Zigbee IP/6LowPan router

• US 8,724,490 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2010
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): TANG, KIET G
• Application Number:
  US12/909,469
• Publication Number:
  US 20120063334A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 700/295, 709/224, 370/467
• 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 located in the home and 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 wireless communication modules configured to communicate using at least two different wireless communication protocols that facilitate communication among the managed energy consuming devices and the central controller; and

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

wherein the home network router comprises

a memory having a table of IP Address/subnet masks of other devices located in the home and communicatively coupled to the home network router over different WiFi, Ethernet, and Zigbee IP/6LowPan links; and

a routing engine configured to recognize datagrams destined for Zigbee IP/6LowPan devices based on datagram IP prefix; and

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

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least two communication modules comprise 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 home 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.

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

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 home 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 home 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 home network via the router.

7. The system of claim 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.

9. A non-transitory machine readable medium in a home network router having instructions recorded thereon that, when read by a computer, cause the computer to:

create a table of IP Address/subnet masks of other devices located in the home and communicatively coupled to the home network router over different WiFi, Ethernet, and Zigbee IP/6LowPan links;

recognize datagrams, via a routing engine, destined for Zigbee IP/6LowPan devices based on datagram IP prefix;

the home network router communicatively coupled to a central controller and comprising at least two wireless communication modules configured to communicate using at least two different wireless communication protocols that facilitate communication among at least two managed energy consuming devices and the central controller;

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

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

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

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9 wherein the first communication module comprises a wireless transceiver radio that communicates in the 6LowPan/Zigbee IP format and an ipv6 format.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the second communication modules to communicate in a WiFi protocol format with an ipv6 address.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9, further the instructions cause a wireless transceiver of the third communications module to communicate in a WiFi format and ipv6 format, wherein the second communication module comprises a wireless transceiver radio that communicates in an Ethernet format.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions cause the routing engine to transform the messages of 6LowPan/Zigbee IP format to a different protocol address format comprising 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 non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions cause the routing engine to transform the messages in the WiFi format to a second different protocol address format comprising 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 non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions cause the routing engine to transform the Ethernet address to a third different protocol address format comprising 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, the method comprising:

at a home network comprising a plurality of energy consuming devices and a router,

wherein the energy consuming devices are configured to communicate using a plurality of wireless protocols, and

wherein the router is configured to (i) host Ethernet devices communicating using an 802.3 address format, (ii) host WiFi devices communicating using an 802.11 address format, and (iii) host 6LowPan/ZigBee devices communicating using an 802.15.4 address format by transforming IP 802.15.4 address formats to an IPv6 address format;

receiving a data packet of a format comprising 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 comprising an 802.15.4 device, an 802.11 device, an 802.3 device and/or an internet gateway address depending upon which address the data packet is formatted,

wherein the determining comprises at least (i) comparing a table resident in a memory of the router, the table having a list of IP Address/subnet masks of other devices located in the home and communicatively coupled to the router over different WiFi, Ethernet, and Zigbee IP/6LowPan links; and

(ii) recognizing, using a routing engine of the router to recognize datagrams destined for Zigbee IP/6LowPan devices based on datagram IP prefix; and

wherein the plurality of energy consuming devices communicate 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 home 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 attaching 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 attaching an ipv6 header so that the data packet is in form to be sent to at least one device of the home network.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the router is further configured to (iv) wirelessly route FM communication into the home network using an eRadio FM wireless radio receiver.