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AssigneeSanrita Automation Co., Ltd.
InventorAkihiro Amagai
Estimating the term…
An I/O device is provided to accurately synchronize clocks between nodes to have a device driving signal directly made out from the clocks, so that operation timing can be synchronized between the nodes regardless of a processing flicker on a host computer and a delay in a communication channel, and so that sending and receiving of a communication frame between the nodes, updating of contents of the communication frame, etc. can be efficiently performed. The I/O device comprises receiving means for receiving information including at least contents instructing an input and output time to a device, time tag generating means for generating a time tag indicative of the input and output time included in the received signal to output the same to device control means, and clock means for generating a clock signal indicative of the present time, wherein the device control means compares the input and output time indicated by the time tag output from the time tag generating means with the present time indicated by the clock signal output from the clock means to output designated data to a device or input data from the device at the input and output time.
A communication method in a network system with a plurality of I/O devices, wherein at least one of the plurality of I/O devices has a device control means for controlling an input and an output of data to a device, and the at least one of the plurality of I/O devices comprises:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Clock or time synchronisation in a network: clock or time synchronisation among nodes; Internode synchronisation
Bus networks: with centralised control, e.g. polling
Multiplex communication
Digital communication
About 5 months of term left · ends 3 Apr 2027 (estimated)
Present invention relates to an I/O device, a network system with an I/O device, and a communication method of an I/O device, and particularly to an I/O device that enables a device to be driven in synchronization with time, a network system with an I/O device that allows clocks between nodes to be precisely synchronized, and a communication method of an I/O device that can be treated as in the case of a bus.
There is a device driving system in which a host computer sends a command to a plurality of I/O nodes that drive an I/O device, and each of the I/O nodes that has received the command interprets the command and drives a corresponding I/O device.
However, in this method, if a processing flicker occurs on a host computer, that flicker is directly transformed into a flicker of a command issue time, causing it hard to issue a command at a precise time.
The best mode for carrying out the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 1 to 3 are diagrams for describing an I/O device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 6 to 17 are diagrams for describing a network system with an I/O device according to the present invention and a communication method of a network system with the I/O device.
First, an I/O device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing hardware configuration of an I/O device according to the present invention. An I/O device 1 includes a CPU 2, a memory 3 for storing programs run on the CPU 2 and data used by the CPU 2, a communication control portion 4 which is controlled by the CPU 2 and communicates with other I/O device on a network, an analogue I/O 5, a digital I/O 6, and a clock portion 7.
While the communication control portion 4, the analogue I/O 5, the digital I/O 6, and the clock portion 7 are each connected with an internal bus, another bus connects the control portion 4, the analogue I/O 5, and the digital I/O 6 to the clock portion 7, respectively.