Devices, systems, and methods regarding a PLC

A data structure encoded on a non-transitory machine-readable medium, said data structure adapted for transferring data between a module and a programmable logic controller (PLC), said data structure comprising:

• an 8B/10B encoded frame adapted for communication between said module and said programmable logic controller (PLC), said 8B/10B encoded frame comprising message type field of a size of eight bits, a value stored in said message type field indicative of content of a data field of said 8B/10B encoded frame, said message type field following a first ordered sequence of fields comprised by said 8B/10B encoded frame, said first ordered sequence of fields including, in the following order, a preamble field, a start-of-frame field, a destination address field of a size of eight bits, a length field of a size of eight bits and specifying the number of bytes in the message starting with the destination address and ending with a cyclic redundancy check field, and a source address field of a size of eight bits, and following the message type field, a second ordered sequence of fields comprised by each frame, said second ordered sequence of fields including, in the following order, a data field, the cyclic redundancy check field, and an end of frame field, wherein said destination address field contains a value that is indicative of an un-configured address during address assignment of said module, said destination address field containing an assigned address from said PLC after said address assignment of said module by said PLC.

A method comprising:

• encoding a message via 8B/10B encoded frames, said message adapted for communication in hard real-time between an Input/Output module and a programmable logic controller (PLC), said Input/Output module one of a first chain of Input/Output modules communicatively coupled in series to said PLC, said Input/Output module comprising a transmission circuit and a receiving circuit, said PLC communicatively coupled in series to a second chain of communications modules, at least one of said second chain of communications modules adapted to be communicatively coupled to an information device, said 8B/10B encoded frames comprising a message type field of a size of eight bits, a value stored in said message type field indicative of content of a data field of a given frame, said message type field following a first ordered sequence of fields comprised by each of said frames, said first ordered sequence of fields including, in the following order, a preamble field, a start-of-frame field, a destination address field of a size of eight bits, a length field of a size of eight bits and specifying the number of bytes in the message starting with the destination address and ending with a cyclic redundancy check field, and a source address field of a size of eight bits, said message type field followed by a second ordered sequence of fields comprised by each frame, said second ordered sequence comprising, in the following order, a data field, the cyclic redundancy check field of a size of 32 bits, and an end of frame field wherein said destination address field contains a value that is indicative of an un-configured address used during address assignment of said Input/Output module, said destination address field containing an assigned address from said PLC after said address assignment of said Input/Output module by said PLC.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising machine instructions for activities comprising:

• encoding a message via 8B/10B encoded frames, said message adapted for communication between a module and a programmable logic controller (PLC), said 8B/10B encoded frames comprising a message type field of a size of eight bits, a value stored in said message type field indicative of content of a data field of a given frame, said message type field following a first ordered sequence of fields comprised by each of said 8B/10B encoded frames, said first ordered sequence of fields including, in the following order, a preamble field, a start-of-frame field, a destination address field of a size of eight bits, a length field of a size of eight bits and specifying the number of bytes in the message starting with the destination address and ending with a cyclic redundancy check field, and a source address field of a size of eight bits, said message type filed followed by a second ordered sequence of fields comprised by each frame, said second ordered sequence including, in the following order, a data field, the cyclic redundancy check field, and an end of frame field, wherein said destination address field contains a value that is indicative of an un-configured address used during address assignment of said module, said destination address field containing an assigned address from said PLC after address assignment of said module by said PLC.