Method of downloading information stored in an arching device to destination network controller through intermediate network controllers in accordance with routing information

• US 5,463,735 A
• Filed: 02/03/1994
• Issued: 10/31/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Johnson Service Company
• Inventors: Nesler, Clay G., Rasmussen, David E., Singers, Robert R., Decious, Gaylon M., Burkhardt, Dennis E., Mageland, Otto M., Woest, Karen L., Wagner, Michael E., Pascucci, Gregory A., Vairavan, Vairavan, Koch, David L., Spacek, Dan J., Hyzer, Susan M., Garbe, James R., Standish, Darrell E., Madaus, Paul W., Gottschalk, Donald A. Jr., Stark, James K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Luu, Le Hien
• Application Number:
  US08/191,284
• Time in Patent Office: 635 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200, 395/325, 395/800, 370/53, 370/54, 370/60, 370/60.1
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/22 Detection or location of defective computer hardware by testing during standby operation or during idle time, e.g. start-up testing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

A network system having a wide variety of applications and particularly applicable to facilities management systems includes network controllers which continuously process data related to building and industrial, environmental, security and other automated system controls. Each network controller has a network address indicative of a communication link to which the network controller is connected, a local address and a node drop ID to determine whether the network controller is a configured or non-configured device. Data stored in an archive device is downloaded to a destination network controller in the absence of a routing table in the destination network controller by transmitting a download request message from the archive device to an intermediate network controller with a routing table. The intermediate network controller assumes control of the download request by transmitting the message to the destination controller. The destination controller acknowledges receipt of the message by transmitting an acknowledge message back to the intermediate network controller, which passes the acknowledge message to the archive device in accordance with the routing information stored in the intermediate network controller. Thus, as certain network controllers are connected, disconnected or disabled during the operation of the network, the control of a process is not interrupted. Additionally, the network controllers are not configured to store large amounts of routing data because a path to a device can be established through other controllers with routing information.

Claims

1. A method of downloading information stored in an archive device to a destination network controller in a facilities management system including a plurality of network controllers and an archive device having device non-volatile memory, the network controllers being arranged to control a process, the network controllers being arranged as at least one network and being interconnected by at least one communication link, each of the network controllers including a controller non-volatile memory, an equipment interface for receiving data relating to the process, and a processor including a drop port, the processor being coupled to the equipment interface, the facilities management system being initialized so that the network controllers are configured to each have a network address indicative of a particular location in the facilities management system, the network address including a subset indicative of an associated communication link to which the network controller is connected, a local address indicative of the network controller, and a node drop ID indicating whether the network controller is a configured or a non-configured network controller, the network address being stored in the non-volatile memory of the network controller, the method comprising the steps of:

storing in the non-volatile memory of the archive device a destination network address of the destination network controller and an intermediate address of an intermediate network controller of the plurality of network controllers the destination address being indicative of the location of the destination network controller, the intermediate address being indicative of the location of the intermediate controller;

transmitting at least one message from the archive device to the intermediate network controller of the plurality of network controllers, the intermediate network controller having a routing table including routing information;

transferring control of transmission of the message to the intermediate network controller and passing the message from the intermediate network controller to the destination network controller in accordance with the routing information;

determining if the message should be forwarded from the destination network controller to a non-configured destination network controller coupled to the destination network controller in accordance with the node drop ID;

acknowledging receipt of the message by transmitting an acknowledge message from the destination network controller to the intermediate network controller; and

transferring control of transmission of the acknowledge message to the intermediate network controller, and passing the acknowledge message from the intermediate network controller to the archive device in accordance with the routing information.

2. A method of transmitting an information download request from a requesting network controller without a routing table to an archive device containing download data in a facilities management system, the facilities management system including a plurality of network controllers, the network controllers being arranged to control a process, the network controllers being configured as at least one network and being interconnected by at least one communication link, each of the network controllers including a non-volatile memory, an equipment interface for receiving data related to the process, and a processor coupled to the equipment interface, the facilities management system being initialized so that the network controllers are configured to each have a network address indicative of a particular location in the facilities management system, the network address including a subset indicative of an associated communication link to which the network controller is connected, a local address indicative of the network controller, and a node drop ID indicating whether the network controller is a configured or a non-configured network controller, the method comprising steps of:

storing in the non-volatile memory of the requesting network controller an initiator address of an initiator network controller of the plurality of network controllers, the initiator network address representative of the location in the facilities management system of the initiator network controller;

storing in the non-volatile memory of the requesting network controller an archive device identifier indicative of the archive device;

transmitting the information download request for the download data from the requesting network controller to the initiator network controller, the information download request including the archive device identifier;

requesting the download data from the archive device with the initiator network controller, the initiator network controller transmitting the information download request according to a routing information;

transmitting the download data from the archive device to the initiator network controller in response to the information download request;

sequentially transmitting the download data from the initiator network controller to an intermediate network controller, the intermediate network controller including a second routing table; and

subsequently transmitting the download data from the intermediate network controller to the requesting network controller in accordance with the second routing information stored in the second routing table, wherein the step of subsequently transmitting further includes determining if the requesting network controller is a non-configured network controller in accordance with the node drop ID.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the routing information is stored in the archive device.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the routing information is directly transmitted from the archive device to the initiator network controller.

5. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the plurality of network controllers monitor an heating ventilation and air conditioning control process.

6. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising:

transmitting the download data from the initiator network controller to the requesting network controller in accordance with the routing table.

7. The method as recited in claim 2 wherein the non-volatile memory is a PROM.