Communication network and method of communicating data on the same

A network comprising:

• an AS-Interface compatible master communication interface;
• an AS-Interface cable;
• and
• a module comprising
• an AS-Interface compatible slave communication interface in communication with the AS-Interface master via the AS-Interface cable, the AS-Interface slave including
• four input terminals adapted to receive a four-bit input;
• four output terminals adapted to communicate a four-bit output;
• two control terminals adapted to communicate a two-bit control, and
• a microprocessor and memory electrically connected to the input, output, and control terminals, the memory being configurable to include four blocks, each block consisting of 16 sub-blocks, and each sub-block consisting of four bits.

A method of communicating data over a network, the network comprising

• a first module comprising a master communication interface, and
• a second module comprising
• a slave communication interface in communication with the master communication interface, the slave communication interface including one or more terminals adapted to communicate (n)-bit messages, where (n) is an integer greater than one, and
• a processor and memory electrically connected to the terminals, the memory being configurable to include a block consisting of 2(n) sub-blocks, each sub-block having (n) bits, the method comprising the acts of:
• communicating a first (n)-bit message from the master communication interface to the slave communication interface;
• communicating the first (n)-bit message from the slave communication interface to the processor;
• at the processor and memory,
• identifying one of the sub-blocks with the first (n)-bit message;
• obtaining the identified sub-block;
• communicating a second (n)-bit message including the obtained data from the processor to the slave communication interface;
• and
• communicating the second (n)-bit message from the slave communication interface to the master communication interface.

A method of communicating data over a network, the network comprising

• a first module comprising a master communication interface, and
• a second module comprising
• a slave communication interface in communication with the master communication interface, the slave communication interface including one or more terminals adapted to communicate (n)-bit messages, where (n) is an integer greater than one, and
• a processor and memory electrically connected to the terminals, the memory being configurable to include a block consisting of 2(n) sub-blocks, each sub-block having (n) bits, the method comprising the acts of:
• communicating a first (n)-bit message from the master communication interface to the slave communication interface;
• communicating the first (n)-bit message from the slave communication interface to the processor;
• communicating a second (n)-bit message from the master communication interface to the slave communication interface;
• communicating the second (n)-bit message from the slave communication interface to the processor;
• at the processor and memory,
• identifying one of the sub-blocks with the first (n)-bit message;
• and
• writing the second (n)-bit message in the identified sub-block.

A method of communicating data over a network, the network comprising

• a first module comprising a master communication interface, and
• a bus electrically connected to the master communication interface,
• a second module comprising
• a slave communication interface electrically connected to the bus, the slave communication interface including (n) input terminals adapted to received a (n)-bit input, n-output terminals adapted to output a (n)-bit output, (m) control terminals adapted to communicate an (m)-bit control, and an W/R terminal adapted to communicate an W/R control, where (n) and (m) represent an integer greater than one, and
• a processor and memory electrically connected the input, output, control, and W/R terminals, the memory being configurable to include 2(m) blocks, each block consisting of 2(n) sub-blocks, and each sub block consisting of(n) bits, the method comprising:
• setting a W/R control message to a value representing one of a read operation and a write operation;
• communicating the W/R control message from the master communication module to the slave communication module via the bus;
• communicating the W/R control message from the slave communication module to the processor via the W/R control terminal;
• communicating an (m)-bit message from the master communication module to the slave communication module via the bus;
• communicating the (m)-bit message from the slave communication module to the processor via the (m) control terminals;
• communicating a first (n)-bit message from the master communication module to the slave communication module via the bus;
• communicating the first (n)-bit message from the slave communication module to the processor via the (n)-output terminals;
• at the processor and memory,
• identifying one of the blocks with the (m)-bit message;
• and
• identifying one of the sub-blocks of the identified block with the first (n)-bit message;
• if the W/R control message is a value representing a read operation,
• obtaining the identified sub-block;
• communicating a second (n)-bit message including the obtained data from the processor to the slave communication module via the (n)-input terminals;
• and
• communicating the second (n)-bit message from the slave communication module to the master communication module via the bus
• if the W/R control message is a value representing a write operation
• communicating a third (n)-bit message from the master communication module to the slave communication module via the bus,
• communicating the third (n)-bit message from the slave communication module to the processor via the (n) output terminals,
• writing the third (n)-bit message in the identified sub-block.