Home networking over phone lines

• US 20020019966A1
• Filed: 01/31/2001
• Published: 02/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: Yagil, Ariel, Shalvi, Ofir, Amit, Mati
• Granted Patent: US 6,732,315 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/752
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0045 Arrangements at the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/006 Trellis-coded modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0065 Serial concatenated codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2838 Distribution of signals within a home automation network, e.g. involving splitting/multiplexing signals to/from different paths adaptations of television systems for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution H04N7/106; hybrid transport H04L12/6418; home network arrangements specially adapted for distribution of digital video signals H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/403 with centralised control, e.g. polling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2845 Telephone line
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2425 for supporting services specification, e.g. SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1438 Negotiation of transmission parameters prior to communication modified according to link quality H04L1/0001
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A home networking transmitter (100), receiver (200), station (300), network manager(404), network (400) and method adapted to network devices (344/336/338/346) over phone lines (406) in a home. A bandwidth other than the 4 to 10 MHz band defined in the HomePNA 2.0× specification and a Baud rate higher than 4M baud may be used for communications between a plurality of devices (334/336/338/346). PHY and MAC layers are improved to increase the performance of home phone line networks. Advantages in the PHY layer include numerous higher symbol rates, higher constellations, variable power level, error correcting codes, byte interleaving, ISI-free pulse shape and pre-equalization. Advantages in the MAC layer include managed bandwidth resources allocation, guaranteed quality of service for latency sensitive applications, solicited grants, support to devices with low power consumption and support to device with low processing power.

Claims

1. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home at greater than 4 MBaud.

2. The transmitter according to claim 1 further comprising a modulator adapted to support the greater than 4 MBaud rate.

3. The transmitter according to claim 2 further comprising an encoder coupled to the modulator.

4. The transmitter according to claim 3 wherein the encoder comprises a Reed-Solomon code error-correcting encoder.

5. The transmitter according to claim 3 wherein the encoder comprises an outer encoder, further comprising:

a pre-equalizer or precoder coupled to the modulator;

a constellation encoder coupled to the pre-equalizer or precoder;

a symbol interleaver coupled to the constellation encoder;

an inner encoder coupled to the symbol interleaver;

a byte interleaver coupled to the inner encoder, the byte interleaver coupled to the outer encoder;

a scrambler coupled to the outer encoder; and

a framer coupled to the scrambler.

6. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home at a bandwidth other than 4 to 10 MHz band defined in the HomePNA 2.0x spec.

7. The transmitter according to claim 6 further comprising a modulator adapted to support the other than 4 to 10 MHz bandwidth.

8. The transmitter according to claim 7 further comprising an encoder coupled to the modulator.

9. The transmitter according to claim 8 wherein the encoder comprises a Reed-Solomon code error-correcting encoder.

10. The transmitter according to claim 8 further comprising a byte interleaver coupled to the encoder.

11. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising;

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN transmitter including a concatenation of two error correction encoders.

12. The transmitter according to claim 11 wherein one error correction encoder comprises an inner encoder and the other error correction encoder comprises an outer encoder.

13. The transmitter according to claim 12 wherein the inner encoder comprises a Turbo- trellis-coded-modulation (TCM) or a Turbo-product-code (TPC) encoder and the outer encoder comprises a Reed-Solomon encoder.

14. The transmitter according to claim 11 wherein the transmitter further comprises a byte interleaver coupled between the two error correction encoders.

15. The transmitter according to claim 11 further comprising a symbol interleaver coupled to the inner encoder.

17. The transmitter according to claim 16 further comprising a constellation encoder adapted to support the greater than 8 bit per symbol constellations.

18. The transmitter according to claim 16 further comprising a concatenation of an inner encoder and an outer encoder, further comprising a modulator adapted to support the greater than 8 bit per symbol constellations coupled to the constellation encoder.

19. The transmitter according to claim 16 further comprising an encoder coupled to the modulator.

20. The transmitter according to claim 19 wherein the encoder comprises a Reed-Solomon code error-correcting encoder.

16. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home at constellations greater than 8 bits per symbol.

21. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home using variable power levels other than −

71.5 dBm/Hz.

22. The transmitter according to claim 21 wherein the HomePN transmitter is adapted to operate at power levels ranging from −

85 dBm/Hz to −

55 dBm/Hz.

23. The transmitter according to claim 22 wherein the transmitter is adapted to transmit data between the networked devices in an inter-symbol-interference (ISI)-free pulse shape.

24. The transmitter according to claim 21 further comprising a modulator and an encoder coupled to the modulator.

25. The transmitter according to claim 24 wherein the encoder comprises a Reed-Solomon code error-correcting encoder.

27. The transmitter according to claim 26 further comprising a concatenation of an inner encoder and outer encoder coupled to the dynamic byte interleaver.

26. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN transmitter including a dynamic byte interleaver.

28. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN transmitter including a pre-equalizer adapted to mitigate channel distortion and reduce DFE error propagation.

29. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN transmitter including a precoder adapted to mitigate channel distortion and reduce DFE error propagation.

30. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN transmitter including an encoder other than Reed-Solomon encoder.

31. The transmitter according to claim 30, wherein the encoder is adapted to operate at trellis-coded-modulation (TCM), Turbo-TCM, or Turbo Product Code (TPC).

32. A transmitter coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, wherein the transmitter is adapted to transmit data between the networked devices in an inter-symbol-interference (ISI)-free pulse shape.

33. A receiver coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN receiver adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home at a bandwidth other than 4 to 10 MHz band defined in the HomePNA 2.0x spec.

34. The receiver according to claim 33 further comprising a demodulator adapted to support the other than 4 to 10 MHz bandwidth.

35. The receiver according to claim 34 further comprising a decoder coupled to the demodulator.

36. The receiver according to claim 35 wherein the decoder comprises a Reed-Solomon code error-correcting decoder.

37. The receiver according to claim 35 further comprising a byte de-interleaver coupled to the decoder.

39. The receiver according to claim 38 wherein one error correction decoder comprises an inner decoder and the other error correction decoder comprises an outer decoder.

40. The receiver according to claim 39 wherein the inner decoder comprises a Turbo-trellis-coded-modulation (TCM) decoder or a Turbo-product-code (TPC) decoder and the outer decoder comprises a Reed-Solomon decoder.

41. The receiver according to claim 38 further comprising a byte de-interleaver coupled to the decoders.

42. The receiver according to claim 38 further comprising a symbol de-interleaver coupled to one of the decoders.

38. A receiver coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN receiver adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN transmitter including a concatenation of two error correction decoders.

43. A receiver coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN receiver adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home at greater than 4 M Baud.

44. The receiver according to claim 43 further comprising a demodulator adapted to support the greater than 4 M Baud rate.

45. The receiver according to claim 44 further comprising an decoder coupled to the demodulator.

46. The receiver according to claim 45 wherein the decoder comprises a Reed-Solomon code error-correcting decoder.

47. The receiver according to claim 45 wherein the decoder comprises an outer decoder, further comprising:

a equalizer coupled to the modulator;

a symbol de-interleaver coupled to the equalizer;

a slicer coupled to the symbol de-interleaver, the slicer coupled to the equalizer in a feedback loop;

an inner decoder coupled to the slicer;

a byte de-interleaver coupled to the slicer, the byte de-interleaver coupled to the outer decoder;

a descrambler coupled to the outer decoder; and

a de-framer coupled to the descrambler.

49. The receiver according to claim 48 further comprising a concatenation of an inner decoder and an outer decoder, further comprising a demodulator adapted to support the greater than 8 bit per symbol constellations.

50. The receiver according to claim 49 further comprising a decoder coupled to the demodulator.

51. The receiver according to claim 50 wherein the decoder comprises a Reed-Solomon code error-correcting decoder.

48. A receiver coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN receiver adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home at constellations greater than 8 bits per symbol.

52. A receiver coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN receiver adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home using variable power levels other than −

71.5 dBm/Hz.

53. The receiver according to claim 52 wherein the HomePN receiver is adapted to operate at power levels ranging from −

85 dBm/Hz to −

55 dBm/Hz.

54. The receiver according to claim 53 wherein the receiver is adapted to receive data from the networked devices in an inter-symbol-interference (ISI)-free pulse shape.

55. The receiver according to claim 52 further comprising a demodulator and a decoder coupled to the demodulator.

56. The receiver according to claim 55 wherein the decoder comprises a Reed-Solomon code error-correcting decoder.

58. The receiver according to claim 57 further comprising a concatenation of an inner decoder and outer decoder coupled to the dynamic byte interleaver.

60. The receiver according to claim 59, wherein the decoder is adapted to operate at trellis-coded-modulation (TCM), Turbo-TCM, or Turbo Product Code (TPC).

57. A receiver coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN receiver adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN receiver including a dynamic byte de-interleaver.

59. A receiver coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN receiver adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN receiver including a decoder other than Reed-Solomon decoder.

61. A receiver coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN receiver adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, wherein the receiver is adapted to receive data from the networked devices in an inter-symbol-interference (ISI)-free pulse shape.

62. A home networking station coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN receiver;

a HomePN transmitter coupled to the receiver, the home networking station adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, wherein the transmitter is adapted to communicate with a network manager, the network manager being adapted to allocate channel resources to the devices within the network.

63. The home networking station according to claim 62, wherein the network manager resides in a residential gateway.

64. A home networking station coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter; and

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter, the HomePN transmitter and receiver being adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home at greater than 4 M Baud.

65. The home networking station according to claim 64, wherein the HomePN transmitter and receiver are adapted to network the device to at least one other device at a bandwidth other than 4 to 10 MHz band defined in HomePNA 2.0x spec.

66. The home networking station according to claim 64, wherein the HomePN transmitter and receiver are adapted to network the device to at least one other device at constellations greater than 8 bits per second.

67. The home networking station according to claim 64, wherein the HomePN transmitter and receiver are adapted to network the device to at least one other device using variable power levels other than −

71.5 dBm/Hz.

68. The home networking station according to claim 64, wherein the HomePN transmitter includes a dynamic byte interleaver, and the HomePN receiver includes a dynamic byte de-interleaver.

69. The home networking station according to claim 64, wherein the HomePN transmitter includes a pre-equalizer, and wherein the HomePN receiver includes an equalizer, the pre-equalizer and equalizer being adapted to mitigate channel distortion and reduce DFE error propagation.

70. The home networking station according to claim 64, further comprising:

a media access control (MAC) function coupled between the HomePN transmitter and receiver and the device; and

an analog front end (AFE) function coupled between the HomePN transmitter and receiver and the home phone lines.

71. A home networking station coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter; and

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter, the HomePN transmitter and receiver being adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN transmitter and receiver being adapted to operate at a low power consumption mode comprises shutting down modules within the device by utilizing predetermined MAP message transmission times.

72. The home networking station according to claim 71, wherein predetermined times are periodical.

73. The home networking station according to claim 72 wherein the predetermined times are periodical and comprise from 1-100 milliseconds.

74. A home networking station coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter; and

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter, the HomePN transmitter and receiver being adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, the HomePN transmitter and receiver being adapted to operate in a low processing power mode, wherein only a portion of the received transmissions are processed utilizing predetermined MAP messages times.

75. The home networking station according to claim 74 wherein the predetermined times are periodical.

76. The home networking station according to claim 75 wherein the predetermined times comprise from 1-100 milliseconds.

77. A home networking station coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter; and

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter, the HomePN transmitter and receiver being adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, wherein the station is adapted to request and transmit data packets using a solicited grant method.

80. The network manager according to claim 79 wherein the network manager resides in a residential gateway.

81. The network manager according to claim 79 wherein the network manager resides in one of the networked devices.

82. The network manager according to claim 79 wherein the network manager is adapted to network the plurality of devices isolated from the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

83. The network manager according to claim 82 wherein the network manager transmitter is adapted to enable transmission of data between the networked devices utilizing an inter-symbol-interference (ISI)-free pulse shape.

84. The network manager according to claim 79, wherein constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) data streams can be guaranteed the required bandwidth using a CBR/VBR method.

85. The network manager according to claim 79 wherein channels are allocated in an isochronous method.

86. The network manager according to claim 79 wherein channels are allocated in a quasi-isochronous method.

78. A home networking station coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter; and

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter, the HomePN transmitter and receiver being adapted to network the device to at least one other device over phone lines in a home, wherein the station is adapted to support data encryption standard (DES) or triple DES.

79. A network manager, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter;

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter, the network manager being coupleable to a phone line in a home for networking a plurality of devices together, wherein the network manager is adapted to allocate channel resources for communication between the devices.

87. A network manager coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter; and

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter, the network manager being coupleable to a phone line in a home for networking a plurality of devices together, wherein the network manager is adapted to support network devices that are adapted to operate at a low power consumption mode utilizing predetermined MAP message transmission.

88. The network manager according to claim 87, wherein the low power consumption mode comprises shutting down the modules within the device by utilizing MAP message transmitted at predetermined times.

89. The network manager according to claim 88 wherein the predetermined times are periodical.

90. The network manager according to claim 89 wherein the predetermined times comprise from 1-100 milliseconds.

91. A network manager coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter; and

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter, the network manager being coupleable to a phone line in a home for networking a plurality of devices together, wherein the network manager is adapted to support network devices that are adapted to operate in a low processing power mode, wherein only a portion of the transmissions are processed utilizing predetermined MAP messages.

92. The network manager according to claim 91 wherein the predetermined times are periodical.

93. The network manager according to claim 92 wherein the predetermined times comprise from 1-100 milliseconds.

94. A network manager coupleable to a device, comprising:

a HomePN transmitter; and

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter, the network manager being coupleable to a phone line in a home for networking a plurality of devices together, wherein the network manager is adapted to support requests for solicited grants.

95. A communications network, comprising:

a plurality of devices coupled together over phone lines in a home; and

a home networking station coupled between the phone lines and each device, wherein the home networking station is adapted to network the devices together at greater than 4 Mbaud.

96. The communications network according to claim 95, wherein the home networking station comprises:

a HomePN transmitter; and

a HomePN receiver coupled to the HomePN transmitter.

97. The communications network according to claim 96, further comprising:

a media access control (MAC) function coupled between the HomePN transmitter and receiver and the device; and

an analog front end (AFE) function coupled between the HomePN transmitter and receiver and the home phone lines.

98. The communications network according to claim 96, wherein the HomePN transmitter and receiver are adapted to operate at a low power consumption mode utilizing periodical MAP message transmission.

99. The communications network according to claim 98, wherein the low power consumption mode comprises shutting down the modules within the device by utilizing MAP message transmitted at predetermined times.

100. The communications network according to claim 99, wherein the predetermined times are periodical and comprise from 1-100 milliseconds.

101. The communications network according to claim 96, wherein the HomePN transmitter and receiver are adapted to operate in a low processing power mode, wherein only a portion of the transmissions are processed utilizing predetermined MAP messages.

102. The communications network according to claim 101, wherein the predetermined times are periodical and comprise from 1-100 milliseconds.

103. The communications network according to claim 95, wherein at least one home networking station is adapted to allocate channel resources to the devices.

104. A communications network, comprising:

a plurality of devices coupled together over phone lines in a home;

a home networking station coupled between the phone lines and each device; and

a network manager coupled to the phone lines, wherein the network manager is adapted to allocate channel resources to the devices.

105. The communications network according to claim 104 wherein the devices are adapted to query the network manager for channel assignment.

106. The communications network according to claim 104, wherein the network manager is adapted to support requests for solicited grants.

107. The communications network according to claim 104, wherein constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) data streams can be guaranteed the required bandwidth using a CBR/VBR method.

108. The communications network according to claim 104 wherein channels are allocated in an isochronous method.

109. The communications network according to claim 104 wherein channels are allocated in a quasi-isochronous method.

110. The communications network according to claim 104 wherein the network manager resides in a residential gateway.

111. The communications network according to claim 104 wherein the devices comprise PCs, DVDs, digital TVs, or printers.

112. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines at greater than 8 bits per symbol.

113. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines at a bandwidth other than 4 to 10 MHz defined in the HomePNA 2.0x spec.

114. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines at constellations greater than 8 bits per second.

115. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines using variable power levels other than −

71.5 dBm/Hz.

116. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines at greater than 4 M Baud.

117. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines with a HomePN transmitter, wherein the HomePN transmitter includes a concatenation of two error correction encoders.

118. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines with a HomePN transmitter, wherein the HomePN transmitter includes a dynamic byte interleaver.

119. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines with a HomePN transmitter, wherein the HomePN transmitter includes a pre-equalizer.

120. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines with a HomePN transmitter, wherein the HomePN transmitter includes a precoder.

121. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home; and

networking the devices over the home phone lines with a HomePN transmitter, wherein the HomePN transmitter includes an encoder other than Reed-Solomon encoder.

122. A method of networking a plurality of devices, comprising:

coupling the devices to a phone line in a home;

networking the devices over the home phone lines; and

transmitting data between the networked devices in an inter-symbol-interference (ISI)-free pulse shape.