Patent Description:
The present disclosure relates to the field of communication, and in particular, to a signal transmission method, a signal transmission system, a signal transmission device, a storage medium, and an electronic device.

A communication network used by air conditioning units in the related art is formed by connecting an indoor unit and an outdoor unit through communication lines. Air conditioners are everywhere, and the use of a large number of air conditioners is accompanied by the use of a large number of communication lines. Especially multi-connected air conditioning unit system has characteristics of large number of air conditioners, scattered or concealed installation positions, etc. Therefore, the communication network of existing multi connected air conditioning unit has high engineering installation costs and difficulties, poor communication lines and difficulty in troubleshooting, etc. Since a power line network used for power supply has been ubiquitous. Therefore, the air conditioning units is connected to the power line network through the power line used for power supply, the communication lines and its engineering installation are saved, and the phenomenon of poor communication lines is eliminated. However, the existing power line carrier communication technology adopts two-wire differential transmission, and if units in the air conditioning units which are communicating to each other are connected with wires of different phase sequences (for example, the inner unit is connected to wires L1 and N, whereas the outer unit is connected to wires L2 and N), communication failure will be caused.

For the above problem, no effective solution has been proposed.

PCT application with publication number <CIT> discloses a power line communication device that performs communication by superimposing a high-frequency signal on two power lines of the three-phase power lines. A power line communication device includes: a communication modem for performing communication by superimposing a high-frequency signal on two power lines of the three-phase power lines; means for successively connecting the communication modem to the three-phase power lines under a plurality of circuit connection conditions for connecting the communication modem to the three-phase power lines; means for performing communication at least twice in each connection condition; and means for setting a connection in two power lines of the three-phase power lines under the circuit connection condition in which the number of reception detections is the greatest.

<CIT> discloses a power line carrier communications system transformer bridge/repeater for receiving on a power line communications network a series of original message bit streams generated by a transmitting module and for relaying on the power line communications network corresponding relayed message bit streams to receiving modules.

The present invention is defined by the attached independent claims. Other preferred embodiments may be found in the dependent claims. The present application discloses a signal transmission method comprising: determining data to be transmitted by a unit in air conditioning unitg (S102);transmitting, by the unit, the data to be transmitted to other units through a designated power line in multiphase power lines, wherein the designated power line is any power line in the multiphase power lines (S104) , and the designated power line is a power line shared by all units in the air conditioning units;determining, by the unit, that designated data transmitted by a designated unit is not received within a preset time; and receiving, by the unit, the designated data through at least one unit of other units than the designated unit. Furthermore the present application discloses a signal transmission device comprising:a first determination module (<NUM>) configured to determine data to be transmitted;a transmission module (<NUM>) configured to transmit the data to be transmitted to other units through a designated power line in multiphase power lines, wherein the designated power line is any power line in the multiphase power lines, and the designated power line is a power line shared by all units in the air conditioning units;a second determination module configured to determine that the designated data transmitted by the designated unit is not received within a preset time; anda receiving module configured to receive the designated data through at least one unit of other units than the designated unit.

The drawings described here are used to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure and constitute a part of this disclosure. The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and their descriptions are used to explain the present disclosure, and do not constitute an improper limitation of the present disclosure. In the drawings:.

In order to make the technical solutions of the present disclosure better understood by those skilled in the art, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only some, instead of all, of the embodiments of the present disclosure. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in the present disclosure without making creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of the present disclosure and in the foregoing drawings are used for distinguishing similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or precedence order. It should be understood that the data used in this way is able to be interchanged under appropriate circumstances so that the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein is able to be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. Moreover, the terms "comprise, " and "have" and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, for example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but comprises other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a signal transmission method. It should be noted that the steps illustrated in the flow diagram of the drawing are performed, for example, in a computer system of a set of computer executable instructions, and that while a logical order is illustrated in the flow diagram, in some cases, the steps illustrated or described are performed in an order different than here.

<FIG> is a schematic flow diagram of a signal transmission method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in <FIG>, the method comprises the following steps: S102-S104.

In step S102, a unit in air conditioning units determines data to be transmitted.

In step S104, the unit transmits the data to be transmitted to other units through a designated power line in multiphase power lines, wherein the designated power line is any power line in the multiphase power lines, and the designated power line is a power line shared by all units in the air conditioning units.

In the above steps, a mode that all units in the air conditioning units share one power line in the multi-phase power lines and the shared power line is used for signal transmission is adopted, that is, communication in the air conditioning units is established through a single power line, so that all units realize normal communication without being connected to identical phase lines, thereby reducing the requirement on the topological structure of the power lines, and further solving the technical problem of communication failure caused by an application of different phase lines among the units of an air conditioner in power line carrier communication in the related art.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the designated power line is a live wire, a naught wire, or a ground wire, but is not limited thereto. To achieve the purpose of simplifying installation, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the designated power line is a naught wire.

It should be noted that, the signal attenuation is larger during single-line transmission, and a unit will not receive data sent by other units that are far away from the unit possibly. Therefore, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further comprises: the unit determines that designated data transmitted by a designated unit is not received within preset time; and the unit receives the designated data through at least one unit of other units than the designated unit. That is, the at least one unit of the other units is used as a relay, and the designated data is acquired from the relay.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the unit receiving the designated data through at least one unit of other units than the designated unit comprises: the unit sends an agent request to the at least one unit; and the unit receives the designated data sent by the at least one unit, wherein the designated data sent by the at least one unit is the designated data received by the at least one unit from the designated unit through the designated power line.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the designated unit comprises an outdoor unit in the air conditioning units.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the unit in the air conditioning units comprises: a motherboard controller, wherein the motherboard controller comprises an air conditioner control unit and a power line carrier communication module which are communicated through a serial port. Thus, the above step S104 comprises: the air conditioner control unit in the unit sends data to be sent (the data to be transmitted) to the power line carrier communication module in the unit through the serial port, and the power line carrier communication module in the unit processes(such as processes optimized coding and modulation) data received from the air conditioner control unit to create processed data, so that the processed data is more suitable for single-line transmission, the power line carrier communication module in the unit couples the processed data to a designated power line (communication line), and power line carrier communication modules in other units receive the processed data through the designated power line, and perform corresponding processing (such as demodulation and decoding) to create decoded data, and transmit the decoded data to the air conditioner control units in the other units through the serial port.

It should be noted that, in order to ensure the reliability of communication, firstly, an error-correctable encoding should be used and a modulation method suitable for the channel (communication line) is adopted, and secondly, a corresponding verification measure should also be adopted at an application layer. In a case that an environmental noise is large, the signal-to-noise ratio is increased by increasing the transmitting power; or under the condition of ensuring the requirement of the lowest communication speed, the communication speed is reduced to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. In some embodiments, the above methods are used together to increase the reliability of communication.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure further provides a signal transmission system, comprising: air conditioning units and multiphase power lines, wherein the air conditioning units comprises at least two units, each of the at least two units is connected with at least two power lines in the multiphase power lines, and the at least two units share one power line in the multiphase power lines, and the at least two units transmit signal to each other through the shared power line.

In the above embodiments of signal transmission system, a mode that all units in the air conditioning units share one power line in the multi-phase power lines and the shared power line is used for signal transmission is adopted, that is, communication in the air conditioning units is established through a single power line, so that all units realize normal communication without being connected to identical phase lines, thereby reducing the requirement on the topological structure of the power lines, and further solving the technical problem of communication failure caused by an application of different phase lines among the units of an air conditioner in power line carrier communication in the related art.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the shared power line is a live wire, a naught wire, or a ground wire, but is not limited thereto. To achieve the purpose of simplifying installation, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the shared power line is a naught wire.

It should be noted that, the signal attenuation is larger during single-line transmission, and a unit will not receive data sent by other units that are far away from the unit possibly. Therefore, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, in a case that the air conditioning units comprises at least three units, a first designated unit of the at least three units receives a signal sent by a second designated unit of the at least three units through the shared power line and/or acquires a signal sent by the second designated unit through a third designated unit of the at least three units; or the first designated unit receives a signal sent by the second designated unit through the shared power line and acquires a signal sent by the second designated unit <NUM> through the third designated unit.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the second designated unit is an outdoor unit in air conditioning units, and the first designated unit and the third designated unit are indoor units in the air conditioning units, but are not limited thereto.

The following describes the structure of the system, taking as examples that some units in the air conditioning units are outdoor units and some units are indoor units.

<FIG> a wiring schematic diagram of air conditioning units based on a single-line transmission of power line carrier communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in <FIG>, the air conditioning units comprises an outdoor unit <NUM> and two indoor units <NUM>, wherein the outdoor unit <NUM> is connected to power lines L1 and N (naught wire), the two indoor units <NUM> are connected to power lines L2 and N, and thus the outdoor unit <NUM> and the two indoor units <NUM> are all connected to N, and N is used as a communication line for communication between the outdoor unit <NUM> and the two indoor units <NUM>. N in the embodiments corresponds to the shared power line in the above embodiments.

The embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a signal transmission device. In some embodiments, the signal transmission device is installed in a unit in the air conditioning units. <FIG> is a block diagram of a structure of a signal transmission device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, and as shown in <FIG>, the device comprises: a first determination module <NUM> and a transmission module <NUM>.

The first determination module <NUM> is configured to determine data to be transmitted;.

The transmission module <NUM> is connected to the first determination module <NUM>, and configured to transmit the data to be transmitted to other units through a designated power line in multiphase power lines, wherein the designated power line is any power line in the multiphase power lines, and the designated power line is a power line shared by all units in the air conditioning units.

In the above device, a mode that all units in the air conditioning units share one power line in the multi-phase power lines and the shared power line is used for signal transmission is adopted, that is, communication in the air conditioning units is established through a single power line, so that all units realize normal communication without being connected to identical phase lines, thereby reducing the requirement on the topological structure of the power lines, and further solving the technical problem of communication failure caused by an application of different phase lines among the units of an air conditioner in power line carrier communication in the related art.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, designated power line is a live wire, a naught wire, or a ground wire, but is not limited thereto. To achieve the purpose of simplifying installation, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the designated power line is a naught wire.

In some embodiments, the device further comprises: a second determination module configured to determine that the designated data transmitted by the designated unit is not received within preset time; and a receiving module configured to receive the designated data through at least one unit of other units than the designated unit.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the device further comprises: a sending module configured to transmit an agent request to the at least one unit. The receiving module is configured to receive the designated data sent by the at least one unit, wherein the designated data sent by the at least one unit is the designated data received by the at least one unit from the designated unit through the designated power line.

For a better understanding of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is further explained below in conjunction with some embodiments.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provides a method for establishing communication between air conditioning units through a single power line carrier. In some embodiments, any of a Live wire, a naught wire and a ground wire is used as a communication line.

As shown in <FIG>, the air conditioning units adopts single-line PLC communication, and the indoor unit and the outdoor unit normally communicate without being connected to identical phase lines (L1, L2, L3) in a case the indoor unit and the outdoor unit are connected to a power supply network. In <FIG>, a neutral wire is taken as a communication line, and practical applications comprise, but are not limited to, a neutral wire is used for communication.

<FIG> is a structural diagram of communication control of air conditioning units based on a single-line transmission of power line communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in <FIG>, an implementation of an air conditioning main control board <NUM> in the air conditioning units coupling data to be transmitted to a power supply power line network <NUM> and parsing communication data from the power supply power line network <NUM> through a power line <NUM> is completed by an air conditioning control module <NUM> in cooperation with a power line carrier communication module <NUM> in the air conditioning units, wherein the air conditioning control module <NUM> and the power line carrier communication module <NUM> perform data interaction with each other through serial communication <NUM>.

The disclosure provides some embodiments of an application of the power line carrier communication (PLC) technology based on single-line transmission in a communication network of air conditioning units. The mechanism involved is as follows.

The communication lines of the air conditioning units are power lines. At least one line of the power lines shared by all units is ensured. As all the units need to be connected to the naught wire, it is recommended to perform signal transmission through the naught wire to achieve the purpose of simple and convenient installation.

An air conditioning control module of the air conditioning units sends data to be transmitted to the power line carrier communication module through the serial port, and the power line carrier communication module conducts optimized coding and modulation on the data to enable the data to be more suitable for a single-line transmission channel and then couples the data to a communication line. The power line carrier communication modules of other devices conduct demodulation and decoding after receiving the data through the communication line to create decoded data, and then send the decoded data to the air conditioning control modules of the air conditioning units through the serial port to be processed.

During transmission, an signal attenuation of the single-line transmission is large, and an indoor unit which is far away will not receive data of an outdoor unit, and the indoor unit which can't receive the data of the outdoor unit sends an agent request to surrounding indoor units. After receiving the agent request, an surrounding inner unit which is able to receive the data of the outer unit confirms and serves as a relay of the inner unit which is far away in the subsequent transmission.

Firstly, an error-correctable encoding should be used and a modulation method suitable for the channel (communication line) is adopted, and secondly, a corresponding verification measure should also be adopted at an application layer. In a case that an environmental noise is large, the signal-to-noise ratio is increased by increasing the transmitting power; or under the condition of ensuring the requirement of the lowest communication speed, the communication speed is reduced to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. In some embodiments, the above methods are used together to increase the reliability of communication.

The above embodiments solve the problem of communication failure caused by the application of different phase lines among the units, in a case of an application of power line carrier communication (PLC) on the air conditioning units network, which reduces the requirements on the topological structure of the power line, and simplifies the installation.

The above embodiment of the present disclosure also achieves the following technical effects: communication lines are saved; during installation, the phase of a power line does not need to be concerned; a new solution is provided for the Power Line Communication (PLC) technology in the communication of air conditioning units, and also provides feasibility for the communication network to realize non-engineering installation, handle poor contact and the like.

Claim 1:
A signal transmission method comprising:
determining data to be transmitted by a unit in air conditioning units(S102);
transmitting, by the unit, the data to be transmitted to other units through a designated power line in multiphase power lines, wherein the designated power line is any power line in the multiphase power lines (S104), and the designated power line is a power line shared by all units in the air conditioning units characterised by:
determining, by the unit, that designated data transmitted by a designated unit is not received within a preset time; and
receiving, by the unit, the designated data through at least one unit of other units than the designated unit.