission medium, so that each node, including the head node and child nodes, is connected via the physical transmission medium. The first MDI module 311 receives the first downlink signal sent from the previous adjacent child node or the head node via the physical transmission medium. In addition, in addition to receiving the first downlink signal transmitted via the physical transmission medium, the first MDI module 311 can also perform additional current driving, voltage adjustment, and other operations on the physical transmission medium to ensure that the first downlink signal can be accurately transmitted to the PHY device.

[0071] The first PMA module 312 receives the first downlink signal transmitted from the first MDI module 311. During downlink signal transmission, the first PMA module 312 performs demodulation and other signal processing on the first downlink signal to convert it into a digital signal that can be processed by the first PCS module 313. Demodulation specifically includes analog-to-digital conversion and signal recovery. Furthermore, during audio data transmission, the first PMA module 312 recovers PMA symbols from the signal processed by the first MDI module 311 using an echo cancellation and equalization algorithm, and then sends the recovered PMA symbols to the first PCS module 313, thereby improving data transmission quality and reducing bit error rates.

[0072] The first PCS module 313 receives the digital signal processed by the first PMA module 312 and descrambles the signal to obtain a second downlink signal, which is 3-bit data. The forwarding module 340 forwards the second downlink signal to the second branch 320 .

[0073] In S220 , the second branch 320 receives the second downlink signal and processes the second downlink signal to obtain the first downlink signal. That is, the signal processing operation of the second branch 320 is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing of the first branch 310 .

[0074] Specifically, after receiving the second downlink signal through the forwarding module 340 , the second PCS module 323 in the second branch 320 scrambles the second downlink signal and sends the scrambled second downlink signal to the second PMA module 322 .

[0075] The second PMA module 322 receives the digital signal processed by the second PCS module 323 and performs modulation and other processing on the digital signal to convert it into an analog signal that can be transmitted by the second MDI module 321. In other words, the second PMA module 322 converts the received data into an analog signal that can be mapped to a physical transmission medium to adapt to the transmission characteristics of the physical transmission medium and converts it into an analog signal suitable for transmission on the physical transmission medium. The modulation processing specifically includes encoding the signal and performing digital-to-analog conversion.

[0076] In S230, the second MDI module 321 in the second branch 320 receives the analog signal processed by the second PMA module 322, and transmits the analog signal to the next adjacent sub-node through the physical transmission medium. The next adjacent sub-node here refers to the next adjacent sub-node in the downlink signal transmission direction.

[0077] In S240, the physical layer device also includes a third branch 330, the third branch 330 includes a first interface 333, the third branch 330 receives the second downlink signal through the forwarding module 340, and processes the second downlink signal to obtain a third downlink signal, and then sends the third downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the first interface 333.

[0078] Specifically, in FIG. 7 , the third branch 330 includes a cache module and a third PCS module 332 . The third branch 330 includes a first interface 333 , a third PCS module 332 , and a first cache module 331 .

[0079] The first buffer module 331 in the third branch 330 receives the second downlink signal sent by the first PCS module 313 via the forwarding module 340. The first buffer module 331 is used to cache data to provide appropriate data delay and alignment to ensure correct data transmission. Specifically, in addition to receiving the second downlink signal sent by the first PCS module 313, the first buffer module 331 also sends the second downlink signal to the third PCS module 332. The second downlink signal in the first PCS module 313 is 3-bit data, which must be converted to 4-bit data by the third PCS module 332 before further transmission to the first interface 333. In other words, the third PCS module 332 performs 3-bit to 4-bit data conversion, i.e., data adaptation. Usually, 4-bit data corresponds to a 25M clock domain, and 3-bit data corresponds to a 33.3M clock domain. Therefore, the conversion between the first PCS module 313 and the third PCS module 332 is between different clock domains. The first cache module 331 is required to provide intermediate storage between different clock domains, that is, temporarily store data, so as to send data according to different clock frequencies and process the rate differences between clock domains to ensure correct data transmission.

[0080] After being cached by the first cache module 331, the third PCS module 332 receives the second downlink signal sent by the first PCS module 313, and converts the second downlink signal into 4-bit data, namely the third downlink signal, and then sends the third downlink signal to the first interface 333. Through the first interface 333, the third branch 330 sends the third downlink signal to the transmission processing device.

[0081] The third downlink signal is used to transmit the interaction between the processing device and the external environment. For example, in audio data transmission, the sub-node is an audio playback device, wherein the transmission processing device may include a data processing module such as an MCU or DSP, which is used to perform audio data algorithm processing, sound enhancement, etc. on the third downlink signal. The transmission processing device also includes an input and output device such as a speaker. The third downlink signal is processed by the data processing module and then transmitted to the input and output device for audio playback.

[0082] In addition, in the specific structure of the PHY device shown in Figure 7, the forwarding module 340 is arranged between the first PCS module 313 in the first branch 310 and the second PCS module 323 in the second branch 320, and between the first PCS module 313 in the first branch 310 and the first cache module 331 in the third branch 330, so that the forwarding delay is small, which is conducive to data synchronization between each sub-node.

[0083] Example 2

[0084] FIG8 is a second schematic diagram of the specific structure of a PHY device. Optionally, the forwarding module 340 may also be configured in the specific structure of the PHY device 300 as shown in FIG8 . In the specific structure of the PHY device shown in FIG8 , the first branch 310 includes a first MDI module 311 and a first PMA module 312; the second branch 320 includes a second MDI module 321 and a second PMA module 322; the third branch 330 includes a first PCS module 331, a first buffer module 332, a third PCS module 333, and a first interface 334. The forwarding modules 340 and 340 are disposed between the first PMA module 312 of the first branch 310 and the second PMA module of the second branch 320, and between the first PMA module of the first branch 310 and the first PCS module 331 of the third branch 330.

[0085] That is, in method 200, unlike the first embodiment shown in Figure 7, the first branch 310 in Figure 7 obtains the second downlink signal after processing by the first MDI module 311, the first PMA module 312, and the first PCS module 313, while the first branch 310 in Figure 8 obtains the second downlink signal through the first MDI module 311 and the first PMA module 312. Specifically, the first PMA module 312 demodulates and performs other signal processing on the first downlink signal transmitted by the first MDI module 311, converts it into a digital signal that can be processed by the first PCS module 331, i.e., the second downlink signal, and then transmits the second downlink signal to the second branch 320 and the third branch 330 through the forwarding module 340.

[0086] In Figure 8 , second branch 320 receives the second downlink signal and processes it to obtain the first downlink signal. The signal processing performed by second branch 320 is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing performed by first branch 310. Third branch 330 receives the second downlink signal and processes it to obtain a third downlink signal, which it sends to the transmission processing device via the first interface.

[0087] It should be understood that during downlink signal transmission, the signal processing operations performed by the modules of the first branch 310 and the third branch 330 in FIG8 are the same as the signal processing operations performed by the modules of the first branch 310 and the third branch 330 in FIG7 . For the sake of brevity, reference may be made to the relevant description in FIG7 , which will not be repeated here. The second branch 320 in FIG8 is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing performed by the first branch 310 , and for the sake of brevity, will not be repeated here.

[0088] Example 3

[0089] FIG9 is a third schematic diagram of the specific structure of a PHY device. Optionally, the forwarding module 340 may also be configured in the specific structure of the PHY device 300 shown in FIG9 . In the specific structure of the PHY device shown in FIG9 , the first branch 310 includes a first MDI module 311, a first PMA module 312, a first PCS module 313, a first buffer module 314, and a third PCS module 315; the second branch 320 includes a second MDI module 321, a second PMA module 322, a second PCS module 323, a second buffer module 324, and a fourth PCS module 325; and the third branch 330 includes a first interface 331. The forwarding module 340 is disposed between the third PCS module 315 of the first branch 310 and the fourth PCS module 325 of the second branch 320, and between the third PCS module 315 of the first branch 310 and the first interface 331 of the third branch 330.

[0090] That is, in method 200, unlike the first embodiment shown in Figure 7, the first branch 310 in Figure 7 obtains the second downlink signal after processing through the first MDI module 311, the first PMA module 312, and the first PCS module 313, while the first branch 310 in Figure 9 obtains the second downlink signal through the first MDI module 311, the first PMA module 312, the first PCS module 313, the first cache module 314, and the third PCS module 315, and transmits the second downlink signal to the second branch 320 and the third branch 330 through the forwarding module 340.

[0091] In Figure 9, second branch 320 receives the second downlink signal and processes it to obtain the first downlink signal. The signal processing performed by second branch 320 is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing performed by first branch 310. Third branch 330 receives the second downlink signal and processes it to obtain a third downlink signal, which it sends to the transmission processing device through the first interface.

[0092] It should be understood that during downlink signal transmission, the signal processing operations performed by the modules of first branch 310 and third branch 330 in FIG9 are the same as the signal processing operations performed by the modules of first branch 310 and third branch 330 in FIG7 . For the sake of brevity, reference may be made to the relevant description in FIG7 , which will not be repeated here. The second branch 320 in FIG9 is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing performed by first branch 310 , and for the sake of brevity, will not be repeated here.

[0093] Therefore, through method 200, it can be achieved that in the networking structure shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2, each sub-node supports the forwarding function, so that the head node sends data, remote control instructions, etc. to each sub-node, or the sub-node transmits data to another sub-node in the downstream direction. Through method 200, high transmission rate, high bandwidth, and high-precision network data transmission can be achieved, the delay of the sub-node forwarding data is reduced, and it is conducive to data synchronization between sub-nodes.

[0094] Alternatively, further, as shown in FIG10 , the method 200 may include S250:

[0095] The physical layer device also includes a third branch and a fourth branch, the third branch includes a first interface, and the fourth branch includes a second interface. The third branch and the fourth branch jointly receive the second downlink signal through the forwarding module and process it to obtain a fourth downlink signal and a fifth downlink signal respectively. The third branch sends the fourth downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the first interface, and the fourth branch sends the fifth downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the second interface.

[0096] Compared to method 200 including S240, in method 200 including S250, the PHY device further includes a fourth branch. The third and fourth branches jointly receive the second downlink signal via the forwarding module. That is, the third branch receives a portion of the second downlink signal, while the fourth branch receives another portion of the second downlink signal. The third branch performs the same operations and processing on the received portions of the second downlink signal to obtain a fourth downlink signal and a fifth downlink signal. The third branch transmits the fourth downlink signal to the transmission processing device via the first interface, and the fourth branch transmits the fifth downlink signal to the transmission processing device via the second interface. It should be understood that, compared to S240, in S250, two branches jointly receive the second downlink signal, process it, and transmit it to the transmission processing device, thereby increasing the signal transmission bandwidth and improving the transmission rate. For the transmission processing device, the third downlink signal received via S240 is equivalent to the fourth and fifth downlink signals received via S250. The addition of the fourth branch does not affect the results received by the transmission processing device but only contributes to an increase in the signal transmission bandwidth.

[0097] Based on the method 200 including S250 as shown in FIG10 , the present application provides three embodiments. Accordingly, for the PHY device 100 in FIG4 , there are three specific PHY device structure diagrams as shown in FIG11 , FIG12 , and FIG13 .

[0098] Example 1

[0099] Compared to the PHY device shown in FIG7 , the PHY device shown in FIG11 further includes a fourth branch 350. The structure of the fourth branch 350 is identical to that of the third branch 330. The fourth branch 350 includes a second buffer module 351, a fourth PCS module 352, and a second interface 352. The third branch 330 and the fourth branch 350 jointly receive the second downlink signal through the forwarding module 340. That is, the third branch 330 receives a portion of the second downlink signal, while the fourth branch 350 receives another portion of the second downlink signal. The processing performed by the third branch 330 and the processing performed by the fourth branch 350 on the received portion of the second downlink signal are identical to the processing performed by the third branch 330 on the second downlink signal in FIG7 , thereby generating a fourth downlink signal and a fifth downlink signal, respectively. The third branch 330 sends the fourth downlink signal to the transmission processing device via the first interface, and the fourth branch 350 sends the fifth downlink signal to the transmission processing device via the second interface 352. The specific operations of the third branch 330 and the fourth branch 350 and the related description of the third branch 330 in FIG. 7 are not repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0100] Therefore, through S250, the second downlink signal can be processed simultaneously through two branches and then transmitted to the transmission processing device, thereby increasing the bandwidth of signal transmission and further improving the transmission rate to meet more complex transmission scenarios.

[0101] Optionally, based on S250 shown in Figure 10, the embodiment of the present application also provides a second specific structural diagram of the PHY device as shown in Figure 12 and related to Figure 8, and a third specific structural diagram of the PHY device as shown in Figure 13 and related to Figure 9.

[0102] Example 2

[0103] Compared to the PHY device shown in FIG8 , the PHY device shown in FIG12 further includes a fourth branch 350. The structure of the fourth branch 350 is identical to that of the third branch 330. The fourth branch 350 includes a second PCS module 351, a second buffer module 352, a fourth PCS module 353, and a second interface 354. The third branch 330 and the fourth branch 350 jointly receive the second downlink signal via the forwarding module 340. That is, the third branch 330 receives a portion of the second downlink signal, while the fourth branch 350 receives another portion of the second downlink signal. The processing performed by the third branch 330 and the processing performed by the fourth branch 350 on the received portion of the second downlink signal are identical to the processing performed by the third branch 330 on the second downlink signal in FIG8 , thereby generating a fourth downlink signal and a fifth downlink signal, respectively. The third branch 330 sends the fourth downlink signal to the transmission processing device via the first interface, and the fourth branch 350 sends the fifth downlink signal to the transmission processing device via the second interface. The specific operations of the third branch 330 and the fourth branch 350 and the related description of the third branch 330 in FIG. 8 are not repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0104] Example 3

[0105] Compared to the PHY device shown in FIG9 , the PHY device shown in FIG13 further includes a fourth branch 350. The structure of the fourth branch 350 is identical to that of the third branch 330. The fourth branch 350 includes a second interface 351. The third branch 330 and the fourth branch 350 jointly receive the second downlink signal through the forwarding module 340. That is, the third branch 330 receives a portion of the second downlink signal, while the fourth branch 350 receives another portion of the second downlink signal. The processing performed by the third branch 330 and the processing performed by the fourth branch 350 on the received portion of the second downlink signal are completely consistent with the processing performed by the third branch 330 on the second downlink signal in FIG9 , thereby obtaining a fourth downlink signal and a fifth downlink signal, respectively. The third branch 330 sends the fourth downlink signal to the transmission processing device via the first interface 331, and the fourth branch 350 sends the fifth downlink signal to the transmission processing device via the second interface 351. The specific operations of the third branch 330 and the fourth branch 350 and the related description of the third branch 330 in FIG. 9 are not repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0106] Therefore, through S250, the signal after passing through the forwarding module is transmitted to the transmission processing device through two branches at the same time, thereby increasing the bandwidth of signal transmission and improving the transmission rate.

[0107] Furthermore, for the transmission of uplink signals, the present application proposes a method 500 as shown in FIG14 ,

[0108] FIG14 is a flowchart of a physical layer-based data forwarding method 500 applied to a PHY device provided by the present application. As shown in FIG14 , the method 500 includes some or all of the following steps:

[0109] S510: The PHY device includes a second branch, and the second branch receives a first uplink signal sent by a next adjacent sub-node through a physical transmission medium.

[0110] S520: The PHY device includes a forwarding module and a first branch. The second branch enables the first branch to obtain a first uplink signal through the forwarding module.

[0111] S530: The first branch sends a first uplink signal to the previous adjacent child node or the head node through a physical transmission medium.

[0112] In S520 of the above method 500, the second branch enables the first branch to obtain the first uplink signal through the forwarding module, which specifically includes: the second branch processes the first uplink signal to obtain a second uplink signal, the forwarding module forwards the second uplink signal to the first branch, and the first branch receives the second uplink signal and processes the second uplink signal to obtain the first uplink signal.

[0113] Furthermore, as shown in FIG15 , the method 500 may further include S540 and S550:

[0114] S540: The physical layer device further includes a third branch, the third branch includes a third interface, and the third branch receives a third uplink signal sent by the transmission processing device through the first interface and processes the third uplink signal to obtain a fourth uplink signal.

[0115] S550: The first branch receives the fourth uplink signal through the forwarding module and processes the fourth uplink signal to obtain a fifth uplink signal. The first branch sends the fifth uplink signal to the previous adjacent child node through the physical transmission medium.

[0116] Based on method 500, this application further proposes three embodiments. Accordingly, for the PHY device 100 in Figure 4, there are three specific structural diagrams, namely Figures 7, 8, and 9. It should be understood that the specific structures of the PHY devices in methods 200 and 500 are the same, with method 200 being applied to downlink signal transmission, while method 500 is applied to uplink signal transmission.

[0117] Example 1

[0118] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the specific structure of the PHY device. As shown in Figure 7, the first branch 310 includes a first MDI module 311, a first PMA module 312, and a first PCS module 313. Correspondingly, the second branch 320 includes a second MDI module 321, a second PMA module 322, and a second PCS module 323.

[0119] During uplink signal transmission, in steps S510 and S520, the second branch 320 first receives the first uplink signal via the physical transmission medium and processes the first uplink signal to obtain a second uplink signal. Specifically, the second MDI module 321 is used to connect the PHY device 300 and the physical transmission medium, thereby connecting each node, including the head node and child nodes, via the physical transmission medium. The second MDI module 321 receives the first uplink signal transmitted from the next adjacent child node via the physical transmission medium. In addition to receiving the first uplink signal transmitted via the physical transmission medium, the second MDI module 321 can also perform additional current driving and voltage adjustment operations on the physical transmission medium to ensure that the first uplink signal is accurately transmitted to the PHY device.

[0120] The second PMA module 322 receives the first uplink signal transmitted from the second MDI module 321. During the transmission of the uplink signal, the second PMA module 322 is used to perform signal processing such as demodulation on the first uplink signal to convert the first uplink signal into a digital signal that can be processed by the second PCS module 323. In addition, during the transmission of audio data, the second PMA module 322 can also recover the PMA symbols from the signal processed by the second MDI module 321 through ECHO elimination and equalization algorithms, and then send it to the second PCS module 323 to improve audio quality.

[0121] The second PCS module 323 receives the digital signal processed by the second PMA module 322 and descrambles the signal to obtain a second uplink signal, which is 3-bit data. The second uplink signal is forwarded to the first branch 310 via the forwarding module 340 .

[0122] In S520 , the first branch 310 receives the second uplink signal and processes the second uplink signal to obtain the first uplink signal. That is, the signal processing operation of the first branch 310 is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing of the second branch 320 .

[0123] Specifically, after receiving the second uplink signal through the forwarding module 340 , the first PCS module 313 in the first branch 310 scrambles the second uplink signal and sends the scrambled second uplink signal to the first PMA module 312 .

[0124] The first PMA module 312 receives the digital signal processed by the first PCS module 313 and performs modulation and other processing on the digital signal to convert it into an analog signal that can be transmitted by the first MDI module 311. In other words, the first PMA module 312 converts the received data into an analog signal that can be mapped onto a physical transmission medium to adapt to the transmission characteristics of the physical transmission medium and converts it into an analog signal suitable for transmission on the physical transmission medium.

[0125] In S530 , the first MDI module 311 in the first branch 310 receives the analog signal processed by the first PMA module 312 , and transmits the analog signal to the previous adjacent child node or the head node through a physical transmission medium.

[0126] It should be understood that in S200 and S500, during downlink signal transmission, the signal is transmitted from the first branch 310 to the forwarding module 340 and then to the second branch 320 to the next adjacent node, while during uplink signal transmission, the signal is transmitted from the second branch 320 to the forwarding module 340 and then to the first branch 310 to the previous adjacent node or the head node. In other words, the signal processing performed by each module in the first branch 310 in S200 is equivalent to the signal processing performed by each module in the second branch 320 in S500, and the signal processing performed by each module in the second branch 320 in S200 is equivalent to the signal processing performed by each module in the first branch 310 in S500.

[0127] In S540 and S550, the physical layer device also includes a third branch 330, the third branch 330 includes a first interface 333, the third branch 330 receives the third uplink signal sent by the transmission processing device through the first interface 333 and processes the third uplink signal to obtain a fourth uplink signal; the first branch 310 receives the fourth uplink signal through the forwarding module 340 and processes the fourth uplink signal to obtain a fifth uplink signal, and the first branch 310 sends the fifth uplink signal to the previous adjacent sub-node through the physical transmission medium.

[0128] Specifically, in FIG. 7 , the third branch 330 includes a cache module and a third PCS module 332 . The third branch 330 includes a first interface 333 , a third PCS module 332 , and a first cache module 331 .

[0129] The third branch 330 receives the third uplink signal sent by the transmission processing device through the third interface, and the third PCS module 332 specifically receives the third uplink signal. The third uplink signal is 4-bit data, which needs to be converted into 3-bit data by the third PCS module 332 before it can be further transmitted to the forwarding module 340 and then to the first PCS module 313. Therefore, as described in the relevant description of S240, the conversion between the first PCS module 313 and the third PCS module 332 is between different clock domains. Therefore, the first cache module 331 is required to provide intermediate storage between different clock domains, that is, temporarily store data, so as to facilitate the transmission of data according to different clock frequencies and to handle the rate differences between clock domains to ensure correct data transmission.

[0130] After being buffered by the first buffer module 331 , the first PCS module 313 receives the third uplink signal sent by the third PCS module 332 and converts the third uplink signal into 3-bit data, namely a fourth uplink signal. The first PCS module 313 then sends the fourth uplink signal to the first PMA module 312 .

[0131] The first PMA module 312 receives the fourth uplink signal sent by the first PCS module 313, and performs modulation and other processing on the fourth uplink signal to convert it into an analog signal that can be transmitted by the first MDI module 311. That is, after processing the fourth uplink signal, a fifth uplink signal is obtained. In other words, the first PMA module 312 converts the received data into an analog signal that can be mapped to a physical transmission medium to adapt to the transmission characteristics of the physical transmission medium and converts it into a suitable transmission signal on the physical transmission medium.

[0132] In S550 , the first MDI module 311 in the first branch 310 receives the fifth uplink signal sent by the first PMA module 312 , and then transmits the fifth uplink signal to the previous adjacent child node or the head node via the physical transmission medium.

[0133] Alternatively, after being cached by the first buffer module 331, the second PCS module 323 may receive the third uplink signal sent by the third PCS module 332 and convert the third uplink signal into 3-bit data, namely, a fourth uplink signal. Furthermore, after passing through the second PMD module and the second MDI module 321, the fifth uplink signal is transmitted to the next adjacent child node via the physical transmission medium. In other words, the third uplink signal may be transmitted to the first branch 310 or the second branch 320 via the forwarding module 340. The first branch 310 and the second branch 320 perform the same processing on the third uplink signal. Finally, the third uplink signal is transmitted to the previous adjacent child node or the head node via the first MDI module 311, or to the next adjacent child node via the second MDI module 321.

[0134] Therefore, through method 500, the fifth uplink signal can be transmitted to the head node. That is to say, for each child node, it will process the third uplink signal generated by its transmission processing device through method 500 to obtain a fifth uplink signal, and transmit the fifth uplink signal to the head node, so that the head node receives the fifth uplink signal from each child node, which is convenient for the head node to collect the fifth uplink signal of each child node and further process it. For example, in audio data transmission, the child node is an audio playback device. The child node collects the call signal or noise signal from the external environment, and processes the call signal or noise signal through method 500 and sends it to the head node. The head node collects the call signal of each child node and can perform echo cancellation and noise reduction processing to improve call quality and enhance user experience.

[0135] In addition, through method 500, the fifth uplink signal can also be transmitted to the next adjacent sub-node to facilitate further processing by the next adjacent sub-node. For example, in audio data transmission, the sub-node is an audio playback device. The current sub-node collects an external noise signal and processes the noise signal through method 500 and sends it to the next adjacent sub-node. The next adjacent sub-node collects the noise signal of the current sub-node and performs noise reduction processing to improve the audio quality.

[0136] In addition, in the specific structure of the PHY device shown in Figure 7, the forwarding module 340 is arranged between the first PCS module 313 in the first branch 310 and the second PCS module 323 in the second branch 320, and between the first PCS module 313 in the first branch 310 and the first cache module 331 in the third branch 330, so that the forwarding delay is small, which is conducive to data synchronization between each sub-node.

[0137] Example 2

[0138] Figure 8 is a second schematic diagram of the specific structure of a PHY device. Optionally, forwarding module 340 may also be configured as shown in the specific structure of the PHY device in Figure 8. In method 500, unlike the first embodiment shown in Figure 7, second branch 320 in Figure 7 is processed by second MDI module 321, second PMA module 322, and second PCS module 323 to obtain a second uplink signal, while second branches 320 to 321 in Figure 8 are processed by second MDI module and second PMA module 322 to obtain a second uplink signal.

[0139] In Figure 8 , first branch 310 receives the second uplink signal and processes it to obtain the first uplink signal. The signal processing performed by the first branch is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing performed by second branch 320. Third branch 330 receives the third uplink signal sent by the transmission processing device, processes it, and obtains a fourth uplink signal. This fourth uplink signal is then transmitted to the first branch via forwarding module 340. The first branch then processes the fourth uplink signal to obtain a fifth uplink signal and transmits this fifth uplink signal to the previous adjacent child node or the head node via a physical transmission medium.

[0140] It should be understood that during uplink signal transmission, the signal processing operations performed by the modules from third branch 330 to first branch 310 in FIG8 are identical to the signal processing operations performed by the modules from third branch 330 to first branch 310 in FIG7 . For the sake of brevity, reference may be made to the relevant description in FIG7 , which will not be repeated here. The first branch in FIG8 is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing performed by the second branch, and for the sake of brevity, this description will not be repeated here.

[0141] Example 3

[0142] Figure 9 is a third schematic diagram of the specific structure of a PHY device. Optionally, forwarding module 340 may also be configured as shown in the specific structure of the PHY device in Figure 9. In method 500, unlike the first embodiment shown in Figure 9, the second branch 320 in Figure 7 is processed by the second MDI module 321, the second PMA module 322, and the second PCS module 323 to obtain the second uplink signal, while the second branch 320 in Figure 8 is processed by the second MDI module 321, the second PMA module 322, the second PCS module 323, the first buffer module 324, and the third PCS module 325 to obtain the second uplink signal.

[0143] In Figure 9, first branch 310 receives the second uplink signal and processes it to obtain the first uplink signal. The signal processing performed by first branch 310 is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing performed by second branch 320. Third branch 330 receives the third uplink signal sent by the transmission processing device, processes it, and obtains a fourth uplink signal. This fourth uplink signal is then transmitted to first branch 310 via forwarding module 340. First branch 310 then processes this fourth uplink signal to obtain a fifth uplink signal and transmits this fifth uplink signal to the previous adjacent child node or the head node via a physical transmission medium.

[0144] It should be understood that during uplink signal transmission, the signal processing operations performed by the modules from third branch 330 to first branch 310 in FIG9 are identical to the signal processing operations performed by the modules from third branch 330 to first branch 310 in FIG7 . For the sake of brevity, reference may be made to the relevant description in FIG7 , which will not be repeated here. The first branch 310 in FIG9 is equivalent to the reverse process of the signal processing performed by the second branch 320 , which will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0145] Therefore, through method 500, it is possible to implement the networking structure shown in Figures 1 or 2, where each subnode supports the forwarding function, thereby enabling each subnode to upload data to the head node for further processing by the head node, such as echo cancellation and noise reduction, or to transmit data to another subnode in the upstream direction for the other subnode to perform data processing, such as noise reduction. Method 500 can achieve high transmission rate, high bandwidth, and high-precision network data transmission, reduce the delay of subnode forwarding data, and facilitate data synchronization between subnodes.

[0146] Based on S540 and S550, as shown in FIG16 , the method 500 further includes S560 and S570:

[0147] S560: The physical layer device further includes a fourth branch, the fourth branch includes a second interface, and the fourth branch receives a sixth uplink signal sent by the transmission processing device through the second interface and processes the sixth uplink signal to obtain a seventh uplink signal.

[0148] S570: The first branch receives the seventh uplink signal through the forwarding module and processes the seventh uplink signal to obtain an eighth uplink signal. The first branch sends the eighth uplink signal to the previous adjacent child node through the physical transmission medium.

[0149] When the capacity of the signal generated by the transmission processing device is large or the transmission processing device includes multiple input and output devices to generate multiple signals, the transmission of part of the signal can be shared through the fourth branch with the same processing and operation as the third branch in S540 and S550. Specifically, for example, the transmission processing device includes two input and output devices to generate a third uplink signal and a sixth uplink signal respectively, then the third branch receives the third uplink signal and performs S540 and S550, and the fourth branch receives the sixth uplink signal and performs S560 and S570, wherein S540, S550 and S560, S570 perform the same operations and processing on the signals.

[0150] Specifically, based on the method 500 including S560 and S570 shown in FIG16 , this application provides three embodiments in combination with the specific structures of the PHY devices shown in FIG11 , FIG12 , and FIG13 . As shown in FIG11 , in the first embodiment, the fourth branch 350 includes a second cache module 351, a fourth PCS module 352, and a second interface 353. For specific operations, please refer to the first embodiment of S540 to S550 above. For the sake of brevity, no further details are given here. As shown in FIG12 , in the second embodiment, the fourth branch 350 includes a second PCS module 351, a second cache module 352, a fourth PCS module 353, and a second interface 354. For specific operations, please refer to the second embodiment of S540 to S550 above. For the sake of brevity, no further details are given here. As shown in FIG13 , in the third embodiment, the fourth branch 350 includes a second interface 351. For specific operations, please refer to the third embodiment of S540 to S550 above. For the sake of brevity, no further details are given here.

[0151] Through S560 and S570, multiple signals generated by the transmission processing equipment and signals with larger capacity can be transmitted simultaneously, improving signal transmission bandwidth and signal transmission efficiency to meet more complex transmission scenarios.

[0152] An embodiment of the present application further provides a PHY chip 600, as shown in FIG17 . The PHY chip 600 includes a processor 610 and a memory 620. The memory 620 is used to store computer programs, and the processor 610 is used to call and run the computer programs stored in the memory 620 to execute the corresponding operations and processes implemented by the PHY device in the methods 200 and 500 of the embodiments of the present application. For the sake of brevity, no further details are given here.

[0153] An embodiment of the present application also provides an electronic device 700, as shown in Figure 17, the electronic device 700 includes a PHY chip 600 and a transmission processing device 710 shown in Figure 17, the electronic device 700 is the sub-node in method 200 and method 500, the transmission processing device 710 is connected to the PHY chip 600, and is used to interact with the external environment, that is, the transmission processing device 710 executes the corresponding operations and processes implemented by the transmission processing device in method 200 and method 500 of the embodiment of the present application. For the sake of brevity, no further details are given here.

[0154] During implementation, each step of the above-mentioned method embodiment can be completed by hardware integrated logic circuits in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The above-mentioned processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be implemented or executed. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above-mentioned method in combination with its hardware.

[0155] The aforementioned memory may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM) and direct RAM bus random access memory (DR RAM). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0156] The "connection" in the embodiments of the present application includes but is not limited to various connection methods such as communication connection and electrical connection. For example, the forwarding module connects the first branch and the second branch, indicating that there is a communication connection between the first branch, the forwarding module, and the second branch, thereby transmitting signals.

[0157] The specific examples in the embodiments of this application are only intended to help those skilled in the art better understand the embodiments of this application, rather than to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art may make various improvements and modifications based on the above embodiments, and these improvements or modifications shall fall within the scope of protection of this application.

[0158] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A data forwarding method, for a physical layer device of a sub-node in a network transmission, wherein the network includes a head node and a plurality of sub-nodes, the head node and the plurality of sub-nodes are connected via a physical transmission medium, and the sub-node also includes a transmission processing device, the forwarding method comprising: The physical layer device comprises a first branch, and the first branch receives a first downlink signal sent by the head node or the last adjacent sub-node through the physical transmission medium; The physical layer device includes a forwarding module and a second branch, and the first branch enables the second branch to obtain the first downlink signal through the forwarding module; The second branch sends the first downlink signal to the next adjacent subnode through the physical transmission medium.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first branch enables the second branch to obtain the first downlink signal through the forwarding module, including: The first branch processes the first downlink signal to obtain a second downlink signal, the forwarding module forwards the second downlink signal to the second branch, and the second branch receives the second downlink signal and processes the second downlink signal to obtain the first downlink signal.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: The physical layer device also includes a third branch, and the third branch includes a first interface. The third branch receives the second downlink signal through a forwarding module, processes the second downlink signal to obtain a third downlink signal, and then sends the third downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the first interface.

4. According to the method of claim 2, the first branch includes a first PCS module, the second branch includes a second PCS module, the forwarding module connects the first PCS module and the second PCS module, the first PCS module is used to descramble the signal, and the second PCS module is used to scramble the signal.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first branch comprises a first PMA module, the second branch comprises a second PMA module, the forwarding module connects the first PMA module and the second PMA module, the first PMA module is used to demodulate the signal, and the second PMA module is used to modulate the signal.

6. According to the method of claim 2, the first branch includes a third PCS module, the second branch includes a fourth PCS module, the forwarding module connects the third PCS module and the fourth PCS module, and the third PCS module and the fourth PCS module are used to implement data adaptation.

7. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: The physical layer device also includes a third branch and a fourth branch, the third branch includes a first interface, the fourth branch includes a second interface, the third branch and the fourth branch jointly receive the second downlink signal through the forwarding module and obtain a fourth downlink signal and a fifth downlink signal after processing respectively, the third branch sends the fourth downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the first interface, and the fourth branch sends the fifth downlink signal to the transmission processing device through the second interface.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second branch receives, through the physical transmission medium, a first uplink signal sent by the next adjacent subnode; The second branch enables the first branch to obtain the first uplink signal through the forwarding module; The first branch sends the first uplink signal to the last adjacent subnode or the head node through the physical transmission medium.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The second branch enables the first branch to obtain the first uplink signal through a forwarding module, including: The second branch processes the first uplink signal to obtain a second uplink signal, the forwarding module forwards the second uplink signal to the first branch, and the first branch receives the second uplink signal and processes the second uplink signal to obtain the first uplink signal.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The method further comprises: The physical layer device further includes a third branch, the third branch includes a first interface, the third branch receives a third uplink signal sent by the transmission processing device through the first interface and processes the third uplink signal to obtain a fourth uplink signal; The first branch receives the fourth uplink signal through the forwarding module and processes the fourth uplink signal to obtain a fifth uplink signal, and the first branch sends the fifth uplink signal to the previous adjacent subnode or the head node through the physical transmission medium.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the second branch includes a second PCS module, the first branch includes a first PCS module, the forwarding module connects the first PCS module and the second PCS module, the second PCS module is used to descramble the signal, and the first PCS module is used to scramble the signal.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the second branch comprises a second PMA module, the first branch comprises a first PMA module, the forwarding module connects the first PMA module and the second PMA module, the second PMA module is used to demodulate the signal, and the first PMA module is used to modulate the signal.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the second branch includes a fourth PCS module, the first branch includes a third PCS module, the forwarding module connects the third PCS module and the fourth PCS module, and the third PCS module and the fourth PCS module are used to implement data adaptation.

14. A physical layer chip, characterized in that: The invention comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. An electronic device, characterized in that: It comprises the physical layer chip as claimed in claim 14 and a transmission processing device, wherein the transmission processing device is connected to the physical layer chip, and the transmission processing device is used to interact with an external environment.

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