Auto-addressing system and method
AssigneeSchneider Automation Inc.
InventorKenneth Sunghwan Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A modular distributed I/O system that allows one or more modules of an island to be omitted without requiring reconfiguration of the system and a method for auto-addressing the system. The island includes a network interface module that is operably connected to a user interface. The user interface allows a user to indicate for each of the nodes of the island whether the node has an I/O module physically present or not physically present. This allows a constant process image in a system where the process image is dependent upon node ID's of modules, and modules are assigned addresses (i.e., ID's) automatically without using unique markers or signatures.
Claims25
An apparatus comprising:
- a network interface having a plurality of nodes, each node capable of connection to at least one I/O module, each I/O module automatically obtaining a node ID of said each I/O module based on a relative physical location of said each I/O module to other I/O modules using an auto-addressing protocol without using a unique marker of said each I/O module;
- an installed I/O module operatively connected to the network interface, the installed I/O module comparing an address value contained in a data field and selecting the node ID using a definitively known first available node ID that is greater than or equal to the address value, the installed I/O module modifying the data field to indicate its selected node ID for a next I/O module;
- and,
- wherein the auto-addressing protocol provides for automatically determining the node ID of the installed I/O module and skipping a node ID of an uninstalled I/O module.
A system for configuring a process image with one or more uninstalled modules comprising:
- an island having a network interface module, the island further including a plurality of connections for I/O modules, each I/O module automatically obtaining a node ID of said each I/O module based on a relative physical location of said each I/O module to other I/O modules without using a unique marker of said each I/O module, wherein an installed I/O module compares an address value contained in a data field and selects the node ID using a definitively known first available node ID that is greater than or equal to the address value, the installed I/O module modifying the data field to indicate its selected node ID for a next I/O module;
- configuration software run by the network interface module that provides for each one of the plurality of connections one of an indication of a first I/O module being physically connected to one of the plurality of connections and an indication of a second I/O module not being present at said one of the plurality of connections.
A method of configuring a process image of an island to indicate uninstalled I/O modules comprising the steps of:
- providing the island having a network interface module and a plurality of ports, each of the plurality of ports capable of connection to at least one I/O module, each I/O module automatically obtaining node ID of said each I/O module based on relative physical location of said each I/O module to other I/O modules without using a unique marker of said each I/O module, wherein an installed I/O module compares an address value contained in a data field and selects the node ID using a definitively known first available node ID that is greater than or equal to the address value, the installed I/O module modifying the data field to indicate its selected node ID for a next I/O module;
- connecting, by a network interface circuit module, I/O modules to select ports of the plurality of ports;
- and,
- creating, by the network interface circuit module, the process image of the island that indicates for each port of the plurality of ports one of whether an I/O module is physically present and not present.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.