ZIGBEE IP/6LOWPAN ROUTER

• US 20120063334A1
• Filed: 10/21/2010
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Drake, Jeff Donald
• Granted Patent: US 8,724,490 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/60 Limiting power consumption in the network or in one section of the network, e.g. load shedding or peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving

Abstract

A system and method for managing energy of a home or other structure are disclosed. An energy management system for a home network comprises a central device controller configured to communicate with energy consuming devices, energy generation devices and storage devices at a home. Power/energy measuring devices provide consumption measurements for the home and each device to the controller. A home network router routes communications among various networks for the home. The router provides for a 6LowPan/Zigbee network to communicate with WiFi, Ethernet and the like networked devices of the home.

Claims

1. An energy management system for a home network comprising managed energy consuming devices respectively drawing different amounts of power in a home, comprising:

a central controller having a memory and at least one transceiver in communication with the managed energy consuming devices that respectively comprise a device controller;

a home network router communicatively coupled to the central controller and comprising at least two communication modules that facilitate communication among the manager energy consuming devices and the central controller; and

at least one power/energy measuring device in communication with the controller and the managed devices via the home network router and configured to provide a total energy/power consumption measurement for the home and an power/energy consumption measurement for each managed device;

wherein the controller is configured to monitor and communicate energy consumption of each of the managed devices and respective components thereof by sending communications to each of the managed devices via the device controller respectively and to provide real time feedback to the user interface display.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least two communication modules include a first wireless transceiver radio that is a 6LowPan/Zigbee IP/802.15.4 wireless transceiver, and a second wireless transceiver radio that is a WiFi transceiver that communicates via a WiFi protocol or an Ethernet interface that is configured to communicate via an Ethernet protocol with managed energy consuming devices of the network and/or the central controller.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the home network router comprises a third communication module that is the WiFi transceiver if the second communication module is the Ethernet interface, or the Ethernet interface if the second communication module is the WiFi transceiver.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the home network router comprises a routing engine operatively connected to each communication module that processes signals from each communication module and processes them in a different protocol format to communicate with each of the managed energy consumption devices and the central controller operatively connected thereto.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the managed energy consumption devices and the central controller communicate via different internet protocol formats with the home network router at the respective communication module.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the internet protocol address format is an ipv6 address for communicating communications signals among the managed energy consumption devices and the central controller respectively having communication signals of different protocol formats including at least a 6LowPan/Zigbee IP communication signal, a WiFi communication signal, and an Ethernet communication signal.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the home network router includes a routing engine that is configured to transform a 6LowPan/Zigbee IP address to a different protocol address format including an Ethernet address and a WiFi address and communicate the different protocol address to the second and third communication module accordingly, wherein the routing engine is configured to transform a WiFi address to a second different protocol address format including the 6LowPan/Zigbee IP address and an Ethernet address and communicate the second different protocol address format to the first, second and/or third communication module accordingly, wherein the routing engine is configured to transform the Ethernet address to a third different internet protocol address format including the WiFi address and the 6LowPan/Zigbee IP address and communicate the third different internet protocol address to the first, second and/or third communication module accordingly.

8. The system of claim 1, the managed energy consuming devices comprise:

a first managed energy consuming device comprising a 6LowPan/Zigbee IP/802.15.4 wireless transceiver that communicates to the router and all other devices on the network via the router;

a second managed energy consuming device comprising a WiFi wireless transceiver that communicates to the router and all other devices on the network via the router; and

a third managed energy consuming device comprising an Ethernet interface that communicates to the router and all other devices on the network via the router.

9. A home network router for a home area network of a home having energy consuming devices communicatively coupled to one another on the network, comprising:

a first communication module configured to communicate with a 6LowPan/Zigbee IP format via a first communication link coupled to at least one of the energy consuming devices of the home;

a second communication module configured to communicate with the first communication module and with at least one different energy consuming device in a different protocol format than 6LowPan/Zigbee IP to communicate messages from the first communication module to the different energy consuming device; and

a routing engine configured to route communication between the first communication module and the second communication for the energy consuming devices to communicate among one another, a controller and a metering device of the network.

10. The home network router of claim 9, wherein the first communication module includes a wireless transceiver radio that communicates in the 6LowPan/Zigbee IP format and an ipv6 format.

11. The home network router of claim 9, wherein the second communication module includes a wireless transceiver radio that communicates in a WiFi protocol format and ipv6 address.

12. The home network router of claim 9, further comprising a third communication module that includes a wireless transceiver radio that communicates in a WiFi format and ipv6 format, wherein the second communication module includes a wireless transceiver radio that communicates in an Ethernet format.

13. The home network of claim 12, wherein the routing engine is configured to transform the messages of 6LowPan/Zigbee IP format to a different protocol address format including an Ethernet format and a WiFi format and communicate the message of the different protocol address format to the second and third communication module accordingly.

14. The home network of claim 12, wherein the routing engine is configured to transform the messages in the WiFi format to a second different protocol address format including the 6LowPan/Zigbee IP format and the Ethernet format and communicate the second different protocol address format to the first, second and/or third communication module accordingly.

15. The home network of claim 12, wherein the routing engine is configured to transform the Ethernet address to a third different protocol address format including the WiFi format and the 6LowPan/Zigbee IP format and communicate messages in the third different protocol address format to the first, second and/or third communication module accordingly.

16. A method for routing communication messages in 6LowPan/Zigbee IP format, Zigbee format, and Ethernet format among a meter of a metering network, energy consuming devices and a central controller of a home network, in a home network router having a processor engine with a memory storing executable instructions for the method, comprising:

receiving a data packet of a format including 802.3, 802.11, 802.15.4 or internet protocol format;

determining a communication link coupled to a communication module to send the data packet to;

forwarding the data packet to the communication module; and

sending the data packet to at least one device including an 802.15.4 device, 802.11 device, an 802.3 device and/or an interne gateway address depending upon which address the data packet is formatted for

wherein each device operatively communicates in the home network by sending messages to the router for routing data packets therebetween.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

upon receiving a data packet that is outside of a 802.15 network address, unwrapping a local MAC/PHY data and evaluating a destination IP address;

if the IP address of the data packet from the 802.15 network is equal to one of the devices connected to it, packaging the data into a proper link format, and form an ipv6 header so that the data packet is in form to be sent to at least one device in the network.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

upon receiving a data packet that is outside of a 802.11 network address, unwrapping a local MAC/PHY data and evaluating a destination IP address;

if the IP address of the data packet from the 802.11 network is equal to one of the devices connected to it, packaging the data into a proper link format, and form an ipv6 header so that the data packet is in form to be sent to at least one device of the home network.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

upon receiving a data packet that is outside of a 802.3 network address, unwrapping a local MAC/PHY data and evaluating a destination IP address;

if the IP address of the data packet from the 802.3 network is equal to one of the devices connected to it, packaging the data into a proper link format, and form an ipv6 header so that the data packet is in form to be sent to at least one device of the home network.