US 11,354,261 B2Granted

Process control system

AssigneeWAGO Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH

InventorsAndreas Patzelt, Christian Voss

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A system for controlling a process having a first control device for processing first data, and a first communication interface of a first communication unit designed for receiving the first data, and a second control device for processing second data, and a second communication interface of a second communication unit, designed for receiving the second data. The first communication unit comprises a third communication interface and the second communication unit comprises a fourth communication interface. The third communication interface is connected to the second communication interface and the first processor processes or compares the second data received by the third communication interface with the first data received by the first communication interface. The fourth communication interface is connected to the first communication interface, and the second processor processes or compares the second data received by the second communication interface with the first data received by the fourth communication interface.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A system for controlling a process, the system comprising:

a first control device that comprises a first processor designed for processing first data, and a first communication interface of a first communication unit designed for receiving the first data;
and
a second control device that comprises a second processor designed for processing second data, and a second communication interface of a second communication unit designed for receiving the second data, the first communication interface transmitting and receiving the first data via a first connection and the second communication interface transmitting and receiving the second data via a second connection,
wherein the first communication unit comprises a third communication interface and the second communication unit comprises a fourth communication interface,
wherein the third communication interface is connected to the second communication interface via a third connection and the first processor is designed to process or compare the second data received by the third communication interface and the first data received by the first communication interface,
wherein the fourth communication interface is connected to the first communication interface via a fourth connection and the second processor is designed to process or compare the second data received by the second communication interface and the first data received by the fourth communication interface, and
wherein the fourth connection of the second communication unit receives the first data by connecting to a connecting line of the first connection at a first connecting point outside of the first control device such that the first data is transmitted over the first connection and the fourth connection substantially simultaneously to the first communication unit and the second communication unit.

4 more elements

A method for controlling a process, the method comprising:

substantially simultaneously transmitting first process signals to a serial peripheral interface master communication interface of a first control device via a first line connection and to an SPI slave communication interface of a second control device via a second line connection;
substantially simultaneously transmitting second process signals to an SPI master communication interface of the second control device via a third line connection and to an SPI slave communication interface of the first control device via a fourth line connection;
checking the received first and second process signals for matching by the first control device;
checking the received first and second process signals for matching by the second control device;
controlling the process based on the received first and second process signals if a match between the received process signals was established;
and
transferring the process to a predetermined state if the match between the received first and second process signals was not established,
wherein receiving the first process signals by the second control device comprises listening via the second line connection to the communication of the SPI master communication interface of the first control device by the SRI slave communication interface of the second control device,
wherein receiving the second process signals by the first control device comprises listening to the communication of the SPI master communication interface via the fourth line connection of the second control device by the SPI slave communication interface of the first control device.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/793,673Filed 18 Feb 2020 · continuation
Priority: DE 10 2017 007 815.718 Aug 2017
Published: US 2020/0183871 A111 Jun 2020
Granted: 7 Jun 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

G06F 13/4027
Coupling between buses: using bus bridges
G05B 19/0428
Using digital processors: safety, monitoring
G06F 13/4282
Bus transfer protocol, e.g. handshake; Synchronisation: on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus
G05B 2219/24184
Pc safety: redundant I-O, software comparison of both channels