Method and apparatus to facilitate transmission of ternary movable barrier operator information

• US 20070018861A1
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Chamberlain Group, Inc. (The Chamberlain Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Chamberlain Group, Inc. (The Chamberlain Group LLC)
• Inventors: Gregori, Eric, Fitzgibbon, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,561,075 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 341/51
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00928 for garage doors
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00309 operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks

Abstract

Ternary data as corresponds to a movable barrier operator is provided (21) and converted (22) into corresponding binary information. In a preferred approach this comprises converting each ternary trit into a corresponding binary pair. Pursuant to a preferred approach binary bits as correspond to, for example, fixed and/or non-fixed information (32 and 33) are provided (31) and then converted (34) into the aforementioned ternary data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing ternary data as corresponds to a movable barrier operator;

converting the ternary data to a binary format to provide binary information;

transmitting the binary information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein converting the ternary data to a binary format further comprises mapping each trit of the ternary data to a corresponding pair of binary bits.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein transmitting the binary information further comprises transmitting pairs of binary bits, wherein each of the pairs of binary bits potentially represents one of:

a particular ternary value;

an illegal value.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the illegal value serves a synchronization function.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein:

a first particular ternary value for the particular ternary value corresponds to bearer content having a first size;

a second particular ternary value for the particular ternary value corresponds to bearer content having a second size, which second size is different than the first size;

a third particular ternary value for the particular ternary value corresponds to updating a rolling code as is employed by the movable barrier operator.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein providing ternary data further comprises:

providing binary bits comprising information corresponding to the movable barrier operator;

converting the binary bits into the ternary data.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein providing binary bits comprising information corresponding to the movable barrier operator further comprises providing binary bits as correspond, at least in part, to fixed information corresponding to the movable barrier operator.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the fixed information comprises identifying information.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein providing binary bits as comprising information corresponding to the movable barrier operator further comprises providing binary bits as correspond, at least in part, to non-fixed information corresponding to the movable barrier operator.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein providing ternary data further comprises:

combining at least some of the binary bits with rolling code bits.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein combining at least some of the binary bits with rolling code bits further comprises:

exclusive ORing the binary bits with the rolling code bits to provide encrypted bits;

concatenating the encrypted bits with the rolling code bits to provide resultant bits;

reverse ordering the resultant bits to provide reverse ordered bits; and

wherein converting the binary bits into the ternary data further comprises;

converting the reverse ordered bits into the ternary data.

12. The method of claim 11 and further comprising:

interleaving the ternary data with other ternary data prior to provide interleaved ternary data;

and wherein converting the ternary data to a binary format to provide binary information further comprises;

converting the interleaved ternary data to the binary format to provide the binary information.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein interleaving the ternary data with other ternary data further comprises:

providing additional binary bits comprising information corresponding to the movable barrier operator;

converting the additional binary bits comprising information corresponding to the movable barrier operator into intermediate ternary data;

modifying the intermediate ternary data using rolling code information to provide the other ternary data;

14. The method of claim 13 wherein modifying the intermediate ternary data using rolling code information further comprises:

modifying the intermediate ternary data using the ternary data.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein modifying the intermediate ternary data using the ternary data further comprises:

combining each trit of the intermediate ternary data with a corresponding trit of the ternary data to provide a resultant multi-trit value;

selecting a particular trit of each resultant multi-trit value to comprise the other ternary data.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein selecting a particular trit of each resultant multi-trit value further comprises selecting a least significant trit of each resultant multi-trit value.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting the binary information comprises transmitting the binary information to at least one of:

a movable barrier operator;

an alarm system;

a sensor;

18. A method of facilitating a communication as between a movable barrier operator and a peripheral device, comprising:

providing data to be transmitted, wherein the data comprises, at least in part, ternary data;

encrypting the data, at least in part, by converting at least some of the ternary data into corresponding binary data;

transmitting the corresponding binary data.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein encrypting the data further comprises converting at least some trits as comprise the ternary data into corresponding binary pairs, such that each so-converted trit is represented by a corresponding binary pair.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein providing data to be transmitted, wherein the data comprises, at least in part, ternary data further comprises:

providing initial data to be transmitted, wherein the initial data comprises, at least in part, initial binary data;

providing rolling code bits;

exclusive ORing at least some bits of the initial binary data with at least some of the rolling code bits to provide a resultant set of bits;

reverse ordering the resultant set of bits to provide reverse ordered bits;

converting the reverse ordered bits into corresponding ternary data to provide the ternary data.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein providing initial data to be transmitted, wherein the initial data comprises, at least in part, initial binary data further comprises providing initial data that selectively comprises either of 15 binary bits and 7 binary bits.

22. An apparatus comprising at least one of a movable barrier operator and a device that communicates with a movable barrier operator, comprising:

a first memory having ternary data to be transmitted as between the movable barrier operator and the device that communicates with a movable barrier operator;

a ternary-to-binary converter being operably coupled to the first memory and having a binary data output;

a transmitter operably coupled to the binary data output.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 and further comprising:

a user data memory having binary user data stored therein;

a rolling code memory having rolling code data stored therein;

an exclusive OR having inputs operably coupled to the user data memory and the rolling code memory;

a concatenator being operably coupled to an output of the exclusive OR and the rolling code memory;

a reverse bit orderer being operably coupled to an output of the concatenator;

a binary-to-ternary converter having an input operably coupled to an output of the reverse bit orderer and having an output operably coupled to an input of the first memory.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the binary data output of the ternary-to-binary converter comprises a binary pair data output.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the ternary-to-binary converter comprises means for converting at least some trits of the ternary data into corresponding binary pairs, such that each such trit is represented by one corresponding binary pair.

26. The apparatus of claim 23 and further comprising interleaving means for interleaving trits as output from the binary-to-ternary converter with fixed code information as corresponds to the apparatus to provide trits as are input to the ternary-to-binary converter.