System and a method for building routing tables and for routing signals in an automation system

A method for determining a network topology in an automation system network for controlling and monitoring devices comprising:

• a plurality of devices to be controlled, each of the devices comprising a memory for storing data representing a device identifier identifying the device and storing data representing a routing line indicating others of the devices which the device can successfully transmit signals to and receive the signals from, and a processing unit for administering the reception and transmission of the signals and being adapted to read data from and store data in the memory,
• a controller comprising a another memory storing data representing a controller identifier identifying the controller and storing data representing a device table for holding the device identifiers of the devices controlled by the controller, and a processing unit for administering the reception and transmission of the signals and being adapted to read data from and store data in the another memory,
• said method comprising the steps of:
• transmitting a first type signal from the controller for instructing a first device to discover others of the devices within its range, said signal comprising the device identifiers from the device table,
• receiving the first type signal at the first device and transmitting the second type signals from the first device addressed to the devices in the device table, transmitting, from each of the other devices that receives one of the second type signals addressed to it, a third type signal acknowledging the reception of the received second type signal, and
• receiving any third type signal at the first device and storing data representing the device identifiers of the devices which transmitted the received third type signal in the routing line in the memory of the first device.

A controller for controlling devices in an automation system, said controller comprising:

• a radio frequency transmitter for transmitting signals,
• a radio frequency receiver for receiving the signals,
• a memory for storing data representing a controller identifier identifying the controller and storing data representing a device table holding device identifiers of the devices controlled by the controller,
• a processing unit for administering the reception and transmission of the signals and being adapted to read data from and store data in the memory,
• wherein the processing unit of the controller comprises means for generating a first type signal for instructing a first device to discover other of the devices within its range, said first type signal comprising the device identifier of the first device as a destination identifier, a list of the device identifiers from the device table, and instructions to the first device to generate and transmit second type signals to the devices from said list for determining which of the devices from said list can be reached from the first device.

A device to be controlled by a controller in an automation system comprising a plurality of devices, each of said devices comprising:

• a radio frequency receiver for receiving signals,
• a radio frequency transmitter for transmitting the signals,
• a memory for storing data representing a device identifier identifying the device and storing other data,
• a processing unit for administering the reception and transmission of the signals and being adapted to read data from and store data in the memory,
• wherein the processing unit of the device comprises means for:
• upon receiving a signal of a first type comprising its identifier as a destination identifier, a list of the device identifiers, and instructions to the device to generate and transmit signals of a second type to the devices from said list for determining which of the devices from said list can be reached from the device, generating second type signals for each of the device identifiers in the list, each second type signal comprising the device identifier from the list as the destination identifier and the device identifier of the device as a source identifier,
• upon receiving a second type signal from another of the devices with its identifier as the destination identifier, acknowledging the reception of the second type the signal by generating a third type acknowledgement signal to said another of the devices, the third type signal comprising the source identifier of the received second type signal as the destination identifier and the destination identifier of the received second type signal as the source identifier, and
• upon receiving a third type signal from another of the devices with its identifier as the destination identifier, storing data representing the source identifier of the third type signal in its memory.

A method for routing signals in an automation system network for controlling and monitoring devices comprising:

• a plurality of devices to be controlled, each of the devices comprising a memory storing data representing a device identifier identifying the device and a processing unit for administering the reception and transmission of signals,
• a controller comprising a memory storing data representing a controller identifier identifying the controller, storing data representing a routing table indicating for each one of the plurality of devices, others of the devices which the each one device can successfully transmit the signals to and receive the signals from, and storing data representing a most used entry point list being an ordered list indicating the device identifiers of the number, N of the devices that have the highest transmission success counter corresponding to the number of successful transmission from the controller to the device minus the number of failed transmissions from the controller to the device, and a processing unit for administering the reception and transmission of the signals and being adapted to read data from and store data in the memory,
• said method comprising the steps of:
• A. transmitting a first signal from the controller to a specified one of the devices at least once, said signal comprising the identifier of the specified device as a destination identifier,
• B. if said first signal is received by the specified device, transmitting an acknowledgement signal from the specified device to the controller,
• C. if the acknowledgement signal is not received by the controller, then choosing the first device from a most used entry point list as a first repeating device,
• D. determining a route to the specified device in the routing table, the route using one or more repeating devices, the first of which is the first repeating device,
• E. transmitting a second routed signal from the controller at least once, said signal comprising the identifier of the specified device as the destination identifier and the identifiers of the one or more repeating devices from the route determined in step D as repeater identifiers,
• F. transmitting a routed acknowledgement signal from the specified device to the controller upon reception of the routed second signal, and
• G. as long as the routed acknowledgement signal is not received by the controller from the specified device, then repeating steps D, E, and F for N−1 times using the second, third, . . . Nth device from the most used entry point list as the first repeating device.