Echelon Corporation

Racal Data Communications Inc.

Chin-Chen Lee

Howard W Johnson

Amy O Hurlbut

Philip H Sutterlin

Martin H Graham

A power line communication (PLC) apparatus wherein a carrier is derived to avoid determinable interference harmonics. In order to transmit data on a power line containing the television interference or other determinable interference harmonics, the present invention uses redundant carriers at a frequency between the television interference harmonics. In the preferred embodiment, the first carrier is positioned at 118 KHz and the redundant carrier is positioned at 133.7 KHz for the PLC apparatus designed for use in the United States. Other carrier frequencies are used for other countries in order to avoid interference harmonics at a slightly different frequency. The present invention includes a waveshaping and modulation circuit for generating the modulated data waveform for output over the power line. In the preferred embodiment, the waveshaping and modulation circuit includes a waveshape ROM for storing samples that represent the appearance of the carrier waveshape. Once the appropriate waveshape is selected from the waveshape ROM, the 256 discrete points of the waveshape are clocked out an interface line to a DAC, a filter, an amplifier and on to a PLC coupling network for isolating and coupling the signal onto the power line. On the receive side, receive filters are used to separate the received data from determinable interference harmonics. These filters comprise four matched filters, two for each channel. These filters operate in cooperation with the waveshaping and modulation circuitry in order to capture the signals modulated between determinable interference harmonics such as television interference harmonics.

Power line communication while avoiding determinable interference

In a power line communication apparatus, data is redundantly transmitted on a first and a second carrier where the carriers are separated by a predetermined number of Hz. In the receiver two channels are used, one for each of the carriers. The noise level in each channel is independently determined. A switching network is used to allow the selection of the channel with the lesser noise or if the noise is approximately equal in both channels, the signals in the channels are combined.

Reconstruction of signals using redundant channels

A power line communication (PLC) apparatus wherein transmission mode information is encoded into each data packet while maintaining immunity from single bit errors. In the present invention, a power line communication system includes a transmitter/receiver (i.e. transceiver) which is coupled to a power distribution network. Data is transmitted through the power line by the transceiver in packets. The transceiver includes a preamble generator which creates a preamble for each of the data packets and a preamble decoder that decodes the preamble of a data packet and determines word sync for the packet. The preamble generated by the preamble generator consists of a carrier detect interval, a carrier sync interval, a bit sync interval, and a word sync pattern. The transceiver may select either BPSK or QPSK transmission modes on a data packet by data packet basis by encoding information into the packet preamble. Transmission mode information is encoded into the preamble using one of two seven-bit cross compatible word sync patterns for each data packet. Thus, one word sync pattern is used to define a BPSK transmission while the other word sync pattern is used to define a QPSK transmission. The transmitter may send data packets using either BPSK or QPSK on a packet by packet basis by generating the appropriate word sync pattern for each packet. The receiver uses the word sync pattern to determine the receive mode for each packet.

Transmission mode detection in a modulated communication system

An improvement in an apparatus which uses a carrier detection threshold level for detecting a carrier signal modulated with binary data. The threshold level is dynamically changed and generally seeks a level above the background noise. The threshold level is maintained constant when the detected signal exceeds the threshold level. An evaluation circuit is able to examine the detected signal to determine whether it contains data or only noise, and if it contains only noise, a possible trapped condition is avoided by raising the threshold level to a level higher than the background noise.

Adaptive carrier detection

In a power line communications apparatus an improvement for blanking or snubbing impulse noise. The impulse noise is detected and used to snub the detected signal. The duration of the snubbing pulses is controlled to assure complete blanking of noise including the trailing noise signals following a main noise pulse which may not otherwise be detectable. Also, the number of snubbing pulses which can occur are limited to prevent too much energy from being snubbed during any given baud period.

Apparatus and method for reducing errors in data caused by noise

A switched-capacitor analog-to-digital converter implements a conversion scheme involving execution of an algorithmic technique of successive-approximation comprising a number of iterations dependent upon the conversion resolution desired. The algorithm used requires analog processing to produce an output voltage that is two times the output voltage resolved to realize the previous bit. The 'times two' function is realized by adding the voltage of the last iteration to itself (i.e., V+V=2V). This is accomplished by storing the output voltage resolved into the previous bit and separately storing a voltage corresponding to that voltage. Both stored voltages are then transferred to an integrator circuit which adds the two voltages and produces the output voltage to be resolved into the next bit.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Chin-Chen Lee