Power line communications system with differentiated data services
First Claim
1. A method of communicating data packets over one or more power lines wherein a first medium voltage (MV) access device is coupled to a medium voltage power line and provides communication services to one or more user devices at one or more customer premises, comprising:
- receiving the data packets from the one or more user devices at the first MV access device;
determining a data type for the data packets with the first MV access device;
tagging the data packets with priority information based on the data type with the first MV access device;
placing each of the data packets in one of a plurality of queues based, at least in part, on the data type of the data packets with the first MV access device;
selecting a data packet for transmission from one of the plurality of data packet queues with the first MV access device;
transmitting, from the first MV access device, the tagged data packets over the MV power line according to said selecting;
receiving the tagged data packets transmitted by the first MV access device at a second device connected to the MV power line; and
transmitting the received tagged data packets from the second device without tagging the data packets with priority information.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A power line communications system that facilitates the provision of differentiated data services is provided. One embodiment of the present invention may include tagging downstream data at an ingress point, such as a point of presence or aggregation point. The tagging of data packets may allow the power line communication network elements such as backhaul points, bypass devices, and repeaters to determine the data type and class of service of each data packet and may allow the network elements to prioritize, queue and transmit the data packets accordingly. Such queuing may employ the use of multiple queues with some queues having different sizes and different weight factors from other queues.
188 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of communicating data packets over one or more power lines wherein a first medium voltage (MV) access device is coupled to a medium voltage power line and provides communication services to one or more user devices at one or more customer premises, comprising:
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receiving the data packets from the one or more user devices at the first MV access device; determining a data type for the data packets with the first MV access device; tagging the data packets with priority information based on the data type with the first MV access device; placing each of the data packets in one of a plurality of queues based, at least in part, on the data type of the data packets with the first MV access device; selecting a data packet for transmission from one of the plurality of data packet queues with the first MV access device; transmitting, from the first MV access device, the tagged data packets over the MV power line according to said selecting; receiving the tagged data packets transmitted by the first MV access device at a second device connected to the MV power line; and transmitting the received tagged data packets from the second device without tagging the data packets with priority information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of providing communications in a power line communications system, comprising:
at a downstream device; determining a data type for upstream data packets; tagging the upstream data packets with first priority information based, at least in part, on the data type; prioritizing transmission of the upstream data packets based, at least in part, on the first priority information of the data packets; and transmitting the upstream data packets according to said prioritizing; and
at an upstream device;determining a data type for downstream data packets; tagging the downstream data packets with second priority information based, at least in part, on the data type; prioritizing transmission of the downstream data packets based, at least in part, on the second priority information of the data packets; and transmitting the downstream data packets according to said prioritizing; and at an intermediate device disposed in a communication path between said downstream device and said upstream device; receiving upstream data packets communicated through the downstream device; prioritizing upstream data packets based, at least in part, on the first priority information of the upstream data packets; and transmitting the received upstream data packets in accordance with said prioritizing of the upstream data packets without tagging the upstream data packets with priority information. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
Specification