Communications protocol for digital telemetry system
First Claim
1. A data communication method for transmitting data by uphole and downhole modems from a plurality of well-logging tools along a tool bus, comprising the steps of:
- receiving variable length data from a tool by an individual interface package to form an interface package data transmittal.transmitting said data into an uplink packet provided with a data field and a protocol;
applying said protocol to transform said data field into varying lengths to receive a plurality of said interface package data transmittal of varying lengths;
beginning said variable length data field with a list head word pointing to the beginning of a first word of a first interface package transmittal, said first interface package transmittal having as the first word, a next message pointer, said pointer pointing to the first word in a next interface package transmittal, thereby sequentially packing a plurality of interface package transmittal of varying length into said data field;
stripping said protocol from said uplink packets;
transmitting said uplink package to an uplink superpacket having an address and a plurality of stripped uplink packages; and
transmitting said uplink superpacket from a downhole modem to an uphole modem, wherein data words of varying length are sequentially packed and then transmitted on limited bandwidth communication links.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a communications protocol for a digital telemetry system which enables more efficient digital data transmission between a plurality of digital communications nodes. The protocol is implemented using uplink and downlink packets and superpackets. Each node forms an uplink packet which contains node data and protocols. Those packets are packaged into uplink superpackets and transmitted to a control node. Downlink superpackets containing information signifying which of the uplink superpackets were received correctly are formed and transmitted to the individual nodes. In response, any uplink superpacket received incorrectly is retransmitted. Additionally, the communications protocol also time stamps messages received from the nodes to provide for digital communications time correlation.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A data communication method for transmitting data by uphole and downhole modems from a plurality of well-logging tools along a tool bus, comprising the steps of:
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receiving variable length data from a tool by an individual interface package to form an interface package data transmittal. transmitting said data into an uplink packet provided with a data field and a protocol; applying said protocol to transform said data field into varying lengths to receive a plurality of said interface package data transmittal of varying lengths; beginning said variable length data field with a list head word pointing to the beginning of a first word of a first interface package transmittal, said first interface package transmittal having as the first word, a next message pointer, said pointer pointing to the first word in a next interface package transmittal, thereby sequentially packing a plurality of interface package transmittal of varying length into said data field; stripping said protocol from said uplink packets; transmitting said uplink package to an uplink superpacket having an address and a plurality of stripped uplink packages; and transmitting said uplink superpacket from a downhole modem to an uphole modem, wherein data words of varying length are sequentially packed and then transmitted on limited bandwidth communication links. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification