HK1113618B - Communication system comprising a powerline communication network and at least one other communication network, corresponding node - Google Patents

Description

1. Scope of the invention

The field of invention is systems comprising carrier current communication networks, also called CPL networks (for Carrier Current in Line ) or PLC (for PowerLine Carrier in English), which allow the wiring of an electrical network to be used to transmit computer data.

Typically, each node is an automaton that supports one or more devices that it controls through logical or analog inputs/outputs. All associated nodes on the same network communicate by low-bandwidth carrier current, using for example the LonTalk protocol (trademark), or by high-bandwidth carrier current, using for example a protocol encapsulated in TCP/IP.

Specifically, the invention relates to a communication system comprising a first carrier current communication network connected to at least a second communication network. In other words, the invention relates to a technique for opening the first carrier current communication network outwards.

The invention has many applications, such as: centralized technical management, technical management of buildings, control/control of industrial and tertiary applications, immotics and home automation.

More generally, it can be applied in all cases where one or more services relating to the first carrier current communication network must be accessible from a terminal connected to the second communication network (e.g. the RTC network or an Ethernet network).

These services are for example (non-exhaustive list): a node configuration service, a first carrier current communication network configuration service, a node data access service, a node data storage service and a node synchronisation service.

2. previous art

Traditionally, a control/command system comprises a first carrier current communication network (e.g. a field bus), through which a plurality of carrier current nodes (automatic) can communicate with each other.

For the configuration of the automata, their management on the bus, or even access to data, a specific terminal, hereinafter called control/command terminal, is now indispensable. This control/command terminal can be a portable device sold by the automata manufacturer and can interface on the same field bus or directly on the automata. This can also be a computer equipped with software sold by the automata manufacturer, which interfaces on the field bus or directly on the automata and which requires a specific interface card for this.

Err1:Expecting ',' delimiter: line 1 column 693 (char 692)The computer is connected to the same fieldbus as the automata, via a specific card depending on the fieldbus and protocol chosen. The specific software may or may not offer standard interfaces to allow access to automata data from the control/command terminal connected to the second network. One of the standards increasingly used is the OPC interface (for OLE for Process Control ) which defines a standard for data exchange in Windows environments (trademark).

A first disadvantage of the current technique is that the opening of the first carrier-current communication network to the outside world requires the addition of proprietary hardware and software, whether the gateway is hardware or software.

Another disadvantage of the current technique is that the extension of the first carrier current communication network (addition of one or more nodes) requires a reconfiguration of the gateway software and/or hardware, when the first network is not at capacity limit, or the addition of an additional gateway, when the first network is at capacity limit.

Another disadvantage of the current technique is that the gateway is a localised (physical) access point, which is a constraint as it means that the terminals must be connected via the second network to a gateway in a particular location.

Another disadvantage of the current technique is that the gateway is a centralized access point, which constitutes a bottleneck in terms of communication between the first and at least one second network.

3. Objectives of the invention

The purpose of the invention is in particular to remedy these various disadvantages of the state of the art.

Specifically, one of the aims of the present invention, in at least one embodiment, is to provide a technique for opening a first carrier current communication network to at least a second communication network, this technique being simple to implement and inexpensive.

The invention also aims, in at least one embodiment, to provide such a technique requiring no specific gateway equipment.

Another objective of the invention, in at least one embodiment, is to provide such a technique that requires no rescaling in case of connection of a new node to the first carrier current communication network.

A further objective of the invention, in at least one embodiment, is to provide such a technique without a localised and centralised access point to access the first carrier current communication network.

4. Summary of the invention

These various objectives, as well as others which will appear later, are achieved according to the invention by means of a communication system comprising a first carrier current communication network through which a plurality of nodes can communicate with each other, each node comprising: The first means of communication interface, allowing the node to interface with the first communication network and implementing a first carrier current communication protocol, and means of controlling at least one equipment connected to the node.

According to the invention, at least one of the nodes, the so-called gateway node, also includes: the second means of communication interface, allowing the gateway node to be interfaced with at least a second communication network and implementing a second communication protocol, and, less a means of service provision, allowing at least one service to be provided to a terminal connected to the gateway node via that at least a second communication network and those second means of interface.

The general principle of the invention is therefore to incorporate in at least one node, on the one hand, the functionalities of a gateway (second means of interface) and, on the other hand, the means of provision of services.

Thus, the invention is based on a completely new and inventive approach to opening up a first carrier current communication network to at least a second communication network.This approach goes against the professional's prejudice that nodes and gateways are two distinct types of equipment, which there is no incentive to combine.

The invention allows a terminal (computer, personal assistant (PDA), mobile phone, etc.) to connect directly to a gateway node (and thus indirectly to all nodes), without going through a specific gateway equipment.

In addition, the invention allows the user to add as many gateway nodes as he wishes without requiring any device resizing.

The invention also minimizes the cost of the system, in particular because the gateway node can comprise a single processor, which replaces the processor included in a conventional node and that included in a conventional gateway.

Preferably, the system shall comprise at least two gateway nodes.

In a particular embodiment, it can even be expected that all nodes are gateway nodes.

Several advantages arise from the plurality of gateway nodes.

Firstly, the terminals have several access points to the first carrier current communication network, which can be located in different locations, and this also provides good failure resistance: if one of the gateway nodes fails, it is very likely that one terminal will be able to access the first network via another gateway node.

Moreover, if the number of gateway nodes is sufficiently large, a sufficiently large redundancy is obtained between the first and second communication networks to provide good resistance to failures of the first and/or second network.

Finally, the high volume production of the gateway node reduces its unit cost, so that the cost of manufacturing N gateway nodes of the invention is lower than the cost of manufacturing N-1 conventional nodes and a conventional gateway.

The advantage is that at least one of these services belongs to the group comprising: a node configuration service, a first carrier current communication network management service, a node data access service, a node data storage service and a node synchronisation service.

Preferably, each gateway node shall include at least one service provider, providing at least the following services: node configuration service, first carrier current communication network configuration service and node data access service.

The second communication interface means belong to the group of: Ethernet-type interface means, modem-type interface means, infrared-type interface means, radio frequency interface means and carrier current-type interface means.

The advantage is that at least one of these means of service provision belongs to the group comprising: web servers, web services, OPC servers and message managers.

Thus, services are provided through one or more means that are well-known in themselves and commonplace. Therefore, it is sufficient that the terminal (the user's equipment connected to the gateway node via the second network) implements the software tool associated with this or those means (for example a web browser if the gateway node integrates a web server or web services).

According to an advantageous characteristic, the same means of providing services provides at least two services.

This optimises the performance of each node.

In a particular first embodiment of the invention, the first communication network and at least the second communication network are confused and use the same physical medium.

In this first embodiment, each network implements a separate communication protocol (e.g. low-speed CPL for the first network and high-speed CPL for the second network).

In a second particular embodiment of the invention, the first communication network and at least the second communication network are not confused and use separate physical media.

The advantage is that if each node includes data storage media, and the first means of communication interface include first means of reading data stored in the said data storage media, then the second means of communication interface include second means of reading data stored in the said data storage media.

In this way, a terminal can directly access data from a gateway node, only via the second network and thus without going through the first carrier current communication network. It should be noted that this is impossible with the above-mentioned state-of-the-art technique, in which the terminal communicates with the gateway via the second network and the gateway communicates with the node via the first network. The invention therefore allows to limit processing times to access data, as well as the risk of error.

The advantage is that each gateway node includes means of accessing data stored in another gateway node, the means of access themselves including means of selecting the first or second means of communication interface.

Thus, the best path is chosen between the given gateway node and another gateway node (each path belonging to one of the first and second networks).

The invention also concerns a node of the type included in a communication system comprising a first carrier current communication network through which a plurality of nodes may communicate with each other, the node comprising: The first means of communication interface, allowing the node to interface with the first communication network and implementing a first carrier current communication protocol, and means of controlling at least one equipment connected to the node.

According to the invention, the node also comprises: second means of communication interface, allowing the node, so-called gateway node, to be interfaced with at least a second communication network and implementing a second communication protocol, and one means of service provision, allowing at least one service to be provided to a terminal connected to the gateway node via said at least a second communication network and the said second means of interface.

List of figures

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, given as an indicative and non-limiting example, and the attached drawings, in which: Figure 1 presents a synopsis of a particular embodiment of the system according to the invention; Figure 2 presents a block diagram of the hardware architecture of a particular embodiment of the gateway node according to the invention; and Figure 3 presents a block diagram of the software architecture of a particular embodiment of the gateway node according to the invention.

6. Detailed description

As shown in Figure 1, the invention therefore concerns a communication system comprising a first carrier current communication network (referred 1) connected to at least a second communication network (referred 6).

The first carrier current 1 network is a fieldbus with a number of nodes, from 2 to 5, connected to it. Each node has a first communication interface, allowing the node to interface with the first communication network 1 and implementing a first carrier current communication protocol (communication between nodes uses, for example, the LonTalk or TCP/IP protocol).

According to the invention, at least one of the nodes 2 to 5 is a gateway node. In the following description, we consider as an example that nodes 2 and 5 are gateway nodes (and therefore nodes 3 and 4 are classical nodes). However, it is clear that the invention also applies in the case where there is only one gateway node or in the case where all nodes are gateway nodes.

Each gateway node 2.5 includes, in addition to the means mentioned above included in each node, second communication interface means, allowing the gateway node to interface with the second communication network 6 (e.g. an operating bus) and implementing a second communication protocol (e.g. TCP/IP or IrDA).

The first and second networks (field bus and operation bus) 1 and 6 can be confused and use the same physical medium (low-bandwidth carrier current for the first and high-bandwidth for the second). Alternatively, they are dissociated (e.g. carrier current for the first and Ethernet for the second).

Each gateway node 2.5 also includes means of providing services to a terminal connected to gateway node 2.5 via the second communication network 6 and the second interface means.

Any type of terminal can be considered: fixed or portable computer 7, personal assistant (PDA) 8, mobile phone (not shown)...

The means of providing services include, for example, one or more of the following standard software: web servers, web services, OPC servers and message managers (e-mail, SMS or other).

The services offered (also called functions) are for example: a node configuration service; a first carrier current communication network management service; a data access service stored in nodes; a data storage service in nodes; a node synchronization service; etc.

The examples of implementation of the first three functions (configuration of nodes, management of the first network and access to data) are now discussed in more detail.

The user only needs to have a physical Internet browser, implemented on a terminal (laptop, PDA, mobile phone...). The operating system implemented on the user's terminal is not important, it can be Windows (trademark), PalmOS (trademark), Unix (trademark) or Linux (trademark). The physical connection medium can be Ethernet, Infrared, radio frequency or high-speed networking (CPL). When adding additional networking, new configurations are used.

The function of network management and configuration of the services offered is also performed, for example, via the integrated web server or the aforementioned web services.

The data access function of the nodes is also performed, for example, via the above-mentioned integrated web server, combined with a CGI engine ( Common Gateway Interface in English), for the purpose of data consultation by a user.

The physical architecture of a particular method of making the gateway node according to the invention is now presented in connection with Figure 2.

As with a conventional node, the hardware architecture includes, for example, a first electronic board 27 ( current-carrying node card ) comprising: an interface 21 to the physical inputs/outputs; a programmable component (microcontroller or microprocessor) 22 to manage inputs/outputs and communication functions; a nonvolatile memory (not represented) to provide archiving functions; an external power supply (not represented); a backup power supply (battery or battery) (not represented); a real-time clock (not represented).

According to the invention, the hardware architecture includes, for example, a second electronic board 28 ( communication board ) comprising carrier current type 23 communication interfaces, infrared 24, Ethernet 25 and modem 26.

The software architecture of a particular embodiment of the gateway node according to the invention is now presented in relation to Figure 3.

Within the programmable component (microcontroller or microprocessor) 22 which provides the operation of the system core, the software architecture includes: A module 31 implementing the LonTalk and TCP/IP protocols; a module 32 implementing the IrDA protocol; a module 33 implementing a web server and/or web services and/or a message manager (email, SMS...) and/or an OPC server; a module 34 for protocol translation (gateway functions between the different protocols); a module 36 for the application of input/output management; a module 37 for archiving.

Claims (12)

1. Communication system comprising a first communication network by carrier current (1), via which multiple nodes (2 to 5) can communicate with each other, each node comprising:

   - first communication interface means (23), making it possible to interface the node with the first communication network, and implementing a first communication protocol by carrier current, and

   - means (22) of controlling at least one item of equipment connected to the node, characterized in that at least one of the nodes, called a gateway node (2, 5) also comprises:

   - second interface communication means (23 to 26), making it possible to interface the gateway node with at least one second communication network (6), and implementing a second communication protocol, and

   - at least one means (22) of supplying services, making it possible to supply at least one service to a terminal (7, 8) which is connected to the gateway node via the said at least one second communication network and the said second interface means.
2. System according to Claim 1, characterized in that it includes at least two gateway nodes (2, 5).
3. System according to any one of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the said at least one service belongs to the group comprising:

   - a node configuration service;

   - a service for managing the first communication network by carrier current;

   - a service for access to data stored in the nodes;

   - a service for archiving data stored in the nodes; and

   - a node synchronisation service.
4. System according to any one of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that each gateway node includes at least one means of supplying services, making it possible to supply at least the following services:

   - a node configuration service;

   - a service for managing the first communication network by carrier current; and

   - a service for access to data stored in the nodes.
5. System according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the second communication interface means belong to the group comprising:

   - interface means (25) of Ethernet type;

   - interface means (26) of modem type;

   - interface means (24) of infrared type;

   - interface means of radio frequency type; and

   - interface means (23) of carrier current type.
6. System according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the said at least one means of supplying services belongs to the group comprising:

   - Web servers;

   - Web services;

   - OPC servers; and

   - message handlers.
7. System according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a single means of supplying services supplies at least two services.
8. System according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the said first communication network (1) and the said at least one second communication network (6) are combined, and use the same physical medium.
9. System according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the said first communication network (1) and the said at least one second communication network (6) are not combined, and use distinct physical media.
10. System according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, each node comprising means of storing data, the first communication interface means including the first means of reading the data stored in the said data storage means, characterized in that the second communication interface means comprise second means of reading the data stored in the said data storage means.
11. System according to any one of Claims 2 to 10, characterized in that each gateway node includes means of access to data stored in another gateway node, the access means themselves including means of selecting the first or second communication interface means.
12. Node (2, 5) of the type which is included in a communication system comprising a first communication network by carrier current (1), via which multiple nodes (2 to 5) can communicate with each other, the node comprising:

    - first communication interface means (23), making it possible to interface the node with the first communication network, and implementing a first communication protocol by carrier current, and

    - means (22) of controlling at least one item of equipment connected to the node, characterized in that it also comprises:

    - second interface communication means (23 to 26), making it possible to interface the node, called a gateway node, with at least one second communication network (6), and implementing a second communication protocol, and

    - at least one means (22) of supplying services, making it possible to supply at least one service to a terminal (7, 8) which is connected to the gateway node via the said at least one second communication network and the said second interface means.