POWER LINE COMMUNICATIONS USING FRAME CONTROL DATA BLOCKS FOR DATA TRANSPORT

• US 20140241441A1
• Filed: 02/24/2014
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxlinear Asia Singapore Pte Ltd. (Maxlinear Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Devaucelle, Christophe
• Granted Patent: US 9,544,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/257
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5408 using protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5445 Local network
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/547 via DC power distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/54 Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/542 the information being in digital form

Abstract

Method, systems, and apparatus include a communication device configured to receive a data unit in accordance with a power line communications protocol, to extract data within the data unit to provide extracted data, and to process the extracted data in accordance with a non-power line communication protocol. Embodiments also describe a communication device configured to format data according to a non-power line communication protocol as part of a data unit conforming to a power line communication protocol, to redundantly encode the data unit across a plurality of subcarriers in accordance with the second communication protocol, and to transmit the data unit in accordance with the second communication protocol to another communications device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a communication device, a data unit in accordance with a power line communication protocol;

extracting, by the communication device, data within the data unit to provide extracted data; and

processing, by the communication device, the extracted data in accordance with a non-power line communication protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the communication device, a data type identifier within the data unit; and

determining, by the communication device, whether the data type identifier corresponds to a predetermined value,

wherein processing the extracted data in accordance with the non-power line communication protocol is performed when it is determined that the data type identifier corresponds to the predetermined value.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

when it is determined that the data type identifier does not correspond to the predetermined value, processing, by the communication device, the data unit in accordance with the power line communication protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-power line communication protocol is a serial network protocol.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the serial network protocol includes one or more of:

a local interconnect network (LIN) protocol; and

a controller area network (CAN) protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of extracting comprises:

extracting the data from within a variant field of a frame control block of the data unit.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the data type identifier corresponds to a delimiter type field value within the frame control block, and wherein the predetermined value is one of i) six or ii) seven.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the non-power line communication protocol is a local interconnect network (LIN) protocol; and

the method further comprises adding start and stop bits to the extracted data.

9. A communication device, comprising:

a network interface device configured to;

receive a data unit in accordance with a power line communication protocol; and

extract data within the data unit to provide extracted data; and

process the extracted data in accordance with a non-power line communication protocol.

10. The communication device of claim 9, wherein the network interface device is further configured to:

determine whether a data type identifier in the data unit corresponds to a predetermined value, and

process the extracted data in accordance with the non-power line communication protocol in response to determining that the data type identifier corresponds to the predetermined value.

11. The communication device of claim 10, wherein the network interface device is further configured to:

process the data unit in accordance with the power line communication protocol when it is determined that the data type identifier does not correspond to the predetermined value.

12. The communication device of claim 9, wherein the non-power line communication protocol is a serial network protocol.

13. The communication device of claim 12, wherein the serial network protocol includes one or more of:

a local interconnect network (LIN) protocol; and

a controller area network (CAN) protocol.

14. The communication device of claim 9, wherein the network interface device is further configured to:

provide the extracted data by extracting data from a frame control block in the data unit.

15. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the data type identifier corresponds to a delimiter type field value within the frame control block, and wherein the network interface device is further configured to determine whether the delimiter type field value is one of i) six or ii) seven.

16. The communication device of claim 9, wherein the second communication protocol is a local interconnect network (LIN) protocol, and

wherein the network interface device is further configured to add start and stop bits to the extracted data.

17. A method, comprising:

formatting, by a communication device, data according to a non-power line communication protocol as part of a data unit conforming to a power line communication protocol;

redundantly encoding, by the communication device, the data unit across a plurality of subcarriers in accordance with the second communication protocol; and

transmitting, by the communication device, the data unit in accordance with the second communication protocol.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the non-power line communication protocol is a serial network protocol.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the serial network protocol includes one or more of:

a local interconnect network (LIN) protocol; and

a controller area network (CAN) protocol.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the data unit comprises:

a frame control block, and

wherein the act of formatting comprises;

including the data conforming to the non-power line communication protocol within a frame control block of the data unit.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

setting a delimiter type field value in the data unit to a value indicating the data unit includes data formatted according to the non-power line communication protocol.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the non-power line communication protocol is a local interconnect network (LIN) protocol,

wherein the act of formatting comprises removing start and stop bits from the data.

23. A communication device, comprising:

a network interface device configured to;

format data according to a non-power line communication protocol as part of a data unit conforming to a power line communication protocol,

redundantly encode the data across a plurality of subcarriers in accordance with the second communication protocol, and

transmit the data unit in accordance with the second communication protocol.

24. The communication device of claim 23, wherein the non-power line communication protocol is a serial network protocol.

25. The communication device of claim 24, wherein the serial network protocol includes one or more of:

a local interconnect network (LIN) protocol; and

a controller area network (CAN) protocol.

26. The communication device of claim 23, wherein the data unit comprises:

a frame control block, and

wherein the act of formatting comprises;

including the data conforming to the non-power line communication protocol within a frame control block of the data unit.

27. The communication device of claim 26, further comprising:

setting a delimiter type field value in the data unit to a value indicating the data unit includes data formatted according to the non-power line communication protocol.

28. The communication device of claim 23, wherein the non-power line communication protocol is a local interconnect network (LIN) protocol,

wherein the act of formatting comprises removing start and stop bits from the data.