Field of the invention The present invention relates to network apparatus configured to form a network of operative devices in a building and a method of operating such network apparatus.

Background to the invention

There is an increasing need to save power in electronic equipment, particularly in digital home networks. Power consumption targets are at times driven by regulations and/or industry bodies, which have formed initiatives such as Energy Star and the European Union Code of Conduct. Power saving is also driven by the market pull of environmentally 'green' products. In general, saving power not only reduces running costs but also prolongs component lifetime.

In home electronic networks, such as multi-media entertainment networks, the challenge is to save power in networks that see varying levels of use while maintaining a desired level of reliability and performance. One of the most promising periods for power saving is when a device is not being used. Typically, such a device will remain in an unused state for a significant period of time. At present, many devices are put into and brought out of a standby condition by human action, e.g. by pressing a standby button. Alternatively, a device is put into a standby condition by application of a timeout process that turns off the device after the elapse of a predetermined period of time from last use and is brought back into use by resumption of use of the device. In home networks, power

management commands for a specific device can normally be entered by a user on a host interface rather at the device itself. In certain home networks, a network node may notify the network controller that the network node is entering a standby state and when the network node will leave the standby state. The network controller stores network data while the network node is in standby and transmits the network data to the network node when the network node leaves the standby state.

The present inventors have become appreciative of shortcomings of such conventional approaches to power saving management when applied to networked operative devices.

Therefore it is an object for the present invention to provide improved network apparatus configured to form a network of operative devices in a building having an already installed communications medium, which, in use of the network apparatus, provides for communication of data between operative devices.

Statement of invention According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided

Network apparatus configured to form a network of operative devices in a building having an already installed communications medium, which, in use of the network apparatus, provides for communication of data between operative devices, the network apparatus comprising plural network node apparatus, each of the plural network node apparatus comprising:

at least one communications medium connector configured to, in use, connect with the installed communications medium; and

at least one operative device connection, which, in use, connects to an operative device, at least a first of the plural network node apparatus further comprising:

a power saving apparatus that is operative to provide less power to operative parts of at least one of the network node apparatus itself and the operative device to which the network node apparatus is attached during a second operating condition than when in a first operating condition to thereby provide for reduced power consumption in the second operating condition; and

a processor operative to determine at least one quality of service requirement and to change between the first and second conditions in dependence on the determination so as to enable routing of said data in accordance with said quality of service requirement, while minimising power consumption of said network apparatus. According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method of operating network apparatus that forms a network of operative devices in a building having an already installed communications medium, which provides for communication of data between operative devices, the method comprising for each of plural network node apparatus of the network apparatus:

connecting the network node apparatus to the installed

communications medium with at least one communications medium connector; and

connecting the network node apparatus to an operative device with at least one operative device connection,

the method further comprising for at least a first of the plural network node apparatus:

operating a power saving apparatus to provide less power to operative parts of at least one of the network node apparatus itself and the operative device to which the network node apparatus is connected during a second operating condition than when in a first operating condition to thereby provide for reduced power consumption in the second operating condition; and

operating a processor to determine at least one quality of service requirement and to change between the first and second conditions in dependence on the determination so as to enable routing of said data in accordance with said quality of service requirement, while minimising power consumption of said network apparatus. Features of the further aspect of the present invention may comprise one or more features of the first aspect of the present invention.

Other optional features and aspects of the invention are as described in the appended dependent claims.

Brief description of drawings

Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specific description, which is given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a block diagram representation of a network of operative devices in a building according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a block diagram representation of network node apparatus present in Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 shows a periodic synchronisation signal;

Figure 4A to 4C shows different power saving profiles;

Figure 5 is a finite state machine representation of transitions between operating conditions; and

Figure 6 is a flow chart representation of steps involved in adaptive power management. Figure 1 is a block diagram representation of a network 10 of operative devices in a residential building. The network comprises first 12, second 14, third 16 and fourth 18 nodes. Adjacent pairs of nodes are connected to each other by an already installed communications medium 20, such as mains power wiring, which provides for communication between and amongst a plurality of rooms in the residential building. Thus, for example, each of the first to fourth nodes may be located in a different room of the residential building. Each node comprises a different multi-media device (which constitutes an operative device). The devices may be

heterogeneous as regards their configuration for different applications, e.g. one operative device may be a media player and another operative device may be a storage device. Alternatively or in addition, the operative devices may be for substantially a same application, e.g. media playing, but be heterogeneous as regards their different hardware or firmware configurations, e.g. a general purpose device, such as a PC, configured to play video and a dedicated video player. The network apparatus may comprise at least one operative device. In the example given, the first node 12 comprises a Home Gateway

(HGW), the second node 14 comprises Personal Computer (PC), the third node 16 comprises audio-visual entertainment apparatus and the fourth node 18 comprises Network Attached Storage (NAS). In the network 10 of Figure 1 the first node 12 is configured to operate as a communications controller, the second 14 and third 16 nodes are configured to operate as repeater nodes and the fourth node 18 is configured to operate as a standard network node. A communications controller controls the function of the network to which it belongs. Normally there is only one

communications controller in a network. A standard node provides for communication of data from the branch of the communications medium leading to the node to the branch of Communications medium leading from the node and for communication with the multi-media device connected to the node. A repeater node provides for communication of data from the branch of the communications medium leading to the node to the branch of communications medium leading from the node but provides for no communication with the multi-media device connected to the node, e.g. where the multi-media device is not being used. Referring to Figure 1 , the configuration of the nodes might be such that the HGW connected to the first node is streaming a film from an external source to the network and the NAS connected to the fourth node 18 might be saving the film.

Figure 2 is a block diagram representation of network node apparatus 40 to be found at each of the first to fourth nodes 12, 14, 16, 18 of Figure 1. The network node apparatus 40 comprises a home networking integrated circuit 42 (a GGL541 from Gigle Semiconductors Ltd of Capital House, 2 Festival Square, Edinburgh, EH3 9SU, UK) provided within an appropriate enclosure. The home networking integrated circuit 42 comprises a processor 44 and processor memory 46. The processor 44 is operative to control a Dual IEEE 802.3 Medium Access Controller (MAC), which in turn operates with each of a GMII/MII interface 48 and a Mil interface 50. The enclosure containing the home networking integrated circuit 42 also contains a first Ethernet socket (not shown), which is in electrical communication with the GMII/MII interface 48, and a second Ethernet socket (not shown), which is in electrical communication with the Mil interface 50. Each of the first and second Ethernet sockets constitutes an operative device connection. The home networking integrated circuit 42 further comprises a HomePlug ® AV Medium Access Controller (MAC) 52, which is operative under the control of the processor 44 to provide for communication of data via first analogue interface circuitry 54 over mains power wiring 56. The first analogue interface circuitry 54 comprises a transceiver (e.g a serial data transceiver), signal conditioning and support circuitry. The first analogue interface circuitry 54 constitutes a

communications medium connector. In addition, the home networking integrated circuit 42 comprises a mediaxtream™ Medium Access

Controller (MAC) 58, which is operative under the control of the processor 44 to provide for communication of data via second analogue interface circuitry 60 over mains power wiring 56, co-axial cable 62 and phone line 64. The second analogue interface circuitry 60 comprises a transceiver for each of the three communications media, signal conditioning and support circuitry. The second analogue interface circuitry 60 constitutes a communications medium connector. Network node apparatus that is capable of using two or more different communications media is described in detail in WO 2008/142450. In alternative forms, the communications media comprises wireless and optical in addition to or instead of the communications media shown in Figure 2 and described above.

The network node apparatus is made and sold separately to the multimedia device to which it is to be connected. In this form, the network node apparatus connects to the multi-media device through a direct point to point host connection such as Ethernet and using one of the Ethernet sockets described above. In another form, the network node apparatus is embedded within the multi-media device such that the network node apparatus is made and sold with the multi-media device. In this other form, communication between the network node apparatus and the multi- media device is by means of a chip to chip host connection, such as xMII (i.e. Mill, RMII, GMII, RGMII, etc) or one of the family of PCI interfaces (i.e. PCI, miniPCI, PCIe, etc).

The network node apparatus 40 at each of the first to fourth nodes in the network 10 of Figure 1 is configured to provide for operation with a multi- media device and for communication of data to and from other network node apparatus. As mentioned above, each network node apparatus 40 can be configured to function as a communications controller, a repeater node or a standard network node. Such configuration is provided by firmware resident in each network node apparatus 40. The HomePlug® AV White Paper (HomePlug® Powerline Alliance, Inc., 5200 SW

Macadam Avenue, Suite 470, Portland, Oregon 97239 USA) provides details of the system architecture of network node apparatus. The

HomePlug® 1.0 Technology White Paper provides details of HomePlug® standards as regards the physical and higher layers and the

communications data packet frame formats (HomePlug® Powerline Alliance, Inc.). Each network node apparatus 40 stores data relating to other network node apparatus in the network 10. More specifically, the stored data comprises: identification of the other network node apparatus in the network; the Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of the other network node apparatus in the network; the roles (e.g. communications controller, standard network node or a repeater node) of the other network node apparatus in the network; routing tables for the other network node apparatus in the network; and bridging tables for the other network node apparatus in the network. Having network node apparatus that has data relating to other network node apparatus in a network provides for a decrease in a transition from the second to the first operating condition to thereby reduce the likelihood of degradation in a quality of service provided by operative devices connected to the network.

The configuration and operation of a network 10 comprising network node apparatus 40 as regards power saving will now be described with reference to Figure 3. Each network node apparatus 40 comprises power saving apparatus (not shown), which is operative to bring one or more of the following power saving measures into effect: a) Turn off the power supply (i.e. gating the power supply) to one of more of parts of the analogue and digital circuitry on a selective basis, e.g. the microprocessor, the logic subsystem, the memory subsystem, the analogue/digital front end and components external to the home networking integrated circuit 42, such as the Ethernet transceiver and LEDs provided to indicate the status of the network node apparatus. b) Reduce the power supply voltage to analogue or digital parts of the network node apparatus (i.e. voltage scaling), e.g. reduce the power supply voltage to the microprocessor from 1.6 volts to 1.2 volts.

c) Reduce the clock frequency (i.e. clock de-rating) of digital circuitry, e.g. single clocking the microprocessor and other such digital circuitry instead of double clocking, or clock-gate such circuitry.

d) Hold digital circuits in reset.

e) Put analogue circuitry in the home networking integrated circuit 42 and external to the home networking integrated circuit 42 into a tri-state condition.

f) Modify the biasing voltage of analogue components in the home networking integrated circuit 42 and external to the home networking integrated circuit 42.

g) Modify the accuracy or frequency of operation of analogue circuitry in the home networking integrated circuit 42 and external to the home networking integrated circuit 42.

The design of such power saving apparatus will be readily within the ordinary design capability of the skilled person. The power saving apparatus is under the control of the processor 44 of the home networking integrated circuit 42. Thus, the network node apparatus 40 has an active mode (which constitutes a first operating condition) in which the electrical circuits of the network node apparatus are all provided with electrical power and at least one standby mode (which constitutes a second operating condition) in which reduced or substantially no electrical power is provided to the transceivers. A first standby mode might be where electrical power is provided to the transceiver of the first analogue interface circuitry 54 and substantially no power is provided to the transceivers of the second analogue interface circuitry 60. A second standby mode might be where substantially no electrical power is provided to the transceivers of the first and second analogue interface circuitry 54, 60. Power may be reduced in respect of different combinations of operative parts depending on which power saving approach is being followed;

different power saving approaches may, for example, provide for different extents of power saving or different levels of latency. For example, a communication node may be operable to reduce or increase its, and/or another node's power consumption by switching off or on parts of the hardware according to the required throughput level. Therefore, if the node is required to transmit or receive data in a link at 1000 Mbps throughput, then it will consume more power (because it will have more parts "on" and/or the same parts will be "on" for longer) than if the node is require to transmit or receive only at 200 Mbps in that link.

In general, the network is configured such that such a particular QoS requirement is associated with a certain type of traffic or application, and this association (by way of a look-up table, for example) is made known to all nodes during configuration of the device. This configuration may be made by the user or, more generally, by the vendor of the device.

For example such a look-up table may provide priorities and QoS requirement values for latency that are associated with particular applications. By way of a specific example, for Voice over IP (VoIP) traffic, it is known that the latency must be less than 10ms while the throughput requirement is very small. Therefore, one power saving method for this type of application may be to switch on the communication node periodically more often than every 10ms, but only for a short period of time, as this is all that is required to send the small information packet (the voice data). This can be configured by default in the firmware of the modem, in which case no feedback from the receiver is required. Instead, the transmitter of the data detects that the type of data is VoIP and then acts according to how it is configured. As an alternative, an application could configure in real time the transmitter according to its own particular requirements.

Particularly important QoS requirements are latency (both one way latency -the maximum delay acceptable before arrival at destination and round way latency), jitter (the maximum variation in delay between several consecutives transmissions of the data) and throughput (or bandwidth) required (minimum speed that must be provided).

A specific way by which a network node apparatus 40 operates in a standby mode, with electrical power being periodically provided to the transceiver to provide for reception and transmission of data over the communications medium will now be described. Figure 3 provides a representation of when power is periodically provided to the transceiver. As can be seen from Figure 3 a timing cycle is defined by a series of nine time slots 78, with electrical power being provided to the transceiver of each network node apparatus in the network during at least the first time slot but during fewer than all of the time slots to thereby provide for a reduction in power consumption. The communications controller 12 transmits a synchronisation pulse 80 once every tinning cycle during the first time slot 78 and the transmitted synchronisation pulse 80 is received by all the other network apparatus in the network 10. Transmission and reception of the synchronisation pulse 80 provides for time consistent cooperation between and amongst the network node apparatus in the network 10. Having all the network node apparatus capable of receiving data during at least one of the time slots when in the standby condition provides for, amongst other things, the transmission of management messages and the change of one or more network node apparatus in the network from the standby mode to the active mode without manual intervention.

As mentioned above, electrical power is provided to the transceiver of each network node apparatus in the network during at least the first time slot but during fewer than all of the time slots. Figures 4A to 4C show three different standby modes. The different standby modes provide for different levels of latency and bandwidth with different levels of reduced power consumption. According to Figure 4A electrical power is provided to the transceiver during the first time slot, when the synchronisation pulse 80 is transmitted, and during every even time slot 84. According to Figure 4B electrical power is provided to the transceiver during the first time slot, when the synchronisation pulse 80 is transmitted, and during the second and sixth time slots 86. According to Figure 4C electrical power is provided to the transceiver during the first time slot, when the

synchronisation pulse 80 is transmitted, and during the second time slot only 88. Each network node apparatus 40 in the network 10 may be in a different standby mode. For example in the network configuration shown in Figure 1 the second node 14 may be operating in accordance with Figure 4A such that the second node 14 is capable of receiving network management messages at a frequent rate. Also, the third node 16 may be operating in accordance with Figure 4C such that the second node 14 is capable of receiving network management messages at a much reduced rate. Each network node apparatus 40 stores details of the active or standby configuration of the other network node apparatus in the network. Furthermore, each network node apparatus 40 may be changed amongst the standby modes shown in Figures 4A to 4C. As described above, the network node apparatus 40 is changed amongst the different standby modes either by manual operation or in response to receipt of a command from another network node apparatus.

By way of another example, the power saving apparatus may change the node apparatus amongst the normal mode, a first standby mode and a second standby mode with the first standby mode constituting an intermediate level of operation from which the network node apparatus is more readily changed to the normal mode than from the third operating condition. A more ready change of the network node apparatus to the normal mode may provide for improved quality of service, e.g. to return the network node apparatus to full operation within a limited period of time as might be required by the like of Voice over Internet (VoI) where latency is normally important. Furthermore having two or more operating conditions in which less power is provided to operative parts can provide for different levels of quality of service. For example, the normal mode may be appropriate for dealing with, e.g. transmitting or playing, a movie, the first standby mode may be appropriate for transmission of management commands and the second standby mode may be appropriate for monitoring for transmissions from another network node apparatus.

The finite state machine 70 of Figure 5 shows two possible operating conditions for a particular network node apparatus according to a further embodiment of the invention, namely the active mode 72 and the idle or standby mode 74. The network node apparatus changes from the active mode 72 to the idle mode 74 in dependence on a determination of a characteristic of the data received by the network node apparatus from the communications medium. More specifically, the processor of the network node apparatus compares an amount of data received by the network node apparatus during a period of time with a first predetermined level, e.g. a packet of data of 100 bytes. The first predetermined level is set by an operator of the network apparatus. If the amount of data received is above the first predetermined level the network node apparatus remains in the active mode 72. If the amount of data received is below the first predetermined level the network node apparatus changes 76 from the active mode 72 to the idle mode 74. The network node apparatus also changes from the active mode 72 to the idle mode 74 in response to receipt of certain commands from another network node apparatus in the network. More specifically, the processor determines the nature of a received command and the network node apparatus is operative to change mode in dependence on the determination. For example, if the received command is a network management message or an ARP then no change is effected. On the other hand, if the received command is an explicit power down command the network node apparatus changes mode. Discrimination between commands that require a change in mode and commands that will effect no change in mode are contained in a look up table along with their respective responses, be they change mode or ignore. The network node apparatus can also change from the active mode 72 to the idle mode 74 in response to an operator control, e.g. by actuation of an operator switch on the network node apparatus.

The network node apparatus also changes 78 from the idle mode 74 to the active mode 72 in dependence on a determination of a characteristic of the data received by the network node apparatus from the Communications medium during the brief period when the transceiver is operative. More specifically, the processor of the network node apparatus compares an amount of data received by the network node apparatus during a period of time with a second predetermined level. The second predetermined level is set by an operator of the network apparatus and may be different to the first predetermined level. If the amount of data received is below the second predetermined level the network node apparatus remains in the idle mode 74. If the amount of data received is above the second predetermined level the network node apparatus changes 76 from the idle mode 74 to the active mode 72. The network node apparatus also changes from the idle mode 74 to the active mode 72 in response to receipt of certain commands from another network node apparatus in the network in the same fashion as for a change from the active to the idle mode as described above. The network node apparatus can also change from the idle mode 74 to the active mode 72 in response to an operator control.

A further example means by which the network node apparatus 40 is changed amongst the different standby modes will now be described with reference to Figure 5. This is a flowchart 100 which represents an adaptive power management process. As a first step 102, the

communications controller 12 transmits an initiating packet of data (which constitutes adaptive data) over the communications medium; the packet having the form of a MPDU (MAC Protocol Data Unit) comprising a preamble and a special frame control. Next the receiving node, e.g. the first node 12, transmits an acknowledgement packet (which constitutes acknowledgement data) 104 to the communications controller 12 in response to receipt of the initiating packet. On dependence of the contents of the packet, the receiving node changes from one standby mode to another, e.g. from the mode shown in Figure 4C to the mode shown in Figure 4A. Thus, the initiating packet is used to schedule in advance periods of time when data may be received by the receiving node. Data can then be transmitted to the receiving node in the scheduled time slots. When data transmission is complete the controller transmits a termination packet (which constitutes termination data) 108. Upon receipt of the termination packet the receiving node sends an acknowledgement packet to the communications controller 110 and the receiving node returns to its original standby mode, e.g. the mode shown in Figure 4C.

As a consequence of the methods described herein, it can be seen that a modem/node is able to configure its own power saving behaviour according to the throughput (or other QoS metric) required by the application. In a particular illustrative example, the node is initially configured such that it knows, or can detect the channel capacity, which may be 100 Mbps. It is also configured such that it knows, or can detect the throughput required for a particular application, for example 22 Mbps of throughput for streaming video. As a consequence, when streaming video, it may choose to connect to the channel only 22% of the time, so the rest of the time it remains "off. This could be achieved using the slot configuration of Figure 4B. As an alternative, it may configure itself to stay connected to the channel but to stream at only 22 Mbps. As mentioned previously, this may be achieved by reducing the clock frequency, so that the internal CPU will runs slower (but fast enough to achieve the required 22Mbps throughput), or by switching off parts of the hardware, where such parts are only required when a high speed is needed. In the latter case, while the required throughput is that required at the application level, it will be appreciated that it has an equivalent physical layer throughput. The topology of the network 10 shown in Figure 1 can be changed, for example by the addition of a fifth (un-illustrated) node next to the third node 16. On being booted up the network node apparatus 40 of the fifth node is operative to listen for the synchronisation pulse 80. However, no synchronisation pulse 80 is received by the network node apparatus 40 of the fifth node because the network node apparatus 40 of the third node 16 is in a standby mode. As a result, the network node apparatus 40 of the fifth node transmits a WAKE packet (which constitutes wake data) with a period such that the time when the WAKE packet is transmitted is bound to overlap with a period when the other network node apparatus is operative to receive data during their standby modes. Upon reception of the WAKE packet, the other network node apparatus change from their standby modes to the active mode. Thereafter all the network node apparatus carry out a registration process whereby all the network node apparatus are aware of each other. This process reduces the likelihood of the fifth node becoming a second communications controller in the network 10.

The preceding embodiments are provided by way of example only and other variations and embodiments will be apparent to the skilled person without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.