WO2008010700A1 - puce d'émetteur/récepteur de données de faible puissance et procédé de fonctionnement d'une telle puce - Google Patents

puce d'émetteur/récepteur de données de faible puissance et procédé de fonctionnement d'une telle puce Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2008010700A1
WO2008010700A1 PCT/NL2006/050186 NL2006050186W WO2008010700A1 WO 2008010700 A1 WO2008010700 A1 WO 2008010700A1 NL 2006050186 W NL2006050186 W NL 2006050186W WO 2008010700 A1 WO2008010700 A1 WO 2008010700A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
data
processing unit
message
transmit
data transceiver
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/NL2006/050186
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Cornelis Adrianus Henricus Maria Van Puijenbroek
Andrea Sabitini
Tjerk Jacob Band
Arjan Van Der Maarl
Original Assignee
Greenpeak Technologies B.V.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
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Publication date
Application filed by Greenpeak Technologies B.V. filed Critical Greenpeak Technologies B.V.
Priority to PCT/NL2006/050186 priority Critical patent/WO2008010700A1/fr
Publication of WO2008010700A1 publication Critical patent/WO2008010700A1/fr

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
    • H04L12/02—Details
    • H04L12/12—Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
    • H04W52/0212—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
    • H04W52/0216—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
    • H04W52/0225—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal
    • H04W52/0245—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal according to signal strength
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W76/00—Connection management
    • H04W76/20—Manipulation of established connections
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/02—Terminal devices
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
    • Y02D30/00—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
    • Y02D30/70—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks in wireless communication networks

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a data transceiver comprising a transmit/receive unit for transmitting or receiving a data message (e.g. using half-duplex operation), a processing unit connected to the transmit/receive unit for processing data messages.
  • a network controller for transmitting data messages enabling energy saving in data transceivers.
  • the present invention relates to a method for operating a transceiver chip in a data communication network.
  • the invention has particular application in wireless infrastructure employing wireless communication devices in which power consumption of the whole infrastructure or power consumption of a battery powered device is an issue.
  • wireless communication devices in which power consumption of the whole infrastructure or power consumption of a battery powered device is an issue.
  • Zigbee, Bluetooth and IEEE802.11 (“WiFi”) are examples of wireless protocols that could be used.
  • Such a transceiver chip is known to be used in a low data rate wireless communication network, e.g. operating according to the Zigbee standard (using the
  • the network may be used as a low power wireless sensor or control network, and e.g. applied in home automation, lighting and security, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems or industrial automation. These kinds of applications require sensor and control nodes in the network which can be battery operated.
  • a low data rate wireless network is typically a distributed sense and control network consisting of a central node, a few relaying nodes and a large number of remote nodes.
  • the network can be arranged in a mesh, tree, star or even peer-to-peer topologies.
  • the remote nodes are usually powered by batteries, by energy recycling or energy scavenging power sources.
  • the remote nodes may communicate directly with a central node or via other relaying or mesh networking nodes. These relaying nodes may be constantly powered by mains, batteries or by energy recycling/scavenging power sources.
  • beaconed wireless network With Zigbee a beaconed wireless network can be configured.
  • the central node collects data and distributes data and commands to remote nodes using beacons.
  • the remote nodes awake from sleep mode just before the beacon transmission from the central node and returns to sleep mode after reception of a beacon frame.
  • a beacon interval may be from a few times per second up to several minutes.
  • An important functionality of the beacon is to (re-)synchronise the timing of the remote nodes to that of the central node. This synchronisation is required to avoid that the remote nodes loose communication with the central node.
  • the time starting with the remote node wake up, up to the instant the remote node returns to sleep is called a receive window. If the remote nodes wake up too late, a beacon may be missed. If the remote nodes wake up too soon, a battery powered device wastes energy.
  • the drift is caused by timing differences between the two units, mostly due to static and dynamic frequency errors in the reference oscillators. So the longer beacon interval the greater the allowance for drift. This means the receive window must be increased and unnecessary energy usage in this period.
  • the remote end nodes are powered by a battery or may even use energy recycling or energy scavenging techniques to sustain operation.
  • energy recycling or energy scavenging techniques For battery- powered nodes in extensive wireless networks the cost of battery maintenance/changing is very significant and the extension of battery life is very important, also by sticking to close constraints the use of mass market (low cost) batteries can be enabled.
  • energy recycling and scavenging techniques the power available particularly over short period is often very limited and it is therefore thus very important that these nodes work as efficiently as possible and stay within close power budgets, particularly energy should not be used on inappropriate or unneeded transactions and that the energy may be preserved for when the energy is needed. Any initiative to reduce energy in the end or relaying nodes can be very rewarding. Summary of the invention
  • the present invention seeks to provide a data transceiver and method of operating such a data transceiver, in which the power consumption is reduced which enables long time operation with a restricted power source, e.g. using only a battery as power source.
  • a data transceiver according to the preamble defined above is provided, in which the processing unit is arranged to interrupt in dependence of at least a received part of the data message the transmit/receive unit to receive a remainder part of the data message.
  • the invention is based on the following recognition.
  • the energy consumption of a remote node of a low power RF network is dominated by 3 definable modes:
  • the energy consumption in mode 1 (standby mode) is easily defined and limited by the semiconductor process and components used to manufacture the system. The possibilities to reduce the standby power are well documented.
  • the energy consumption in mode 2 (transmission mode) is defined by the radiated RF energy during transmission and the length of message needed by the protocol. Furthermore, transmission from each remote node does not occur on every beacon cycle; only on those cycles where request is made to the node that has to be answered or actions performed.
  • the transmission power for a beacon network may be reduced in order to save energy by measuring the strength of the network integrity and adjusting/reducing transmission power to the most energy efficient level that the link signal quality is not compromised. However, the length of transmission cannot be reduced.
  • the energy consumption in mode 3 is the singular most definable area of energy wastage. Receiver power consumption is not directly related to link signal quality and so cannot be adjusted. A receiver is typically designed to a meet a sensitivity specification. However, in contrast to transmission mode which occurs occasionally, receiving mode is evoked on each beacon cycle and a typical receiving period is much longer than a transmission period per cycle. Therefore, the energy consumed in receive mode over a number of beacon cycles may exceed the energy consumed in transmit mode by more than an order of magnitude, in spite of the higher instantaneous power consumption in transmission mode than in receiving mode.
  • the data transceiver processes the received part of data message immediately after reception and as soon as the processor unit detects that the current data message does not comprise any information necessarily to be received, the processor interrupts the transmit/receive unit to receive the remainder part of the data message. This shortens the period the data transceiver is in receiving mode and consequently reduces the dissipated power by the transmit/receive unit.
  • the processing unit is arranged to power down the transmit/receive unit in dependence of at least a received part of the data message.
  • This feature allows to minimize the dissipated power in the transmit/receive mode while the processing unit is still capable to perform some actions while the transmit/receive mode is in power down mode.
  • the reception of a data message may be interrupted when certain conditions are met, and the transmit/receive unit may be powered down instantly.
  • a data message may comprise a header with at least one destination address (in a Zigbee network the device identification, or alternatively the network identification) and a message payload following the header in time.
  • a data message in the form of a beacon frame may comprise a list of addresses.
  • the data transceiver includes an individual address and the processing unit is arranged to interrupt reception upon deduction that the individual address is not in the list of addresses. Using the list of addresses enables to determine whether the message payload comprises further data for the data transceiver. If not, the power dissipation is reduced by interrupting further reception of the data message.
  • the processing unit is arranged to interrupt the transmit/receive unit receiving the remainder part of the data message upon detection that the individual address has been passed by. Usage of these features enables to reduce the receiving period further by interrupting reception before the whole address list has been received. This embodiment may be even improved when the message header comprises two ordered lists, a first positioned list with battery powered nodes, and a subsequent list with mains powered nodes or the like. In this case, it is possible to determine whether the receiving node its address is in the message header at an even earlier time, allowing to interrupt the transmit/receive unit even earlier.
  • the individual address is programmable and during installation it has been set to a value from a range at the beginning of the sequentially ordered list. Usage of this feature enables to prioritize the individual remote nodes. By giving a remote node an individual address which is always at the beginning of the sequentially ordered list, the receiving time could be reduced further.
  • the transceiver is arranged to transmit a parameter to enable a controller to take measures to reduce power consumption of the data transceiver.
  • data messages comprise an error correction part, e.g. in the form of a checksum, in order to allow detection and possible correction of transmission errors.
  • the processing unit is arranged to interrupt reception of a remaining part of the data message including the checksum.
  • the receiving period is shortened.
  • the handling of errors in the data transmission can sometimes be handled at a higher (application) level.
  • the data transceiver could for example compare the received data with previously received data, for example a measured temperature. If the difference between the two temperatures is too high, the transceiver could decide to skip the latest received data and to stay using the previously received data. This embodiment is especially suitable for applications which transmit non-critical data.
  • the data transceiver is further arranged to determine the signal quality of data messages and to interrupt reception of a remaining part of the data message including the checksum in dependence of the signal quality.
  • Signal quality can be a combined metric with estimated (receive) signal level, estimated signal to noise ration, estimated signal to interference ratio, detection error signal and/or other signal quality indicator. If the signal quality of previously received data is above a predefined level, this is an indication that data could be received without errors. In that case, the checksum part superfluous end should not necessarily be received.
  • the data transceiver is arranged to determine the received signal level and/or signal to noise ratio of data messages and processing unit is arranged to obtain the signal quality in dependence of the received signal level and/or signal to noise ratio.
  • the processing unit is arranged to determine the signal quality by verifying the checksum in data messages.
  • a data message could include a network identification.
  • a network identification indicates for which devices the message is intended.
  • the network identification is normally transmitted in the header of a data message and thus enables to interrupt the receiving of a remainder part of a data message. Therefore, in an alternative embodiment, the processing unit is arranged to retrieve the network identification and to interrupt reception of the remaining part in dependence of the network identification.
  • a data message could include a destination address.
  • a destination address indicates for which device the message is intended.
  • the destination address is transmitted in the header of a data message and thus enables to interrupt the receiving of a remainder part of a data message. Therefore, in an alternative embodiment, the processing unit is arranged to retrieve the destination address and to interrupt reception of the remaining part in dependence of the destination address.
  • the present invention relates to a network controller for transmitting data messages to enable energy saving in data transceivers; the network controller comprises:
  • processing unit connected to the transmit/receive unit for processing data messages; in which the processing unit is arranged to determine from a data message from a data transceiver whether the data transceiver has a restricted power supply, to retrieve from the data message an individual address of the data transceiver, generate data messages to be transmitted to the data transceiver, wherein the transmitted data messages include an ordered list of addresses and the order of the addresses enables the data transceivers to save energy by receiving the data message partially.
  • a network controller with said features enables to optimize the power consumption of the remote nodes.
  • the processing unit is further arranged to generate a sequentially ordered list of addresses.
  • the processing unit of a network controller is further arranged to generate a list of addresses which comprises first the addresses of data transceivers with a restricted power supply.
  • the present invention relates to a data transceiver comprising
  • processing unit connected to the transmit/receive unit for processing data messages; wherein the processing unit is arranged to adapt a wake up interval or timing of a wake up interval in dependence of received messages.
  • the processing unit is arranged to determine the timing for a beacon wake up. In another embodiment the processing unit is arranged to determine the timing of the wake up interval in dependence of the actual arrival time of a data message and an estimated arrival time of said data message. In yet another embodiment the processing unit is arranged to determine the wake up interval in dependence of the length of the received message.
  • beacons allow resynchronization of the timing by remote nodes with regard to the central node.
  • the drift differences between the central node and remote node have to be covered in the receive window (time between remote node wake up and remote node returns to sleep). More precisely, the remote node will wake up a certain time before it expects the arrival of the beacon to cover drift.
  • the present invention will apply adaptation of this certain time by means of timer margin tracking to shorten the wake up time and/or receive window while maintaining margin for the dynamic drift.
  • the present invention relates to a method for operating a data transceiver in a data communication network, comprising:
  • the method further comprises the action power down a transmit/receive unit of the transceiver in dependence of at least said received part of the data message.
  • Fig. 1 shows a simplified block diagram of an embodiment of a data transceiver chip according to the present invention
  • Fig. 2 shows a schematic representation of a data message as used by the transceiver chip of Fig. 1;
  • a simplified block diagram of a wireless data transceiver 1 is shown of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • the data transceiver 1 is a low power data device, of which the power supply is provided by an external battery or energy accumulator 2. Furthermore, the data transceiver 1 is connectable to an external antenna 3 for transmitting or receiving RF signals.
  • the data transceiver 1 comprises a transmit/receive unit 11 (Tx/Rx), a processing unit 10 connected to the transmit/receive unit 10 arranged to process base band signals to be transmitted or arranged to process received base band signals.
  • the data transceiver 1 is arranged to operate according to the Zigbee protocol (IEEE 802.15.4) in order to be used in a Personal Area Network (PAN), which is an example of a low power wireless sensor and control network.
  • PAN Personal Area Network
  • the processing unit 10 is operational to provide the data frame (de-)composition in accordance with the Zigbee protocol.
  • the nodes operate in a half duplex manner, i.e.
  • the transmit/receive unit 11 is either in transmitting mode or in receiving mode. Exchange of data between the processing unit 10 and transmit/receive unit 11 is obtained using a first data bus 18, connecting the processing unit 10; transmit/receive unit 11 and a first register unit 12.
  • the first register unit 12 may be implemented in the form of memory cells in semiconductor technology. The size of this first register unit 12 can be adapted to account for the projected use of the first register unit 12, and may e.g. be 20-30 bytes in size.
  • the data transceiver 1 may further comprise an application unit 14 for the execution of an application program associated with the use of data transceiver 1 in the personal area network.
  • the application unit 14 may e.g. comprise a standard type of microprocessor with associated memory comprised in the integrated circuit design of the data transceiver 1.
  • this application unit 14 may be equipped with interface circuitry, e.g. for connecting with an external sensor (not shown) or an external device (not shown).
  • data exchange between the application unit 14 and processing unit 10 is accomplished using a second data bus 17 and a second register unit 13, e.g. in the form of semiconductor technology memory cells.
  • the data transceiver 1 further comprises a power supply unit 15, which is arranged to provide operating power to the various (functional) components of the data transceiver 1, i.e. the transmit/receive unit 11, processing unit 10, application unit 14 (and the first and second register units 12, 13 if arranged as volatile memory). This may be accomplished using a power supply bus 16 as indicated in Fig. 1.
  • the power is usually provided by a battery 2.
  • This battery 2 may be chosen to be able to support the operation of the total transceiver chip, i.e. transmit/receive unit 11 in either transmit or receive mode (due to the half duplex operation), the processing unit 10, and the optional application unit 14. For long time operation on one battery charge, it would be desirable to be able to use batteries with a long life time, e.g. a lithium button cell.
  • One group of embodiments relates to minimizing the power consumption of the transmit/receive unit 11 , more in particular by minimizing the power consumption during the receive mode of the transmit/receive unit 11.
  • one of the largest waste areas in terms of power consumption is that nodes are listening for messages that are intended for other nodes.
  • data traffic can be high. Further, neighbor networks at larger distances can be received at rather low receive levels.
  • the scope of the invention is not limited to battery operated nodes. Power saving is anyway important. Even when all nodes in a network have a mains supply, the enormous number of nodes in a building with the features according to the invention will result in a significant reduction of energy costs. Therefore, the invention is suitable for nodes with any kind of power supply.
  • a full beacon cycle will be based on the following basic steps:
  • the remote node wakes up in time to receive incoming beacon frame from a central node.
  • the remote node receives the beacon frame transmitted from the central node.
  • the remote node interprets the beacon.
  • the remote node switches into transmit mode, if not then proceed to step 8. 5.
  • the remote node transmits data to the central node
  • the remote node awaits the acknowledgement from the central node. If no acknowledgement is received, repeat from step 4. 8.
  • the remote node switches back into sleep mode and a beacon interval timer is started to enable to wake up in time to receive the next beacon.
  • each and every node will wake up on every beacon interval and listen to that beacon for relevant content then either react or wait in standby mode until the next cycle.
  • the remote node may establish that any data message has no relevant content for a specific remote node. At the moment of determination that the data message has no relevant content the end node will shut down until the next beacon frame and the procedure will be repeated. The earlier in reception of a data message the determination is performed, the more energy may be preserved in said beacon cycle.
  • the transceiver chip 1 is arranged to analyze the data received instantaneously. This can e.g. be implemented in the transmit/receive unit 11, or in the power supply unit 15 using e.g. logic circuitry or an embedded software program.
  • Fig. 2 a simplified diagram is shown of a data packet or message 20 as transmitted by a data source in the data network (e.g. a Full Function device (FFD) in a Zigbee network), and which may be intended for a specific node using a transceiver chip 1.
  • the message 20 comprises a data part 23, which comprises the data payload of the message, e.g. instruction codes, commands, actual data, etc. This data part 23 is preceded by a destination address 22, e.g.
  • a MAC-address is a unique individual address of a device in a network.
  • multiple destination addresses 22 may be present.
  • the destination address 22 may be preceded by an identification of the network associated with the destination address (e.g. DstPANId, Destination Personal Area Network Identification in Zigbee protocol terms).
  • a checksum 24 CRC Cyclic Redundancy Checksum
  • Another type of error detection and/or correcting code may be provided.
  • the structure of the actual message 20 used in an actual network e.g.
  • the earlier mentioned Zigbee network may be more complex, but in general, the destination address (es) 22 and network identification 21 are included in a header part of the message 20, and the other items are included in a part of the message 20 following the header part (the checksum 24 usually being the last part of the message 20).
  • the checksum 24 could be calculated over the header part 21, 22 and the data payload part 23 of the data message.
  • the data transceiver 1 may be arranged to interrupt receiving further data and consequently further processing of data which reduces the power consumption.
  • the transmit/receive unit is power down and consequently will not consume any power. The interruption could be performed in reaction to a number of predetermined circumstances:
  • the processing unit of a remote node is arranged to deduce that the individual address of the remote node is not in the list of destination addresses in a data message, e.g. a beacon frame.
  • a data message e.g. a beacon frame.
  • This feature enables to interrupt the reception of the data payload part and the CRC part.
  • the remote node could immediately return back to standby mode until the next beacon frame, without receiving the whole beacon frame.
  • the list of addresses could comprise only one address.
  • the list of addresses in de data message is a sequentially ordered list.
  • the addresses could be alphabetical or numerical or a combination.
  • the addresses could be in increasing or decreasing order.
  • the processing unit is arranged to interrupt reception upon detection that the individual address has been passed by.
  • the processing unit 10 interrupts the transmit/receive unit 11 to receive the remaining addresses, the data part 23 and the CRC part 24 of the data message.
  • a network controller allocates network/MAC addresses to those specific nodes with restricted power supply, e.g. battery powered or energy scavenging nodes or the like.
  • the allocated addresses are preferably in a range that corresponds to the beginning of a sequentially ordered list.
  • a data transceiver is arranged to transmit a data message including a parameter indicating that the network controller take appropriate measures to reduce power consumption in the specific remote node.
  • the parameter could be a flag or bit in a data message to be transmitted by the remote node.
  • the remote node is arranged to program or reassign its individual address. The programming of the individual address of such a remote node is preferably performed during installation of set node in the network and a network controller may then accommodate this as a part of the installation and take appropriate measures, such as the composition of the order of addresses in the address list.
  • Separate destination address lists or fields may be provided in the format of the message 20 for battery powered nodes and otherwise powered nodes, so that a receiving node can determine that its own address is not comprised in the list of battery powered node addresses.
  • the destination addresses are also ordered numerically in each of the fields, such that the receiving node can determine that the list of destination addresses for battery powered nodes has ended by detecting a jump back in the destination addresses.
  • Comparable measures can be taken by detecting the network identification 21 in the message header. When this network identifier 21 differs from the network identification of which a particular node is part, the rest of the message 20 may be ignored, and the transmit/receive unit 11 in receive mode may be powered down for the remainder of the message 20 duration.
  • the processing unit 10 is arranged to interrupt reception immediately after reception of the data part 23 of a message.
  • the CRC part 24 will not be received by the remote node.
  • the checksum part 24 is not being received, the error detection and correction of transmitted data may be handled at a higher level, e.g. in the application being executed in the application unit 14. This could be done for non- critical data, such as temperature in a heating system. Non-critical data could be defined to be data which varies smoothly in time.
  • An application unit could verify the integrity of the non-critical data by comparing the data with previously received data. If the difference between both data is within a predefined range the data is regarded to be valid, if not the data is not used and the remote node will wait for the next data message with data.
  • the data transceiver 1 may be arranged to detect the quality of reception of a message 20.
  • the signal to noise and/or signal to interference ratio of the received signal could be a criterion for determining the signal quality or quality of reception.
  • a predetermined level e.g. related to the received signal strength
  • the receive mode of the transmit/receive unit 11 may thus be powered down at an earlier stage, thus reducing power consumption.
  • the signal quality could be determined over the receive part of a message or extended to the average signal quality over the last n data messages, where n is an integer greater than 1.
  • the signal quality could also be determined by verifying the CRC in subsequent data messages. By evaluating the relative number of erroneous frames, the quality of reception could be measured. When the number of failures is falling within acceptable bounds, the remote node will allow interrupting the reception before the end of the data message by interrupting reception at the end of the data part 23 and consequently skipping the CRC-part 24 of a data message.
  • the network controller may instruct specific sensors nodes to skip up and coming beacons cycles as the information is not needed for a relatively long period with respect to the period of a beacon cycle.
  • the node will only need to receive that minimum beacon rate to ensure synchronisation is retained between the remote node and the central controller.
  • the data transceiver is arranged to receive only every n th data message, wherein n>l, so as to ensure synchronization with the transmitter. A significant reduction of power consumption can be realized with this feature.
  • a network controller is normally powered by a mains supply.
  • a network controller comprises a transmit/receive unit for transmitting or receiving data messages to/from data transceivers and a processing unit connected to the transmit/receive unit for processing data messages.
  • the processing unit is arranged to determine from a data message from a data transceiver whether the data transceiver has a restricted power supply.
  • the processing unit is arranged to retrieve from the data message an individual address of the data transceiver.
  • the network controller generates data messages to be transmitted to data transceivers, wherein the transmitted data messages include an ordered list of addresses and the order of the addresses enables the data transceivers to save energy by receiving the data message partially.
  • the list comprises two ordered lists.
  • the first list comprises only addresses of limited power nodes and the second list the other nodes.
  • the remote node could determine whether the first list has been transmitted.
  • the network controller could also be arranged to submit commands to program the individual address of a remote node. This enables to assign an individual address to a remote node which enables the remote node to reduce power by deducing very efficiently that its individual address is not in the list of addresses.
  • the data transceiver 1 of an end node will wake up to receive beacons transmitted by a central node.
  • the end node will wake up at every beacon interval or at fixed multiple of beacon intervals, while keeping time margin to cover the static and dynamic offset.
  • Beacons allow resynchronization of the timing of remote nodes with regards to the timing of the central node.
  • the drift differences between the timing of the central node and a remote node have to be covered in the receive window.
  • the receive window is the time between the wake up instant and return to sleep instant of a remote node. It should be noted that the receive window could also be defined to be the period in time the transmit/receive unit 11 is active.
  • the end node must wake up a certain time before the arrival of a data message to be able to receive the data message.
  • a transmit/receive unit 11 of data receiver 1 When a transmit/receive unit 11 of data receiver 1 is receiving the preamble of a data packet 20, it will start up its internal synchronization and detect a start-of- frame delimiter to allow detection of the bits of data packet 20. (The preamble and start-of- frame delimiter preceding data packet 20 are not depicted in Figure 2.) Transmit/receive unit 11 forwards the actual time stamp value with regard to the beacon start-of- frame instant to processing unit 10. In a previous wake up period the processing unit 10 had estimated an expected time stamp value with regard to arrival time of the next beacon start-of frame instant.
  • the processing unit 10 After reception the actual time stamp value from the transmit/receive unit 11, the processing unit 10 determines the differences between the expected time stamp value and the actual time stamp value to adapt the timing for the wake up to receive the next beacon and to generate an expected time stamp value for the beacon in the next wake up period. In this way the average time between the instant of wake up of the data transceiver and the instant of the reception of a beacon is reduced. Consequently, the wake up period or receive window of the data transceiver will be shorter.
  • the adaptation of the timing for the next beacon wake up uses a processing algorithm with slow feedback of difference between the actual and expected time stamp value and a bias value that gives sufficient margin to cover the dynamic offset.
  • the processing unit is arranged to determine the wake up interval in dependence of an indicator in a received message indicating the length of the received message.
  • the header of a message comprises a field containing the frame length information.
  • the frame length information specifies the number of octets contained in the payload of the data message.
  • the processing unit knows the number of octets received and can calculate the remaining number of octets not yet received. The remaining number of octets defines the minimum period in which the receiver should not necessarily be able to receive data. In some cases, a data message has to be acknowledged by a receiver.
  • the period to transmit to acknowledge could be added to this minimum period, as a new data message will not be transmitted before the acknowledge is received by the transmitter.
  • a period in which the transmitter should not be able to receive data could be determined. When taking in to account this period, this will ensure that the receiver will not wake up too early or is not started up before the last octet of the corresponding data message or acknowledge is transmitted. In this way the power consumption can be further reduced. The power consumption could be further improved, by taking into account the startup time of the respective units of a wireless data transceiver 1.
  • the startup time of a transmit/receive unit 11 is be 4 ms, whereas the startup time of an processing unit 10 and application unit is 2 ms.
  • the message length indicator By means of the message length indicator, the period up to the next message can be determined.
  • the transmit/receive unit 11 could be switched off for 1 ms and the processing unit 10 and application unit 14 could be switched off for 3 ms. If the estimated time to receive the next data message is for example 3 ms, the transmit/receive unit 11 should not be switched off whereas the processing unit 10 and application unit 14 could be switched off for 1 ms. Therefore, an unit could only be switched off when the expected time up to the transmission of the next data message is longer than the start-up time of the corresponding unit.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
  • Small-Scale Networks (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un émetteur/récepteur de données et un procédé pour transmettre/recevoir des messages de données. L'émetteur/récepteur de données comprend une unité de transmission/réception pour transmettre ou recevoir un message de données et une unité de traitement connectée à l'unité de transmission/réception pour traiter des messages de données. L'unité de traitement est agencée pour interrompre en fonction d'au moins une partie reçue du message de données l'unité de transmission/réception pour recevoir une partie restante du message de données. L'émetteur/récepteur de données et le procédé permettent de réduire la puissance consommée et par conséquent d'augmenter le temps de fonctionnement avec une source de puissance limitée.
PCT/NL2006/050186 2006-07-21 2006-07-21 puce d'émetteur/récepteur de données de faible puissance et procédé de fonctionnement d'une telle puce WO2008010700A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
PCT/NL2006/050186 WO2008010700A1 (fr) 2006-07-21 2006-07-21 puce d'émetteur/récepteur de données de faible puissance et procédé de fonctionnement d'une telle puce

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
PCT/NL2006/050186 WO2008010700A1 (fr) 2006-07-21 2006-07-21 puce d'émetteur/récepteur de données de faible puissance et procédé de fonctionnement d'une telle puce

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2008010700A1 true WO2008010700A1 (fr) 2008-01-24

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PCT/NL2006/050186 WO2008010700A1 (fr) 2006-07-21 2006-07-21 puce d'émetteur/récepteur de données de faible puissance et procédé de fonctionnement d'une telle puce

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WO (1) WO2008010700A1 (fr)

Cited By (1)

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WO2011010181A1 (fr) 2009-07-23 2011-01-27 Nokia Corporation Procédé et appareil permettant d'économiser de l'énergie lorsqu’il fonctionne comme un dispositif bluetooth à faible consommation

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US5381414A (en) * 1993-11-05 1995-01-10 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Method and apparatus for determining if a data packet is addressed to a computer within a network
US5383221A (en) * 1991-03-01 1995-01-17 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Mobile station unit and channel switching method
EP0673175A2 (fr) * 1994-03-15 1995-09-20 Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd. Réduction de la consommation d'énergie dans une station mobile

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US5383221A (en) * 1991-03-01 1995-01-17 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Mobile station unit and channel switching method
US5381414A (en) * 1993-11-05 1995-01-10 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Method and apparatus for determining if a data packet is addressed to a computer within a network
EP0673175A2 (fr) * 1994-03-15 1995-09-20 Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd. Réduction de la consommation d'énergie dans une station mobile

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Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2011010181A1 (fr) 2009-07-23 2011-01-27 Nokia Corporation Procédé et appareil permettant d'économiser de l'énergie lorsqu’il fonctionne comme un dispositif bluetooth à faible consommation
EP2457332A1 (fr) * 2009-07-23 2012-05-30 Nokia Corp. Procédé et appareil permettant d'économiser de l'énergie lorsqu il fonctionne comme un dispositif bluetooth à faible consommation
EP2457332A4 (fr) * 2009-07-23 2015-01-14 Nokia Corp Procédé et appareil permettant d'économiser de l'énergie lorsqu il fonctionne comme un dispositif bluetooth à faible consommation
US9288759B2 (en) 2009-07-23 2016-03-15 Nokia Technologies Oy Method and apparatus for reduced power consumption when operating as a bluetooth low energy device

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