Distributed single board computer industrial control system

A distributed computer control system for a plurality of controlled devices comprising:

• a control computer connected through input/output ports to a controlled device for providing control thereto, said controlled device having a set of logic control functions and/or command sequences associated therewith;
• at least one other control computer connected through input/output ports to another controlled device for providing control thereto;
• said other controlled device having another set of logic control functions and/or command sequences associated therewith, different from those of said first-mentioned controlled device;
• said first-mentioned and said other control computer connected to one another and to a central, supervisory computer through a data highway, said supervisory computer adapted to selectively monitor the functioning of each of said control computers;
• each control computer having a central processor adapted to address a plurality of locations including memory locations and input/output port locations and adapted to operate in an indirect addressing mode;
• each computer having a first set of predetermined memory locations containing identical instructions for effecting the logic control functions and/or command sequences of the controlled devices that exist within the system;
• some of said instructions causing each of said central processors to address a second, predetermined set of memory locations in order to obtain input signal information and provide output signal information to effect all of the logic control functions and/or command sequences;
• selected ones of said second set of memory locations in said first-mentioned control computer that correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said first-mentioned controlled device containing the input/output port addresses of said first-mentioned controlled device such that the logic control functions and/or command sequence portions of said instructions that correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said first-mentioned controlled device are operative through said selected second memory locations in said first-mentioned control computer to provide control to said first-mentioned controlled device;
• the remaining ones of said second set of memory locations in said first mentioned control computer containing address information chosen such that the instructions in said first memory locations of said first mentioned control computer that do not correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said first mentioned controlled device have no control effect on said first mentioned controlled device as a consequence of the so-chosen address information;
• selected ones of said second set of memory locations in said other control computer that correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said other controlled device containing the input/output port addresses of said other controlled device such that the logic control functions and/or command sequence portions of said instructions that correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said other controlled device are operative through said selected ones of said second memory locations of said other control computer to provide control to said other controlled device;
• the remaining ones of said second set of memory locations in said other control computer containing address information chosen such that the instructions in said first memory locations of said other control computer that do not correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said other controlled device have no control effect on said other controlled device as a consequence of the so-chosen address information.

In a distributed, multi-computer control system of the type having a plurality of control computers each connected through input/output ports to a plurality of respective controlled devices in which the control computers are connected to each other and to a central, supervisory computer through a data highway and in which each control computer includes a memory and a central processor that is adapted to address both memory locations and input/output port locations and also adapted to operate in an indirect addressing mode and in which each controlled device has a particular set of logic control functions and/or command sequences associated therewith to effect control thereof, the method of adapting each of said control computers to their respective controlled devices comprising the steps of:

• providing, in a first set of predetermined memory locations of each of said computers, a set of instructions adapted to effect control of the logic control functions and/or command sequences of all the controlled devices that exist in the system, some of said instructions causing said processor to address a second, predetermined set of memory locations for receiving input signal information and providing output signal information to effect all of said logic control functions and/or sequences;
• providing, in selected ones of said second set of said memory locations of a respective control computer that correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of a respective controlled device, the input/output port address information of the respective controlled device such that the logic control functions and/or command sequence portions of said instructions that correspond to the logic control function and/or command sequences of said respective controlled device are operative through said input/output port addresses in said selected ones of said second memory locations to provide control to said respective controlled device;
• and
• providing, in the remaining ones of said second set of memory locations, address information chosen such that the instructions in said first memory location of said respective control computer that do not correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of the respective controlled device have no control effect on the respective controlled device as a consequence of the so-chosen address information.

In a distributed, multi-computer control system of the type having a control computer connected through input/output ports to a controlled device and at least one other control computer through input/output ports to another controlled device, the first-mentioned and the other control computer connected to one another and to a central, supervisory computer through a data highway, each of said computers having a memory and a central processor that is adapted to address both memory locations and input/output port locations and also adapted to operate in an indirect addressing mode, and each of said controlled devices having a particular, different set of logic control function and/or command sequences associated therewith to effect control thereof, the method of adapting each of said control computers to their respective controlled devices comprising the steps of:

• providing, in a first set of predetermined memory locations of said first-mentioned and said other control computer, an identical set of instructions adapted to effect control of the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said first-mentioned and said other controlled device, some of said instructions causing the respective central processors to address a second, predetermined set of memory locations in the respective memories for receiving input signal information and for providing output signal information to effect the respective logic control functions and/or command sequences;
• providing, in selected ones of said second set of memory locations of said first-mentioned control computer corresponding to the logic control function and/or command sequences of said first-mentioned controlled device, the input/output port address information of said first-mentioned controlled device such that the logic control functions and/or command sequences portions of said instructions that correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said first-mentioned controlled device are operative through said input/output port address information in said selected ones of said second memory locations of said first-mentioned control computer to provide control to said first-mentioned controlled device;
• providing, in selected ones of said second set of memory locations of said other control computer corresponding to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said other controlled device, the input/output port address information of said other controlled device such that the logic control functions and/or command sequence portion of said instructions that correspond to the logic control functions and/or command sequence of said other controlled device are operative through said input/output port address information in said selected ones of said second memory location of said other control computer to provide control to said other controlled device;
• providing, in the remaining ones of said second set of memory locations of said first-mentioned computer, address information chosen such that the logic control functions and/or command sequence portions of the instructions in said first memory locations of said first-mentioned computer that do not relate to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said first-mentioned controlled device have no control effect on said first-mentioned controlled device as a consequence of the so-chosen address information;
• and
• providing, in the remaining ones of said second set of memory locations of said other control comouter, address information chosen such that the logic control function and/or command sequence portions of the instructions in said first memory locations of said other control computer that do not relate to the logic control functions and/or command sequences of said other controlled device have no control effect on said other controlled device as a consequence of the so-chosen address information.