Programming device for a network of control nodes and system with such a programming device

A system for a network of control nodes, at least one of the control nodes comprising subscribers, the system comprising:

• a programming device comprising a network interface, a data interface, a recording module, a system configuration input module, a device-description input/output module, a system object module, and a configuration output module;
• wherein in an initialization mode, the initialization mode having an identifying phase and a following configuration phase,
• the recording module automatically determines the control nodes and the subscribers of the at least one control node connected to the network in the identifying phase,
• the system configuration input module converts a system description, a product description and a process description into an object model which comprises the system description, the product description and the process description in a standardized format,
• the device-description input/output module inputs and outputs control node descriptions,
• the system object module combines the object model in the standardized format with the control node descriptions to form a system object model representing the control-node configuration of the network in the configuration phase, autonomously without operator intervention, and defines communication relations between the determined control nodes in the network on the basis of the system object model, each communication relation indicating a transmitting control node and a receiving control node, a sort of data transmission and a type of data, and
• the configuration output module transmits the communication relations determined by the system object module to the control nodes via the network interface;
• and
• said communication relations defining incident and data flows between the subscribers and determining whether data transmission between the subscribers is carried out cyclically or acyclically.

A programming device for a network of control nodes, the programming device carrying out a process sequence and comprising:

• a network interface;
• a data interface;
• a recording module connected to the network interface, the recording module configured to determine the control nodes connected to the network;
• a system configuration input module connected to the data interface, the system configuration input module configured to convert a system description, a product description and a process description into an object model which comprises the system description, the product description and the process description in a standardized format;
• a device-description input/output module connected to the data interface, the device-description input/output module configured to input and output control node descriptions;
• a system object module connected to the system configuration input module, the device-description input/output module and the recording module, the system object module configured to combine the object model in the standardized format with the control node descriptions to form a system object model representing the control-node configuration of the network in a configuration phase, autonomously without operator intervention, the system object module further configured to define communication relations between the determined control nodes in the network on the basis of the system object model, each communication relation indicating a transmitting control node and a receiving control node, a sort of data transmission and a type of data, the system object module further configured to compare a number of control nodes intended according to the system description with a number of the control nodes determined by the recording module, wherein the process sequence of the programming device is interrupted in case a discrepancy is detected with respect to the number of control nodes;
• and
• a configuration output module connected to the system object module and the network interface, the configuration output module configured to transmit the defined communication relations between the determined control nodes in the network to the respective control nodes.