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Industrial controller with highly distributed processing

  • US 5,452,201 A
  • Filed: 08/24/1993
  • Issued: 09/19/1995
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1993
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method of programming a highly distributed industrial controller comprised of a plurality of modules communicating along a shared communications medium, the modules having message identifiers and output values and communicating the output values, identified by the message identifiers of the module, via messages on the communications medium, the method of programming comprising the steps of:

  • (a) generating a schematic of interconnected electrical graphics symbols on an electronic display screen, the graphic symbols having terminals representing points between which current flows, the terminals connected by lines representing wires, wherein each graphic symbol is associated with one of the modules, and wherein one such graphic symbol is connected to a power source symbol;

    (b) isolating each given graphic symbol in the schematic to determine other graphic symbols that are its immediate upstream neighbors being other graphic symbols connected to the given graphic symbol by a line unbroken by any other graphic symbol and along a path of connections by lines and graphic symbols leading to the power source symbol;

    (c) sending to each given module a connection list of the message identifiers of the modules corresponding to the immediate upstream neighbors of the graphic symbol associated with the given module; and

    (d) causing the modules to respond selectively to messages from other modules having message identifiers on the module'"'"'s connection list, so as to define virtual connections between the modules.

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