Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100027456 | NETWORK MIMO REPORTING, CONTROL SIGNALING AND TRANSMISSION - A coordinated multipoint transmitter is for use with a network MIMO super-cell and includes a coordination unit configured to provide joint link processing to coordinate a multipoint transmission corresponding to a set of transmission points. Additionally, the coordinated multipoint transmitter also includes a transmission unit configured to transmit the multipoint transmission using the set of transmission points. Additionally, a coordinated transmission receiver is for use with a network MIMO super-cell and includes a reception unit configured to receive a multipoint transmission corresponding to a set of transmission points. The coordinated transmission receiver also includes a processing unit configured to process the multipoint transmission from the set of transmission points. | 02-04-2010 |
20100272192 | OFDM-Lite Architecture for HomePlug - A device for communicating digital data over power lines includes a power line interface for transmitting data over at least one band of frequencies. An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation unit generates OFDM symbols using a set of tones for the frequency band. A preamble generation unit generates preamble sequences for the frequency band by using the set of tones used by the OFDM modulation unit. The tones used by the preamble generation unit have a constant magnitude, and a set of phases obtained by quantizing to a small alphabet the phase of a set of tones obtained by taking an IFFT of a portion of a preamble used by a non-interoperable powerline access device. The device may transmit on two or more bands using a sampling frequency clock, wherein a lower band clock frequency is equal to or an integer divisor of a higher band clock frequency. | 10-28-2010 |
20110026621 | OFDM TRANSMISSION METHODS IN THREE PHASE MODES - Systems and methods for power line transmission are disclosed in which transmitters and receivers are connected to one or more phases of the power line. At least one symbol stream to be transmitted on the power line network is generated. The at least one symbol stream is scaled using a weight vector to generate a plurality of scaled symbol streams. The weight vector comprises a plurality of weights, each corresponding to a phase of the power line network. Each of the scaled symbol streams are transmitted on a corresponding phase of the power line network. A zero crossing detector identifies phase information for a receiver. A concentrator adapts signals to be sent to the receiver based upon the phase associated with the receiver. | 02-03-2011 |
20110043340 | Concatenated Repetition Code with Convolutional Code - A system and method for modulating and coding a signal is disclosed. Data from a Media Access Control (MAC) layer is convolutionally encoded. Robust coding of the data from the MAC layer is performed either before or after the convolutional encoding. The coded data is differentially modulating and then Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed to create an OFDM output signal adapted to be transmitted on a power line network. The robust coding may be a repetition | 02-24-2011 |
20110252293 | Concatenated Coding Architecture for G.hnem PHY - Embodiments provide a method for determining the number of parity bytes that are added by a Reed-Solomon encoder. The number of parity bytes are equivalent to the error correcting capability of the Reed-Solomon code. The number of parity bytes is based on the payload length or the information block size used in the Reed-Solomon encoder. Other factors may also be used to make this choice. | 10-13-2011 |
20110255557 | Coexistence of Prime, S-FSK and G3 Devices in Powerline Communications - Communication devices, such as base nodes and modems, that comply with two or more different standards operate on a shared communication channel. To avoid mutual interference, a base node operating under a first standard reserves time using a contention free period designation. The base node allows devices operating under a second standard to communicate during the reserved time by not assigning the contention free period to another device operating under the first standard. Alternatively, a device using the first standard may avoid interference from transmissions generated under the second standard by modifying data packets prior to transmission. A prefix corresponding to a preamble in the second standard is added to the beginning of the data packet created under the first standard. Devices operating under the second standard observe the prefix and recognize that the channel is active. The second-standard devices backoff from transmission thereby minimizing interference. | 10-20-2011 |
20110267177 | Effective Low Voltage to Medium Voltage Transmission on PRIME Band - Coupling and interface circuits for powerline modems are disclosed. A powerline modem may be coupled to a low voltage (LV) line or a medium voltage (MV) line using a circuit that is designed to compensate for signal attenuation and loss that is created by the a LV/MV transformer and/or a MV coupler. In one embodiment, separate coupling transformers may be used by the modem for reception and transmission. In other embodiments, a capacitance is switched on the transmission line before the modem transmits to lower the line impedance. | 11-03-2011 |
20110280261 | Interleaver Design and Header Structure For ITU G.hnem - Embodiments of the invention provide an interleaver design and header fields for ITU-T G.hnem. The header may comprise two parts that are separately encoded. A common header segment is encoded alone, and an embedded header segment is encoded with payload data. The interleaver operates on blocks having a size based upon a total number of input bits in an FEC codeword block, a total number of bits loaded on symbols that span a half mains cycle, or a maximum fragment size of 3072 bits. The blocks may be repeated before interleaving. Each block and its repetitions may be interleaved together, such as for header data, or each block and repetition may be interleaved separately, such as for payload data. Cyclic padding may be used on each block to create an integer number of symbols for transmission. | 11-17-2011 |
20120002714 | Communication on a Pilot Wire - Systems and methods are disclosed for communicating on a pilot wire between Electric Vehicle Service Equipment (EVSE) and an Electric Vehicle (EV). The EVSE and EV exchange a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal on the pilot wire to control charging operations of the EV. Data communications may also be transmitted on the pilot wire, such as between transmit and receive modems. The modems transmit communication signals either continuously, without regard to the state of the PWM signal, or only when the PWM is in an off-state. If transmitting while PWM is on, the modem needs a large coupling impedance and/or a large signal injection. To transmit only when the PWM is off, the modem may use a blocking diode in the coupling circuit or may synchronize to the pulses in the PWM signal. | 01-05-2012 |
20120033722 | Time-Domain Link Adaptation - Embodiments of the invention provide time-domain link adaptation in power line communications. In one embodiment, the cyclic prefix length and position is adjusted with an OFDM symbol to overlap a periodic impulse noise pulse, thereby allowing the data carried in the symbol to be detected at a receiver. The cyclic prefix may be adjusted to provide a pattern that yields an integer number of OFDM symbols in one zero crossing period. The data rate used for the symbols overlapping the zero-crossing period may be zero or very low. A high data rate may be used for symbols outside the zero-crossing period because those symbols will not be affected by the periodic impulse noise. | 02-09-2012 |
20120063497 | Systems And Methods for Implementing Application Profiles and Device Classes in Power Line Communication (PLC) Environments - Systems and methods for application profiles and device classes in power line communications (PLCs) are described. In some embodiments, a PLC device may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may be configured to store program instructions, which may be executable by the processor to cause the PLC device to communicate with a higher-level PLC apparatus over a power line using a frequency band. The frequency band may be selected based upon an application profile and/or a device class associated with the PLC device. In some implementations, the higher-level PLC apparatus may include a PLC gateway or a data concentrator, and the PLC device may include a PLC modem or the like. Examples of application profiles include access communications, in-premises connectivity, AC charging, and/or DC charging. Device classes may represent a minimum communication data rate and/or an operating frequency band restriction of the PLC device. | 03-15-2012 |
20120076211 | Systems and Methods for Facilitating Power Line Communications - Systems and methods for facilitating power line communications are described. In some embodiments, a PLC device may detect the availability of a first frequency band as well the availability of a combination of a second frequency band with a third frequency band. The PLC device may then communicate with another PLC device using a frequency band selected as (a) at least a portion of a combination of the first, second, and third frequency bands, (b) at least a portion of the first frequency band, or (c) at least a portion of the combination of the second with third frequency bands. The PLC device may further transmit a message to a higher-level PLC apparatus (e.g., a domain master) over the power line using a device-based access mode, receive an instruction to switch to a domain-based access mode, and thereafter communicate with another PLC device using the domain-based access mode. | 03-29-2012 |
20120082253 | Pilot Structure for Coherent Modulation - A system and method for communicating in a power line communications (PLC) network using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. Pilot tones are carried by the OFDM symbols according to a predetermined pattern. A receiving device identifies pilot tones on each frequency. A group of previously received pilot tones on a selected frequency are filtered to generate a channel estimate for a tone on the selected frequency in a new symbol. The channel estimates on two different frequencies within an OFDM symbol may be interpolated to determine a channel estimate for a third frequency with the OFDM symbol. | 04-05-2012 |
20120093198 | Building, Transmitting, and Receiving Frame Structures in Power Line Communications - Systems and methods for building, transmitting, and receiving frame structures in power line communications (PLC) are described. Various techniques described herein provide a preamble design using one or more symbols based on a chirp signal that yields a low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). According to some techniques, the preamble may be constructed with one or more different types and/or number of symbols configured to identify a PLC domain operating in close physical proximity to another PLC domain. According to other techniques, one or more preamble symbols may be interspersed within a header portion of a PLC frame to facilitate estimation of a frame boundary and/or sampling frequency offset, for example, in the presence of impulsive noise. According to yet other techniques, a PLC detector may be capable of receiving and decoding two or more types of PLC frames (e.g., using different PLC standards). | 04-19-2012 |
20120099628 | Symbol-Level Repetition Coding in Power Line Communications - Systems and methods for implementing symbol-level repetition coding in power line communications (PLC) are described. In some embodiments, these systems and methods may provide reliable communication in severe channel environments of PLC networks, at least in part, by changing the forward error correction (FEC) used by various devices operating within current PLC systems. For example, a method may include receiving a PLC signal and applying convolutional encoding to the received signal, the convolutional encoding producing an encoded signal. The method may also include performing a subcarrier modulation operation upon the encoded signal, the subcarrier modulation operation producing a modulated signal. The method may further include applying symbol-level repetition coding to the modulated signal, the symbol-level repetition coding producing a repetitious signal. In some cases, one or more distinct repetition patterns may be applied to different symbols or portions thereof. The repetitious signal may then be transmitted over a power line. | 04-26-2012 |
20120134395 | Power Line Communications (PLC) Across Different Voltage Domains Using Multiple Frequency Subbands - Systems and methods for implementing power line communications (PLC) across different voltage domains using multiple frequency subbands are described. From an end node's perspective (e.g., a PLC device), a method may include scanning a plurality of downlink subbands usable by a base node (e.g., a PLC router, etc.) to communicate with one or more PLC devices (e.g., other end nodes) from a medium voltage (MV) to a low voltage (LV) power line, and transmitting association request(s) to the base node that select and/or allow the base node to select one or more downlink subbands for use in subsequent communications. From the base node's perspective, the method may include selecting one or more of a plurality of uplink subbands for use in subsequent communications based on the received association request(s). In various implementations, the selection of downlink and/or uplink subbands may be based on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values and/or congestion indicators. | 05-31-2012 |
20120189042 | Building, Transmitting, and Receiving Robust Protocol Data Units in Power Line Communications - Systems and methods for building, transmitting, and receiving robust protocol data units (PDUs) in power line communications (PLC) are described. In some embodiments, a method may include receiving a PDU, applying bit-level repetition to at least a portion of the PDU to create a repeated portion, block interleaving two or more symbols corresponding to the repeated portion to create a block interleaved portion, inserting pilot tones in the block interleaved portion, and modulating each tone in the block interleaved portion with respect to a nearest one of the inserted pilot tones to create a robust PDU. In some implementations, the robust PDU may include a first header portion carrying information encoded using a first version of a PLC protocol (e.g., a legacy standard) and a second header portion carrying information encoded using a second version of the PLC protocol (e.g., a newer version of the same standard). | 07-26-2012 |
20120201155 | Channel Selection in Power Line Communications - Systems and methods for channel selection in power line communications (PLC) are described. In some embodiments, a method may include defining a plurality of frames, each frame having a plurality of time slots. The method may also include assembling a pair of beacon and bandscan packets within each of time slot of each frame. The method may further include sequentially transmitting each of the frames over a corresponding one of a plurality of different frequency bands. In some implementations, each bandscan packet may include a slot index indicating a position of its time slot within its respective frame and/or a band index indicating one of the plurality of different frequency bands. In response to having transmitted the plurality of frames, the method may include receiving one or more packets indicating a selection of one or more of the plurality of different frequency bands to be used in subsequent communications. | 08-09-2012 |
20120236876 | MAC PROTOCOLS WITH SUBBANDING - Systems and methods for designing, using, and/or implementing media access control (MAC) protocols with subbanding are described. In some embodiments, a method may include receiving a beacon packet during one of a plurality of beacon slots of a superframe, each beacon slot corresponding to one of a plurality of different downlink subbands. The method may also include identifying, based on the received beacon packet, contention access periods following the beacon slots, each of the contention access periods corresponding to one of a plurality of different uplink subbands. The method may further include transmitting an information packet over each of the plurality of uplink subbands during the contention access periods. Then, the method may include receiving, during a guaranteed time slot following the contention access periods, an indication of a selected one of the plurality of uplink subbands to be used in a subsequent communications. | 09-20-2012 |
20120257639 | Communications in Beacon-Enabled Networks - Systems and methods for designing, using, and/or implementing communications in beacon-enabled networks are described. In various implementations, these systems and methods may be applicable to power line communications (PLC). For example, a method may include identifying one of a plurality of orthogonal superframes. The identified superframe may include beacon slots and contention access period (CAP) slots. The beacon slots may follow a sequence of two or more frequency subbands, and the CAP slots may follow the same sequence of two or more frequency subbands. Also, the sequence of two or more frequency subbands may be distinct from other sequences of two or more frequency subbands followed by other beacon slots and CAP slots within others of the plurality of available superframes. The method may then include communicating with another device using the identified superframe. | 10-11-2012 |
20120281716 | Hybrid Communication Networks - Systems and methods for designing, using, and/or implementing hybrid communication networks are described. In various embodiments, these systems and methods may be applicable to power line communications (PLC). For example, one or more of the techniques disclosed herein may include methods to coordinate medium-to-low voltage (MV-LV) and low-to-low voltage (LV-LV) PLC networks when the MV-LV network operates in a frequency subband mode and the LV-LV network operates in wideband mode (i.e., hybrid communications). In some cases, MV routers and LV routers may have different profiles. For instance, MV-LV communications may be performed using MAC superframe structures, and first-level LV to lower-level LV communications may take place using a beacon mode. Lower layer LV nodes may communicate using non-beacon modes. Also, initial scanning procedures may encourage first-to-second -level LV device communications rather than MV-to-first-level LV connections. | 11-08-2012 |
20120314744 | PHY PAYLOAD OVER MULTIPLE TONE MASKS USING SINGLE TONE MASK PHY HEADER INFORMATION - A method of powerline communications (PLC) includes compiling a data frame for physical layer (PHY) by a first communications device at a first communications node on a powerline of a PLC network. The data frame includes a single tone PHY header portion and a data payload portion in a set of tones including at least one tone having a frequency different from a frequency of the single tone. The PHY header portion includes tone mask identification information identifying the set of tones. The first communications device transmits the data frame over the powerline to a second communications device at a second communications node on the powerline. The second communications device receives the data frame, and decodes the data payload using the tone mask identification information in the PHY header portion. | 12-13-2012 |
20120320931 | DYNAMIC SELECTION OF MAC INTERFRAME PARAMETERS IN PLC NETWORKS - A method of powerline communications (PLC) in a PLC network having a plurality of nodes including a first node and a second node. A first node receives a PLC signal from the second node. The first node decodes a media access control (MAC) frame of the PLC signal to determine a frame size of the MAC frame. Based on the frame size, dynamic selection of a Response Inter-Frame Space (RIFS) value from at least two candidate RIFS values and a Contention Inter-frame Space (CIFS) value from at least two candidate CIFS values is provided. | 12-20-2012 |
20120320932 | DATA FRAME FOR PLC HAVING DESTINATION ADDRESS IN THE PHY HEADER - A method of powerline communications including a first node and at least a second node on a PLC channel in a PLC network. The first node sends a physical layer (PHY) data frame on the PLC channel including a preamble, PHY header, a MAC header and a MAC payload. The PHY header includes a destination address field having a destination address therein. The second node receives the data frame. The second node compares its network address to the destination address before decoding the MAC header and MAC payload, providing power savings by allowing the second node to not decode the MAC header or MAC payload if its network address does not match the destination address in the PHY header of the data frame. | 12-20-2012 |
20120320996 | PREAMBLE SEQUENCE EXTENSION - A method of powerline communications between a plurality of nodes on a powerline communications (PLC) channel including a first node and a second node. At least one communication quality measure is determined for the PLC channel. Based on the communication quality measure, a preamble of a data frame is dynamically switched between a reference preamble having a reference symbol length including a reference number of syncP symbols and a reference number of syncM symbols and at least a first extended preamble having an extended symbol length that is greater than (>) the reference symbol length. The data frame is then transmitted on the PLC channel. | 12-20-2012 |
20120324322 | POWERLINE COMMUNICATION FRAMES HAVING CRC WITHIN HEADER - A method of powerline communications including a first node and at least a second node on a powerline communications (PLC) channel in a PLC network. The first node sends a physical layer (PHY) data frame on the PLC channel including a preamble, a PHY header, a MAC header and a MAC payload. The MAC header includes a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) field (MH-CRC field). The second node receives the data frame, parses the MAC header to reach the MH-CRC field, and performs CRC verification using the MH-CRC field to verify the MAC header. If the CRC verification is successful, (i) the second node parses another portion of the MAC header to identify a destination address of the data frame and (ii) to determine whether the data frame is intended for the second node from the destination address. | 12-20-2012 |
20120327770 | FLOW CONTROL FOR POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS - A method of powerline communications in a powerline communications (PLC) network including a first node and at least a second node. The first node transmits a data frame to the second node over a PLC channel. The second node has a data buffer for storing received information. The second node runs a flow control algorithm which determines a current congestion condition or a projected congestion condition of the data buffer based on at least one congestion parameter. The current congestion condition and projected congestion condition include nearly congested and fully congested. When the current or projected congestion condition is either nearly congested or fully congested, the second node transmits a BUSY including frame over the PLC channel to at least the first node. The first node defers transmitting of any frames to the second node for a congestion clearing wait time. | 12-27-2012 |
20120327987 | EXTENDED DURATION PHY HEADER FOR PLC - A method of powerline communications (PLC) over a PLC channel including a first node and at least a second node utilizes an algorithm that compiles frames having extended duration physical layer (PHY) headers. A duration or estimated duration of a null of the PLC channel is provided. An extended duration PHY header is compiled including a plurality of symbols and bits having a time duration of the PHY header of at least fifty percent (50%) more than the duration or estimated duration of the null. The compiling includes symbol repetition of at least a portion of the plurality of symbols or bit repetition of at least a portion of the plurality of bits. The first node transmits a frame including a preamble and the extended duration PHY header over the PLC channel to at least the second node. | 12-27-2012 |
20130089124 | ADAPTIVE TONE POWER CONTROL IN PLC NETWORKS - In a powerline communications (PLC) network having a first node and at least a second node on a PLC channel utilizing a band including a plurality of tones, based on at least one channel quality indicator (CQI), the first node allocates for a tone map response payload only a single (1) power control bit for each of a plurality of subbands having two or more tones. The power control bit indicates a first power state or a second power state. The first node transmits a frame including the tone map response payload to the second node. The second node transmits a frame having boosted signal power for the tones in the subbands which have the first power state compared to a lower signal power for the tones in the subbands which have the second power state. | 04-11-2013 |
20130121425 | Coexistence Method by Requesting Access to the Channel - Systems and methods for implementing coexistence by requesting access to a channel in power line communications (PLC) are described. In an illustrative embodiment, a method performed by a PLC device, such as a PLC meter, may include detecting a communication from foreign PLC device on a PLC network in response to a foreign preamble received by the PLC device, determining whether a threshold back-off duration has been reached, and transmitting a channel access request in response to a determination that the threshold back-off duration has been reached. | 05-16-2013 |
20130223457 | Multi-Length Cyclic Prefix for OFDM Transmission in PLC Channels - Embodiments of the invention provide multiple cyclic prefix lengths for either both the data-payload and frame control header or only the data payload. Frame control header (FCH) and data symbols have an associated cyclic prefix. A table is transmitted in the FCH symbols, which includes a cyclic prefix field to identify the cyclic prefix length used in the data payload. A receiver may know the cyclic prefix length used in the FCH symbols in one embodiment. In other embodiments, the receiver does not know the FCH cyclic prefix length and, therefore, attempts to decode the FCH symbols using different possible cyclic prefix lengths until the FCH symbols are successfully decoded. | 08-29-2013 |
20130266081 | Support for Multiple Systems Using Different Modulation Schemes in PLC Networks - Embodiments of methods and systems for using both new and older modulation schemes in PLC networks—thereby supporting legacy systems—are disclosed. In one embodiment, common frames that need to be understood by all nodes to support the network will be sent two or more times using different modulation techniques. For example, all broadcast frames, such as beacon requests, beacons, and route requests may be transmitted once with differential modulation and once with coherent modulation. In one configuration, the beacons with differential modulation may be transmitted in one beacon period, and the beacons with coherent modulation may be transmitted in another beacon period. In another configuration, the differential and coherent beacons for a particular tone mask are transmitted one after the other and before any other tone mask beacon is transmitted. | 10-10-2013 |
20140126655 | Compatible Communication Between Devices using Different Communication Protocols - In a method for communicating with a plurality of devices using different communication protocols, a signal is received at a transceiver device from a neighbor device via a physical layer of a communication media. At a first time the signal contains a header frame from a first device conforming to a first communication protocol and at another time the signal contains a header frame from a second device conforming to a second communication protocol. The transceiver determines which of the different communication protocols is being used by each of the plurality of devices. The transceiver may then process inbound payload data using the indentified protocol type. Data frames are transmitted to the first device using the first communication protocol and data frames are transmitted to the second device using the second communication protocol. | 05-08-2014 |
20140146900 | Building, Transmitting, and Receiving Frame Structures in Power Line Communications - Systems and methods for building, transmitting, and receiving frame structures in power line communications (PLC) are described. Various techniques described herein provide a preamble design using one or more symbols based on a chirp signal that yields a low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). According to some techniques, the preamble may be constructed with one or more different types and/or number of symbols configured to identify a PLC domain operating in close physical proximity to another PLC domain. According to other techniques, one or more preamble symbols may be interspersed within a header portion of a PLC frame to facilitate estimation of a frame boundary and/or sampling frequency offset, for example, in the presence of impulsive noise. According to yet other techniques, a PLC detector may be capable of receiving and decoding two or more types of PLC frames (e.g., using different PLC standards). | 05-29-2014 |
20140355474 | Channel Selection in Power Line Communications - A power line communication (PLC) device comprises a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory is configured to store program instructions executable by the processor to cause the PLC device perform operations. One or more time slots are sequentially scan in each of a plurality of frequency bands. A packet transmitted by a second PLC device to the PLC device over one of the plurality of frequency bands is detected. Additional packets received from the second PLC device across the plurality of frequency bands based, at least in part, upon the detected packet are synchronized. The additional packets are organized in a plurality of frames, each of the plurality of frames having been transmitted by the second PLC device to the PLC device over a respective one of the plurality of frequency bands. Each frame has a plurality of time slots, and each time slot has a pair of beacon and bandscan packets, Each bandscan packet includes information indicating a frequency band distinct from any of the plurality of different frequency bands to be used by the second PLC device to communicate with the first PLC device in a direction from the second PLC device to the first PLC device. | 12-04-2014 |
20150071077 | FLOW CONTROL FOR POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS - A method of powerline communications in a powerline communications (PLC) network including a first PLC device and at least a second PLC device. The first PLC device transmits a data frame to the second node over a PLC channel. The second PLC device has a data buffer for storing received information. The second PLC device runs a flow control algorithm which determines a current congestion condition or a projected congestion condition of the data buffer based on at least one congestion parameter. The current congestion condition and projected congestion condition include nearly congested and fully congested. When the current or projected congestion condition is either nearly congested or fully congested, the second PLC device transmits a BUSY including frame over the PLC channel to at least the first PLC device. The first PLC device defers transmitting of any frames to the second PLC device for a congestion clearing wait time. | 03-12-2015 |
20150236753 | Coexistence Method by Requesting Access to the Channel - Systems and methods for implementing coexistence by requesting access to a channel in power line communications (PLC) are described. In an illustrative embodiment, a method performed by a PLC device, such as a PLC meter, may include detecting a communication from foreign PLC device on a PLC network in response to a foreign preamble received by the PLC device, determining whether a threshold back-off duration has been reached, and transmitting a channel access request in response to a determination that the threshold back-off duration has been reached. | 08-20-2015 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20140064412 | High Performance Turbo DPSK - A system includes a DPSK transmitter and a DPSK receiver. The DPSK transmitter is configured to encode a signal and transmit the encoded signal as a sequence of symbols. The DPSK receiver is configured to decode the sequence of symbols into bit values. The DPSK receiver further includes a first decoder which is configured to receive the sequence of the symbols, and to estimate extrinsic information for each symbol and forward the extrinsic information to a second decoder. Moreover, if magnitude of a LLR received form a second decoder is greater than a threshold, the first decoder is configured to determine a bit value of a received symbol, without considering neighboring symbols in the sequence of symbols. Still moreover, if the magnitude of the LLR received from the second decoder is not greater than the threshold, the first decoder is configured to continue to decode the received symbol and consider neighboring symbols in the sequence of symbols. | 03-06-2014 |
20140105313 | Method to Use a Preamble with Band Extension in Power Line Communications - Embodiments include methods of powerline communications using a preamble with band extension is provided. A method may include receiving a packet data unit PDU. Bit-level repetition is applied to at least a portion of the PDU to create a repeated portion. Interleaving is performed per a subchannel. Pilot tones are inserted in the interleaved portion. Each data tone is modulated with respect to a nearest one of the inserted pilot tones. The PDU is transmitted over a power line | 04-17-2014 |
20140112397 | Detecting and Encoding Frame Control Headers (FCH) - Embodiments of the invention provide a method for discriminating between two types of encoding schemes for the frame control header (FCH) used in G3-type narrow band OFDM communications. The two modes for encoding are Differential with respect to the previous Symbol (DS) and Differential with respect to the Preamble (DP). This mode is sometimes referred to as “coherent” mode | 04-24-2014 |
20140307810 | Time-Domain Windowing Function - A smart utility network (SUN) device that includes an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based transmitter. The OFDM-based transmitter including a signal processor to convert data from a frequency-domain to a time-domain using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) and configured to perform a time-domain windowing function based on a Hanning window on OFDM symbols. | 10-16-2014 |
20150043596 | FREQUENCY DIVERSITY MODULATION SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method of encoding a first bit and a second bit for transmission on a transmission band is provided. The method includes: mapping, via a mapping component, the first bit and the second bit into a first symbol; mapping, via the mapping component, the first bit and the second bit into a second symbol; dividing, via a dividing component, the transmission band into subcarriers; allocating, via an allocating component, the first symbol to a first subcarrier of the subcarriers, allocating, via the allocating component, the second symbol to a second subcarrier of the subcarriers; and differentially encoding, via a differential encoder, the first symbol and the second symbol. | 02-12-2015 |
20150071364 | Power Line Communication using Padding to Overcome Interleaver Failings - In a method for transmitting frames of data across a physical media that has a selective frequency response, a packet of data bytes is received by a media access (MAC) layer of a communication protocol from a local application for transmission to a remote receiver. The packet of data bytes is padded to from a padded packet of data bytes having a predetermined frame length, wherein the predetermined frame length is a frame length that is predetermined to provide correct transmission of a frame of data across the physical media that has a selective frequency response. The padded packet of data bytes is encoded by a physical (PHY) layer of the communication protocol to form multiple tone symbols. The multi-tone symbols are then transmitted on the physical media to the remote receiver. | 03-12-2015 |
20150085881 | DATA FRAME FOR PLC HAVING DESTINATION ADDRESS IN THE PHY HEADER - A physical layer (PHY) data frame for use in conjunction with processor in a node, processor coupled to a program memory for storing a sequence of operating instructions. The frame has a preamble, PHY header, a MAC header and a MAC payload. The PHY header includes a destination address field having a destination address therein. The destination address is used by the processor to determine match with the node address. | 03-26-2015 |
20150085883 | Hybrid Communication Networks - Systems and methods for designing, using, and/or implementing hybrid communication networks are described. In various embodiments, these systems and methods may be applicable to power line communications (PLC). For example, one or more of the techniques disclosed herein may include methods to coordinate medium-to-low voltage (MV-LV) and low-to-low voltage (LV-LV) PLC networks when the MV-LV network operates in a frequency subband mode and the LV-LV network operates in wideband mode (i.e., hybrid communications). In some cases, MV routers and LV routers may have different profiles. For instance, MV-LV communications may be performed using MAC superframe structures, and first-level LV to lower-level LV communications may take place using a beacon mode. Lower layer LV nodes may communicate using non-beacon modes. Also, initial scanning procedures may encourage first-to-second-level LV device communications rather than MV-to-first-level LV connections. | 03-26-2015 |
20150110163 | PHY PAYLOAD OVER MULTIPLE TONE MASKS USING SINGLE TONE MASK PHY HEADER INFORMATION - A method of communications includes compiling a data frame for physical layer (PHY) by a first communications device at a first communications node on a network. The data frame includes a single tone PHY header portion and a data payload portion in a set of tones including at least one tone having a frequency different from a frequency of the single tone. The PHY header portion includes tone mask identification information identifying the set of tones. The first communications device transmits the data frame over the powerline to a second communications device at a second communications node on the powerline. The second communications device receives the data frame, and decodes the data payload using the tone mask identification information in the PHY header portion. | 04-23-2015 |
20150207540 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING APPLICATION PROFILES AND DEVICE CLASSES IN POWER LINE COMMUNICATION (PLC) ENVIRONMENTS - Systems and methods for application profiles and device classes in power line communications (PLCs) are described. In some embodiments, a PLC device has the device class defined by a PHY layer and may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may be configured to store program instructions, which may be executable by the processor to cause the PLC device to communicate with a higher-level PLC apparatus over a power line using a frequency band. The frequency band may be selected based upon an application profile and/or a device class associated with the PLC device. In some implementations, the higher-level PLC apparatus may include a PLC gateway or a data concentrator, and the PLC device may include a PLC modem or the like. Examples of application profiles include access communications, in-premises connectivity, AC charging, and/or DC charging. Device classes may represent a minimum communication data rate and/or an operating frequency band restriction of the PLC device. | 07-23-2015 |