Method for automatically determining the physical location of devices on a bus networked control system
First Claim
1. A method for determining the physical locations of a plurality of devices coupled to a series connected network, each of said devices having an unique identifier on said network, comprising the steps:
- (a) performing the following steps (b)-(e) for each of said devices;
(b) severing a device from said network such that the series connection is blocked;
(c) sending queries to each of said devices for requesting said devices to provide identification responses, said queries being injected at a predefined node along said network;
(d) associating the identifier of said severed device with said responses from said queried devices;
(e) reattaching said severed device to said network; and
(f) after completing steps (a)-(e), determining physical locations of said devices based on said responses and said associated identifier of the severed device, said responses being indicative of said physical locations of said queried devices relative to said severed devices.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for determining the physical locations of devices located on a series connected network. A mapper routine located on the network severs a device from the network and then requests each device to respond with its respective node address to the mapper. Upon receiving the responses, the severed device is reattached to the network. This severing, requesting, and reattaching is performed for each remaining device on the network. The mapper routine determines the physical location of each device by correlating what responses from the devices were generated for which severed devices.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for determining the physical locations of a plurality of devices coupled to a series connected network, each of said devices having an unique identifier on said network, comprising the steps:
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(a) performing the following steps (b)-(e) for each of said devices; (b) severing a device from said network such that the series connection is blocked; (c) sending queries to each of said devices for requesting said devices to provide identification responses, said queries being injected at a predefined node along said network; (d) associating the identifier of said severed device with said responses from said queried devices; (e) reattaching said severed device to said network; and (f) after completing steps (a)-(e), determining physical locations of said devices based on said responses and said associated identifier of the severed device, said responses being indicative of said physical locations of said queried devices relative to said severed devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for determining the physical locations of a plurality of devices coupled to a series connected network, each of said devices having an unique identifier on said network, comprising:
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a network severer connected to said devices for severing devices from said network such that the series connection is blocked; a query generator connected to said network severer and to said network for indicating to said network severer to sever a device from said network and for sending queries to said devices, said queries being injected at a predefined node along said network; a query response recorder connected to said network for associating the identifier of said severed device with said responses from said queried devices; a network reattacher connected to said devices for reattaching to said network said severed devices; and a physical location determinator connected to said query response recorder for determining physical locations of said devices based on said responses and said associated identifier of the severed device, said responses being indicative of said physical locations of said queried devices relative to said severed devices. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification