# US 8,787,404 B2 · Event-based keep alive times in communication networks

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- Number: US 8,787,404 B2
- Document ID: US8787404B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/473,323
- Filed: 2012-05-16
- Published: 2012-11-29
- Granted: 2014-07-22
- Earliest claimed: 2011-05-26
- Assignees: Texas Instruments Incorporated
- Applicants: Kumaran Vijayasankar; Ramanuja Vedantham; Xiaolin Lu
- Inventors: Kumaran Vijayasankar; Ramanuja Vedantham; Xiaolin Lu
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8787404B2

## CPC

- H04L 47/28: in relation to timing considerations
- H04L 43/10: Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
- H02J 13/13: characterised by the transmission of data to equipment in the power network
- H04L 43/0811: by checking connectivity
- H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
- H04L 69/28: Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
- H04W 84/18: Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
- Y02E 60/00: Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
- Y04S 40/00: Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them
- Y04S 40/12: characterised by data transport means between the monitoring, controlling or managing units and monitored, controlled or operated electrical equipment
- Y04S 40/18: Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y04S: SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS

## Abstract

A method of communicating in a network having a plurality of nodes including a base node (BN), and a plurality of service nodes (SNs) having at least one switch node (SW) and at least one terminal node (TN). The method includes at least one of a) a first SN from the plurality of SNs receiving (i) a data/ALV_B/ACK frame from the BN or (ii) a beacon from the BN or SW, and restarting a first KA timer at the first SN upon (i) or (ii), and b) restarting an ALV_S timer at the BN for the first SN upon receiving a data/ALV_S/ACK frame from the first SN.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of communicating in a network having a plurality of nodes including a base node (BN) and a plurality of service nodes (SNs) including at least one switch node (SW) and at least one terminal node (TN), comprising:
restarting an ALV_S timer at said BN for said first SN upon receiving a data/ALV_S/ACK frame from said first SN;
setting a Keep Alive KA timeout (KA_TO) value for said first KA timer by transmitting an Alive ALV.TIME field in an ALV_B frame, wherein said KA_TO value is set by said BN using an implementation specific algorithm, and wherein said BN uses an ALV_B timer to track a last sent data frame or said ALV_B frame to said first SN to ensure said BN sends at least some frames to said first SN during each time interval defined by said KA_TO value.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein said network utilizes Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signaling.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein said communications comprise powerline communications.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein said communications comprise wireless communications.

### Claim 5

A method of communicating in a network having a plurality of nodes including a base node (BN) and a plurality of service nodes (SNs) including at least one switch node (SW) and at least one terminal node (TN), comprising:
a first SN from said plurality of SNs receiving (i) a data /ALV_B/ACK frame from said BN or (ii) a beacon from said BN or said SW and restarting a first Keep Alive (KA) timer at said first SN node upon said (i) or said (ii); and
setting a KA timeout (KA_TO) value for said first KA timer by transmitting an Alive ALV.TIME field in an ALV_B frame, wherein said KA_TO value is set by said BN using an implementation specific algorithm, and wherein said BN uses an ALV_B timer to track a last sent data frame or said ALV_B frame to said first SN to ensure said BN sends at least some frames to said first SN during each time interval defined by said KA_TO value.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein said communications comprise powerline communications.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein said communications comprise wireless communications.

### Claim 8

A method of communicating in a network having a plurality of nodes including a base node (BN) and a plurality of service nodes (SNs) including at least one switch node (SW) and at least one terminal node (TN), comprising:
a first SN from said plurality of SNs receiving (i) a data /ALV_B/ACK frame from said BN or (ii) a beacon from said BN or said SW and restarting a first Keep Alive (KA) timer at said first SN node upon said (i) or said (ii); and
restarting an Alive ALV_S timer at said BN for said first SN upon receiving a data/ ALV_S/ACK frame from said first SN; and
setting a KA timeout (KA_TO) value for said first KA timer by transmitting an ALV.TIME field in an ALV_B frame, wherein said KA_TO value is set by said BN using an implementation specific algorithm, and wherein said BN uses an ALV_B timer to track a last sent data frame or said ALV_B frame to said first SN to ensure said BN sends at least some frames to said first SN during each time interval defined by said KA_TO value.

### Claim 9 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein said network utilizes Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signaling.

### Claim 10

A modem, comprising:
a processor implementing a Keep Alive (KA) timer communicably coupled to a non-transitory memory having stored instructions for implementing a KA loss reduction algorithm at a first node in a network having a plurality of nodes including a base node (BN), and a plurality of service nodes (SNs) having at least one switch node (SW) and at least one terminal node (TN), that, when executed, cause said processor to:
when said modem is at a first SN from said plurality of SNs, restarting a first Keep Alive (KA) timer at said first SN node upon said first SN node receiving (i) a data /ALV_B/ACK frame from said BN or (ii) a beacon from said BN or said SW and
when said modem is at said BN, restarting an ALV_S timer at said BN for said first SN upon receiving a data/ ALV_S/ACK frame from said first SN; and
setting a KA timeout (KA_TO) value for said first KA timer by transmitting an ALV.TIME field in an ALV_B frame, wherein said KA_TO value is set by said BN using an implementation specific algorithm, and wherein said BN uses an ALV_B timer to track a last sent data frame or said ALV_B frame to said first SN to ensure said BN sends at least some frames to said first SN during each time interval defined by said KA_TO value.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The modem of claim 10, wherein said modem is formed on an integrated circuit (IC) comprising a substrate having a semiconductor surface, and wherein said processor comprises a digital signal processor (DSP).

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The modem of claim 10, wherein said modem comprises a powerline modem.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The modem of claim 10, wherein said modem comprises a wireless modem.

### Claim 14

A communications device, comprising:
a modem, comprising:
a processor implementing a Keep Alive (KA) timer communicably coupled to a non-transitory memory having stored instructions for implementing a KA loss reduction algorithm at a first node in a network having a plurality of nodes including a base node (BN), and a plurality of service nodes (SNs) having at least one switch node (SW) and at least one terminal node (TN), that, when executed, cause said processor to:
when said modem is at a first SN from said plurality of SNs, restarting a first Keep Alive (KA) timer at said first SN node upon said first SN node receiving (i) a data /ALV_B/ACK frame from said BN or (ii) a beacon from said BN or said SW and
when said modem is at said BN, restarting an ALV_S timer at said BN for said first SN upon receiving a data/ ALV_S/ACK frame from said first SN;
setting a KA timeout (KA_TO) value for said first KA timer by transmitting an ALV.TIME field in an ALV_B frame, wherein said KA_TO value is set by said BN using an implementation specific algorithm, and wherein said BN uses an ALV_B timer to track a last sent data frame or said ALV_B frame to said first SN to ensure said BN sends at least some frames to said first SN during each time interval defined by said KA_TO value; and
a transceiver communicably coupled to said modem.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The communications device of claim 14, wherein said modem and said non-transitory memory are formed on an integrated circuit (IC) comprising a substrate having a semiconductor surface, and wherein said processor comprises a digital signal processor (DSP).

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The communications device of claim 14, wherein said modem comprises a powerline modem and said transceiver comprises a powerline transceiver.

### Claim 17 (depends on 14)

The communications device of claim 14, wherein said modem comprises a wireless modem and said transceiver comprises a wireless.