Reconstruction tool for editing distributed industrial controller programs
AssigneeAllen-Bradley Company, Inc.
InventorsYiping Song, Robert J. Coppenhaver
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of reconstructing a control program from portions of that program contained in distributed processor modules of a distributed control system links each portion of the program with a source identifier. When the portions are collected, they are sorted by source identifier and merged to reveal the original control program as may be required for editing or the like.
Claims8
A method of operating a distributed industrial controller executing a control program of instructions to control an industrial process, the distributed industrial controller having a plurality of processor modules intercommunicating on a shared communications link to store and execute portions of the control program, the method comprising the steps of:
- (i) dividing the control program into portions;
- (ii) assigning each portion a source identifier reflecting the origin of the portion within the control program;
- (iii) distributing the portions and source identifiers to the processor modules;
- (iv) executing the portions at the processor modules to control the industrial process;
- (v) collecting the portions at a singe site;
- and
- (vi) reconstructing the control program from the portions according to the source identifiers;
- wherein:
- step (i) divides the control program to produce at least one first and second portion having redundant instructions;
- step (ii) assigns the first and second portion the same source identifier;
- step (iii) distributes the first and second portions to different processor modules;
- and
- step (iv) merges the first and second portions according to their common source identifier.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.