Method and system for transmission of signals to nodes in a system

• US 20050143009A1
• Filed: 01/03/2002
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Homecontrol A/S, Somfy Sas (Somfy SA)
• Original Assignee: Homecontrol A/S, Somfy Sas (Somfy SA)
• Inventors: Nielsen, Martin Sandal, Sorensen, Henning, Trelborg, Jakob, Mouridsen, Erik Bundsbaek
• Granted Patent: US 7,346,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.110
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25187 Transmission of signals, medium, ultrasonic, radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/16 in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0097 Relays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal

Abstract

Method of and system for transmitting signals, e.g. control signals, request signals, interrogation signals etc. to a node in the form of a controllable unit associated with a device, e.f. a controllable device, measuring means, etc. and wherein said controllable unit may be linked to at least one further node by means of a communication bus, at least one of said nodes comprising radio frequency receiving means, said method comprising the steps of a) transmitting a signal from a controller, b) reception of said signal by at least said node comprising radio frequency receiving means, c) detection of at least part of said signal indicating a destination node, and d) retransmittal of said signal or part of said signal by said nore comprising radio frequency receiving means to said destination node via said communication bus.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting signals to a controllable node associated with a device, the controllable node linked to at least one other node via a communication bus, the method comprising the steps of:

a) transmitting a signal from a controller using a radio frequency transmission,

b) receiving the transmission signal by a node having a radio frequency receiving configuration,

c) detecting at least part of the transmission signal indicating a destination node, and

d) retransmitting at least a part of the transmission signal by the node having the radio frequency receiving configuration to the destination node via the communication bus.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a timeslot in which the retransmitting step is performed by the node having the radio frequency receiving configuration.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the timeslot is randomly selected.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the transmission signal is received by at least two nodes having respective radio frequency receiving configurations and the retransmitting step is performed only by the node for which an earliest occurring timeslot has been selected.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least part of the transmission signal indicating the destination node includes an identification of the destination node.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the retransmitting step is performed by a wired communication bus.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting step is performed by a wireless radio frequency remote control.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of transmitting a response signal from the destination node, sad the response signal including one of an acknowledgement, a request, a measured value or combinations thereof, and routing the response signal corresponding to a routing of the transmission signal.

20. The method according to claim 5, wherein the identification of the destination node is an address.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission signal is selected from the group consisting of a control signal, a request signal, an interrogation signal and combinations thereof.

9. A system for transmission of signals, the system comprising:

a controllable node associated with a device, the controllable node linked to at least one other node via a communication bus, wherein at least one of the nodes is configured to receive a at least one signal from among the plurality of signals, the signal transmitted from at least one controller using a radio frequency,

means for detection of at least part of the signal indicating a destination node and means for retransmitting the received signal or information therein via the communication bus, the means for detection and the means for retransmitting associated with the at least one receiving node.

10. The system according to claim 9, further comprising a plurality of the nodes in the form of controllable units each associated with respective devices, and at least one communication bus, the communication bus defining a subnet in the system and being linked to at least one of the nodes configured to receive the signal and wherein transmission of signals to or from the subnet is performed by means for transmitting a radio frequency.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the node includes comprise means for identifying an identification part of the received signal.

12. The system according to claim 9, further comprising means for initiating a re-transmittal of at least a portion of a received signal.

13. The system according to claim 9, further comprising remote control means for transmission of the signals to at least one node in the system.

14. The system according to claim 9, wherein the communication bus has a communication channel made operable by a wired connection.

15. The system according to claim 9, further comprising means for establishing and storing a table having identification of destination nodes linked by a communication bus.

16. The system according to claim 9, further comprising a power supply connected to a plurality of the nodes.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the communication bus includes a communication channel configured to operate by a modulation or superimposition.

18. The system according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the nodes on a subnet comprises control means for performing control of operations by the device and in relation to other nodes in the system prioritize the operations the control means including means for keeping account of available resources, means for accepting or denying requests from nodes on the subnet, means for aborting at least one of the operations, means for valuating requests and the operations, or combinations thereof.

19. The system according to claim 9, wherein the node for receiving the signal is a transceiver configured to respond to received signals by transmitting a response signal including an acknowledgement, a request, a measured value or combinations thereof.

22. A system for controlling a device, the system comprising:

a communication bus having a plurality of nodes, at least one of the nodes being a controllable node;

a controllable device in communication with the controllable node;

a controller in communication with the controllable node, the controller configured to transmit an electromagnetic signal to the controllable node, the controllable node configured to detect a destination signal embedded in the electromagnetic signal; and

a plurality of destination nodes in communication with the communication bus, the destination signal designating a specific destination node associated with the controllable device from among the plurality of destination nodes, the specific destination node configured for transmitting a response signal in response to at least a portion of the destination signal and for sending at least another part of the destination signal to the controllable device.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the controllable device and the controller are wirelessly linked to nodes.

24. The system according to claim 22, wherein the controllable device and the controller are hard-wired to the nodes.

25. The system according to claim 22, further comprising a plurality of controllable devices, wherein the destination signal designates a specific controllable device for control.

26. The system according to claim 22, wherein the electromagnetic signal, the destination signal and the response signal are transmitted during predefined timeslots to avoid interference.

27. The system according to claim 22, wherein the specific destination node is identified by a priority value, an address, a radio frequency, a response value, or combinations thereof.

28. The system according to claim 22, wherein the controllable device and the specific destination node transmits the response signal in a random timeslot.

29. The system according to claim 22, wherein the at least another part of the destination signal is a control signal to control the controllable device.