Method and system for transmission of signals to nodes in a system

• US 7,346,016 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2002
• Issued: 03/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Homecontrol A/S, Somfy Sas (Somfy SA)
• Original Assignee: Homecontrol A/S, Somfy Sas (Somfy SA)
• Inventors: Mouridsen, Erik Bundsbæk, Sørensen, Henning, Nielsen, Martin Sandal, Trelborg, Jakob
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Simon
• Application Number:
  US10/500,625
• Publication Number:
  US 20050143009A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,266 Days
• Field of Search: 370/326, 370/345, 370389-392, 370400-406, 370450-451, 370/475, 370/489, 370336-337, 370/347, 340 101- 1052, 340/825.52, 340/825.72, 455418-420, 455352-355
• US Class Current: 370/310
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25187 Transmission of signals, medium, ultrasonic, radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/16 in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0097 Relays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal

Abstract

Method of and system for transmitting signals, e.g. control signals, request signals, interrogation signals etc. to a node in the form of a controllable unit associated with a device, e.f. a controllable device, measuring means, etc. and wherein said controllable unit may be linked to at least one further node by means of a communication bus, at least one of said nodes comprising radio frequency receiving means, said method comprising the steps of a) transmitting a signal from a controller, b) reception of said signal by at least said node comprising radio frequency receiving means, c) detection of at least part of said signal indicating a destination node, and d) retransmittal of said signal or part of said signal by said nore comprising radio frequency receiving means to said destination node via said communication bus.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting signals to a controllable destination node associated with a device, the destination node being linked to at least two nodes via a communication bus, the method comprising:

a) transmitting a signal from a controller using a radio frequency transmission;

b) receiving the transmission signal by the at least two nodes having respective radio frequency receiving configurations;

c) detecting at least a part of the transmission signal that indicates the destination node;

d) selecting a timeslot for each of the at least two nodes for performing a retransmission of at least a part of the transmission signal by each of the at least two nodes; and

e) performing the retransmission of at least a part of the transmission signal to the destination node via the communication bus by only the node for which an earliest occurring timeslot has been selected, wherein

when a node, for which a later occurring timeslot has been selected, detects the reception of the retransmission signal, the later timeslot node aborts a retransmission of the signal therefrom.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a timeslot in which the retransmitting step is performed by the node having the radio frequency receiving configuration.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the timeslot is randomly selected.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least part of the transmission signal indicating the destination node includes an identification of the destination node.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the identification of the destination node is an address.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the retransmitting step is performed by a wired communication bus.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting step is performed by a wireless radio frequency remote control.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of transmitting a response signal from the destination node, the response signal including one of an acknowledgement, a request, a measured value or combinations thereof, and routing the response signal corresponding to a routing of the transmission signal.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission signal is selected from the group consisting of a control signal, a request signal, an interrogation signal and combinations thereof.

10. A system for a transmission of signals, the system comprising:

a destination node associated with a device, the destination node linked to at least two nodes via a communication bus, the two nodes being configured to receive a signal from among the signals, which is transmitted from a controller using a radio frequency;

means for detecting at least a part of the signal indicating the destination node;

means for selecting a timeslot for each of the at least two nodes for performing a retransmission of at least a part of the signal by each of the at least two nodes; and

means for retransmitting at least the part of the signal to the destination node via the communication bus, wherein

the means for detecting, the means for selecting the timeslot and the means for retransmitting are associated with each of the at least two nodes,

the retransmission is performed only by the node for which an earliest occurring timeslot has been selected, and

when a node, for which a later occurring timeslot has been selected, detects the reception of the retransmission signal, the later timeslot node aborts a retransmission of the signal therefrom.

11. The system according to claim 10, further comprising a plurality of the nodes in the form of controllable units each associated with respective devices, and at least one communication bus, the communication bus defining a subnet in the system and being linked to at least one of the nodes configured to receive the signal and wherein transmission of signals to or from the subnet is performed by means for transmitting a radio frequency.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the nodes includes means for identifying an identification part of the received signal.

13. The system according to claim 10, further comprising means for initiating a re-transmittal of at least portion of a received signal.

14. The system according to claim 10, further comprising remote control means for transmission of the signals to at least one node in the system.

15. The system according to claim 10, wherein the communication bus has a communication channel made operable by a wired connection.

16. The system according to claim 10, further comprising means for establishing and storing a table having identification of destination nodes linked by a communication bus.

17. The system according to claim 10, further comprising a power supply connected to a plurality of the nodes.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the communication bus includes a communication channel configured to operate by modulation or superimposition.

19. The system according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the nodes on a subnet comprises control means for performing control of operations by the device and in relation to other nodes in the system to prioritize the operations, the control means including means for keeping account of available resources, means for accepting or denying requests from nodes on the subnet, means for aborting at least one of the operations, means for valuating requests and the operations, or combinations thereof.

20. The system according to claim 10, wherein said at least two nodes for receiving the signal transceivers configured to respond to received signals by transmitting a response signal including an acknowledgement, a request, a measured value or combinations thereof.

21. A system for controlling a device, the system comprising:

a communication bus having a plurality of nodes, at least two of the nodes being controllable nodes;

a controllable device in communication with the controllable nodes;

a controller in communication with at least one of the controllable nodes, the controller configured to transmit an electromagnetic signal to the controllable node, the controllable nodes being configured to detect a destination signal embedded in the electromagnetic signal and to select a timeslot for each of the nodes for retransmitting at least a portion of the received signal; and

a plurality of destination nodes in communication with the communication bus, the destination signal designating a specific destination node associated with the controllable device from among the plurality of destination nodes, the specific destination node configured for transmitting a response signal in response to at least a portion of the destination signal and for sending at least another part of the destination signal to the controllable device, wherein

the system is configured such that the retransmittal is performed only by the controllable node, for which an earliest occurring timeslot has been selected, and wherein a controllable node of said at least two controllable nodes, for which a later occurring timeslot has been selected, will abort a retransmittal therefrom in case the later timeslot node detects the reception of said at least a portion of the received signal.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the controllable device and the controller are wirelessly linked to nodes.

23. The system according to claim 21, wherein the controllable device and the controller are hard-wired to the nodes.

24. The system according to claim 21, further comprising a plurality of controllable devices, wherein the destination signal designates a specific controllable device for control.

25. The system according to claim 21, wherein the electromagnetic signal, the destination signal and the response signal are transmitted during predefined timeslots to avoid interference.

26. The system according to claim 21, wherein the specific destination node is identified by a priority value, an address, a radio frequency, a response value, or combinations thereof.

27. The system according to claim 21, wherein the controllable device and the specific destination node transmits the response signal in a random timeslot.

28. The system according to claim 21, wherein the at least another part of the destination signal is a control signal to control the controllable device.