CN101567823B - Communication system using ZigBee and method for controlling same - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a communication system using ZigBee that coordinates communication terminals, transmits and receives data via a coordinator, and uses only a remote controller when a ZigBee communication network is formed between a home appliance and a remote controller, and a method of controlling the system To execute the binding operation of setting the channel of the communication terminal and the identification (ID) of the personal area network (PAN). A communication system forming a communication network between a plurality of communication terminals includes: a ZigBee coordinator arranged on one of the plurality of communication terminals, coordinating the communication terminals, and sending and receiving data; The ZigBee device on the other of the terminals forms a ZigBee communication network by communicating with the ZigBee coordinator, wherein an input unit for setting a channel and a PAN ID of the ZigBee coordinator is provided on the communication terminal on which the ZigBee device is arranged.

Description

Communication system using ZigBee and method for controlling the system

technical field

Systems and methods consistent with the present invention relate to ZigBee communication, and more specifically, to a communication system using ZigBee and a method of controlling said communication system, said communication system coordinating communication terminals to send and receive data via a coordinator, And the ZigBee wireless communication network is used to set the communication terminal channel and personal area network (PAN) identification (ID).

Background technique

For user convenience, electrical appliances generally used in homes, such as air conditioning systems, televisions (TVs), and the like, may be configured to be operated by a remote controller. To this end, the home appliance and the remote control form a communication network that communicates wirelessly with each other.

In order to form such a wireless communication network, communication technology using ZigBee, which consumes less power and has low installation costs, has recently been widely used.

ZigBee is a low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN) based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. This technology is used for applications requiring low data rates compared to Bluetooth technology. However, ZigBee is a wireless communication technology suitable for home networks, ZigBee is a low-power specification that uses one battery a year and software and related components are minimized, so that the implementation cost is about half that of Bluetooth.

A binding procedure for setting the same channel and ID of the PAN between the home appliance and the remote controller is required to form a communication network using ZigBee. Generally, a binding method using program download, an automatic binding method performed through communication according to defined rules, and a manual binding method performed externally by using dip switches installed in home appliances and remote controllers have been employed. Determine the method.

However, in the binding method using program download, the environment of the actual area is not reflected, and the program setting must be changed every time the download is performed. In the method using external dip switches, the user has to approach the home appliance (eg, a roof-mounted unit in the case of an air conditioning system) to change the program settings. In the method performed by communication according to defined rules, when another communication network is formed near the current communication network, there is an overlap of the network with an undesired network.

Contents of the invention

The present invention provides a communication system using ZigBee and a method of controlling the system, when a ZigBee communication network is formed between home appliances and remote controllers, binding of setting channels and PAN IDs can be easily performed by using only remote controllers operate.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication system forming a communication network between a plurality of communication terminals, the system comprising: a ZigBee coordinator arranged on one of the plurality of communication terminals, coordinating communication terminals, and transmit and receive data; and a ZigBee device arranged on another one of the plurality of communication terminals forms a ZigBee communication network by communicating with a ZigBee coordinator, wherein the communication terminal on which the ZigBee device is arranged is provided for Set the channel of the ZigBee coordinator and the input unit of the PAN ID.

One of the plurality of communication terminals may be a home appliance, and the other of the plurality of communication terminals may be a remote controller.

An installation module for processing IEEE802.15.4 data having a format different from the ZigBee format may be provided on the remote controller.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a communication system forming a communication network among a plurality of communication terminals, the method comprising: through an installation arranged on one of the plurality of communication terminals A module for requesting an IEEE address in the format of ZigBee data or in a format different from the format of ZigBee data; in response to the IEEE address request, setting the IEEE address of the ZigBee coordinator arranged on another of the plurality of communication terminals ; Send a channel and a PAN ID setting message through the set IEEE address; set the channel and the PAN ID of the ZigBee device in response to the sent channel and PAN ID setting message.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium recording a program for executing the method.

Description of drawings

The above and other aspects of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

1 shows the configuration of a system including a home appliance and a remote controller using a ZigBee communication network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

2A and 2B are flowcharts illustrating a control operation of setting a channel and a PAN ID in a communication network using ZigBee according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a system including a home appliance and a remote controller using a ZigBee communication network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1 , the system includes: a home appliance 10 (for example, any one of a plurality of internal devices in the case of an air-conditioning system) and a remote controller 20 that transmits user-desired operating instructions using a ZigBee wireless communication network. to household appliances10.

The home appliance 10 is a communication terminal including a controller 12 and a ZigBee coordinator module 14 , and the controller 12 controls overall operations of the home appliance 10 . The ZigBee coordinator module 14 transmits and receives data, and coordinates the home appliance 10 and the remote controller 20 .

If the remote controller 20 transmits data, the ZigBee coordinator 14 determines whether the transmitted data is in ZigBee format. If the ZigBee coordinator 14 determines that the transmitted data is in the ZigBee format, the ZigBee coordinator 14 prepares to form a network with the remote controller 20 by using a module for processing ZigBee format data. If the ZigBee coordinator 14 determines that the transmitted data is not in the ZigBee format based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, the ZigBee coordinator 14 prepares for communication with the remote controller by sending the data to another module for processing data in a format other than the ZigBee format. 20 to form a network.

Remote controller 20 is the communication terminal that comprises controller 22, ZigBee end device module 24 (hereinafter referred to as ZigBee device), input unit 26 and installation module 28, and controller 22 controls the whole operation of remote controller 20, and ZigBee device 24 passes ZigBee wireless The communication transmits and receives data to and from the home appliance 10, and the input unit 26 inputs the channel and The installation signal of PANID, when the installation signal is input through the input unit 26 and includes data in a non-ZigBee format according to the IEEE802.15.4 standard, the installation module 28 processes data in a format different from the ZigBee format.

Hereinafter, the operation and effect of the communication system using ZigBee having the above structure and the method of controlling the system will be described.

2A and 2B are flowcharts illustrating a control operation of setting a channel and a PAN ID in a communication network using ZigBee according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

First, if the remote controller 20 transmits data in response to a user's operation instruction (operation S100), the ZigBee coordinator 14 of the home appliance 10 determines whether the transmitted data is in a ZigBee format (operation S102). If the ZigBee coordinator 14 determines that the data sent is not based on the ZigBee format of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, the ZigBee coordinator 14 processes data with a format different from the ZigBee format, and receives information related to network formation from the installation module 28 of the remote controller 20. data to prepare for network formation (operation S104).

If the ZigBee coordinator 14 determines that the transmitted data is in the ZigBee format, it prepares for the formation of the ZigBee wireless communication network using a module for processing data in the ZigBee format (operation S106).

As a result, the ZigBee coordinator 14 can form a network based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard using data in a ZigBee format or a non-ZigBee format.

The ZigBee device 24 cannot determine the IEEE address or channel of the ZigBee coordinator 14, and cannot perform communication, and thus transmits the IEEE address request message in a ZigBee format or a non-ZigBee format (operation S108).

The ZigBee device 24 determines whether the ZigBee coordinator 14, which has received the IEEE address request message, has transmitted the IEEE address response message (operation S110). If the ZigBee device 24 determines that the ZigBee coordinator 14 did not send the IEEE Address Response message, the ZigBee device 24 continues to send the IEEE Address Request message to the ZigBee coordinator 14 while changing the channel of the ZigBee coordinator 14 .

If the ZigBee device 24 determines that the ZigBee coordinator 14 has sent an IEEE address response message, then the channel (that is, the channel of the ZigBee coordinator 14) is set as the channel for the current communication network, and the ZigBee coordinator included in the IEEE address response message The IEEE address of the device 14 is set as the IEEE address. Thereafter, communication with the ZigBee coordinator 14 may be performed by using the channel and the IEEE address (operation S112).

In order to form a ZigBee communication network, PAN ID and channel are also required. Therefore, the ZigBee coordinator 14 must set the PAN ID of the ZigBee device 24. For this, the ZigBee device 24 transmits a PAN ID setting message to the ZigBee coordinator 14 through the IEEE address (operation S114).

After setting the PAN ID, the ZigBee coordinator 14 transmits a PAN ID setting response message to the ZigBee device 24 according to the PAN ID setting message (operation S116). The ZigBee device 24 receives the PAN ID setting response message (operation S116), and sets its own PAN ID according to the PAN ID included in the PAN ID setting response message (operation S118).

In addition, if the channel setting message is sent to the ZigBee coordinator 14 through the IEEE address of the ZigBee coordinator 14 (operation S120), the ZigBee coordinator 14 receives the channel setting message, changes the channel, and sends a channel setting response message to the ZigBee device 24 (operation S122). The ZigBee coordinator 14 transmits a channel setting response message through the previous channel, and changes its own channel (operation S124).

As described above, according to the communication system using ZigBee and the method of controlling the system according to the present invention, since only the remote controller is used to set the channel and PAN ID when the ZigBee communication network is formed between the home appliance and the remote controller, it is possible to prevent Redundant channel and PAN ID, no additional hardware or software is required to set or change channel or PAN ID.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. and various changes in details.

Claims (5)

1. A communication system forming a communication network between a plurality of communication terminals, said system comprising: A ZigBee coordinator, arranged on a first communication terminal among the plurality of communication terminals, coordinates the plurality of communication terminals, and sends and receives data; and The ZigBee device is arranged on the second communication terminal among the plurality of communication terminals, and forms a ZigBee communication network by communicating with the ZigBee coordinator, Wherein, an input unit for setting the channel of the ZigBee coordinator and the personal area network (PAN) identification (ID) is provided on the second communication terminal, Wherein, the ZigBee device sends the channel and PAN ID setting message through the IEEE address set by the ZigBee coordinator. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first communication terminal is a home appliance. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the second communication terminal is a remote controller. 4. The system of claim 3, wherein an installation module for processing IEEE802.15.4 data having a format different from the ZigBee format is provided on the second communication terminal. 5. A method for controlling a communication system forming a communication network between a plurality of communication terminals, the method comprising: requesting an IEEE address in a format of ZigBee data or in a format different from a format of ZigBee data through an installation module arranged on a first communication terminal among the plurality of communication terminals; Responding to the IEEE address request, setting the IEEE address of the ZigBee coordinator arranged on the second communication terminal among the plurality of communication terminals; Send channel and personal area network (PAN) identification (ID) setting message through the set IEEE address; In response to the transmitted channel and PAN ID setting message, the channel and PAN ID of the ZigBee device are set.

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