KR20070084819A - Data link method and apparatus of integrated mac for low rate networks using sub-layer - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for linking data through an integrated MAC(Medium Access Control) between low rate networks using a sub layer are provided to improve a system performance by being adapted to a data communication between wire/wireless communication devices according to a standard regulation. A method for linking data through an integrated MAC between low rate networks using a sub layer includes the steps of: receiving data from a network layer at a conversion sub layer(121) between the network layer(110) and an MAC layer(122) of an upper part of a physical layer(130); forming a CS(Conversion Sub layer) header according to the received data and adding the formed CS header to the received data; transferring the data having the CS header to the MAC layer(122); receiving a packet from the MAC layer(122); and transmitting the data having the packet to the network layer(110) or broadcast-relaying the data having the packet to the MAC layer(122) by analyzing the CS header of the packet.

Description

Data Link Method and Apparatus of Integrated MAC for Low Rate Networks using Sub-layer}

1 is a diagram illustrating a system for inter-layer data linking according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram for explaining an inter-layer data frame structure.

3 is a diagram for explaining a CS header structure of a sub-layer.

4 is an example showing the bit setting of Media Plus.

5 is a diagram illustrating a routing table managed by a network layer.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data transmission flow in a system connecting a low speed heterogeneous network.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

110: network layer (NL)

120: Data Link Layer (DLL)

121: Conversion Sublayer

122: MAC layer

130: PHY layer

The present invention relates to media access control (MAC) control between heterogeneous networks, and more particularly, to a data link method and apparatus for smoothly interfacing between low-speed heterogeneous media according to integrated MAC control using a sublayer. .

In order to control heterogeneous physical media or channels with different transmission speeds in a single hardware, a single software is required to control MAC access. A communication protocol of three or more layers may use a single protocol, and when using heterogeneous protocols, middleware may be introduced.

The representative protocol for accommodating heterogeneous physical media is Japan's 'Echonet'. 'Echonet' houses light lines, low-power radios, TPs, and infrared rays in the lower part, and the lower level communication software follows the individual specifications while providing a common lower level communication interface with the protocol difference absorption processing unit. This can be handled by the Echonet communication processor.

Here, the Echonet communication processor, the common lower communication interface, and the protocol difference absorption processor are collectively referred to as communication middleware. This communication middleware is provided as software, and in the protocol difference absorption processing unit for heterogeneous communication media, 'Node ID', 'MAC address mapping data table', 'Conversion by communication type (broadcast) table', 'Lower-Layer communications software' Process by referring to 'block buffer size'. In the case of communication to the upper layer, the packet transmitted from each communication interface goes through the 'Common Lower-Layer Communication Interface' through the 'Message receipt and assembly' function. In case of communication descending to the lower layer, it is delivered to the lower individual interface through 'Common Lower-Layer Communication Interface' through 'Address conversion', 'Conversion by communication type (optional)', and 'Message splitting and transmission'.

When dealing with two types of low speed power lines and wireless radio frequency (RF) or similar low speed communication media that have been conventionally configured up to now, the MAC of the Explicit Congestion Control Protocol (XCP) is divided into a multi-band sublayer (MB-sublayer). ) Can be handled. In this case, the XCP specification may be modified to add a field for determining a heterogeneous protocol type and an option for broadcast or multicast. However, there is a problem that further considerations occur for compatibility with high speed communication media. In other words, as it is related to the SoC specification, the method of using a buffer and the frame size between media should be considered. In order to solve this problem, processing and interpretation of the entire frame is required, not merely processing using field values in the sublayer, so a layer having such a solving capability is required. In other words, these sublayers use data on address translation tables, communication media buffer sizes and usage, media broadcast and multicast tables, and the like to perform MAC-to-network address translation, communication buffer control, and downstream communication MAC control. There is a difficulty to perform.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a link method and an apparatus for smoothly performing data communication between media using a sublayer for integrated MAC control between low speed heterogeneous media. There is.

The data link method according to the present invention for achieving the above object of the present invention, in the method for data link between different media between the network layer and the physical layer, between the MAC layer and the network layer above the physical layer Receiving data from the network layer at a transformation sublayer of the; Creating and attaching a CS header to the received data according to the received data; Forwarding the data with the CS header to the MAC layer; Receiving a packet from the MAC layer; And analyzing the CS header of the packet to deliver data included in the packet to the network layer or broadcast relay to the MAC layer.

The data link apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object of the present invention, in the device for the data link between different media between the network layer and the physical layer, MAC supporting the upper layer of the physical layer hierarchy; And a translation sublayer supporting an interface with the MAC layer and an interface with the network layer between the MAC layer and the network layer, wherein the translation sublayer attaches a CS header to data transmitted from the network layer. Deliver to the MAC layer, and analyzes the CS header of the packet transmitted from the MAC layer to deliver the data contained in the packet to the network layer.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and the contents described in the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited or limited to the embodiments. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.

1 is a diagram illustrating a system 100 for inter-layer data linking according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the system 100 includes three media, that is, a network layer (NL) 110, a data link layer (DLL) 120, and a physical layer: PHYL) 130.

The DLL 120 includes a conversion sublayer 121 and a MAC layer (MACL) 126, and the conversion sublayer 121 is a conversion sublayer data entity (CSDE). Data entity) 122 and a Conversion Sublayer Management Entity (CSME) 123. In addition, the system 100 includes a CSDE-SAP 124 connecting the NL 110 and the CSDE 122, a CSME-SAP 125 connecting the NL 110 and the CSME 123, And a MCPS-SAP 127 connecting the MACL 126 and the CSDE 122 and an MLME-SAP 128 connecting the MACL 126 and the CSME 123. Here, SAP represents a Service Access Point that operates data transmission and reception according to a corresponding protocol between both layers.

The translation sublayer 121 may be used in a modem that supports a plurality of media interfaces from the DLL 120 to the sublayer above the MACL 126.

The CSDE 122 attaches a CS header to an NPDU (Network Protocol Data Unit) transmitted from the NL 110 through the CSDE-SAP 124 to the MACL 126 through the MCPS-SAP 127. To pass. In addition, the CSDE 122 transmits the CS header of the packet transmitted from the MACL 126 through the MCPS-SAP 127 to the CSME 123 so that the CSDE 123 may be analyzed. Send to the NL 110 via the SAP 124 or broadcast to the MACL 126 via the MCPS-SAP 127 to respond, confirm, request, and notify. Perform a broadcast relay.

The CSME 123 receives network information transmitted from the NL 110 through the CSME-SAP 125, creates a CS header, and delivers the CS header to the CSDE 122. In addition, the CSME 123 analyzes the information received through the MLME-SAP 128 and the information of the NPDU extracted according to the CS header received from the CSDE 122, and the CSME-SAP 125 analyzes the result of the analysis. Or to the MLME-SAP 128.

The transformation sublayer 121 may perform three functions as follows.

1) The address matching function between the MACL 126 and the NL 110 is performed. The translation sublayer 121 uses a media indicator to match the logical address of the node used in the NL 110 with the MAC address used in the MACL 126. It is responsible for the connection between the MACL 126 and the NL 110. The indicator for each medium is described in detail in the description of FIG. 3.

2) Perform transparent MAC switching for end-to-end communication. That is, the translation sublayer 121 supports MAC switching to guarantee end-to-end communication of heterogeneous nodes in a network composed of multiple media. To ensure end-to-end communication, a source node attempts to transmit using a network layer routing table regardless of a lower communication interface of a destination node. In this case, when data transmission between two media is required, the conversion sublayer 121 cancels the media difference between the transmitting and receiving nodes through MAC switching. This transparency is possible by adding media information to the routing table managed by the NL 110. The routing table managed by the network layer is described in detail in the description of FIG. 5.

3) Manage the interface for multi-interface transmission. When the receiving node required by the higher application is a plurality of nodes spanning multiple media, the translation sublayer 121 supports transmission to the MACL 126 according to each communication interface. Transmission information for multiple interfaces is delivered via primitives and included in the CS header. The transformation sublayer 121 may transmit corresponding transmission information to the MACL 126 according to a round-robin scheme.

Hereinafter, the CSME 123 operating the transformation sublayer 121 will be described in more detail.

The CSME 123 is responsible for operating the MAC interface. Create a CS header according to the data transmission media type (media type) delivered through the CSME-SAP 125, deliver the CS header to the CSDE 122, and delivers the relevant information to the MLME-SAP 128 Relay the data to be transmitted.

The data frame structure between the layers of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. The transformation sublayer 121 is located between the NL 110 and the MACL 126 to receive a Network Protocol Data Unit (NPDU) delivered from the NL 110. This NPDU becomes a Conversion Sublayer Protocol Data Unit (CSDU) in the DLL 120 and is appended with a CS header. This in turn becomes a MAC Protocol Data Unit (MPDU) in the MACL 126, followed by a MAC header. This in turn becomes a Physical Layer Data Unit (PSDU) or a DPDU in PHYL 130, with PHY overhead.

The structure of the CS header is shown in FIG. The CS header is composed of a media indicator (MI), a source media indicator (SMI), and a conversion type (CT).

The MI is 4-bit data and defines a Tx (transmitter) interface. For example, when the MI is '0001', data is transmitted to a corresponding MAC for PLC (Power Line Communication) communication. When the MI is '0011', data is transmitted to a corresponding MAC for RF (Radio Frequency) communication. When the MI is '0100', data is transmitted to the corresponding MAC for communication according to the 802.15.4 standard. In addition, when the MI is '1111', it is defined to broadcast to all included media interfaces. Of the MI data, '0101' and '1000' may be reserved for an additional interface.

The SMI is lower 4-bit data and defines an interface of a source node that attempts to transmit. For example, a PLC communication interface is supported when the SMI is '0001'. When the SMI is '0011', an RF communication interface is supported. When the SMI is '0100', a communication interface based on the 802.15.4 standard is supported. In addition, when the SMI is '1100', the SMI is used to broadcast all media, and is defined to support multiple interfaces on a silicon-on-chip (SoC) such as a PLC and an RF. In this case, when the SoC is not defined, the SoC may be operated as a default SMI such that PLCs, RFs, and wireless personal area networks (WPANs) are designated among the interfaces of the nodes.

The CT is 8 bits (1 byte) of data and defines a transmission scheme for a lower medium. For example, when the CT is '0000 0000', unicast, '0000 0010' is when the MI is multicast in the same medium, and when '0000 0011' is when the MI is in the same medium. Broadcast is defined, broadcast from MI media to ab cdef media when '00ab cdef', and broadcast to full media when '1111 1111'.

Meanwhile, the CSME 123 communicates with the NL 110 in various primitives, namely, 'media type', 'BroadcastEnable', 'CSDUlength', 'CSDU', 'MulticastEnable', 'BCnum', 'myMedia', etc. Can be operated.

Here, the 'media type' indicates the media type of the next node, where the MI of FIG. 3 is referred to as the media type of the next node. When broadcasting to multiple media, it includes all target media.

The 'Broadcast Enable' informs the broadcast or not, and if this value is '1', the broadcast transmission is performed to the corresponding medium. In this case, the CT of FIG. 3 may be '0000 0011'.

The 'MulticastEnable' indicates whether or not the multicast is. If this value is '1', the multicast transmission is performed to the corresponding medium. In this case, the CT of FIG. 3 may be '0000 0110'.

The 'BCnum' informs the number of media to be broadcast. If this value is '1', broadcasting to one medium is performed. In this case, the CT of FIG. 3 may be '0000 0011'. In addition, when this value is greater than or equal to '2', broadcast is sequentially performed to the corresponding medium according to the round robin method. In this case, CT may be defined as '1 *** ****' as shown in FIG. In addition, the CSME 123 sets its SMI value to the 'myMedia' primitive and transmits it.

Here, the bit setting of the CT defined as '1 *******', as shown in FIG. 4, indicates a media plus when the reserved two bits begin with '1 *'. In this case, the next higher 2 bits may indicate the number of media participating in the transmission, and the lower 4 bits may indicate the type of media (Media1 / Media2).

For example, when the upper two bits after '1 *' of the CT are '01', data is transmitted to one other medium besides the default medium. That is, data is transmitted to the medium of the MI indicated by the SMI and the lower 4 bits. In addition, when the corresponding two bits are '10', data is transmitted to two other mediums other than the default medium. That is, at this time, data is transmitted to SMI and two MI media indicated by the lower 4 bits as shown in FIG. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4, the conversion sublayer 121 allows media plus transmission to a total of three media, and if it exceeds this, the media sublayer 121 is an all media broadcast. .

On the other hand, the CSME 123 operates not only the MAC interface by operating various primitive packets, but also analyzes the CS header transmitted from the CSDE 122 through the MCPS-SAP 127 to the destination node. Operate broadcasting of. If the CT (Conversion Type) of the CS header is Media Broadcast ('0011-'), Media Plus ('1xxx-'), or All Media Broadcast ('1111-'), the CSME 123 is a primitive. Set 'BoadcastEnable' to '1' to transmit this value and NPDU to the NL 110 through the CSME-SAP 125.

For example, in the case of media broadcast ('0011-'), the NPDU may be transmitted to the SAP of the MAC, and the received MI values may be used as the MI and SMI of the CS header. In the case of media plus ('1xxx-'), the calculation method of FIG. 4 is used, and NPDU is transmitted to the SAP of the MAC. In this case, each media type may be MI and SMI of the CS header. In the case of the entire media broadcast ('1111-'), it is transmitted to the SAP of the MAC for all the media, and each media type can be the MI and the SMI of the CS header.

In addition, the CSME 123 receiving the data from the MACL 126 analyzes the SMI of the CS header and accordingly transmits a predetermined primitive through the CSME-SAP 125, thereby as shown in FIG. 5 in the NL 110. Allows media type values in routing tables to be stored.

Media information is recorded in the routing table as shown in FIG. 5 and managed by the NL 110. For example, various media types such as PLC and RF may be defined according to the distance between the destination node and the next node.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data transmission flow in a system 600 for connecting a low speed heterogeneous network. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the NL 621, the DLL 622, and the PHYL 623 are similar to the first system 610 composed of the NL 611, the DLL 612, and the PHYL 613. When the configured second system 620 communicates with a heterogeneous medium 630 such as a PLC communication method, smooth communication between heterogeneous media is possible by using corresponding primitives according to the operation of the conversion sublayer 121 described above. Do. That is, in each system, layers communicate using primitives such as 'Request' (req), 'Indication' (ind), 'Response', and 'Confirm' (conf). The 'Request' (req) primitive is used to request the necessary services and to request data or arguments.When the 'Request' (req) primitive is passed to any layer, the inter-layer communication occurs over the necessary link, According to the Request '(req) primitive, the requested layer informs the requesting layer of information or operation about the requested service through the' Indication '(ind) primitive. Subsequently, the requesting layer transfers the result of performing the information or operation transmitted through the 'Indication' (ind) primitive to the requested layer according to the 'Request' (req) primitive using the 'Response' primitive. As such, when a service request is first started through a communication link and a result of performing schedule information or an operation is delivered to a layer that has received a service request, a notification is notified through a 'Confirm' (conf) primitive.

In the communication method using the basic primitive, as shown in FIG. Or, using the 'Confirm' (conf) primitives 'DD_DATA_conf', 'PD_DATA_conf', and the like. In addition, although not shown in FIG. 6, 'Request' (req), 'Indication' (ind), 'Response' and 'Confirm' (conf) primitives required for communication between layers may be further used.

The functions used in the methods and apparatus disclosed herein can be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording devices in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of computer-readable recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, and the like, and may also be implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission over the Internet). do. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

As described above, although the present invention has been described with reference to limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains various modifications and variations from such descriptions. This is possible. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined not only by the claims below but also by the equivalents of the claims.

As described above, in the data link method and apparatus according to the present invention, since data communication between the low-speed heterogeneous networks is smoothly performed according to the integrated MAC control using the sub-layer, RF, 802.15.4, PLC, SoC, and WPAN It is applied to data communication between wired and wireless communication devices according to the standard such as to improve the performance of the system.

Claims (13)

 A method for data link between heterogeneous media between a network layer and a physical layer, Receiving data from the network layer at a translation sublayer between the MAC layer and the network layer above the physical layer; Creating and attaching a CS header to the received data according to the received data; Forwarding the data with the CS header to the MAC layer; Receiving a packet from the MAC layer; And Parsing the CS header of the packet to deliver data contained in the packet to the network layer or broadcast relay to the MAC layer Data link method comprising a. The network layer of claim 1, wherein an address of a node used in the network layer and a MAC address used in the MAC layer are matched by using an indicator for each medium having a transmission medium and destination medium information in the translation sublayer. And linking between the MAC layer and the MAC layer. The method of claim 1, And end-to-end MAC switching of heterogeneous nodes composed of multiple media using a routing table having media information in the translation sublayer. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said routing table is managed at said network layer. The method of claim 3, If the node to be received is a plurality of nodes spanning multiple media, the transformation sublayer uses information for multiple interfaces included in the CS header to the MAC layer according to each communication interface in a round-robin manner. A data link method, characterized in that it supports transmission. The data link method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the CS header includes a 4-bit MI and SMI indicating the medium-specific indicator, and an 8-bit transform type. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the type of transformation indicates a transmission scheme for at least one sub medium among unicast, multicast, broadcast in the same medium, broadcast to multiple media, and broadcast to all media. Data link method. The data link method of claim 6, wherein the lower bit supports media plus according to a predetermined value of the upper two bits of the conversion type, including information about the number of media and the type of media. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one primitive of 'media type', 'BroadcastEnable', 'CSDUlength', 'CSDU', 'MulticastEnable', and 'BCnum', 'myMedia' between the transformation sublayer and the network layer. Data link method characterized in that for communicating using. The method of claim 1, wherein the data link method comprises: A data link method, characterized in that it is used for a link between at least one system among IEEE 802.15.4, PLC, RF, WPAN, and SoC system between low-speed heterogeneous media. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 10. An apparatus for data link between heterogeneous media between a network layer and a physical layer, the apparatus comprising: A MAC layer supporting the MAC above the physical layer; And Translation sublayer supporting an interface with the MAC layer and an interface with the network layer between the MAC layer and the network layer. Including, The transformation sublayer attaches a CS header to data transmitted from the network layer and delivers it to the MAC layer, and analyzes a CS header of a packet transmitted from the MAC layer to deliver data included in the packet to the network layer. Data link device, characterized in that. The method of claim 12, wherein the transformation sublayer, The CS header is prepared according to the information transmitted from the network layer through CSME-SAP, and the data received according to the CS header and the information received from the MAC layer through MLME-SAP are analyzed and the analysis result is analyzed. A translation sublayer operating entity for delivering to the network layer through SAP or to the MAC layer through MLME-SAP; And The CS header is attached to the data received from the network layer through CSDE-SAP and transmitted to the MAC layer through MCPS-SAP, and the CSME of the packet transmitted from the MAC layer through the MCPS-SAP is transmitted to the CSME. A translation sublayer which is transmitted to the network layer through CSDE-SAP or broadcast relayed to the MAC layer through MCPS-SAP. Data object A data link device comprising a.

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