Serial bus control for appliances

US5600310A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• General Electric Company · US

Inventors

• Walter Whipple, III · Amsterdam, US
• Hunt Adams Sutherland · Saratoga Springs, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 2, 1994
• Grant date: Feb 4, 1997
• Expiry date: Dec 2, 2014

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G05B2219/25212
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A household appliance having a serial bus control system includes a system controller, a plurality of slave nodes, and a serial bus connector. Each slave node is a sensor, an actuator, or the like, that is coupled to the serial bus connector and is responsive to a particular slave node address code generated by a master communications module that is part of the system controller. The serial bus connector is a loop of conductor which is attached at each end of the loop to the master communication module, with the slave nodes coupled to the loop at intermediate positions along the loop. The master communications module includes an interrogation circuit for generating digital transmissions to one or more of said slave node address codes and a receiver circuit for receipt of digital transmissions from the slave nodes coupled to said serial bus connector. The system controller further includes a processor for receiving sensor signals from slave nodes addressed by the communications module and for generating respective control signals to govern operation of actuators coupled to the serial bus connector.