WO2006091039A1

WO2006091039A1 - Network control protocol device and network connection method

Info

Publication number: WO2006091039A1
Application number: PCT/KR2006/000649
Authority: WO
Inventors: Woong Jeon; Jong Hoon Chung; Sang Kyun Lee; Koon Seok Lee
Original assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Current assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Priority date: 2005-02-24
Filing date: 2006-02-24
Publication date: 2006-08-31
Anticipated expiration: 2007-08-24
Also published as: KR20070120100A

Abstract

The present invention relates to network control protocol device and network connection method. The method provides a user with convenience in remote control and monitoring operation of appliances. By this method, a user, for example, who is locating at home or out-of-home can control the operation or monitor the operation state of various appliances such as refrigerator or laundry machine through a living network installed at home, such as RS-485 network, a low power RF network, or a power line network. The devices are configured differently in accordance with a manner in which the appliance is connected to the living network, by which a communication module for performing interface on the network is directly configured within the device or a separate adaptor containing the communication module is indirectly connected to the device, and are divided into device with one slave function, device with one master and slave function, and device with one master and slave function and network management function. Therefore, it is possible to configure and manage each device of the living network more efficiently.

Description

D E S C R I P T I O N

NETWORK CONTROL PROTOCOL DEVICE AND NETWORK

CONNECTION METHOD

1. Technical Field The present invention relates to a network control protocol device and a network connection method, and more particularly to a network control protocol device and network connection method, by which a user, for example, who is locating at home or out-of-home can effectively control household appliances such as refrigerator or laundry machine connected to a living network.

2. Background Art

In general, 'home network' means a network in which various digital appliances are connected to one another for the user to enjoy economical home services in a convenient and safe way anytime at home or out-of-home, and due to the development of digital signal processing technology, various types of appliances such as refrigerator or laundry machine are being gradually digitalized. On the other hand, in recent years, home network has been more advanced, since operating system and multi-media technology for appliances has been applied to digital appliances, as well as new types of information appliances have appeared. Moreover, in a general meaning, a network which is established for providing file exchanges or internet services between personal computers and peripheral devices, a network between appliances for handling audio or video information, and a network established for home automation of various appliances such as refrigerator or laundry machine, appliance control such as remote meter reading, and the like are called a 'living network¹.

Furthermore, in the network services in which small-scale data transmission for the remote control, or operating state monitoring of the appliances included in the network, for example, various appliances such as refrigerator or laundry machine, is the main object of their communication, each of appliances connected to one another should be directly controlled by a network manager, which is included in the network, with the use of the minimum required communication resources. However, its effective solution has not been provided yet, and thus it is a matter of urgency to provide its solution.

3. Disclosure of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention is devised in consideration of the aforementioned situation, and it is an object of the invention to provide a network control protocol device and network connection protocol for allowing a user who is locating at home or out-of-home to control efficiently various household appliances such as refrigerator, washing machine connected to the network using only minimum communication resource, and to configure and manage the devices connected to the network more efficiently.

In order to achieve the aforementioned object, a layer structure of network control protocol according to the present invention comprises a physical layer for providing a function of sending/receiving physical signal between devices; a data link layer for providing a medium access control function to use a shared transmission media; a network layer for providing a function of address management and/or transmit/receive control¹ for a network connection between devices; and an application layer for providing a flow control function for download and/or upload services, and the layer structure is characterized in that the data link layer includes a home code control sub-layer for providing at least any one of the setting function, management function, and processing function for logically classifying individual networks. Furthermore, an interface method between the layers of network control protocol according to the present invention is characterized in that in a method of interfacing to each layer of network control protocol configured by including a plurality of layers, a primitive for transmitting data or a packet and a primitive for receiving data or a packet are used for the interface between each of the layers .

Furthermore, an interface method between the layers of network control protocol according to the present invention is characterized in that the master and slave are separated for the interface between an application software and an application layer, and a service request primitive transferred from the application software is used in the master, and a primitive for transferring a request message sent from the master to an application software of the slave is used in the slave .

4. Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a structure of a network system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 illustrate a master-slave based communication structure which is applied to the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a layer structure of LnCP which is applied to the present invention.

FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 illustrate embodiments of communication cycle service which are applied to the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates layer structures of LnCP according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of primitive for an interface between network management sublayer and parameter management layer according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 illustrate embodiments of method of configuring devices on the living network control system.

FIG. 12 to FIG. 14 illustrate embodiments for method of configuring device with single function according to the present invention. FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 illustrate embodiments for method of configuring device with multiple functions according to the present invention.

FIG. 17 illustrates layer structures of LnCP according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 18 to FIG. 20 illustrate other embodiments for method of configuring the network control protocol device according to the present invention.

5. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

The network control protocol device and the network connection method according to the present invention will be now described by means of preferable embodiments with reference to accompanying drawings .

FIG. 1 illustrates a structure of a living network system (LnCP) according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a LnCP internet server 100 and a living network system 400 to which a network control protocol, for example, a living network control protocol (LnCP) newly defined in the present invention is applied are connected via an internet 300, as well as perform an interface operation with various communication terminals 200 such as personal computer (PC) , PDA, PCS and the like.

Meanwhile, the living network system 400 comprises a home gateway 40, a network manager 41, a LnCP router 42, a LnCP adaptor 43, and appliances 44, and these components are such that data link layers such as RS-485 network or low output RF network use non-standard transmission medium or data link layers such as a power line communication or IEEE 802.11, ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4) use standard transmission medium, as shown in FIG.l. Further, the living network control 400 is referred to a LnCP network' in short, and the LnCP network is formed of independent network which connects the appliances belonging to a range of the living network within independent home with wire or wireless transmission medium, as shown in FIG. 1.

Meanwhile, the LnCP network is connected with a master device capable of controlling or monitoring an operation of another appliance, and a slave device capable of responding to requests from the master device and indicating information on change of its own state.

The network manager 41 is responsible for functions of setting and managing environment of the appliance 44 connected with the LnCP network as shown in FIG. 1. The appliances 44 can be directly connected to the network or indirectly connected to the network via the LnCP adapter 43, and RS-485 network, RF network, power line network and the like within the LnCP network are connected via the LnCP router 42.

Further, the LnCP network provides a function for enabling the user outside of home to confirm or control the state of the appliances located inside home, and the home gateway 40 is responsible for a function of connecting the LnCP network with external internet. If the user undergoes the verifying process to access the LnCP internet server 100 from the outside, he can confirm the state of the appliance connected with the LnCP network or use the control function thereof . After connecting with the LnCP internet server 100 via the home gateway 40 in the appliance connected with the LnCP network, the user can download contents provided form the LnCP internet server, which will be now described referring to main characteristic of the LnCP network. First, the digital information appliances have a micro controller of various capabilities so that they may perform unique function respectively. The LnCP network according to the present invention can use resources of the micro controller mounted in the appliances at the minimum by simplifying function thereof more efficiently to enable it to operate in the micro controller of various capabilities. In particular, the micro controller of low capability is allowed to process the LnCP communication function while performing the unique functions of the appliance, and the micro controller of high capability is allowed to support multi tasking function. And, the main characteristics of the LnCP network according to the present invention can be classified as a master-slave based communication structure, a support for event driven communication, a support for a plurality of network managers, a 4-layer structure, a communication cycle service, flexible address management, a packet communication of variable length, and a provision of standard massage set.

Meanwhile, the master-slave based communication structure is used as a structure for communication connection between the appliances in the LnCP network and needs to have at least more than one master device. The master device needs to have information and control code on the slave device which is intended to be controlled, and then controls other slave devices- in accordance with a program inputted already and user' s input . For example, a message flow between the master device and the slave device operates in such a way that if the master device sends a request message to the slave device, the slave device returns a response message thereto to the master device, as shown in FIG. 2. The LnCP network may have multi-master and multi-slave based communication structure as shown in FIG. 3. The LnCP network can support event-driven communication service. For example, the user can set events which the appliance requires. Consequently, if the event set by the user occurs while any operation is performed, the corresponding appliance informs other appliances of generation or contents of that event or controls operation of other appliances correspondingly to that event .

Further, the LnCP network comprises at least more than one network manager which is responsible for setting and managing environment of the appliances and can support a plurality of network managers as necessary. Here, management information of appliances must be synchronized in order to cope with errors in the plurality of network managers.

The LnCP network has 4-layer structure of a physical layer, a data link layer, a network layer, and an application layer as shown in FIG. 4. The LnCP network provides services in a unit of communication cycle, and there can be only one communication cycle in the slave device at a given point of time .

In other words, one slave device can not be controlled by any master device while the communication cycle is being executed, but the master device enables a plurality of communication cycles to be executed for a plurality of slave devices at a given point of time. Such communication cycles have 4 kinds of {l-Request, 1-Response}, {l-Request, Multi- Response}, {l-Notification} , {Repeated-Notification}. For example, the communication cycle {l-Request, 1- Response} is a cycle in which one master device transmits Request Packet to single slave device, and the slave device delivers one Response Packet as a response thereto. If error occurs in the packet received, the master device sends Re- Request Packet and the slave device deliver the Response Packet thereto again, as shown in FIG. 5.

Further, the communication cycle {l-Request, Multi- Response} is a cycle in which one master device transmits single request packet having group address to a plurality of slave devices, and each slave device transmits the Response

Packet as a response thereto. The master device terminates the cycle after expiring of allowable maximum receiving time. At this time, even if any error occurs in the Response Packet received from the slave device, the master device may disregard it .

The communication cycle {l-Notification} is a communication cycle in which the master device terminate the communication immediately after transmitting single Notification Packet to one or more devices and the communication cycle {Repeated-Notification} is a cycle in which the communication is terminated after transmitting same packets repeatedly for ensuring reliability for transmission at the communication cycle {l-Notification} .

The PnCP network can support flexible address management. For example, addresses are assigned to the appliances with LnCP function in accordance with kind of the machines at the time of shipment from a factory, so that the network may be constructed automatically without intervening of the user. Here, since same kind of appliances is initiated by the same address, the network manager has an algorism for assigning only unique addresses upon connecting with the appliance. Further, the LnCP network enables group communication using one message by assigning unique group addresses to the appliances which belong to same kind, and can classify various kinds of appliance as clusters if necessary, and assign the group address to each cluster. The PnCP network supports communication of packet of variable length. For example, it can adjust length of the packet using buffer size information of the appliance which is exchanged with each other upon downloading contents such as application program related to manipulation of the appliance or uploading data stored in the appliance.

Further, the LnCP network provides standard message sets. Specifically, it can define the standard message sets suitable for various appliances on the application layer so that the master device may control other appliances. The message sets are divided into a common area message set for basic LnCP communication, an application area message set for supporting a unique function of the appliance, and a developer area message set for providing a unique function of a producing company. Meanwhile, the message sets can be expanded as necessary and printed letters can be added to existing messages that was defined. A layer structure which is one of main characteristics of LnCP network according to the present invention will be now described in detail . FIG. 8 illustrates a layer structure of LnCP protocol according to the present invention. As mentioned above, the LnCP network according to the present invention has 4 -layer structure of the physical layer, the data link layer, the network layer and the application layer, for operation control and monitoring of the appliances such as refrigerator, washing machine or the like. The physical layer provides a physical interface between the devices and a function of transmitting/receiving physical signal such as bits to be transferred. A transmitting medium of which data link layer is non-standardized such as RS-485 and low output RF and wire/wireless transmission medium standardized such as a power line communication or Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, ZigBee are used as the physical layer. The LnCp adapter can be used as a separate physical layer to implement the physical layer of the device in the LnCP network.

Further, the data link layer provides a function of medium access control (MAC) for using shared transmission medium. The LnCP network must use p-DCSMA (probabilistic Delayed Carrier Sense Multiple Access) as the medium access control protocol if the data link layer uses non-standardized transmission medium. However, the LnCP network can use the function of the medium access control prescribed in corresponding protocol if the data link layer use the standardized transmission medium.

Meanwhile, a home code control sublayer provides setting, management and processing of home code for discriminating a distinct network logically, when the LnCP network is configured using dependent transmission medium such as the power line transmission or IEEE 802.11, ZigBee, or low output RF. The home code control sublayer is not preferably implemented if the distinct networks are separated physically by independent transmission medium.

The network layer provides functions of address management of the appliance, transmission/receipt control and the like, in order to ensure reliable network connection between the devices. The application layer provides functions of transmission/receipt control and flow control for download/upload service.

Further, the application layer defines a message sets for managing the network or controlling and monitoring the appliance. The application software performs a unique function of the appliance and exchanges data with the application layer via the interface defined in the application layer. As shown in FIG. 8, the network management sublayer provides a parameter management function for setting node parameters and network management function for configuring and managing the network, and the parameter management layer can establish or read the parameter used in each layer in accordance with requests from the network management sublayer.

Further, as the primitive used for interface with the network management sublayer, there are a primitive (structure SetPar) for delivering parameter value from the network management sublayer to the parameter management layer and a primitive (structure GetPar) for delivering parameter value from the parameter management layer to the network management sublayer.

Meanwhile, in the primitive (structure SetPar) for delivering the parameter value to the parameter management layer, there are recorded an ' uchar DestLayer' which represents a layer to deliver the parameter value, and a structure SetLayerPar' which depends on value of the DestLayer as parameter corresponding to each layer. The Destlayer becomes ' l' if the layer where to deliver the parameter value is the application layer, ' 2' if it is the network layer, ' 3' if it is the data link layer, and ' 4' if it is the physical layer.

And, the SetLayerPar becomes a ' SetALPar' if it is the application layer, a ' SetNLPar' if it is the network layer, a ' SetDLLPar' if it is the data link layer, and a ' SetPHYPar' if it is the physical layer.

Further, in the primitive (structure GerPar) for delivering the parameter value to the network management sublayer, there are recorded a ' uchar SrcLayer' representing a layer to which the parameter value is tranmitted, a ' uchar PMLResult' representing whether it takes the parameter value from each layer successfully, and a ' structure GetLayerPar' which depends on value of the SrcLayer to be a parameter corresponding to each layer. The SrcLayer becomes l' if the layer to which the parameter value is delivered is the application layer, ' 2' if it is the network layer, ' 3' if it is the data link layer, and ' 4^* if it is the physical layer.

The PMLResult becomes PAR_OK(1) if it takes the parameter value from each layer successfully, and PAR_FAILD (0) if it does not. The GetLayerPar becomes a ' RptALPar' if it is the application layer, a ' RptNLPar' if it is the network layer, a ' RptDLLPar' if it is the data link layer, and a ' RptPHYPar' if it is the physical layer.

A parameter ' const unit ParTimeOut' is used in the parameter management layer, and represents a time (ms) for which it waits to receive the RptALPar (or RptNLPar, RptDLLPar, RptPHYPar) after delivering the GetALPar (or GetNLPar, GetDLLPar, GetHPYPar) to each layer.

If the parameter management layer is delivered with the primitive SerPar from the network management sublayer, it delivers the primitive SetALPar, SetNLPar, SetDLLPar or SetPHYPAr to layers stated in the primitive and each layer neglect all parameters of bit value ' l' in the primitive delivered (for example: OxFF, OxFFFF).

Further, if the parameter management layer is delivered with the primitive GetPar from the network management sublayer, it delivers GetALPar, GetNLPar, GetDLLPar, and GetPHYPar to layers stated in the primitive. If it receives RptAlpar, RptNLPar, RptDLLPar or PptPHYPar from each layer, it delivers PARResult value as PAR_OK to the network management sublayer. If the primitive is not delivered from each layer within a time of ParTimeOut, it delivers a value of PARResult as PAR_FAILD to the network management sublayer.

The network management sublayer provides functions of medium parameter management, network construction, environment setting, and network operational management for setting node parameters in distinct devices, and if there is a request from the application software and the master device, it may establish or read following parameter value in corresponding layer through the parameter management layer.

For example, it may establish or read parameter value of AddressResult, NP_Alivelnt, SvcTimeOut, and NP_BufferSize in a case of the application layer, parameter value of NP_LogicalAddress, NP_ClusterCode, NP_HomeCode, and

SendRetries in a case of the network layer, parameter value of MinPktInterval in a case of the data link layer, and parameter value of NP_bps in a case of the physical layer.

In particular, if the slave network management sublayer receives the primitive UserReqRcv including application service of ' service for setting device node parameter' or service for attaining device node parameter from the application layer, it may establish or read parameter value in corresponding layer through the parameter management layer and then deliver the result to the application layer via the primitive UserResSend. The application services for managing the parameter corresponding to each layer are as follows.

For example, there are a service SetOption, a service SetAliveTiem, a service SetClock, and a service GetBufferSize in a case of the application layer, there are a service

SetTemAddress, a service SetAddress, and a service GetAddress in a case of the network layer, there is no corresponding service in a case of the data link layer, and there is a service SetSpeed in a case of the physical layer. The network management sublayer provides network management functions such as LnCP network construction, environment setting, and network operation management. General network management functions operates on the application layer in the master device, and a part of function of synchronizing the network information operates on the application layer of the slave device during a plurality of management periods for the network.

An interface with the application layer has 2 types of an interface with the application layer in the slave device and an interface with the application layer in the master device. The primitives UserReqRcv and UserResSend are used as the interface with the application layer in the slave device, , and the primitives UserRes, UserDLReq, UserULReq, UserRes, UserEventRcv and ALCompleted are used as the interface with the application layer in the master device.

The method of configuring devices on the living network control system according to the present invention may be divided into 2 types in accordance with network connecting method of the appliance. For example, one type may be applied to a home automation machine of simple function such as a switch or a sensor module irrespective of kinds of the transmission medium as shown in FIG. 10, or the other may be applied to a case of using dependent transmission medium through the LnCP adaptor, as shown in FIG. 11.

It is preferable to interface between the home appliance and the LnCP adaptor in the LnCP network using an asynchronous serial transmission technology such as UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver and transmitter) or RS-232. The appliances with a single function have following device combination in the LnCP network.

First, the appliance with only one slave device, i.e., lighting machine has only one slave device to be controlled from the network manager as shown in FIG. 12, and the appliance having one master device and one slave device, i.e., air conditioner has the master device programmed to control a window and so on at the start time of operation, and the slave device to be controlled from the network manager.

As shown in FIG. 14, among the appliances with one master device and one slave device, the appliance having network management functions to be implemented, i.e., television has the master device with network management function to manage another appliances in accordance with user' s input, and the slave device to be controlled from another network manager.

The appliance with multiple functions can be configured using device combination for single function in LnCP network as follows. For example, it is possible to implement two or more device combinations for single function within product with multiple functions separately, by regarding the product with multiple functions as two or more products with single function having each function, as shown in FIG. 15.

For example, in the multiple-product OTR (Over The Range) of combined electronic range and hood, device combinations for two products with single function corresponding to electronic range and hood can be implemented separately within the appliance.

Further, only device combination for one single function product can be implemented within the product with multiple functions by regarding one function of the multiple- product as expansion into other function, as shown in FIG. 16. For example, combined drying and laundry machine for both drying and washing can be regarded as the laundry machine in a concept of expansion to allow message sets of the laundry machine to contain drying function. Meanwhile, FIG. 17 shows layer structures in a LnCP protocol according to another embodiment of the present invention. The layer structures in the LnCP protocol have four-layer structures of a physical layer, a data link layer, a network layer, and an application layer. The application layer includes an application sublayer for managing a network management function and a device information object, and the data link layer includes a homecode control sublayer.

Further, the physical layer provides a physical interface between the devices and a function for transmitting/receiving physical signal such as bits to be transferred, and transmission medium in which the data link layer is non- standardized, such as RS-485 and low output RF, and wire/wireless transmission medium which is standardized, such as power line communication, Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, ZigBee can be used as the physical layer. The LnCp adapter can use a separate physical layer so as to implement the physical layer of the device in the LnCP network.

Further, the data link layer provides a function of medium access control (MAC) for using shared transmission medium. The LnCP network can use probabilistic delayed carrier sense multiple access (p-DCSMA) as the medium access control (MAC) protocol and send/receive the service to/from the network via datalink layer-service access point (DL-SAP) , if the data link layer uses the non-standardized transmission medium.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 17, the homecode control sublayer provides a function for setting, managing and processing the homecode to discriminate the separate network logically, when the LnCP network is configured using non- independent transmission medium such as the power line communication or IEEE 802.11, ZigBee, or low output RF. It is preferable that the home code control sublayer is not implemented if the separate networks are physically divided by independent transmission medium such as RS-485.

The network layer provides functions for managing addresses of the household appliance or controlling transmission/reception to ensure reliable network connection between the devices, and sends/receives the service to/from the application layer via the network layer-service access point (NL-SAP) .

Meanwhile, the application sublayer is included in the application layer and provides network management function and device information object. The network management function provides a parameter management function for setting the node parameter and a function for constructing and managing the network, and the device information object provides functions for receiving and managing device information from the device and sending a response to requests related to it.

Further, the application layer provides a function for controlling transmission/reception for performing application software service and a flow control function for download and upload services, defines a message set for managing the network or controlling and monitoring the household appliance, and sends/receives the service to/from the application software via the application layer-service access point (AL- SAP) . The application software performs its own unique function of the household appliance and exchanges data with the application layer via the interface defined in the application layer. The parameter management plane can set or read parameters used in each layer in accordance with requests of network management function within the application layer.

FIG. 18 shows an embodiment of LnCP full device configured with one device including the communication module, and FIG. 19 shows an embodiment in which LnCp L2C device (LnCP Layer 2 Complementary Device) and LnCP L2 adaptor (LnCP Layer 2 Adaptor) are combined and the communication module is configured separately from the LnCp L2C device. The LnCP L2C device is responsible for functions above the network layer and the LnCP L2 adaptor is responsible for functions under the data link layer, in which a L2 interface between the device and the adaptor is defined individually in accordance with the adaptor. Further, FIG. 20 shows an embodiment in which LnCP L4C Device (LnCP Layer 4 Complementary Device) and LnCP L4 adaptor (LnCP Layer 4 Adaptor) are combined and the communication module is configured separately from the LnCP L4C device. The LnCP L4C device is responsible for functions above the application layer and the LnCP L4 adaptor is responsible for functions under the network layer including the application sublayer. In this case, a L4 interface between the device and the adaptor is defined individually in accordance with the adaptor and it is desirable to interface between the device and the adaptor using the asynchronous serial communication technology such as UART or RS-232.

The network control protocol device and the network connection method according to the present invention can provide users with convenience in remote-controlling and monitoring, and enable users to configure and manage more efficiently each device in the network.

As describe above, while the present invention has been disclosed for the purpose of illustration with reference to the aforementioned preferred embodiment, more various appliances can be connected to a living network according to the present invention, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing embodiment can be improved, modified, substituted or added in a variety of ways without departing from the technical spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

C LAI M S

1. A network connection method of a network control protocol device with multiple layer structures comprising: connecting a device unit to an adaptor unit; and connecting the adaptor unit to a network: wherein the adaptor unit is configured with more than one layer structure of the multiple layer structures in the network control protocol device and the device unit is configured with remaining layer structures except the layer structures configured in the adaptor unit.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising interfacing between the adaptor unit and the device unit using asynchronous serial communication technology.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the multiple layer structures comprises a physical layer, a data link layer, a network layer, an application layer.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the multiple layer structures further comprises a network management plane.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the adaptor unit necessarily comprises a physical layer.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the adaptor unit comprises at least one of the data link layer and the network layer.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the data link layer further comprises a homecode control sublayer.

8. A network control protocol device with multiple layer structures comprising: an adaptor unit configured with more than one layer structure of the multiple layer structures for communicating with a network; a device unit configured with remaining layer structures except the layer structures configured in the adaptor unit; and an interface unit for which the adaptor unit and the device unit communicate with each other.

9. The network control protocol device of Claim 8 , wherein the multiple layer structures comprises a physical layer, a data link layer, a network layer, an application layer.

10. The network control protocol device of Claim 9, wherein the multiple layer structures further comprises a network management plane .

11. The network control protocol device of Claim 8, wherein the more than one layer structure configured in the adaptor unit necessarily comprises the physical layer.

12. The network control protocol device of Claim 11, wherein the adaptor unit configured with the physical layer further comprises at least one of the data link layer and the network layer.

13. The network control protocol device of Claim 12, wherein the data link layer further comprises a homecode control sublayer.

14. The network control protocol device of Claim 8, wherein the interface unit interfaces using asynchronous serial communication technology.