Apparatus and method of displaying power line communication channel information

• US 20070159981A1
• Filed: 10/20/2006
• Published: 07/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Joon-hee, Park, Noh-byung, You, Ho-jeong, Lee, Ju-han, Choi, Jun-hae, Kim, In-hwan, Chang, Seung-gi, Kim, Ji-hoon
• Granted Patent: US 8,045,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5408 using protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5495 having measurements and testing channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/54 Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus and method of displaying power line communication channel information. The apparatus for displaying power line communication (PLC) channel information includes a channel information determining unit which performs PLC channel estimation and determines channel information including a bandwidth which is available for a user in a power line communication network; and a channel information displaying unit which displays the channel information to the user. Since channel information is determined through channel estimation and displayed to a user, it is possible to easily check whether a channel can be used before installing a power line communication (PLC) device. In an application, information on kinds of a service which can be selected by the user or expected quality of the service can be previously checked. Accordingly, the user can know whether the communication can be performed, without installing a communication device or executing a communication application which requires much time and effort. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce time and effort necessary for finding an adequate communication point.

Claims

1. An apparatus for displaying power line communication (PLC) channel information, comprising:

a channel information determining unit which performs PLC channel estimation and determines channel information including a bandwidth which is available for a user in a power line communication network; and

a channel information displaying unit which displays the channel information to the user.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the channel information determining unit comprises:

a data frame transmission time determining unit which determines a data frame transmission time necessary for transmitting an entire data frame; and

a layer bandwidth calculating unit which divides the size of data to be transmitted in each layer by the data frame transmission time to calculate the available bandwidth in each layer.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the data frame transmission time determining unit comprises:

a bits-per-tone determining unit which determines the numbers of bits carried on tones through the channel estimation;

a bits-per-symbol determining unit which sums up the numbers of the bits carried on the tones to determine the number of bits per symbol;

a total symbol number calculating unit which divides the number of bits included in the entire data frame by the number of the bits per symbol to calculate the total number of symbols necessary for transmitting the entire data frame; and

a data frame transmission time calculating unit which multiplies the total number of the symbols by a period of time necessary for transmitting one symbol to calculate the data frame transmission time.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the power line communication network uses a transmission control protocol (TCP) or a user datagram protocol (UDP).

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the layer bandwidth calculating unit comprises:

a PLC media access control (MAC) bandwidth calculating unit which divides the size of data to be transmitted in a PLC MAC layer by the data frame transmission time to calculate a bandwidth in the PLC MAC layer;

an Ethernet MAC bandwidth calculating unit which divides the size of data to be transmitted in an Ethernet MAC layer by the data frame transmission time to calculate a bandwidth in the Ethernet MAC layer; and

a TCP/UDP bandwidth calculating unit which divides the size of data to be transmitted in a TCP layer or a UDP layer by the data frame transmission time to calculate a bandwidth in the TCP layer or the UDP layer.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the channel information displaying unit displays the channel information in a numeric form.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the channel information displaying unit displays the channel information in a meter form.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the channel information comprises the available bandwidth of the channel, a delay degree of the channel, and an error rate of the channel.

9. A method of displaying power line communication (PLC) channel information, comprising:

performing PLC channel estimation and determining channel information including a bandwidth which is available for a user in a power line communication network; and

displaying the channel information to the user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining of the channel information comprises:

determining a data frame transmission time necessary for transmitting an entire data frame; and

calculating the available bandwidth in each layer by dividing the size of data to be transmitted in each layer by the data frame transmission time.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining of the data frame transmission time comprises:

determining the numbers of bits carried on tones through the channel estimation;

summing up the numbers of the bits carried on the tones to determine the number of bits per symbol;

dividing the number of bits included in the entire data frame by the number of the bits per symbol to calculate the total number of symbols necessary for transmitting the entire data frame; and

multiplying the total number of the symbols by a period of time necessary for transmitting one symbol to calculate the data frame transmission time.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the power line communication network uses a transmission control protocol (TCP) or a user datagram protocol (UDP).

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the calculating the available bandwidth in each layer comprises:

dividing the size of data to be transmitted in a PLC MAC layer by the data frame transmission time to calculate a bandwidth in the PLC MAC layer;

dividing the size of data to be transmitted in an Ethernet MAC layer by the data frame transmission time to calculate a bandwidth in the Ethernet MAC layer; and

dividing the size of data to be transmitted in a TCP layer or a UDP layer by the data frame transmission time to calculate a bandwidth in the TCP layer or the UDP layer.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the displaying of the channel information comprises displaying the channel information in a numeric form.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the displaying of the channel information comprises displaying the channel information in a meter form.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the channel information comprises the available bandwidth of the channel, a delay degree of the channel, and an error rate of the channel.

17. A computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for executing a method of displaying power line communication (PLC) channel information, the method comprises:

performing PLC channel estimation and determining channel information including a bandwidth which is available for a user in a power line communication network; and

displaying the channel information to the user.