Abstract:
Disclosed is a method for generating a house code (HC) in a home network based on a living network control protocol (LnCP), in which a (HC) having a small capacity is generated by using a region separation code and a household separation code and the generated HC is provided to each household. To this end, in the home network generating a HC for dividing each household and providing the generated HC to each household, the method comprises the steps of: generating a portion of the HC as region separation codes for dividing into plural regions; and generating another portion of the HC as household separation codes for providing to each household of the plural regions.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a home network based on a living network control protocol (LnCP), and particularly, to a method for generating a house code (HC) provided to each household to divide the households in a home network.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Background Art  
           [0004]    A home network based on a living network control protocol (LnCP) and using power line communication (PLC) connects various kinds of digital domestic appliances such as a digital television, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a washing machine, an electronic microwave, and etc. to one another through a power line which supplies electricity and makes the digital domestic appliances control each operation by transmitting predetermined data through the power line.  
           [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a construction of the home network based on LnCP.  
           [0006]    As shown in FIG. 1, the home network comprises: various digital domestic appliances  110  each household  100  uses such as a digital television, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a washing machine, an electronic microwave, and etc.; and a modem  120  connected to the plurality of digital domestic appliances  110  and having a preset HC for relaying data communication of the plurality of digital domestic appliances  110  by using the preset HC. A reference numeral  200  denotes a network manager installed at a management center, and a reference numeral  300  denotes a power line for supplying electricity to various kinds of electronic appliances including the plurality of digital domestic appliances  100 .  
           [0007]    In the modem  120  of the respective households  100 , a same HC is preset and stored, and different house codes are provided to each household  100 .  
           [0008]    The network manager  200  and the modem  120  are connected to each other through the power line  300 , the network manager  200  and the digital domestic appliances  110  perform data communication by the PLC through the power line  300  and the modem  120 , and the digital domestic appliances  110  perform data communication one another through the modem  120  and the power line  300 .  
           [0009]    For example, in case that the network manager  200  transmits a data to a digital domestic appliance  110  installed at a household  100 , the home network constructs a data frame in advance. The data frame will be explained with reference to FIG. 2.  
           [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 are examples showing a data frame form of a PLC medium.  
           [0011]    As shown in FIG. 2, the data frame includes a frame header composed of a header and a HC; a body having operation orders of the digital domestic appliances  110  and composed of a LnCP packet; a number of total bits; and a frame trailer composed of a cyclic redundancy checking (CRC) code and a code indicating an end of a frame.  
           [0012]    If the data frame is constructed, the network manager  200  transmits the constructed data frame through the power line  300  by the PLC, and the transmitted data frame is received by the modem  120  connected to the digital domestic appliances  110  of each household  100 .  
           [0013]    The modem  120  which received the data frame extracts a HC from the frame header of the data frame and determines whether the extracted HC is consistent with a HC preset to itself or not. As a result of the determination, if so, the modem  120  transmits the received data frame to the digital domestic appliance  110  connected to itself. The digital domestic appliance  110  extracts the LnCP packet of the body from the received data frame and determines whether a predetermined order is given to itself or not. If the order is given to itself, the digital domestic appliance performs operations by the predetermined order, and if the order is not given to itself, the digital domestic appliance ignores the order.  
           [0014]    In the meantime, in case that a predetermined data which will be transmitted to the network manager  200  by the digital domestic appliance  110  exists, the data is transmitted to the modem  120  and the modem  120  constructs a frame data with a predetermined data inputted from the digital domestic appliance  110  and the preset HC. The constructed frame data is transmitted to the network manager  200  through the power line  300 .  
           [0015]    Also, the digital domestic appliances  110  in each household  110  can control mutual operations by transmitting predetermined data one another. For example, a user can control operations of a boiler, an electronic microwave, a washing machine, and etc. which are far away from a digital television with watching the digital television.  
           [0016]    In the home network which controls operations of the digital domestic appliances  110  by transmitting predetermined data one another by the PLC on the basis of the LnCP, the HC is provided to each household  100  with a capacity of 4 bytes as a unique value for the households  100 . The HC is designated for the households  100 , stored at a header portion of all transmitted lower medium access control (MAC) frame, and continuously used.  
           [0017]    However, the conventional HC is not necessary in sending and receiving of data which control operations of the digital domestic appliances  110 , and the more a capacity of the HC increases, the more a thought put of the data decreases.  
           [0018]    Also, so as to apply the HC to nations such as China where many households exist and a number of households is increased, a capacity of the HC has to be absolutely increased and the HC has to be changed later. That is, even if the HC is provided to each household with a capacity of 4 bytes currently, a capacity of the HC has a possibility to be increased as 6 to 8 bytes in accordance with the households are increased. If the capacity of the HC becomes 6 to 8 bytes, a part corresponding to 5˜10% of a transmittance frame is consumed by the HC having no relation with operation data of the digital domestic appliances  110 .  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0019]    Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for generating a house code (HC) in a home network, in which a HC having a small capacity (2 bytes) not 4 bytes is provided to a plurality of households without increasing the number of bytes of the HC even if the households are increased limitlessly.  
           [0020]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for generating a HC in a home network based on a LnCP, in which the HC is provided not as a unique value but as a value having a possibility of overlapping between regions, thereby decreasing a capacity of the HC and providing the HC to all households without extending even if the HC is worldwide used in accordance with the HC is normalized.  
           [0021]    To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a method for generating a house code in a home network generating a HC for dividing each household and providing the generated HC to each household, the method comprising the steps of: generating one portion of the HC as region separation codes for separating plural regions; and generating another portion of the HC as household separation codes for providing to each household of the plural regions.  
           [0022]    To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is also provided a method for generating a house code in a home network generating a HC for dividing each household and providing the generated HC to each household, the method comprising the steps of: dividing regions to which the HC will be provided; setting a basic region among the divided plural regions and providing the basic region with a region separation code of the HC; determining an order of divided regions to which the region separation codes of the HC will be provided on the basis of the set basic region; selecting the divided regions one by one by the determined order and providing a region adjacent to the selected region with a region separation code not consistent with already provided region separation codes; and when the one region separation code is provided, providing the respective divided regions with household separation codes of the HC not consistent with one another.  
           [0023]    The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0024]    The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
         [0025]    In the drawings:  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a construction of a home network based on LnCP;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 2 are examples showing a data frame form of a PLC medium;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 3 is a view to explain a method for generating a region separation code and a household separation code at a house code according to the present invention;  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 4 are examples showing a method for providing households in the divided regions with a HC having the region separation code and the household separation code according to the present invention;  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a method for generating a HC according to the present invention; and  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 6 is a view to explain operations for providing region separation codes according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0032]    Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.  
         [0033]    With reference to FIGS.  3  to  6 , will be explained a method for generating a house code in a home network, in which a HC having a small capacity is provided to a plurality of households without increasing the number of bytes of the HC even if the households are increased limitlessly by generating one portion of the HC as region separation codes for separating plural regions and by generating another portion of the HC as household separation codes for providing to each household of the plural regions.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 3 is a view to explain a method for generating a region separation code and a household separation code to a house code according to the present invention.  
         [0035]    As shown in FIG. 3, the HC is set as entire 2 bytes, the upper 3 bits among the HC of 2 bytes are set as region separation codes, and the lower 13 bits are set as household separation codes for providing to households in each region. In the present invention, a capacity of the HC can be set more than 2 bytes.  
         [0036]    A reason why the region separation codes are set as 3 bits is because that 8 (2 3 =8) region separation codes are possible and in case that regions are divided into squares and region separation codes are provided to the divided respective regions, a great number of region separation codes enough to provide adjacent regions with different region separation codes can be obtained.  
         [0037]    If region separation codes corresponding to the respective regions are generated, household separation codes provided to each household are 8,192 (2 13 ), and the household separation codes can be provided to entire households living in one region.  
         [0038]    Hereinafter, a method for providing each household with the HC of 2 bytes having the region separation code and the household separation code will be explained with reference to FIG. 4.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 4 are examples showing a method for providing households in the divided regions with the HC having the region separation code and the household separation code according to the present invention.  
         [0040]    First, the HC is not selected arbitrarily by each household. If one&#39;s home network is registered to a central management center through internet or a telephone, an certification server (not shown) of the central management center generates the HC and the generated HC is provided to each household. Accordingly, the certification server separates the region separation codes differently according to each region, and provides each household in the divided regions with the HC having the region separation code and the household separation code together on the basis of the different region separation codes. At this time, a unique HC value provided to each household can be increased in accordance with that the number of households is increased.  
         [0041]    As shown in FIG. 4, in the present invention, whole households to which the HC will be provided are divided according to regions, and different region separation codes are provided to adjacent regions between one another.  
         [0042]    For example, in case that a region separation code of ‘111’ is provided to a region A, the code 111 is not provided to regions B (000), D (110), and E (101) adjacent to the region A, but provided to a region I far away from the region A. That is, even if the region A and the region I use the same region separation code, a physical interference between each home network is not generated since the region A and the region I are far away each other. According to this, the region separation codes are distributed to each region and a unique household separation code is provided to each household in each region, thereby generating a HC having no interference each other.  
         [0043]    Also, for a region Z where households are dense, the region Z is minutely divided, and region separation codes not consistent with those of adjacent regions D˜K are provided to the divided regions Z 1 ˜Z 9 , thereby providing many house codes to the region Z.  
         [0044]    The certification server has to distribute region separation codes effectively by defining a region having dense households such as the region Z and by allocating the region separation codes.  
         [0045]    Accordingly, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the region separation codes can be supported just with 2 bytes, and in case that a capacity of the HC is increased, the HC can be provided to more households.  
         [0046]    Hereinafter, a method for generating a house code according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 5.  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a method for generating a HC according to the present invention.  
         [0048]    As shown in FIG. 5, the certification server divides regions to which the HC will be provided.  
         [0049]    [0049]FIG. 6 is a view to explain an operation for providing region separation codes according to the present invention.  
         [0050]    As shown in FIG. 6, regions to which the HC will be provided are divided into R 1 ˜R 25  (S 400 ).  
         [0051]    Subsequently, the certification server sets a special region among the regions R 1 ˜R 25  as a basic region. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the divided regions R 1 ˜R 9  adjacent one another are set as basic regions (S 402 ).  
         [0052]    If the basic regions are set, the certification server provides the basic region with a predetermined region separation code. For example, if the divided regions R 1 ˜R 9  are set as basic regions, region separation codes 000, 001, 010, 011, 111, 100, 101, 110, and 000 are provided so as not to be overlapped with one another (S 404 ).  
         [0053]    If it is completed that the region separation codes are provided to the set basic regions, the certification server determines an order of divided regions to which the region separation codes will be provided on the basis of the basic regions. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, an order by which the region separation codes will be provided is determined, in which divided regions R 10 ˜R 12  located right of the regions R 1 ˜R 9  is the first, divided regions R 13 ˜R 15  located below the regions R 1 ˜R 9  is the second, and a divided region R 16  located diagonally with the regions R 1 ˜R 9  is the third. Then, an order by which the region separation codes will be provided is determined, in which divided regions R 17 ˜R 20  located right of the regions R 1 ˜R 9  is the first, divided regions R 21 ˜R 24  located below the regions R 1 ˜R 9  is the second, and a divided region R 25  located diagonally with the regions R 1 ˜R 9  is the third.  
         [0054]    The order by which the region separation codes are provided can be determined by setting one divided region as a basic region first and then by determining an order of the divided regions to which the region separation codes will be provided by a clockwise way or a counterclockwise way on the basis of the basic region (S 406 ).  
         [0055]    If the order to provide the region separation codes is determined, the certification server selects one divided region to which a region separation code will be provided by the determined order (S 408 ), and an operation of ‘exclusive OR’ is performed for divided regions adjacent to the selected one region. For example, divided regions adjacent to the one divided region R 10  are R 3 , R 6 , R 11 , R 17 , and R 18 . At this time, the exclusive OR operation is performed for the divided regions R 3  and R 6  to which region separation codes are provided except the divided regions R 11 , R 17 , and R 18  to which region separation codes are not provided (S 410 ).  
         [0056]    Subsequently, it is determined whether a value obtained by the exclusive OR operation is consistent with region separation codes already provided to the adjacent divided regions or not. If the value is not consistent with the region separation codes already provided to the adjacent divided regions, the value (region separation code) is provided to the divided region. For example, a value 110 obtained by the exclusive OR operation for the divided regions R 3  and R 6  is provided to the divided region R 10  as a region separation code (S 412 , S 414 ).  
         [0057]    If the region separation codes are provided in the said step (S 414 ), the certification server determines whether a provision of the region separation codes is completed or not for all the divided regions (S 416 ). If the provision is not completed, the region separation codes are provided to next divided regions by returning to the said step (S 408 ), which is repeated.  
         [0058]    In the meantime, if a value obtained by the exclusive OR operation is consistent with the region separation codes already provided to the adjacent divided regions, the certification server obtains a new value by operating the first value by the exclusive OR with a sequentially preset value (S 418 ), and then determines whether the new value is consistent with region separation codes already provided to adjacent divided regions in the said step (S 412 ) or not, which is repeated. At this time, if the new value is not consistent with region separation codes already provided to adjacent divided regions, the new value is provided to the divided region as a region separation code (S 414 ), and it is determined whether a provision of the region separation codes is completed or not, which is repeated (S 416 ).  
         [0059]    For example, in case that a region separation code is provided to the divided region R 11 , the region separation codes provided to the divided regions R 3 , R 6 , R 9 , R 10  among the adjacent regions R 3 , R 6 , R 9 , R 10 , R 12 , R 17 , R 18 , and R 19  are obtained by the exclusive OR operation, thereby obtaining a value ‘000’. At this time, since the obtained value 000 is consistent with a region separation code 000 provided to the divided region R 9 , the 000 is operated by the exclusive OR with a sequentially preset value. The sequentially preset values are 111, 001, 010, 100, 101, and 110. That is, the obtained value 000 is operated by the exclusive OR with the first value 111 among the sequentially preset values, thereby obtaining 111. Since the 111 is not consistent with region separation codes provided to the adjacent divided regions R 3 , R 6 , R 9 , and R 10 , the 111 is provided to the divided region R 11  as a region separation code.  
         [0060]    Also, as another example, in case that a region separation code is provided to the divided region R 15 , the region separation codes of the divided regions R 8 , R 9 , R 12 , and R 14  are operated by the exclusive OR, thereby obtaining 000. Since the 000 is consistent with a region separation code provided to the divided region R 9 , the 000 is operated by the exclusive OR with the first value 111 among the sequentially preset values, thereby obtaining 111. At this time, since the obtained 111 is consistent with a region separation code provided to the divided region R 14 , the 000 is again operated by the exclusive OR with the second value 001 among the sequentially preset values, thereby obtaining 110. Herein, since the 110 is also consistent with a region separation code provided to the divided region R 8 , the 110 is again operated by the exclusive OR with the third value 010 among the sequentially preset values, thereby obtaining 100. The 100 is not consistent with region separation codes provided to the adjacent divided regions R 8 , R 9 , R 12 , and R 14 , thereby providing the 100 to the divided region R 15  as a region separation code.  
         [0061]    The certification server provides the plural divided regions with all region separation codes which are not overlapped in adjacent regions. If it is determined that a provision of the region separation codes is completed in the said step (S 416 ), household separation codes of the residual 13 bits are provided to households in the divided regions as unique values not consistent with one another (S 420 ). The provided region separation code and the household separation code are added to constitute one HC.  
         [0062]    Accordingly, users for digital domestic appliances of the respective households obtain own house codes by connecting to the certification server through a telephone to a center management center or internet. The obtained house codes are stored to a modem respectively connected to the digital domestic appliances, thereby controlling operations of the digital domestic appliances through PLC on the basis of the LnCP.  
         [0063]    In the meantime, even if in the present invention, a method for setting the HC as 2 bytes, providing 3 bits among the 2 bytes as region separation codes, and providing the residual 13 bits as household separation codes is explained, the present invention is not limited to the method. That is, in the present invention, it is possible to modify the method into various methods in which the number of the bytes of the HC and the number of the bits of the region separation code and the household separation code can be increased or decreased if necessary. Also, in setting the region separation code, a preset region separation code is operated by the exclusive OR with the sequentially preset values and if the obtained value is not consistent with region separation codes provided to the adjacent divided regions, the obtained value is provided as a region separation code. However, in the present invention, a region separation code can be obtained by another methods besides the exclusive OR operation.  
         [0064]    Also, the HC having a small capacity can effectively divide a large number of households in township, dong, and ri which divide an administrative district.  
         [0065]    As aforementioned, in the present invention, so as to provide the HC to each household in a home network based on LnCP, an area is divided into plural regions, adjacent divided regions among the plural divided regions are provided different region separation codes, and a household separation code is provided to the divided region as a unique value, thereby decreasing a capacity of the HC. That is, whereas a capacity of the HC was 4 bytes in the conventional art, in the present invention, a capacity of the HC is 2 bytes, resulting in providing to much more households than the conventional art.  
         [0066]    Also, in the present invention, a transmission efficiency of data can be increased by decreasing a capacity of the HC.  
         [0067]    Also, in the present invention, even if the number of the households is increased, the HC is provided to all households by dividing regions without increasing a capacity of the HC, thereby solving a problem of expandability.  
         [0068]    As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.