Safety network controller redundancy in an electronic safety system

Abstract

A safety network controller is comprised in an electronic safety system. The safety network controller comprises a first serial port and a second serial port, each of which is configured to communicatively connect to a redundant safety network controller via a respective daisy chain network. Each daisy chain network comprises at least one safety device controller that is controlling a corresponding safety device. The safety network controller further comprises network circuitry configured to communicatively connect to the redundant safety network controller via a packet-switched network. The safety network controller further comprises processing circuitry configured to exchange, with the redundant safety network controller: serial communication via each of the daisy chain networks; packets via the packet-switched network; and responsibility for control over one or more of the safety device controllers in response to detecting a failure.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.