Communication system for defining a variable group of processors for receiving a transmitted communication

• US 6,691,172 B1
• Filed: 12/15/1998
• Issued: 02/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Tice, Lee D., Clow, Robert J., Keeler, Manley S., Meggesin, John F., Howard, Jerry L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cardone, Jason D.
• Application Number:
  US09/211,546
• Time in Patent Office: 1,883 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/244, 709/207, 709/246, 709/205, 709/208, 709/245, 370/270, 370/312, 370/432, 340/825.52, 340/10.32, 340/286.02, 340/3.52, 340/3.53, 340/517, 340/522, 712/32, 712/214
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5021 Priority
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

A flexible multi-processor communications system supports variable message lengths and variable groups and application designations at respective processors. The receiving processors determine what action, if any, needs to be taken in response to the combination of group and application information in the messages. The receiving processors can include pluralities of pre-stored groups and applications along with associated priorities and the functions to perform.

Claims

1. A multi-processor, peer-to-peer communication system comprising:

a communications medium; and

a plurality of processors, coupled to the medium, where the processors are capable of transmitting and receiving messages from the medium;

the processors are programmed with functions to be performed in accordance with associated designated group(s) information received from transmitted messages on the medium;

wherein at least one of the processors originating a transmitted message includes instructions for sending a message with instructions for performing one or more selected functions without including information corresponding to the designated groups; and

wherein at least one of the processors other than the processor originating the transmitted message is a designated common processor, which includes instructions for receiving the transmitted message, determining the appropriate designated group(s) information, and transmitting the appropriate designated group(s) information, such that the designated group(s) information is inserted into the transmitted message in addition to the information from the originator of the transmitted message.

2. A system as in claim 1 wherein the transmitted message is variable in length;

and the transmitted message contains an indicator for the location(s) of error check information within the transmitted message, wherein the error check information is used to determine if the transmitted message contains errors prior to carrying out the functions associated with the transmitted message.

3. A system as in claim 2 wherein the processors receiving the transmitted message insert an error indicator into the same message if an error in the transmitted message is detected.

4. A system as in claim 2 wherein the processors do not carry out the function if an error is present in the transmitted message.

5. A system as in claim 2 wherein the processors receiving the transmitted message transmit an error message if an error in the transmitted message is detected.

6. A system as in claim 2 wherein at least some of the processors include ambient condition sensors.

7. A system as in claim 1 wherein the designated common processor providing the information to bind processors by group includes circuitry for extracting an identifier of the processor originating the transmitted message.

8. A system as in claim 7 wherein the identifier is the address of the processor originating the transmitted message.

9. A system as in claim 1 wherein the functions to be performed are executable instructions dependent upon the information in the message transmitted from the originating processor.

10. A system as in claim 1 wherein the designated common processor includes a plurality of stored group representations, wherein one or more of the designated group(s) include multiple processors.

11. A system as in claim 1 wherein the designated common processor is not a member of any of the designated group(s).

12. A system as in claim 1 wherein the types of groups include ambient condition control groups, annunciation groups, door access control groups, lighting control groups, ventilation control groups, security groups, motor contort groups, gas control groups, and fire control groups.

13. A multi-processor, peer-to-peer communication system comprising:

a communications medium;

a plurality of processors coupled to the medium, where the processors contain circuitry capable of transmitting and receiving messages from the medium;

wherein the messages contain both designated group(s) and application(s) information;

processors are programmed with more than one function to be performed which are associated with the combination of both the designated group(s) information and application(s) information received from transmitted messages on the medium wherein a processor originating a transmitted message sends application information as part of the message information but does not send the designated group(s) information; and

the designated group(s) information is provided by a designated common processor other than the processor originating the transmitted message, such that the designated group(s) information is inserted into the transmitted message in addition to the information from the originator of the transmitted message.

14. A system as in claim 13 wherein the information is sorted by application(s) and then by designated group(s) in order to determine the function to be performed by a processor.

15. A system as in claim 13 wherein the information is sorted first by designated group(s) and then by application(s) in order to determine the function to be performed by a processor.

16. A system as in claim 14 or claim 15 wherein the application(s) have a priority associated with them.

17. A system as in claim 16 wherein the processor will not perform the function associated with the combination of both a designated group(s) and application(s) if the priority is lower than that of a previous function performed by a processor.

18. A system in claim 14 or 15 wherein the designated group(s) have a priority associated with them.

19. A system as in claim 18 wherein the processor will not perform the function associated with the combination of both a designated group(s) and application(s) if the priority is lower than that of a previous function performed by a processor.

20. A system as in claim 13 wherein the designated group(s) information includes a building indicator or location information within the building.

21. A system as in claim 20 wherein the location information within the building is the floor or room information.

22. A system as in claim 13 wherein the application(s) information includes at least one of fire, security, HVAC, lighting, gas control, motor, and annunciation applications.

23. A system as in claim 13 wherein the functions to be performed are executable instructions.

24. A multi-processor, peer-to-peer communication system comprising:

a communication medium;

a plurality of processors, coupled to the medium, capable of transmitting and receiving information on the communication medium;

wherein some of the plurality of the processors include instructions for transmitting message information that does not contain group information;

wherein at least one of the plurality of processors is a common processor including pre-stored group information for associating with at least some of the messages initially transmitted without group information;

wherein the common processor includes instructions for receiving a message with message information transmitted by another processor on the communication medium, determining group information including at least one group for associating with said message information, and transmitting the determined group information onto the communication medium, in the same message, without repeating the message information transmitted by the other processor; and

wherein at least some of the processors of the plurality of processors associate the group information transmitted by the common processor with the message, transmitted by the other processor, that did not contain group information.

25. A system as in claim 24 wherein at least some of the plurality of processors include predetermined group information and predetermined executable routines stored in an associated memory, and instructions for executing at least one of said predetermined executable routines if the at least some of the plurality of processors receive group information from the communication medium that does not match their predetermined group information stored in memory.

26. A system as in claim 25 wherein at least some of the processors select executable routines for execution from a plurality of predetermined executable routines based upon the message information received by the processor.

27. A system as in claim 25 wherein the processor selects an executable routine from a plurality of executable routines stored in memory based upon the message information.

28. A system as in claim 24 wherein at least some of the plurality of processors include predetermined group information and predetermined executable routines stored in an associated memory, and instructions for executing at least one of said predetermined executable routines if the at least some of the plurality of processors receive group information from the communication medium that matches their predetermined group information stored in memory.

29. A system as in claim 28 wherein at least some of the processors select executable routines for execution from a plurality of predetermined executable routines based upon the message information received by the processor.

30. A system as in claim 24 wherein the message information includes at least some application information.

31. A system as in claim 30 wherein the application information includes ambient condition measurement, annunciation, door access, lighting, ventilation, security, motor control, gas measurement, gas control, and fire control applications.

32. A system as in claim 24 wherein the group information includes at least some application information.

33. A system as in claim 32 wherein the application information includes ambient condition measurement, annunciation, door access, lighting, ventilation, security, motor control, gas measurement, gas control, and fire control applications.

34. A system as in claim 24 wherein the group information includes a group designation.

35. A system as in claim 24 wherein the group information includes a unique designation for each of the one or more processors in the group.

36. A system as in claim 24 wherein the common processor is not included in any of the groups defined within the predetermined group information, and wherein the common processor only includes instructions for providing group information to the plurality of other processors on the communication medium.

37. A system as in claim 24 wherein the common processor is a central control unit including instructions for providing communication control to the processors on the communication medium.