High-speed sequential sampling of I/O data for industrial control
AssigneeRockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
InventorBret S. Hildebran
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An I/O module samples an industrial process to acquire data indicative of performance of the industrial process. The I/O module has an internal memory in which the data from multiple samples is stored until readout by, or produced to, an industrial controller. The I/O module assigns a time-stamp identifier to the stored samples thereby providing time information to the industrial controller for the stored data when read out by the industrial controller.
Claims10
A data industrial control I/O system comprising:
- an I/O module having one or more data channels, each of the data channels receiving a time varying signal corresponding to a portion of an industrial process at a first sampling rate,
- a connector providing a connection to a backplane adapted to communicate with an industrial controller;
- a clock synchronizable with a clock of the industrial controller to provide identical absolute time values at the I/O module and the industrial controller;
- a processor executing a stored program to assemble a set of sequentially acquired samples for each signal into a data block, each sample representing a different time value of the signal, and assigns an absolute time-stamp identifier to the data block using the clock, wherein the set includes at least two sequentially acquired samples from the signal and wherein each I/O module stores multiple sample sets from each of the data channels into multiple data blocks that are output by the I/O module to the industrial controller to provide a snap-shot of the industrial process during a time period in which the multiple sample sets were sampled and to transmit the data block to the industrial controller at a second sampling rate slower than the first sampling rate for control of the industrial process;
- wherein the absolute time-stamp identifier assigned to each of the multiple data blocks is coded to the acquired data, and an absolute time-stamp for each data sample of each data block of the multiple data blocks is provided to the industrial controller during I/O module readout.
A method of operation for an I/O module for an industrial process having an industrial controller that reads data from the I/O module, processes the data, and controls the industrial process with the processed data, wherein the I/O module includes one or more data channels that each sample a respective portion of the industrial process and wherein the method is configured to control communication of the I/O module with a component of the industrial process and the industrial controller by causing the I/O module to:
- synchronize an internal clock of the I/O module with a clock of the industrial controller to provide identical absolute time values at the I/O module and the industrial controller;
- sample a time varying signal from the data channel of at least one component of the industrial process at a first sampling rate to acquire a set of sequential data samples, each sample representing a different time value of the signal;
- store the set of data samples in a data block in a time-ordered fashion;
- store multiple sample sets from each of the data channels into multiple data blocks;
- assign an absolute time-stamp identifier from the clock of the I/O module to each of the multiple data blocks;
- and
- transmit the multiple data blocks to the industrial controller at a second sampling rate slower than the first sampling rate to provide a snap-shot of the industrial process during a time period in which the multiple sample sets were sampled;
- wherein the absolute time-stamp identifier assigned to each of the multiple data blocks is coded to the acquired data, and an absolute time-stamp for each data sample of each data block of the multiple data blocks is provided to the industrial controller during I/O module readout.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.