Abstract:
A wireless network transmission system using a power line communication (PLC), which can connect at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) network by using a UWB relay and support communication between different UWB networks. The wireless network transmission system using a PLC includes: a first pico-net including at least one device generating a UWB data signal; a UWB relay unit transforming the UWB data signal into a PLC data signal; and a power line unit mechanically connecting the first pico-net and a second pico-net, and transmitting the transformed PLC data signal to the second pico-net.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0020031, filed on Mar. 2, 2006, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a wireless network transmission system using power line communication (PLC), and more particularly, to a wireless network transmission system which can connect at least one ultra-wideband (UWB) network by using a UWB relay to support communication between different UWB networks. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Since the 1960s, applications for UWB technology has been continuously researched and developed for military use, e.g. in the fields of radar, image identification of an underground facility, security, and the like, and from the 1990s, the application of UWB technology for communication use has started to develop. Currently, the UWB communication is a technology that can provide approximately 480 Mbps of wireless transmission speed under the 802.15.3a and 802.15.3b standards of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 
         [0006]    Since UWB communication supports communication only among devices within a pico-net and does not support multi-hop, data transmission in the UWB communication is not provided between different UWB networks. Also, since communication only between devices within an identical pico-net, i.e. the same UWB network, is possible, a data transmission distance is short and a communication coverage is narrow. 
         [0007]    Also, in a conventional art, there is a communication system between a data server connected by using a power line communication (PLC) and a wireless device, however, the communication system is not a communication system between UWB networks, only a communication system having a PLC and a UWB network, which may not be a solution for communication between wireless devices. An embodiment of the UWB network system according to the conventional art is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a diagram briefly illustrating a configuration of a general UWB network system. 
         [0009]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , each of pico-nets  110  and  120  includes at least a UWB device  111 ,  112 ,  113 ,  121 ,  122 , and  123  having a UWB chip, and communication between devices included in an identical pico-net may be accomplished. However, as described above, in the UWB network system according to the conventional art, communication between devices, e.g. between  111  and  121 , included in a pico-net which has a different identifier, is not possible. 
         [0010]    Therefore, in order to solve the above described problem of the multi-hop, a wireless network transmission system which can transmit a UWB signal using a power line communication and broaden a range of a UWB network by minimizing an occurrence of a shadow area when connecting more than one UWB network, is earnestly required. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0011]    The present invention provides a wireless network transmission system which can support communication between pico-nets using a high speed PLC. 
         [0012]    The present invention also provides a wireless network transmission system which can solve a problem of a multi-hop, i.e., not capable of communication between different UWB pico-nets, by using a UWB relay. 
         [0013]    The present invention also provides a wireless network transmission system using a PLC which can transmit a UWB data signal wherever existing power lines are connected, without an additional wire. 
         [0014]    The present invention also provides a wireless network transmission system which can minimize an occurrence of a shadow area when networking using a wireless signal. 
         [0015]    The present invention also provides a wireless network transmission system which can broaden a range of a UWB network by using a high speed PLC. 
         [0016]    According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wireless network transmission system including: a first pico-net including at least one device generating a UWB data signal; a UWB relay unit transforming the UWB data signal into a PLC data signal; and a power line unit mechanically connecting the first pico-net and a second pico-net, and transmitting the transformed PLC data signal to the second pico-net. 
         [0017]    According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a UWB relay of a wireless network transmission system including: an antenna unit transmitting/receiving a UWB data signal transmitted from at least one device included in a first pico-net; a signal transformation unit transforming the UWB data signal into a PLC data signal; a UWB module unit identifying a pico-net identifier of the UWB data signal, and routing the UWB data signal according to the pico-net identifier; and a high speed PLC modem unit multiplexing the transformed PLC data signal to transmit to a power line unit. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0018]    The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
           [0019]      FIG. 1  is a diagram briefly illustrating a configuration of a general UWB network system; 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wireless network transmission system using a PLC for communication between UWB pico-nets adopting the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the UWB relay unit in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a data transmitting method of the wireless network transmission system using the PLC in  FIGS. 2 and 3 ; 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a data receiving method of the wireless network transmission system using the PLC in  FIGS. 2 and 3 ; and 
           [0024]      FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an actual application example of a wireless network transmission system using a PLC. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       [0025]    Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures. 
         [0026]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wireless network transmission system using a high speed PLC for communication between UWB pico-nets adopting the present invention; 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , the wireless network transmission system using a high speed PLC includes at least one pico-net  250 ,  260 , and  270 , a UWB relay unit  220 ,  230 , and  240 , and an existing power line unit  210 . 
         [0028]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , each of the at least one pico-net  250 ,  260 , and  270  of the wireless network transmission system respectively includes UWB devices  251 ,  252 ,  253 ,  261 ,  262 ,  263 ,  271 ,  272  and  273 , and may be identified by a typical pico-net identifier. 
         [0029]    In order to transmit a UWB data signal generated from a first pico-net  250  to a second pico-net  260 , the existing power line unit  210  connects the first pico-net  250  to the second pico-net  260 . In order to transmit through the power line unit  210  of the UWB data signal, the UWB relay units  220 ,  230 , and  240  transform the UWB data signal into a PLC data signal, route the UWB data signal according to the pico-net identifier and transmit the transformed PLC data signal. As described above, the transformed PLC data signal is transmitted to the second pico-net  260  through the power line unit  210 . 
         [0030]    Hereinafter, a detailed configuration of a UWB relay unit will be described with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
         [0031]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the UWB relay units  220 ,  230 , and  240  in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , the UWB relay unit  320  includes a PLC modem unit  321 , a signal transformation unit  322 , a UWB module unit  323 , and an antenna unit  330 . 
         [0033]    The antenna unit  330  transmits/receives a UWB radio frequency (RF) signal between devices included in an identical pico-net to a device within the UWB relay unit  320 . 
         [0034]    The UWB module unit  323  transmits/receives data regarding a wireless communication module function for executing communication according to a UWB communication protocol and a destination address of transmitting/receiving data. 
         [0035]    The signal transformation unit  322  transforms a signal between a UWB data signal and a PLC data signal. Specifically, the signal transformation unit  322  transforms a format of the UWB data signal into a format of the PLC data signal, and the transformed PLC data signal is transmitted to a different pico-net through the power line unit  210  to the high speed PLC modem unit  321 . 
         [0036]    By referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , transmitting/receiving operations of the wireless network transmission system using the high speed PLC according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
         [0037]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a data transmitting method of the wireless network transmission system using the PLC in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . 
         [0038]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , the data transmitting method of the wireless network transmission system using the high speed PLC according to the present invention will be illustrated in detail as below. 
         [0039]    In operation S 410 , a UWB data signal is generated in a device included in a first pico-net to be transmitted to a device included in a second pico-net. 
         [0040]    In operation S 420 , the generated UWB data signal is transmitted through the antenna unit  330  to the UWB module unit  323  of the UWB relay unit  320 . 
         [0041]    In operation S 430 , the UWB module unit  323  identifies a pico-net identifier of the UWB data signal, and when the pico-net identifier is identical to the pico-net identifier of the identifying UWB module unit  323 , i.e. the pico-net identifier of the pico-net where the UWB relay unit  320  is currently located, in operation S 440 , the UWB module unit  323  determines the UWB data signal is a communication between devices within an identical pico-net. Also, in operation S 430 , when the pico-net identifier of the UWB data signal is not identical to the pico-net identifier of the pico-net where the UWB relay unit  320  is currently located, operation S 450  is subsequently performed. 
         [0042]    In the operation S 450 , the UWB module unit  323  relays the UWB data signal to the signal transformation unit  322 . The signal transformation unit  322  transforms the UWB data signal into a PLC data signal and transmits the transformed PLC data signal to the high speed PLC modem unit  321 . The high speed PLC modem unit  321  transmits the transformed PLC data signal through the power line unit  210  to a different pico-net. 
         [0043]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a data receiving method of the wireless network transmission system using the PLC in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . 
         [0044]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , a receiving operation of a wireless network transmission system using the high speed PLC according to the present invention will be described in detail below. 
         [0045]    In operation S 510 , the high speed PLC modem unit  321  receives the PLC data signal from the power line unit  210 . 
         [0046]    In operation S 520 , the PLC modem unit  321  identifies a pico-net identifier of the PLC data signal, and when the pico-net identifier is not identical to a the pico-net identifier of the identifying UWB module unit  323 , i.e. a pico-net identifier of a pico-net where the UWB relay unit  320  is currently located, the received PLC data signal is discarded in operation S 540 . 
         [0047]    Also, when the pico-net identifier of the PLC data signal is identical to the pico-net identifier of the identifying UWB module unit  323  in operation S 520 , the PLC modem unit  321  transmits data to the signal transformation unit  322  in operation S 530 . Also in operation S 530 , the signal transformation unit  322  transforms the PLC data signal into a UWB data signal to transmit the transformed PLC data signal to the UWB module unit  323 . In operation S 550 , when the UWB module unit  323  receives the UWB data signal, transformed from the PLC data signal in the signal transformation unit  322 , the UWB module unit  323  identifies a destination address of the UWB data signal and transmits the transformed data signal, through the antenna unit  324 , to a destination device corresponding to the destination address. 
         [0048]      FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an actual application example of a wireless network transmission system using a PLC. 
         [0049]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , data communication between pico-nets in the conventional UWB network in  FIG. 1  is not possible, however, in the wireless network transmission system using the high speed PLC according to the present invention, i.e., data communication is possible between a set-top box  652  included in a first pico-net and a TV  632 , a home theater  642 , and a speaker  622  in separate pico-nets. 
         [0050]    As mentioned above, the conventional wireless communication has the problem of a shadow area, conversely according to the present invention, the problem may not occur wherever additional PLC relays  620 ,  630 ,  640 , and  650 , are able to be established. 
         [0051]    Also, the UWB communication is a short distance communication, so that a communication coverage is comparatively narrower and a deterioration of communication effectiveness may occur while passing through an obstacle in the UWB communication, conversely a distance limitation of the UWB network may be overcome according to the present invention. Namely, the set-top box  652  is able to be connected with the TV  632 , the home theater  642 , and the speaker  622 , despite the fact they are relatively far from each other, therefore an application range of a UWB communication network may be increased. 
         [0052]    According the present invention, there is provided a wireless network transmission system which can support communication between pico-nets using a high speed PLC. 
         [0053]    According the present invention, there is provided a wireless network transmission system which can solve a problem of a multi-hop, i.e., not capable of communication between different UWB pico-nets, by using a UWB relay. 
         [0054]    According the present invention, there is provided a wireless network transmission system using a PLC which can transmit a UWB data signal wherever existing power lines are connected, without an additional wire. 
         [0055]    According the present invention, there is provided a wireless network transmission system which can minimize an occurrence of a shadow area when networking using a wireless signal. 
         [0056]    According the present invention, there is provided a wireless network transmission system which can broaden a range of a UWB network by using a high speed PLC. 
         [0057]    Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments. Instead, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.