Data input control device for serial controller

• US 5,479,421 A
• Filed: 06/24/1992
• Issued: 12/26/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Komatsu Seisakusho
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Komatsu Seisakusho
• Inventors: Takebe, Makoto
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Snyder, Glenn
• Application Number:
  US07/866,169
• Time in Patent Office: 1,280 Days
• Field of Search: 371/69.1, 371/67.1, 371/20.1, 371/20.6
• US Class Current: 714/822
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0629 in a network, e.g. in combination with switching or multiplexing, slip buffers
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/14 Calling by using pulses

Abstract

A data input control device for a serial controller wherein a plurality of nodes each having one or a plurality of sensors connected thereto are serially connected to each other with a main controller included therein, the main controller delivers a predetermined data frame signal at a period sufficiently shorter than the variation interval of data detected by the nodes, and each node serves to add to the data frame signal the data from sensors connected to the node. The main controller compares the sensor data contained in the data frame signal inputted thereinto for predetermined times on receipt of a data frame signal, and takes thereinto the sensor data as true data only when the results derived from the comparisons performed by the predetermined times coincide with each other. Therefore, errors caused over the whole path through which the data outputted from the sensors are inputted into the main controller via the respective nodes can be detected.

Claims

1. A data input control device for a serial controller wherein a plurality of nodes each having one or a plurality of sensors connected thereto are serially connected to each other with a main controller included therein, said main controller delivers a predetermined data frame signal at a period sufficiently shorter than the variation interval of data detected by the sensors, and each of the nodes delivers data from a sensor connected to the node while the data is carried in the data frame signal, characterized in that the main controller includes:

sensor data storing buffers arranged in plural stages each having a memory capacity capable of storing all sensor data from the sensors connected to the nodes, for temporarily storing data from the plurality of sensors contained in the data frame signal over a plurality of sampling periods;

a true data storing buffer having a memory capacity capable of storing all sensor data from sensors connected to the plurality of nodes, for storing the sensor data which have been determined as true data;

data reading means for performing data reading operation of reading the data from one sensor over a plurality of sampling periods by outputting a read address corresponding to a storage region where the data from a same sensor are stored to the sensor data storing buffers arranged in plural stages;

a single comparing means for comparing data from one sensor over a plurality of sampling periods, said data being read by the data reading means; and

transferring/memorizing means for transferring data to be compared stored in sensor data storing sections arranged in the plural stages so as to store the data in a storage region corresponding to a sensor data storing section of the next stage upon completion of the comparison by the comparing means, and transferring to a storage region corresponding to the true data storing buffer data to be compared in one of the sensor data storing sections arranged in plural stages so as to store the data in a storage region, corresponding to the true data storing buffer, only when results derived from the comparison performed by the comparing means coincide with each other, and wherein

the data reading means successively updates read addresses for the sensor data storing buffers arranged in plural stages by one each time a comparison is completed by the comparing means; and

the transferring/memorizing means successively updates the access addresses, for the sensor data storing buffers arranged in plural stages and the true data storing buffer, by one each time the transferring/memorizing operation is completed, said storing of sensor data as true data being performed independently for each sensor data.

2. A data input control device for a serial controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the nodes delivers an error code indicative of content of an error such that the error code is carried by the data frame signal each time an error is detected;

wherein the main controller further includes error detecting means for determining the presence or absence of an error based on the error code contained in the data frame signal and detecting a communication error so as to output an error detection signal when the presence of an error is determined or a communication error is detected; and

wherein the transferring/memorizing means transfers data to be compared in one of the sensor data storing sections arranged in plural stages to a corresponding storage region of the true data storing buffer so as to store the data in the storage region only other under the situation that the error detecting means does not when comparison results by the comparing means coincide with each other under the situation that the error detecting means does not output an error detection signal.

3. A data input control device for a serial controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the comparing means compares the sensor data over the plurality of periods with data for each node as a unit, and a data take-in control is performed for each data of each node as a unit.

4. A data input control device for a serial controller wherein a plurality of nodes each having one or a plurality of sensors connected thereto are serially connected to each other with a main controller included therein, the main controller delivers a predetermined data frame signal containing an error code at a period sufficiently shorter than a variation interval of the data detected by each of the sensors, each node delivers data from each of the sensors connected to the node while the data are carried by the data frame signal, and the content of the error is carried by the error code when an error is detected, the main controller including:

error detecting means for determining the presence or absence of an error based on the error code contained in the data frame signal and detecting a communication error so as to output an error detection signal when the presence of an error is determined or a communication error is detected;

comparing means for comparing an inputted sensor data contained in the data frame signal over a predetermined sampling period as many times as predetermined time; and

data inputting means for performing a data take-in control in such a manner as to take thereinto the sensor data as true data only when the results derived from the comparisons performed by the predetermined times coincide with each other under the condition that no error detection signal is outputted from the error detecting means, wherein the comparing means compares the sensor data over the plurality of periods for each corresponding bit as a unit, and the data take-in control is performed by the data inputting means for each bit as a unit.

5. A data input control device for a serial controller as claimed in claim 4, wherein the comparing means compares the sensor data over the plurality of periods with data for each node as a unit, and the data take-in control is performed with by the data inputting means for each data of each node as a unit.