Home network system and method

摘要

A home network, in one embodiment including a home wiring system; a demarcation point unit in electrical communication with the home wiring system; and a home network module in electrical communication with the home wiring system. The home network module is adapted for connection to a home electronic device. The demarcation point unit passes data to and receives data from the home electronic device through the home network module.

主权项

1. A home network formed from a plurality of network modules, the network modules communicating with each other using bursts having a plurality of burst types, the home network comprising:
a network master module, said network master module selected from the plurality of network modules, said master module adapted to produce a burst, the burst comprising:
a preamble signifying a start of the burst and one of the plurality of burst types of the burst, the one of the plurality of burst types being determinable from at least a length of the preamble and a pattern of symbols in the preamble, wherein a first pattern of symbols in the preamble that corresponds to a first burst type of the plurality of burst types comprises a symbol sequence repeated a first number of times and a second pattern of symbols in the preamble that corresponds to a second burst type of the plurality of burst types comprises the symbol sequence repeated a second number of times that differs from the first number of times;a header providing at least one parameter for decoding the burst; anda data portion carrying variable sized packets; and wherein the network master module is further adapted to produce an allocation burst that allocates a transmission opportunity to each of the plurality of network modules to transmit bursts.