KR20100025785A - Self-configuration method for plc-based home network - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A self-configuration method for a PLC-based home network is provided to enable a pre-participated node to generate an address in order to supply an address through an address response packet. CONSTITUTION: An address request packet for which a first node requests an address is broadcasted to a home network to be participated. The highest priority second node among the nodes that receive the broadcasted address request packet creates a unique address. The second node creates an address assignment packet including the created unique address. The second node transmits the created address allocation packet to the first node.

Description

Automatic Address Allocation Method for Powerline Communication-based Home Networks {self-configuration method for PLC-based home network}

The present invention relates to an automatic address allocation method for a home network based on power line communication.

In general, power line communication transmits a communication signal such as digital information having a frequency band of several hundred kHz to several tens of MHz on a power waveform for supplying power to a power line or a distribution line for power transmission. As a communication method, it means a technology that separates and transmits the communication signal thus transmitted using a high frequency filter.

The power line communication is a convenient and economical technology that can use an external network or networking, such as Internet access through the power line already installed without a separate communication line. In particular, due to the development of computer and communication technology, home network technology, which connects various home appliances by wire or wirelessly and transmits and receives control information or data, is rapidly developing in the home. However, domestic and foreign companies are focusing on the development of home automation technology mainly using low-speed communication technology due to insufficient development of high-speed communication technology in the home.

Home network applications using low speed home network technology mainly focus on remote ON / OFF control of home appliances, temperature / humidity control, remote meter reading of power / water / gas, security and security services. . As a lower transmission technology for supporting such low speed home network applications, power line communication (PLC) utilizing power lines already installed in the home is at the center. For example, recently constructed high-end apartments offer home automation features that make life easier through power line communication using foreign-developed low-speed power line modem chips.

Powerline modems developed for powerline communications have the ability to send and receive lower layer frames, but developing application technologies for home automation using these modem chips requires network addresses that can identify specific consumer devices. In the case of a PC connected to a local area network (LAN), a LAN card may exist to provide a transmission / reception function of a lower layer frame. However, in order to provide an Internet-based application service, an Internet address (IP: Internet Protocol) is the same as specifying it.

However, in general, the network address used by home appliances connected to the home network is often set manually by a professional network engineer. Thus, if a network failure occurs, it is difficult to reset the network address without the help of a network expert. Therefore, the network environment for the intelligent home requires a mechanism for automatically assigning addresses to home appliances rather than manual network address setting by such experts.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, when a newly participating node broadcasts an address request packet on the network, the existing participating node that receives it generates an address and provides it through an address response packet. The present invention provides an automatic address allocation method for a powerline communication-based home network.

The present invention provides a home network based on power line communication that can be utilized for automatic relaying by allowing a newly participating node to first generate and provide an address to a previously participating node that receives an address request packet with the strongest signal strength. It is to provide an automatic address allocation method.

The present invention provides a home network based on power line communication, which can reduce the load of a network by generating a unique address that does not require a separate address duplication check through a separate equation. It is to provide an automatic address allocation method.

In addition, the present invention, when a newly participating node broadcasts an address request packet on a home network, the existing participating node that receives it generates a unique address and provides it through an address response packet, thereby further improving network scalability. The present invention provides an automatic address allocation method for a powerline communication based home network.

To this end, the automatic address allocation method for a home network according to an aspect of the present invention comprises the steps of: broadcasting, by a first node, an address request packet for requesting an address to a home network which intends to participate, receiving the broadcasted address request packet. A second node having the highest priority among the one nodes generates a unique address and generates an address allocation packet including the same; and transmitting the generated address allocation packet to the first node by the second node. It may include.

In the generating of the address assignment packet, the second node having the smallest tree depth and the address size among the nodes receiving the address request packet waits for a preset waiting time, and then receives a unique address. And generating an address assignment packet including the unique address generated and generated. The wait time may be a preset time corresponding to the tree depth to which the second node itself belongs and the size of the address.

The generating of the address allocation packet may include generating a unique address after waiting for a preset waiting time of the second node having the largest received signal strength among the nodes receiving the broadcasted address request packet. Generating an address assignment packet including a unique address. The wait time may be a preset time corresponding to the received signal strength of the address request packet of the second node.

The unique address C _ID is generated by C _ID = P _ID + 4 ^d * n, where P _ID is the address of the second node, d is the tree depth and n is the number of times it participates in address allocation. can do.

In addition, in the automatic address allocation method for a home network according to the present invention, when the first node receives the address allocation packet, the response packet is generated by generating a response packet in response to the received address allocation packet. The method may further include transmitting to the second node.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic address allocation method for a home network, the method comprising: receiving an address request packet for requesting an address from a new node that wants to participate in a home network; After waiting for a time, generating a unique address for the new node and generating an address allocation packet including the same; and transmitting the generated address allocation packet to the new node broadcasting the address request packet. .

In this case, the step of generating the address allocation packet waits for a predetermined waiting time corresponding to the tree depth and the size of the address to which the address belongs, and then generates an address address packet including the unique address for the new node. It may comprise the step of generating.

The generating of the address allocation packet may include generating an unique address for the new node and waiting for a preset waiting time corresponding to the received signal strength of the address request packet. It may comprise the step of generating.

The unique address C _ID is generated by C _ID = P _ID + 4 ^d * n, where P _ID is its address, d is the tree depth, and n may mean the number of times it participates in address allocation.

In addition, the automatic address allocation method for a home network according to the present invention includes increasing the number of times of participating in address allocation by receiving a response packet in response to the address allocation packet from the new node receiving the address allocation packet. It may further include.

In addition, the automatic address allocation method for a home network according to another aspect of the present invention comprises the steps of: broadcasting an address request packet for requesting an address to a home network which intends to participate, nodes receiving the broadcasted address request packet; Receiving an address allocation packet including a unique address from a participating node having the highest priority among the nodes, and allocating a unique address included in the received address allocation packet as its own address.

In this case, the receiving of the address allocation packet may include receiving an address allocation packet including a unique address from the participating node having the smallest tree depth and address size among the nodes receiving the address request packet. It may include.

The receiving of the address allocation packet may include receiving an address allocation packet including an unique address from the participating node having the largest received signal strength for the address request packet among the nodes that have received the address request packet. It may include.

The unique address C _ID is generated by C _ID = P _ID + 4 ^d * n, where P _ID is an address of a participating node, d is a tree depth, and n may mean a number of times participating in address allocation. .

Hereinafter, an automatic address allocation method for a power line communication-based home network according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

The present invention proposes a new automatic address allocation scheme for home networks. That is, according to the present invention, when a newly participating node broadcasts an address request packet on a network, the previously participating node may generate an address and provide it through an address response packet. In particular, the present invention can provide this by generating a unique address that does not require a separate address duplication check by any one node among the nodes participating in a separate equation.

In this case, the existing power line communication-based network configuration and address assignment are simply configured based on the received signal strength, which is a problem in a place where the received signal does not reach or in a poor communication environment. Accordingly, the present invention determines priorities based on received signal strength in generating and assigning addresses in a hierarchical structure of a network, and accordingly, unique addresses in a network through the number of times the ID of the communication node participates in tree depth and address allocation. It can have differentiation, such as to constitute.

In order to implement the present invention, there is a need for an automatic address assignment technique for a powerline-based home network in various items such as the number of nodes, network topology, provided services, node mobility, operating cycles of home appliances, and overhead for home appliances. The matter was derived.

First, considering the number of nodes, considering the number of home appliances connected to a powerline-based home network environment, it is appropriate to use a short address of 16 bits in the network layer. This is because up to 65536 nodes can be assigned addresses with only 16 bits of address. 2) And automatic address allocation technology for powerline based home networks should be able to support bus or tree topology based communication. This is because most topologies of power lines already installed in homes have a bus or tree structure. 3) The automatic address allocation technology to be developed in terms of provided services should be able to provide home automation service using power line communication. 4) In home network environment, small home appliances can move frequently, so automatic address allocation technology should be developed considering this. Also, on / off of home appliances frequently occurs. It should be reflected as a requirement. 5) And small home appliances connected to the home network should not have a large overhead for communication functions compared to those functions. Thus, the newly developed automatic address allocation technology should be implemented as a simple function without providing an overhead to the inherent functions of small home appliances.

1 is an exemplary view showing the configuration of a network by an automatic address assignment method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 1, the network according to the present invention can be formed in a hierarchical tree structure in which one node can have only up to four children, all nodes participating in the network for the address request packet of the new node Although it can respond, only up to 4 responses can be responded, so that the burden of node due to address allocation can be maintained evenly. In this way, a node can have up to four children, which is increased by 2 bits in proportion to the parent node's tree depth, so that the lower bits of the 16-bit address of the parent and child are the same, which is used for the automatic relay function later. This is to make it easy for all nodes to find the branch of the hierarchy tree to which only the low address bits are also forwarded.

In addition, a new node that receives a unique address from the parent node that does not need 16-bit redundancy check can know its tree depth from the address of the parent node in the packet's address field and its address in the packet's information field. . This tree depth may be used by the new node itself to assign an address for the new new node.

At this time, the node is a communication device for configuring a home network, for example, a mobile phone, a notebook, and may include a concept encompassing home appliances such as refrigerators, audio, TV, and the like.

2 is an exemplary view showing an automatic address allocation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the new node participating in the home network generates an address request packet and broadcasts it on the network (S210), and one of the highest priorities among the participating nodes that have received it is preset. After waiting for a waiting time, a unique address for a new node may be generated (S220), and this may be transmitted to a corresponding new node in an address allocation packet (S230). The address for such a new node may be obtained through Equation 1 below. You can get it.

[Equation 1]

C _ID = P _ID + 4 ^d * n

Here, the node providing the address becomes a parent node on the address allocation tree, the new participating node receiving the address becomes a child node, and the address (C _ID ) of the child node is the address (P _ID ) of the parent node providing the address. ), The tree depth (d), and the number (n) of participating in the address allocation.

In this case, the node having the highest priority may mean a node having the smallest tree depth and an address size or a node having the highest received signal strength.

Subsequently, when the new node receives the address allocation packet, the new node may assign a unique address included in the address allocation packet as its own address and broadcast a response packet to inform that the address allocation is completed on the network in response thereto. (S240).

As described above, according to the present invention, when a newly participating node broadcasts an address request packet on a network, an existing participating node that receives the generated address generates an address and provides it through an address response packet, thereby efficiently assigning an address. . In addition, the present invention may reduce the load of the network by generating a unique address that does not need a separate address duplication check through a separate equation of any one of the nodes participating in the present invention.

In this case, the present invention can use a simple priority mechanism based on the tree depth to resolve the competition between the parents to provide an address to the new node as the number of nodes participating in the powerline-based home network increases. It demonstrates with reference to 3.

3 is an exemplary diagram for describing a priority mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, when a new new node requests address allocation, participating nodes may wait for the time of their tree depth (d) * waiting unit time to transmit an address allocation packet for the new node. . This can be based on the priority of different nodes according to the tree depth, so that participating nodes with a small depth value can first assign an address to a new node.

If the broadcast packet is received from the new node before the end of the waiting time according to the tree depth, the address allocation process is canceled because the new node has already been assigned an address by the participating node with higher priority. . If not, the high-priority participating nodes have already assigned an address to their children, so the nodes corresponding to the tree depth to which they belong have the highest priority.

At this time, since one or more participating nodes may exist at the same tree depth, only one node may wait for a preset time of mini time slot corresponding to its address in the contention window to allow only one node to participate in address allocation. You can do that. In this process as well, when the broadcast packet is received from the new node that the address allocation is completed, the address allocation process is completed. Otherwise, the node can assign the address to the new node by forwarding the address allocation packet to the lower layer.

4 is an exemplary view showing a formula-based automatic address allocation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, when a participating node or a parent node providing an address receives a confirmation response from a new node or a child node that has received the address and has confirmed its address, the counter maintains the number of times the address has been provided to the child node. You can increase (n) by one. Using this, a parent node with a cumulative counter (n) of 4 can no longer participate in address assignment to child nodes.

For example, if there is a new node to participate in the network, since node 1 has four child nodes, the new node 14 can participate as a child node of node 2.

As described above, the present invention provides a tree depth and a node ID at a time when a packet is sent from a network layer to a lower layer to solve a collision problem that occurs when a plurality of address allocation packets arrive at a new node or attempt to transmit address allocation packets simultaneously. By determining using, only one parent node can provide an address to a new node without a separate MAC function in the lower layer.

As such, when the newly participating node broadcasts an address request packet on the home network, the existing participating node that receives it generates a unique address and provides it through an address allocation packet, thereby providing more scalability of the network. It can also be improved.

Meanwhile, the simple priority mechanism using the tree depth and the node ID according to the present invention provides a node and an address providing an address, although it is possible to sequentially assign a unique address to a new node that does not need duplicate checking as described above. It can be seen that the receiving nodes do not form a special relationship on the network. In order to solve this problem, the present invention is based on an equation-based address allocation scheme, but by additionally applying a priority mechanism based on signal strength, which can be a useful parameter in a powerline communication-based home network. The hierarchical tree structure resulting from the assignment can also be used for purposes such as automatic relaying.

In this case, automatic relay is a power line communication-based home network, when sudden communication is impossible due to the noise of the power line located between the transmitting node and the receiving node, it is possible to forward the packet using the relay of other nodes physically located between the two nodes. Can mean technology.

The proposed signal strength-based automatic address allocation mechanism allows the existing participating nodes that receive the address request packet of the new node to generate different time when the response packet is generated according to the received signal strength. You can prevent it.

This is because a node receiving an address request packet with a strong signal exists at a location physically close to a new node, and a node receiving a weak signal strength may be regarded as being located at a physical distance. to be.

Therefore, when the received signal sensitivity of the address request packet is excellent, the response packet, that is, the address allocation packet, is transmitted after a short waiting time. If the packet transmission by another node has already occurred during the waiting time or if a broadcast packet is received from the new node that the address allocation has been successfully performed, the address allocation algorithm may be terminated.

5 is an exemplary view illustrating an automatic address allocation method according to signal strength according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, it can be shown that the parent node 10 and the child node 26 can exchange packets with the strongest signal strength on the current network. This hierarchical tree has an advantage that it can be used for automatic relaying when direct communication from the transmitting node to the receiving node becomes impossible due to noise generation in the power line communication network.

6 is an exemplary view for explaining an automatic relay using a tree according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, when node 5 is unable to communicate directly with node 6, node 5 requests relay of packets to node 1, which can communicate with its strongest signal, and receives it. Node 1 is not a child node because node 6 has a lower bit of address than node 6. So node 1 can forward the packet back to node 0, the parent node. Therefore, node 0 can forward the packet to node 2 where the address of the receiving node matches the lower two bits, and node 2 can forward the packet to node 6, which can send and receive packets with its strongest signal. It can be seen.

As described above, the present invention allows an existing node to receive an address request packet with the strongest signal strength to generate an address preferentially and to provide an address, thereby providing a signal strength-based address allocation tree structure to an automatic relay. You can make the activity possible.

As described above, in the automatic address allocation method according to the present invention, the node received with the strongest signal strength among the existing nodes that received the address request packet of the new node in order to allocate a short address (16 bits) that does not need address duplication check is the most. It can be considered a very efficient mechanism because it assigns addresses with high priority and creates addresses that do not require duplicate checking with simple formulas.

In addition, the parent-child relationship (tree structure) created by the proposed algorithm in the automatic address allocation process shows the relationship between physically located packets that can send and receive packets with the strongest signal, which can be directly used for automatic relaying. It can have

The functions used in the methods disclosed herein can be embodied as computer readable codes 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.

The automatic address assignment method for power line communication based home network according to the present invention can be modified and applied in various forms within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention and is not limited to the above embodiments. In addition, the embodiments and drawings are merely for the purpose of describing the contents of the invention in detail, not intended to limit the scope of the technical idea of the invention, the present invention described above is common knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs As those skilled in the art can have various substitutions, modifications, and changes without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention, it is not limited to the above embodiments and the accompanying drawings, of course, and not only the claims to be described below but also claims Judgment should be made including scope and equivalence.

1 is an exemplary view showing the configuration of a network by an automatic address assignment method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is an exemplary view showing an automatic address allocation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is an exemplary diagram for describing a priority mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an exemplary view showing a formula-based automatic address allocation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is an exemplary view illustrating an automatic address allocation method according to signal strength according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is an exemplary view for explaining an automatic relay using a tree according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (17)

Broadcasting, by the first node, an address request packet for requesting an address to a home network to which the first node intends to participate; Generating, by a second node having the highest priority among the nodes receiving the broadcasted address request packet, a unique address and generating an address allocation packet including the same; And Transmitting, by the second node, the generated address assignment packet to the first node. Automatic address assignment method for a home network comprising a. According to claim 1, Generating the address allocation packet, After the second node having the smallest tree depth and the address size among the nodes receiving the address request packet waits for a preset waiting time, And generating an address assignment packet including the unique address generated by generating a unique address. The method of claim 2, The waiting time is, And a predetermined time corresponding to the tree depth to which the second node belongs and the size of the address. According to claim 1, Generating the address allocation packet, After the second node having the largest received signal strength among the nodes receiving the broadcasted address request packet waits for a preset waiting time, And generating an address assignment packet including the unique address generated by generating a unique address. According to claim 1, The waiting time is, And a preset time corresponding to the received signal strength of the address request packet of the second node. According to claim 1, The unique address C _ID is Generated by C _ID = P _ID + 4 ^d * n, Wherein P _ID is an address of the second node, d is a tree depth, and n is a number of times participating in address assignment. According to claim 1, When the first node receives the address assignment packet, generating a response packet in response to the received address assignment packet and transmitting the generated response packet to the second node. Automatic address assignment method for a home network further comprising. Receiving an address request packet for requesting an address from a new node intending to join a home network; Generating an address allocation packet including a unique address for the new node after waiting for a preset waiting time according to the reception of the address request packet; And Transmitting the generated address assignment packet to a new node broadcasting the address request packet. Automatic address assignment method for a home network comprising a. The method of claim 8, Generating the address allocation packet, After waiting for the corresponding waiting time according to the tree depth to which it belongs and the size of the address, Generating an address for the new node and generating an address allocation packet including the unique address for the new node. The method of claim 8, Generating the address allocation packet, After waiting for a corresponding waiting time according to the received signal strength for the address request packet, Generating an address for the new node and generating an address allocation packet including the unique address for the new node. The method of claim 8, The unique address C _ID is Generated by C _ID = P _ID + 4 ^d * n, Where P _ID is its address, d is the tree depth, and n is the number of times it participates in address assignment. The method of claim 8, If the response packet is received in response to the address allocation packet from the new node that has received the address allocation packet, increasing the number of times of participating in the address allocation by one; Automatic address assignment method for a home network further comprising. Broadcasting an address request packet for requesting an address to a home network to which to participate; Receiving an address allocation packet including a unique address from a participating node having the highest priority among nodes receiving the broadcasted address request packet; And Allocating a unique address included in the received address assignment packet as its own address; Automatic address assignment method for a home network comprising a. The method of claim 13, Receiving the address assignment packet, Receiving an address allocation packet including a unique address from the participating node having the smallest tree depth and address size among the nodes that have received the address request packet; Automatic address assignment method. The method of claim 13, Receiving the address assignment packet, Receiving an address assignment packet including a unique address from the participating node having the largest received signal strength for the address request packet among the nodes that have received the address request packet; Address assignment method. The method of claim 13, The unique address C _ID is Generated by C _ID = P _ID + 4 ^d * n, Wherein P _ID is an address of a participating node, d is a tree depth, and n means a number of times of participation in address allocation. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 16.

Images