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US 12,038,741 B2Granted
Systems and methods for authenticating industrial automation components
AssigneeRockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
InventorsNeal R. Krejci, Chandresh R. Chaudhari, Sean P. Overberger, Bret S. Hildebran, Daniel E. Killian
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Abstract
A first component of an industrial automation system includes an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) storing data identifying the first component. The data identifying the first component is read from the EEPROM by a second component to which the first component is communicatively coupled to authenticate the first component. The first component lacks a processor and a microcontroller, and does not run firmware.
Claims9
An input/output (I/O) system of an industrial automation system, comprising:
- a rail or plate;
- a first backplane switch coupled to the rail or plate;
- a network adapter base coupled to the first backplane switch, wherein the network adapter base comprises a first pair of electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), wherein each EEPROM of the first pair of EEPROMs stores first data identifying the network adapter base, wherein the first backplane switch is configured to read the first data from at least one EEPROM of the first pair of EEPROMs to authenticate the network adapter base;
- a second backplane switch coupled to the rail, wherein the second backplane switch is disposed adjacent to the first backplane switch;
- and
- an I/O bank, comprising:
- an I/O base coupled to the second backplane switch, wherein the I/O base comprises a second pair of EEPROMs, wherein each EEPROM of the second pair of EEPROMs stores second data identifying the I/O base, wherein the second backplane switch is configured to read the second data from at least one EEPROM of the second pair of EEPROMs to authenticate the I/O base;
- an I/O component coupled to the I/O base and configured to perform an industrial automation input/output function associated with a component of the industrial automation system;
- and
- a terminal block coupled to the I/O base and configured to communicatively couple to the component of the industrial automation system, wherein the terminal block comprises a third pair of EEPROMS, wherein each EEPROM of the third pair of EEPROMs stores third data identifying the terminal block, wherein the I/O component is configured to read the third data from at least one EEPROM of the third pair of EEPROMs to authenticate the terminal block.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.