Communication system between a plurality of transmitters and receivers having relays responsive to those identifying codes of transmitters contained in its respective table memory

• US 5,454,077 A
• Filed: 04/02/1991
• Issued: 09/26/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Somfy SA
• Original Assignee: Somfy SA
• Inventors: Cheron, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Sang Hui
• Application Number:
  US07/679,935
• Time in Patent Office: 1,638 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200, 395/275
• US Class Current: 710/106
• CPC Class Codes: E06B 9/32 Operating, guiding, or securing devices therefor operation of tilting bars E06B9/307
• CPC Class Codes: E06B 9/70 comprising an electric motor positioned outside the roller
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 15/00 Arrangements characterised by the use of multiplexing for the transmission of a plurality of signals over a common path

Abstract

Installation comprising several receiving points and several transmitting points. A control installation especially useful for controlling the operation of roller blinds or shutters. The control installation has several receiving points (4), several transmitting points (1) and the relay points (2) are connected to a common BUS line so as to be able to intercommunicate. The transmitting points (1) are provided in order to transmit signals on the BUS line. Each signal is a frame formed of at least one identifying element and of at least one element defining an order to be executed by the receiver. A particular address code, to which the identifying element corresponds is assigned to each transmitting point. The relay points are equipped with a logic processing unit having memories which are provided in order to store at least one identifying element. The allocating of the address to the transmitter allows the control installation to exhibit very high flexibility.

Claims

1. A control system comprising, a plurality of transmitters and a plurality of receivers wherein any one of the transmitters can send a control message to any number of receivers simultaneously and any receiver can receive messages from more than one transmitter, said system further comprising at least two transmitting points (1), each of said transmitting points being assigned a particular identifying code,

at least two receiving points (4), said transmitting points and said receiving points being distinct from one another,

and relay points (2) equal in number to the number of receiving points, where each relay point is associated with a single receiving point for controlling the associated receiving point, and

wherein the output of each of said relay points is connected to the input of its associated receiving point,

a common bus line wherein the outputs of said transmitting points and the inputs of the said relay points are each connected to said common BUS line so as to provide one-way communication from the transmitters to the receivers,

said common BUS line being the sole path of communication between the transmitters and receivers,

the transmitting points being for transmitting signals onto the BUS line,

each signal comprising a frame formed of at least one element corresponding to the particular transmitter'"'"'s identifying code, and of at least one element defining an order to be executed by the receiver,

each of said relay points comprising a microprocessor for deciphering and processing the signals transmitted on the BUS line and for activating the receiver which is associated with said relay point,

said microprocessor comprising a processing unit, and memories including a programmed non-volatile memory which stores the transmitter identifying codes of each transmitter whose messages the particular receiver can execute,

wherein the microprocessor selects among said signals transmitted on the BUS line by the transmitting pint, only those signal in which the transmitter identifying element corresponds to a stored transmitter identifying code, and the programming of the receiver'"'"'s microprocessor is the sole determinant of the destination and reception of each transmitted signal,

wherein the microprocessor causes transmission of the order code of each selected frame to its corresponding receiver,

and wherein the microprocessor (5) of the relay point comprises a table of identifying codes which consists of memory slots intended to store the identifying codes of the transmitters to which the relay point is to be responsive, frame memory slots intended to temporarily store the information contained in the frame of the last signal traveling on the BUS line and an indicator consisting of a memory slot and intended to receive a state (0 or 1) each time that the address of the stored frame corresponds to one of those stored in the address table.

2. The installation as claimed in claim 1, wherein each relay point (2) comprises a user interface (7;

7'"'"';

7'"'"''"'"') comprising the switch means (C1 to C4;

C1 to C2) for introducing, via the user, the said identifying elements into the memory provided for this purpose.

3. The installation as claimed in claim 2, wherein the said user interface (7) comprises a selector (C1) for programming/application mode, a contact (C4) for incrementing the pointer of the code table, two contacts (C2, C3) enabling the incrementing and decrementing of the code of the slot pointed to, and a means (13) of displaying the incrementation/ decrementation of the address.

4. The installation as claimed in claim 1, wherein each transmitting point comprises a code specific to the type of transmitter, the transmitting points being provided in order to incorporate this code in the frame of the transmitted signal, and wherein each relay point (2) comprises, in memory, a priority table (FIG. 7) which consists of several memory slots in which transmitting points codes are stored, according to a particular order, and, in memory, three tables (81, 82, 83) each consisting of an identical number of memory slots, each of these slots being associated with a memory slot of the priority table, the first table (81) being a table of code whose function is to store the addresses of the selected transmitters, the second table (82) being a transmitter state table whose function is to store the active or inactive state of the transmitting points, and the third table (83) being a table of orders whose function is to store the nature of the orders of the selected transmitting points, means for reading and storing the code for the type of transmitter, and instructions for checking that the code for the type of transmitter of the received frame corresponds to a type stored in the priority table.

5. The installation according to claim 4, wherein each relay point (2) comprises a user interface (7) comprising a selector (C1) for programming/application mode, a contact (C4) for incrementing the pointer of the priority table, two contacts (C7, C3) allowing the incrementing and decrementing of the position of addresses in programming mode and a display (FIG. 6) allowing the displaying of the memory slot pointed to in the priority table.

6. The installation as claimed in claim 4, wherein at least one relay point (2) comprises means (C5, C6, C7) for introducing control instructions, wherein the priority table (80'"'"') comprises an additional memory slot (801) intended to store the instruction introduced at the relay point, and wherein each of the state (82'"'"') and order (83'"'"') tables comprises an additional memory slot (821, 831) linked to the said additional memory slot of the priority table, in order to store the active or inactive state and the order of the relay point, the main program of the relay point comprising additional instructions for checking the said means of introduction (C5, C6, C7) and for updating the corresponding slot of the state table and of the order table.

7. The installation as claimed in claim 2, wherein each relay point (2) comprises, in its memory, a priority table (80") consisting of several memory slots, a table of identity codes (81"), a transmitter state table (82") and an order table (83"), these tables each consisting of memory slots each of which is associated with a memory slot of the priority table, the said user interface (7'"'"') comprising means for introducing the codes specific to the types of transmitters into the memory slots of the priority table and the corresponding code into the code table.

8. The installation as claimed in claim 7, wherein the said priority table (80'"'"'") comprises at least one protected memory slot (812, 813) containing a preprogrammed type code, for checking that the memory slot pointed to in the priority table is protected in order to move the pointer to the corresponding slot of the address table.

9. The installation as claimed in claim 4, wherein at least one transmitting points (1) comprises means (C9) for introducing into the frame of its signal a code for indicating a momentary order and wherein each relay point (2) comprises, in its memory, an additional, type of order table (84) consisting of an equal number of memory slots to the number of memory slots of the other tables (80'"'"' to 83'"'"'), each of these slots being associated with a slot of the priority table (80'"'"'), these slots being provided in order to store a momentary state when the received frame contains a code for indicating a momentary order, the microprocessor comprising additional instructions (54) for checking the existence of a momentary order code in the type of order table and means (55) for resetting the type of order table, as well as instructions (45'"'"', 46'"'"') for updating the transmitter state, order and type of order tables.

10. The installation as claimed in claim 8, wherein the said means are constituted by a contact (C9).

11. The installation as claimed in claim 9, wherein the user interface (7") comprises an activating contact (C8) and contacts (C5, C6, C7), the activating contact enabling the relay point to transmit momentary orders by means of the said contacts (C5, C6, C7).

12. The installation as claimed in claim 1, comprising sensors linked respectively to each transmitter, wherein each transmitter (1) comprises a power supply (17), a microprocessor (14), an Input interface (18) connecting the sensor to the transmitter and an Output interface (19) connecting the transmitter to the BUS line.