Patent ID: 8711711
Filing Date: 2014-04-29
Classification: G01R,H04B,H04L,Y04S

Abstract:
1. A communication network in a building, the network comprising: a power bus; a data bus; a first transmitter for sending a first modulated signal along the data bus; a second transmitter for sending a second modulated signal along the power bus; at least one sensing device coupled to the power bus and the data bus, the at least one sensing device configured to sense data associated with at least one building condition or status; a data processing module that is connected to the power bus and the data bus, the data processing module being configured to receive and process the data received from the at least one sensing device; an error determination apparatus spatially separated from the first transmitter and the second transmitter and that is coupled to the data bus and the power bus, the bus error determination apparatus being configured to receive the first modulated signal and the second modulated signal, analyze the first modulated signal and second modulated signal, and determine whether an intermittent fault has occurred on the data bus or the power bus based upon the analysis and not based upon any reflection of the first modulated signal on the data bus or reflection of the second modulated signal on the power bus, wherein the analysis compares the received first modulated signal to a first expected data pattern and the received second modulated signal to a second data expected pattern.