Industrial automation system and method having efficient network communication
US6411987B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 2, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jun 25, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 2, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L69/32
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The system and method of industrial automation provides improved network transfer of data between nodes. The system comprises a plurality of computer systems which are interconnected through a network, wherein each of the computer systems executes industrial automation software. One or more of these computer systems interface to various hardware I/O devices for data acquisition. Each computer system is home to one or more client and/or server processes. When a hardware I/O device generates data, a server process which is linked to that device through a device driver receives a block of data from the device. Using a real-time protocol, the server adds one or more blocks of data to a packet and transmits the packet to every client which has subscribed to the data. For increased network and computational efficiency, the real-time protocol includes compression techniques and is exception-based: only changes in data are sent to clients. The real-time protocol further employs a “train station” model for packet generation: a packet is only sent when it reaches a certain size or when a certain time has elapsed. The server determines if a plurality of clients are interested in a…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.