Method and protocol for diagnostics or arbitrarily complex networks of devices
First Claim
1. In a network including multiple computer devices coupled to at least one communication bus utilizing a communication bus protocol, a computer device comprising:
- at least one hardware circuitry connected to the at least one communication bus; and
at least one microprocessor connected to said at least one hardware circuitry, said at least one microprocessor containing software having an architecture including;
communication software capable of communicating with the at least one communication bus; and
an abstraction layer in communication with said communication software, said abstraction layer capable of abstracting a message from the communication bus protocol, wherein said abstraction layer implements a protocol that enables at least one layer above said abstraction layer to be defined without regard to underlying layer implementations, such that said message is communicated over said at least one communication bus implementing any of a plurality of communication bus protocols.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention includes a network having a plurality of communication buses, at least two of the plurality of buses utilizing different communication bus protocols; a plurality of computer devices, at least one of the plurality of computer devices coupled to at least one of the plurality of communication buses and containing computer device software having an architecture including bus communication software for communicating with at least one of the plurality of communication buses; and an abstraction layer in communication with the bus communication software and capable of abstracting messages from the communication bus protocols, the plurality of computer devices including at least one gateway computer device coupled to multiple of the plurality of communication buses and containing computer device software having an architecture further including a gateway in communication with the abstraction layer and capable of routing the abstracted messages between computer devices coupled to the multiple communication buses to which the at least one gateway computer device is coupled.
28 Citations
54 Claims
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1. In a network including multiple computer devices coupled to at least one communication bus utilizing a communication bus protocol, a computer device comprising:
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at least one hardware circuitry connected to the at least one communication bus; and at least one microprocessor connected to said at least one hardware circuitry, said at least one microprocessor containing software having an architecture including; communication software capable of communicating with the at least one communication bus; and an abstraction layer in communication with said communication software, said abstraction layer capable of abstracting a message from the communication bus protocol, wherein said abstraction layer implements a protocol that enables at least one layer above said abstraction layer to be defined without regard to underlying layer implementations, such that said message is communicated over said at least one communication bus implementing any of a plurality of communication bus protocols. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. In a network including a plurality of nodes between which at least one message may be communicated, a method of enabling the nodes to resolve the message, the message including a message set ID and a message ID, said method comprising the steps of:
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looking up the message set ID in a message set ID mapping, which maps at least one message set ID to a message set definition for each node, to obtain the message set definition; looking up the message ID in a message ID mapping, which maps at least one message ID to a message definition, to obtain the message definition; and using the message definition to interpret the message. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A network comprising:
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at least one communication bus utilizing one communication bus protocol of a plurality of communication bus protocols; and a plurality of computer devices coupled to said at least one communication bus, at least one of said plurality of computer devices containing computer device software having an architecture including; communication software for communicating with said at least one communication bus; and an abstraction layer in communication with said communication software and capable of abstracting a message from the communication bus protocol, wherein said abstraction layer implements a protocol that enables at least one layer above said abstraction layer to be defined without regard to underlying layer implementations, such that said message is communicated over said at least one communication bus implementing any of a plurality of communication bus protocols. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A network comprising:
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a plurality of communication buses, at least two of the plurality of buses utilizing different communication bus protocols; a plurality of computer devices, at least one of said plurality of computer devices coupled to at least one of said plurality of communication buses and containing computer device software having an architecture including; bus communication software for communicating with at least one of said plurality of communication buses; and an abstraction layer in communication with said bus communication software and capable of abstracting messages from the communication bus protocols, said plurality of computer devices including at least one gateway computer device coupled to multiple ones of said plurality of communication buses and containing computer device software having an architecture further including a gateway in communication with the abstraction layer and capable of routing the abstracted messages between computer devices coupled to the multiple communication buses to which the gateway computer device is coupled. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. In a network including multiple computer devices coupled to at least one communication bus utilizing a communication bus protocol, a computer device comprising:
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at least one hardware circuitry connected to the at least one communication bus; and multiple microprocessors connected to said at least one hardware circuitry and containing software having an architecture including; communication software capable of communicating with the at least one communication bus; and an abstraction layer in communication with said communication software, said abstraction layer capable of abstracting a message from the communication bus protocol, wherein said abstraction layer implements a protocol that enables at least one layer above said abstraction layer to be defined without regard to underlying layer implementations, such that said message is communicated over said at least one communication bus implementing any of a plurality of communication bus protocols. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method of communicating a message over a network, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing at least one communication bus having a plurality of layers; supporting transport layer functions on a transport layer of said plurality of layers, wherein said transport layer functions are compatible with a communication bus protocol of said at least one communication bus over which a message is communicated; and abstracting said message from said communication bus protocol by an abstraction layer of said plurality of layers in communication with the transport layer, wherein said abstraction layer implements a protocol that enables said layers above said abstraction layer to be defined without regard to underlying layer implementations, such that said message is communicated over said at least one communication bus implementing any of a plurality of communication bus protocols. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A method of communicating a message, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing a network comprising multiple computer devices coupled to at least one communication bus; communicating a message over said at least one communication bus utilizing one of a plurality of communication bus protocols; and abstracting said message from said communication bus protocol by an abstraction layer of said communication bus, wherein said abstraction layer implements a protocol that enables at least one layer of said communication bus above said abstraction layer to be defined without regard to layers of said communication bus that underlie said abstraction layer, such that said message is communicated over said communication bus implementing any of said plurality of communication bus protocols. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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Specification