Patent ID: 11925149
Assignee: RAIN BIRD CORPORATION
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  G  H | IPC A  G  H

Claim 14:
15. An irrigation control unit for use with irrigation devices connected to a multi-wire path in an irrigation system comprising:
a modulator configured to provide an output power signal modulated with data;
a multi-wire interface coupled to the modulator and configured to electrically couple to the multi-wire path extending into a landscape and to which the irrigation devices are connected, the irrigation devices each having a unique address and configured to derive operational power from the output power signal and demodulate the data; and
a control circuit coupled to the modulator and configured to execute an automated device discovery process configured to cause the modulator to modulate the data comprising a discovery message on the output power signal, the discovery message indicating a portion of an address to match and prompting a response from one or more of the irrigation devices in which a corresponding portion of the unique address matches the portion of the address to match,
wherein the discovery message comprises a first data portion and a second data portion, wherein the first data portion corresponds to the portion of the address to match and the second data portion corresponds to feedback periods of time for each of one or more of the irrigation devices to respond, and
wherein the first data portion defines a first set of address bits to match and a position of the first set of address bits in the address, and wherein the second data portion defines a set of feedback periods of time, each feedback period of time corresponding to a second set of address bits and a position of the second set of address bits in the address.