Method and device for commissioning of nodes of a network

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for commissioning of nodes of a network. The method comprises the steps of (S10) receiving, at a first node (30a) of the network, at least one indication message including identification information of a second node (30b) of the network; (S20) receiving, at the first node (30a), parameter information indicating a parameter sensed with at least one parameter sensor associated with the first node (30a); (S30) determining whether the at least one indication message and the parameter information temporarily correlate; and (S40), if a correlation is determined, adding correlation information about the second node (30b) to a register table of the first node (30a).

Claims

1. Method for commissioning of nodes of a network, comprising: receiving, at a first node of the network, at least one indication message including identification information of a second node of the network; receiving, at the first node, parameter information indicating a parameter sensed with at least one parameter sensor associated with the first node; determining whether the at least one indication message and the parameter information temporarily correlate with one another; and if a correlation is determined, adding correlation information about the second node (30b) to a register table of the first node wherein the register table is a table of neighbors of the first node and a device is further adapted to combine the table of neighbors of the first node with at least one further table of neighbors received from at least one other node in the network.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the register table is a table of neighbors of the first node.

3. Method according to claim 1, wherein the indication message further includes at least one of network address information of the second node; absolute location information of the second node operation state information of the second node and/or a load associated with the second node; detection information sensed with a respective sensor of the second node; motion information associated with a surrounding area of the second node and sensed by a motion sensor associated with the second node; and commands addressing at least the second node.

4. Method according to claim 1, wherein the correlation information includes at least one of identification information of the second node included in the indication message; network address information of the second node; absolute location information of the second node in the network; and relative location information of the second node with respect to the first node.

5. Method according to claim 1, wherein the parameter information includes at least one of operation state information of the second node and/or at least one load associated with the second node; information about a state and/or a change of the sensed parameter; and light intensity information.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein existing correlation information about the second node is deleted from the register table of the first node when no correlation between the received indication message and the received parameter information occurs.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein the steps of receiving an indication message, receiving parameter information and determining whether the indication message and the parameter information temporarily correlate with one another, are performed a plurality of times before a correlation is added to the register table.

8. Method according to claim 1, further comprising: instructing at least one node to change an operation state thereof or an operation state of a load associated therewith.

9. Method according to claim 1, further comprising: adjusting an operation state of at least one load associated with the first node when a correlation is approved.

10. Method according to claim 1, further comprising: combining the register table of the first node with at least one further register table received from at least one other node in the network.

11. Device for commissioning of nodes of a network, the device being adapted to a transceiver to receive at least one indication message including identification information of a second node of the network and receive parameter information indicating a parameter sensed with at least one parameter sensor associated with a first node; a control unit to determine whether the at least one indication message and the parameter information temporarily correlate with one another, and if a correlation is determined, add correlation information about the second node to a register table of the first node, wherein the register table is a table of neighbors of the first node and the device is further adapted to combine the table of neighbors of the first node with at least one further table of neighbors received from at least one other node in the network.

12. Device according to claim 11, wherein the device is integrated in or operatively coupled to the first node.

13. Device according to claim 11, wherein the device is used in a lighting system having at least a first and second lamp nodes.

14. A system for commissioning of nodes of a network, comprising: a plurality of nodes, at least one of them being coupled to a device, wherein the device includes a transceiver to receive at least one indication message including identification information of a second node of the network and receive parameter information indicating a parameter sensed with at least one parameter sensor associated with a first node; a control unit to determine whether the at least one indication message and the parameter information temporarily correlate with one another, and if a correlation is determined, add correlation information about the second node to a register table of the first node, wherein the register table is a table of neighbors of the first node and the device is further adapted to combine the table of neighbors of the first node with at least one further table of neighbors received from at least one other node in the network.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is schematic view showing a network used in the present invention;

(2) FIG. 2 shows a device according to the present invention;

(3) FIG. 3 shows a lighting system according to the present invention; and

(4) FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram of a method according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(5) In the following, the present invention is explained with respect to a lighting system. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and could be applied to various other applications employing a network.

(6) FIG. 1 shows a network of the present invention that has a plurality of nodes (i, j) (i=1, . . . , 5; j=A, . . . , E). The network may be a mesh network, a star network or may use point to point communication between two nodes using wireless and/or wired communication. The wireless communication may include Bluetooth, infrared, RF, and the like. Further, the network may use a telecommunication network. Although 25 nodes are shown in FIG. 1, the present invention is not limited thereto and could employ any suitable number of nodes. Each node may have a load associated therewith, for instance a lamp. In this example, a first node 30a (3C) has eight direct neighbor nodes 2B, 2C, 2D, 3B, 3D, 4B, 4C and 4D.

(7) The first node 30a may have a parameter sensor 33 (see FIG. 2) associated therewith, which parameter sensor 33 is adapted to sense a physical parameter of other nodes, preferably of the direct neighbor nodes 2B, 2C, 2D, 3B, 3D, 4B, 4C and 4D. In a preferred embodiment, the parameter sensor 33 can only detect the physical parameter associated with at least one of the direct neighbor nodes 2B, 2C, 2D, 3B, 3D, 4B, 4C and 4D, and cannot detect physical parameters associated with other nodes, for instance the next nearest neighbor nodes. In FIG. 1 this is indicated by the dashed line.

(8) The first node 30a is associated with a device 10 according to the present invention. The device 10 may be integrated in or operatively coupled to the first node 30a. The parameter sensor 33 may be integrated in or operatively coupled to the first node 30a, the load (lamp) associated with the first node 30a or the device 10.

(9) FIG. 2 shows a device 10 according to the present invention being in communication with a parameter sensor 33. The device 10 includes a transceiver 11, a control unit 12 and storage means 13.

(10) The transceiver 11 is adapted to receive messages communicated over the network, and in particular the at least one indication message sent from another node or a central controller. In a preferred embodiment, the transceiver 11 is also adapted to communicate with the parameter sensor 33. However, the parameter sensor 33 may also be directly coupled to the control unit 12 and/or may be integrated into the device 10. The parameter sensor 33 may be a light sensor adapted to detect light in the surrounding area of the device 10 and/or in the surrounding area of the first node 30a. The transceiver 11 may be further adapted to send messages/information over the network.

(11) The control unit 12 may be a microprocessor and is coupled to the transceiver 11 and the storage means 13. The control unit 12 receives messages communicated over the network via the transceiver 11 and generates and transmits messages via the transceiver 11 over the network to other nodes of the network and/or to a central controller. The control unit 12 may be further adapted to read data from and write data to the storage means 13. The storage means 13 may have stored the register table of the first node 30a.

(12) In a preferred embodiment, the device 10 is integrated in or coupled to the first node 30a.

(13) FIG. 3 shows a lighting system according to the present invention. Along a sidewalk 41 street lamps are arranged that correspond to nodes of the network. In FIG. 3 two street lamps are shown, wherein the left one represents the first node 30a and the right one represents a second node 30b of the present invention. The first node 30a comprises a first lamp 36a and the second node 36b comprises a second lamp 36b. The lamps 36a, 36b each have at least one light source such as an LED, a halogen lamp and/or the like. The lamps 36a, 36b illuminate the sidewalk 41, wherein an illumination area of the first lamp 36a is defined by a first illumination cone 35a and an illumination area of the second lamp 36b is defined by a second illumination cone 35b.

(14) Further, the first node 30a comprises a first motion sensor 32a and the second node 30b comprises a second motion sensor 32b. The first motion sensor 32a has a first detection range 34a and the second motion sensor 32b has a second detection range 34b. Accordingly, the motion sensors 32a, 32b may be adapted to detect motion in the surrounding area of the respective node 30a, 30b. For instance, the second motion sensor 32b may detect a person 40 passing the second node 30b.

(15) Furthermore, the first node 30a comprises a first parameter sensor 33a and the second node 30b comprises a second parameter sensor 33b. In this example, the parameter sensors 33a, 33b are light-sensitive sensors. The first parameter sensor 33a is adapted to detect light emitted from the second lamp 36b. The first parameter sensor 33a may be positioned such as to detect direct light or stray (diffused) light from the second lamp 36b. In FIG. 3, the first parameter sensor 33a is positioned outside of the second illumination cone 35b and can therefore only detect stray light from the second lamp 36b. By positioning the first parameter sensor 33a at the first node 30a, as shown in FIG. 3, the first parameter sensor 33a cannot only detect light from the second lamp 36 on its right side, but may also detect light emitted from a lamp positioned on its left side (i.e. a node positioned to its left). In other embodiments, the first parameter sensor 33a may be positioned between the first node 30a and the second node 30b or may be positioned directly at the second node 30b. Further, a node may also comprise at least two parameter sensors. For instance, the first node 30a may have one parameter sensor to detect light from a source on its left side and one parameter sensor to detect light from a source on its right side. Regarding positioning of the second parameter sensor 33b, the same applies as for the first parameter sensor 33a.

(16) By means of the first parameter sensor 33a it may be determined whether the second lamp 36b is on or off. Alternatively or additionally, the first parameter sensor 33a may also be adapted to detect a dimming level of the second lamp 36b. The same applies vis a vis the second parameter sensor 33b.

(17) The parameter sensors 33a, 33b may each be a camera. Preferably, the camera has a wide viewing angle (e.g. up to 180°). By virtue thereof, light from other nodes (lamps) can be seen in the image recorded by the respective camera.

(18) The first node 30a has a first device 31a and the second node 30b has a second device 31b according to the present invention. However, for the present invention it is not necessary for all nodes to have a device according to the present invention. For instance, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 only the first node 30a could be provided with the device 31a and the second node 30b could have no device at all. In this case, only the second node 30b could have the motion sensor 32b and the first node 30a could have no motion sensor at all, and only the first node 30a could have the parameter sensor 33a and the second node 30b could have no parameter sensor at all.

(19) In the following, an exemplary method according to the present invention is described with reference to FIG. 3. Coming from the right, in FIG. 3, the person 40 walks along the sidewalk 41 and passes the second node 30b. For ease of explanation, it is assumed that the second lamp is already on or is switched on when the person 40 enters the second detection range 34b. Said entering is detected by the second motion sensor 32b. Upon said detection, the second node 30b generates detection information and sends an indication message including said detection information and its identification information, such as for example a unique node number or network address, over the network (e.g. by flooding).

(20) The indication message sent is received by the first node 30a, i.e. by a first transmitter 11 of the first device 31a. However, in other embodiments, the indication message might be received by another receiver/transceiver of the first node 30a and may then be provided to the first device 31a. When the first parameter sensor 33a that is operatively coupled to the first device 31a detects e.g. an increase in light intensity due to a dimming up of the second lamp 36b substantially simultaneously with the reception of the indication message (or when dimming and reception both occur within a predetermined time interval), the first device 31a concludes that the identification information included in the indication message identifies a direct neighbor, i.e. the second node 30b. Correlation information preferably including at least said identification information of the second node is then added to a register table (table of neighbors) of the first node 30a.

(21) Accordingly, nodes positioned along the sidewalk may build and/or update their register tables when triggered to do so, i.e. when triggered by passing persons. Alternatively, the table of neighbors may be built (created) and/or updated on demand, e.g. by an instructed change of operation states as described above.

(22) Additionally, the first node 30a may conclude e.g. from the detection information included in the indication message that the person 40 is walking towards the first node 30a and may thus switch on the first lamp 36a to provide illumination of the sidewalk 41.

(23) In FIG. 3, two nodes 30a, 30b are shown. However, there may be provided any reasonable number of nodes, each or at least one of them having a device according to the present invention and being adapted to perform the functions as described above.

(24) FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram of a method according to the present invention. In step S10, an indication message including identification information of a second node is received at a first node. Then, in step S20 parameter information indicating a parameter sensed with at least one parameter sensor associated with the first node is received. When it is determined in step S30 that the at least one indication message and the parameter information temporarily correlate (coincide) with one another, a correlation is determined (approved). When the correlation is approved, correlation information about the second node preferably including the identification information is added to a register table (table of neighbors) of the first node. If no correlation is determined, no correlation information is added to the register table.

(25) The present invention provides a method, device and system enabling reliable determination of register tables, preferably of tables of neighbors. The present invention effectively prevents that nodes are wrongly designated as neighboring nodes.