SAME CODE BASE IN IRRIGATION CONTROL DEVICES AND RELATED METHODS

• US 20080125917A1
• Filed: 05/30/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rain Bird Corporation
• Original Assignee: Rain Bird Corporation
• Inventors: Kew, Whitney M., Walker, Ryan L., Colombo, David E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,224,493 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/284
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/22 Improving land use; Improving water use or availability; Controlling erosion

Abstract

Various embodiments are described in which different irrigation controllers in an irrigation control system have machine code having a same code base. In one implementation, a first irrigation control unit comprises a processor and a medium storing a first set of machine code to be executed by the processor. The first set is based on a portion of source code on which a second set of machine code stored in a second irrigation control unit is based, and the first and second sets not identical to each other. The first and second irrigation control units are in a predefined hierarchical control relationship. In one variation, the first and second control units have at least related operating systems. In another variation, a central controller includes machine code developed from at least a portion of the same source code as machine code in a remote controller for simulation or execution purposes.

Claims

1. A first irrigation control unit comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable medium coupled to the processor and storing operating system machine code adapted to be executed by the processor to implement a first operating system,

the computer readable medium storing application machine code including a first set of machine code adapted to be executed by the processor and that is based on a portion of source code on which a second set of machine code stored in a second irrigation control unit operating in accordance with a second operating system is based, the second set of machine code adapted for use in the second operating system and to accomplish an irrigation control function when executed, the first set of machine code and the second set of machine code are not identical to each other,

wherein the processor is adapted to execute the application machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system by executing the first set of machine code.

2. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the first set of machine code is separately developed after development of the second set of machine code.

3. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the second operating system is different than the first operating system.

4. The irrigation control unit of claim 3, wherein the processor is adapted to execute the application machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system by emulating at least a portion of the second operating system within the first operating system and executing the first set of machine code.

5. The irrigation control unit of claim 3, wherein the processor is adapted to execute the application machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system without emulating at least a portion of the second operating system within the first operating system and executing the first set of machine code.

6. The irrigation control unit of claim 3, wherein the application machine code implements central irrigation control functionality including a dry run feature that can simulate irrigation control functionality at a plurality of remote irrigation controllers including the second irrigation control unit, the first set of machine code comprising machine code that corresponds to an irrigation engine machine code of the second irrigation control unit,

wherein the processor is adapted to execute the application machine code to perform a dry run of the plurality of remote irrigation controllers including the second irrigation control unit, and to simulate the irrigation control function in the first operating system.

7. The irrigation control unit of claim 3 wherein the second operating system is a specific purpose computer operating system and the first operating system is a general purpose computer operating system.

8. The irrigation control unit of claim 7 wherein the second operating system is implemented in firmware of the second irrigation control unit and the first operating system is a personal computer operating system.

9. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the second operating system is at least related to the first operating system.

10. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the first irrigation control unit has a predefined hierarchical control relationship with the second irrigation control unit.

11. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the first irrigation control unit comprises a central controller and the second irrigation control unit comprises one of a satellite controller or a supervisor controller.

12. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the first irrigation control unit comprises a supervisor controller controlled by a central controller and the second irrigation control unit comprises a satellite controller controlled by the supervisor controller.

13. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the first set of machine code comprises machine code corresponding to an irrigation engine machine code of the second irrigation control unit.

14. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the computer readable medium stores the application machine code including a plurality of versions of the first set of machine code, each version corresponding to one of a plurality of versions of the second set of machine code.

15. The irrigation control unit of claim 14 wherein the application machine code is adapted when executed by the processor to cause the processor to retrieve a version of the stored plurality of versions of the first set of machine code that corresponds to a corresponding version of the second set of machine code which operates on the second irrigation control unit.

16. The irrigation control unit of claim 14 wherein upon execution by the processor, the application machine code is adapted to cause the processor to determine which version of the plurality of versions of the second set of machine code the second irrigation control unit operates in accordance with.

17. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the processor is adapted to execute the application machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system by executing the first set of machine code in order to simulate the irrigation control function.

18. The irrigation control unit of claim 1 wherein the processor is adapted to execute the application machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system by executing the first set of machine code and to output signaling to implement the executed irrigation control function.

19. A device for use in irrigation control comprising:

a computer readable medium storing application machine code adapted to be executed by a processor of a first irrigation control unit operating in accordance with a first operating system;

the application machine code including a first set of machine code adapted to be executed by the processor and that is based on a portion of source code on which a second set of machine code stored in a second irrigation control unit operating in accordance with a second operating system is based, the second set of machine code adapted for use in the second operating system and to accomplish an irrigation control function when executed, the first set of machine code and the second set of machine code are not identical to each other,

wherein upon execution by the processor, the application machine code is adapted to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system by executing the first set of machine code.

20. A method of operation for irrigation control comprising:

executing application machine code stored in a first irrigation control unit operating in accordance with a first operating system;

retrieving a first set of machine code stored in the first irrigation control unit and that is based on a portion of source code on which a second set of machine code stored in a second irrigation control unit operating in accordance with a second operating system is based, the second set of machine code adapted for use in the second operating system and to accomplish an irrigation control function when executed, the first set of machine code and the second set of machine code are not identical to each other; and

executing the first set of machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the first set of machine code is separately developed after development of the second set of machine code.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the second operating system is different than the first operating system.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the executing the first set of machine code step comprises:

emulating at least a portion of the second operating system within the first operating system; and

executing the first set of machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the executing the first set of machine code step comprises:

executing the first set of machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system without emulating at least a portion of the second operating system within the first operating system.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein the application machine code implements central irrigation control functionality including a dry run feature that can simulate irrigation control functionality at a plurality of remote irrigation controllers including the second irrigation control unit, the first set of machine code comprising machine code that corresponds to an irrigation engine machine code of the second irrigation control unit,

wherein the executing the first set of machine code step comprises:

executing the first set of machine code to simulate the irrigation control function in the first operating system to perform a dry run of the plurality of remote irrigation controllers including the second irrigation control unit.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein the second operating system is a specific purpose computer operating system and the first operating system is a general purpose computer operating system.

27. The method of claim 20 wherein the second operating system is at least related to the first operating system.

28. The method of claim 20 wherein the first irrigation control unit has a predefined hierarchical control relationship with the second irrigation control unit.

29. The method of claim 20 wherein the first irrigation control unit comprises a central controller and the second irrigation control unit comprises one of a satellite controller or a supervisor controller.

30. The method of claim 20 wherein the first irrigation control unit comprises a supervisor controller controlled by a central controller and the second irrigation control unit comprises a satellite controller controlled by the supervisor controller.

31. The method of claim 20 wherein the first set of machine code comprises machine code corresponding to an irrigation engine machine code of the second irrigation control unit.

32. The method of claim 20 wherein the computer readable medium stores the application machine code including a plurality of versions of the first set of machine code, each version corresponding to one of a plurality of versions of the second set of machine code.

33. The method of claim 20 wherein the retrieving step comprises:

retrieving one of a plurality of versions of the first set of machine code stored in the first irrigation control unit, each version based on a portion of source code on which each of a plurality of versions of the second set of machine code stored in the second irrigation control unit operating in accordance with the second operating system are based, each of the plurality of versions of the second set of machine code adapted for use in the second operating system and to accomplish the irrigation control function when executed, the plurality of versions of the first set of machine code separately developed after development of the plurality of versions of the second set of machine code; and

wherein the executing the first set of machine code step comprises;

executing the retrieved one of the plurality of versions of the first set of machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

determining which version of the plurality of versions of the second set of machine code the second irrigation control unit operates in accordance with.

35. The method of claim 20 wherein the second operating system is at least related to the first operating system.

36. The method of claim 20 wherein the executing the first set of machine code step comprises:

executing the first set of machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system in order to simulate the irrigation control function.

37. The method of claim 20 wherein the executing the first set of machine code step comprises:

executing the first set of machine code to execute the irrigation control function in the first operating system and to output signaling to implement the executed irrigation control function.

38. A method of simulating a function for irrigation control comprising:

obtaining a copy of a portion of source code which is the basis for a first set of machine code adapted for execution by a processor of a first irrigation control unit that operates in accordance with a first operating system, the portion of the source code adapted to accomplish an irrigation control function when the first set of machine code is executed;

copying the portion of the source code to a code development environment for a second operating system; and

developing executable application machine code compatible with the second operating system and containing a second set of machine code corresponding to the portion of the source code having been obtained and copied, the executable application machine code adapted to be executed by a processor of a second irrigation control unit operating in accordance with the second operating system, the first set of machine code and the second set of machine code are not identical to each other.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the first set of machine code is separately developed before the second set of machine code.

40. The method of claim 38 wherein the copying step includes:

porting the portion of the source code to the code development environment for the second operating system, the second operating system being different than the first operating system.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the developing step comprises:

developing the executable application machine code such that the executable application machine code is adapted to be executed by the processor of the second irrigation control unit operating in accordance with the second operating system to execute the irrigation control function in the second operating system by emulating at least a portion of the first operating system within the second operating system and executing the second set of machine code.

42. The method of claim 40 wherein the developing step comprises:

developing the executable application machine code such that the executable application machine code is adapted to be executed by the processor of the second irrigation control unit operating in accordance with the second operating system to execute the irrigation control function in the second operating system without emulating at least a portion of the first operating system within the second operating system and executing the second set of machine code.

43. The method of claim 40 wherein the executable application machine code implements central irrigation control functionality including a dry run feature that can simulate irrigation control functionality at a plurality of remote irrigation controllers including the first irrigation control unit, the second set of machine code comprises machine code that corresponds to an irrigation engine machine code of the first irrigation control unit,

wherein the application machine code is adapted to perform a dry run of the plurality of remote irrigation controllers including the first irrigation control unit, and to simulate the irrigation control function in the second operating system.

44. The method of claim 40 wherein the first operating system is a specific purpose computer operating system and the second operating system is a general purpose computer operating system.

45. The method of claim 40 wherein the porting step includes:

modifying the portion of the source code such that it can save output data to a memory.

46. The method of claim 38 wherein the first operating system is at least related to the second operating system.

47. The method of claim 38 wherein the second irrigation control unit has a predefined hierarchical control relationship with the first irrigation control unit.

48. The method of claim 38 wherein the second irrigation control unit comprises a central controller and the first irrigation control unit comprises one of a satellite controller or a supervisor controller.

49. The method of claim 38 wherein the obtaining step comprises:

obtaining a copy of a plurality of versions of the portion of the source code which is the basis for a plurality of versions of the first set of machine code, each version adapted for execution by the processor of the first irrigation control unit that operates in accordance with the first operating system, each portion of the source code adapted to accomplish the irrigation control function when the corresponding first set of machine code is executed;

wherein the copying step comprises;

copying the plurality of versions of the portion of the source code to the code development environment for the second operating system; and

wherein the developing step comprises;

developing the executable application machine code compatible with the second operating system and containing a plurality of versions of the second set of machine code corresponding to the plurality of versions of the portion of the source code having been obtained and copied, the executable application machine code adapted to be executed by the processor of the second irrigation control unit operating in accordance with the second operating system.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein the application machine code is adapted when executed by the processor to cause the processor to retrieve a version of the stored plurality of versions of the second set of machine code that corresponds to a corresponding version of the plurality of versions of the first set of machine code which operates on the first irrigation control unit.

51. The method of claim 38 wherein the first operating system is at least related to the second operating system.

52. The method of claim 38 wherein the second set of machine code is adapted to be executed by the processor of the second irrigation control unit to execute the irrigation control function in order to simulate the irrigation control function in the second irrigation control unit.

53. The method of claim 38 wherein the second set of machine code is adapted to be executed by the processor of the second irrigation control unit to execute the irrigation control function and to output signaling to implement the irrigation control function.