Transmission method and reception method

The present invention relates to the field of communications technology.

Known radio systems, such as WLAN (WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network) according to the IEEE 802.11 standard and Bluetooth according to the IEEE 802.15.1 standard that permit a transparent transmission of Ethernet-based communications protocols, transmit these protocols in a highly inefficient way, because the Ethernet protocol is normally packed into a radio data packet without further optimization. Because the Ethernet packets according to the IEEE 802.3 standard must be composed of at least 64 bytes, but many automation systems transmit only a few usable data bytes in an Ethernet data frame, the ratio of usable data to protocol overhead or to the total protocol length is not favorable in Ethernet systems. This is made even worse in radio transmission, because a radio connection has a data rate even lower than that of an Ethernet system. In addition, the radio connection requires the addition of protocol overhead required for the communications, wherein transmission is further possible only in a half-duplex method. Therefore, the cycle time response of a radio-based Ethernet system is basically more disadvantageous than the time response of a wired Ethernet system such as the Profinet system.

In known radio systems, it is problematic that often only a statistical medium access is permitted. This method produces disadvantages in the time response of an automation solution through, for example, increased jitter in the communications cycles. For optimizing the time response, for example, polling-based medium access methods can be used that are standard for Bluetooth and that are approved for WLAN. Indeed, even in these systems, for each polling cycle only one data packet of an I/O subscriber is transmitted. However, if there are several I/O subscribers behind a radio connection, wherein these subscribers communicate cyclically with a controller, for example, in a permanently installed network part, then the time response of the total communications between the I/O subscribers is not always predictable. For example, in the case of the Profinet standard, more than one I/O subscriber cannot be provided behind the radio bridge in a WLAN transmission.

The problem of the present invention is to create an improved concept for Ethernet transmission, especially for Profinet systems.

According to the invention, several real-time Ethernet telegrams, for example, several real-time Profinet telegrams, can be compressed, e.g., by the removal of padding to the 64-byte telegram length, wherein several Ethernet data frames, in particular, several Profinet data frames can be combined to form a common telegram. In addition, the Medium Access Control Headers (MAC Headers) of the Ethernet frames, for example, the Profinet frames, can be greatly shortened, because the wireless components can learn the MAC addresses of the I/O and can control subscribers involved in the communications like a switch. In addition, in the case of a Profinet system this information can also be reported by the Profinet engineering tool. Here, for example, a Profinet I/O device (I/O: Input/Output) or an arbitrary management interface such as the SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) can be used. For this purpose, the involved devices can feature, for example, an interface conforming to Profinet. Alternatively, an arbitrary management interface can be used, such as, for example, SNMP. In this way, a Profinet telegram conforming to standards is no longer transmitted between the infrastructure components involved in the radio communications such as access points or clients. Instead, a compressed protocol is used that can be made from the individual protocols of several Profinet subscribers. Thus, if a Medium Access Control Header is removed, e.g., on the transmit side from at least one of the Ethernet data frames combined to form one telegram, this header is provided again on the receive side, e.g., by means of a management interface.

Therefore, in a simple way, both the protocol efficiency of the wireless communications can be increased and the timing problems of several I/O subscribers behind one wireless bridge, for example, can be avoided through the transmission of several Profinet telegrams within one telegram. The protocol compressed and packed together according to the invention is preferably used exclusively for radio communications. The joining or the unpacking of these telegrams is preferably performed by the respective radio components involved, so that the connection outside of the radio cell is perceived as a normal Ethernet connection or as a normal Profinet connection. The concept according to the invention can be used for all radio technologies, for example, for WLAN or for Bluetooth transmission. So that the radio connection remains transparent for the general network traffic, the mechanism according to the invention can be applied preferably to the real-time Ethernet telegrams such as Profinet telegrams with the Ethernet-type designation 0x8892.

According to one aspect, the invention relates to an Ethernet transmission method with the combination of at least two Ethernet data frames to form a combined Ethernet telegram and the transmission of the Ethernet telegram via a communications network.

According to one embodiment, the method includes the compression of the Ethernet telegram.

According to one embodiment, the combined Ethernet telegram includes padding, wherein the padding is removed for the compression of the Ethernet telegram.

According to one embodiment, each Ethernet data frame includes a Medium Access Control Header, wherein a Medium Access Control Header is removed from at least one Ethernet data frame.

According to one embodiment, the telegram is transmitted using the Ethernet protocol via a communications network.

According to one embodiment, the Ethernet transmission method is a Profinet transmission method, wherein the Ethernet data frames are Profinet data frames and wherein the Ethernet telegram is a Profinet telegram.

According to one aspect, the invention relates to an Ethernet reception method with the reception of an Ethernet telegram via a communications network and the extraction of at least two Ethernet data frames from the Ethernet telegram.

According to one embodiment, the Ethernet reception method is a Profinet transmission method, wherein the Ethernet data frames are Profinet data frames and wherein the Ethernet telegram is a Profinet telegram.

According to one aspect, the invention relates to an Ethernet transmission device with a device for the combination of at least two Ethernet data frames to form one Ethernet telegram and a transmitter for the transmission of the Ethernet telegram via a communications network.

According to one embodiment, the Ethernet transmission device includes a compressor for the compression of the Ethernet telegram.

According to one embodiment, it is a Profinet transmission device, wherein the Ethernet data frames are Profinet data frames and wherein the Ethernet telegram is a Profinet telegram.

According to one aspect, the invention relates to an Ethernet reception device with a receiver for the reception of an Ethernet telegram via a communications network and a processor for the extraction of at least two Ethernet data frames from the Ethernet telegram.

According to one embodiment, the Ethernet reception device is a Profinet reception device, wherein the Ethernet data frames are Profinet data frames and wherein the Ethernet telegram is a Profinet telegram.

According to one aspect, the invention relates to a computer program for the execution of at least one method according to the invention.

Additional embodiments will be explained in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an Ethernet transmission device 100 .

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an Ethernet reception device 200 .

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the salient tasks performed by Ethernet transmission device 100 .

FIGS. 4 and 5 show flowcharts of subtasks associated with task 303 shown in FIG. 3 , performed by Ethernet transmission device 100 .

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the salient tasks performed by Ethernet reception device 200 .

The transmission device can further have a compressor for the compression of the Ethernet telegram, wherein the compressor removes, for example, the padding bits from the data frames or from the individual telegrams. The compressor can be further provided to use a data-compression method for the compression of the telegram. The compressor can remove one or more Medium Access Control Headers from each of the data frames to further compress the combined telegram.

An Ethernet reception device not shown in greater detail in FIG. 1 for the reception of an Ethernet telegram combined from at least two Ethernet data frames has, in addition to a receiver for the reception of an Ethernet telegram via a communications network, a processor for the extraction of at least two Ethernet data frames from the Ethernet telegram. If one or more Medium Access Control Headers have been removed on the transmit side from the data frames, then these headers can be provided again on the receive side, e.g., by means of a management interface.

The transmission device shown in FIG. 1 is preferably a Profinet transmission device, so that the data frames are Profinet data frames and the telegram is a Profinet telegram.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an Ethernet transmission device 100 that comprises a device 101 , a compressor 103 , and a transmitter 105 ; wherein the device 101 is for the combination of at least two Ethernet data frames to form a combined Ethernet telegram, and wherein the transmitter 105 is for the transmission of the Ethernet telegram via, for example, a wireless communications network 107 .

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an Ethernet reception device 200 that comprises a receiver 201 for receiving a compressed Ethernet telegram and a processor 203 for extracting at least two Ethernet data frames from the compressed Ethernet telegram.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the salient tasks (i.e., tasks 301 , 303 , and 305 ) performed by Ethernet transmission device 100 in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the salient task (i.e., task 401 ) performed by Ethernet transmission device 100 for removing padding from the combined Ethernet telegram in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the salient task (i.e., task 501 ) performed by Ethernet transmission device 100 for removing the Media Access Control (MAC) header from at least one Ethernet data frame in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the salient tasks (i.e., tasks 601 and 603 ) performed by Ethernet reception device 200 in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention.