Method for intercontroller communications in A safety instrumented system or a process control system
First Claim
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1. An input/output (I/O) bus connection system for use in a process control system comprising:
- a first I/O card including a processor, a memory, and two interfaces, wherein a first interface of the first I/O card is communicatively coupled to a first process controller via a first bus;
a second I/O card including a processor, a memory, and two interfaces, wherein a first interface of the second I/O card is communicatively coupled to a second process controller via a second bus; and
an inter-controller communication link between the first I/O card and the second I/O card separate from the first and the second bus, wherein the second interface of the first I/O card and the second interface of the second I/O card are communicatively coupled to the inter-controller communication link.
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Abstract
The claimed system provides an I/O card that is used to interface two process controllers over a communication line that is separate from a primary communication line connecting the two process controllers to a workstation. The process controllers can access the I/O cards in a similar manner to I/O cards used to connect to field devices. In this manner, the physical hardware and software architecture does not need to be modified for inter-controller communications. Inter-controller communications can be programmed as general I/O communication.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. An input/output (I/O) bus connection system for use in a process control system comprising:
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a first I/O card including a processor, a memory, and two interfaces, wherein a first interface of the first I/O card is communicatively coupled to a first process controller via a first bus;
a second I/O card including a processor, a memory, and two interfaces, wherein a first interface of the second I/O card is communicatively coupled to a second process controller via a second bus; and
an inter-controller communication link between the first I/O card and the second I/O card separate from the first and the second bus, wherein the second interface of the first I/O card and the second interface of the second I/O card are communicatively coupled to the inter-controller communication link. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of communicating between two process controllers within a process control system comprising:
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transmitting a first controller signal from a first process controller to a first I/O device via a first bus, wherein the first bus is communicatively coupled to the first process controller and the first I/O device;
connecting a second I/O device to the first I/O device over a first communication network separate and independent from the first bus and transmitting the first controller signal from the first I/O device to a second I/O device via the first communication network;
transmitting the first controller signal from the second I/O device to a second process controller via a second bus separate and independent from the first bus and the first communication network, wherein the second bus is communicatively coupled to the second process controller and the second I/O device. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A process control system comprising:
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a host computer arranged to send and receive process control messages;
a first controller operatively connected to the host computer via a first communication network and adapted to perform process control functionality;
a first I/O card operatively connected to the first controller via a first bus and adapted for operative communication with a process control related field device;
a second I/O card operatively connected to the first controller via the first bus and adapted for operative communication with a third I/O card, the second I/O card and third I/O card operatively connected via a second communication network separate from the first bus and the first communication network. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification