Powerline network flood control restriction
AssigneeIntellon Corporation
InventorsStanley J. Kostoff, II, William E. Earnshaw
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A transmit process that limits the time during which a reduced network bandwidth exists between two powerline nodes because a receiving node fails to respond to frame transmission attempts by a transmitting node is described. The transmit process restricts the number of retries that occur in a lower date rate transmission mode and, for a predetermined time period to follow, drops all subsequent frames destined for the non-responding node.
Claims14
In a network of nodes, each node having a transmitter and a receiver, a method of operating a transmitter in a node comprises:
- transmitting, in at least one transmission attempt, a frame over a shared channel to a receiver in another node, the frame being of the type for which a response is expected;
- determining if no response is received from the receiver;
- discarding the frame;
- and
- discarding any subsequent frames destined for the receiver without any transmission attempt for a predetermined time interval.
A computer program residing on a computer-readable medium for operating a transmitter in a node in a network of nodes each having a transmitter and a receiver, the computer program comprising instructions causing a computer to:
- transmit, in at least one transmission attempt, a frame over a shared channel to a receiver in another node, the frame being of the type for which a response is expected;
- determine if no response is received from the receiver;
- discard the frame;
- and
- discard any subsequent frames destined for the receiver without any transmission attempt for a predetermined time interval.
In a network of nodes, each node having a transmitter and a receiver, a transmitter in a node comprising:
- means for transmitting, in at least one transmission attempt, a frame over a shared channel to a receiver in another node, the frame being of the type for which a response is expected;
- means for determining if no response is received from the receiver;
- means for discarding the frame;
- and
- means for discarding any subsequent frames destined for the receiver without any transmission attempt for a predetermined time interval.
A media access control device for use in nodes in a powerline network, comprising:
- a transmitter for transmitting frames onto the powerline network;
- a control block coupled to the transmitter, the control block including a timer and a table for associating nodes on the powerline network with control information, the control information including a flag to indicate that the timer is running;
- wherein the transmitter is operable to transmit, in at least one transmission attempt, a frame over a shared channel to a receiver in another node, the frame being of the type for which a response is expected;
- wherein the transmitter is operable to set the timer and flag associated with the node in which the receiver resides if the frame is to be discarded for lack of a response from the receiver;
- and
- wherein the transmitter is operable to determine from the flag if a subsequent frame destined for the receiver is to be discarded without any transmission attempt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.