Abstract: A method is described for communication among equal-access stations of a ring-shaped, serial fiber-optic bus and to a device for carrying out this communications method. One station, during a bus cycle, generates container messages in a strictly time-cyclical manner, addresses them, and provides them to the serial bus, and it transmits a synchronization message at the end of the bus cycle time, each station writing its data into container messages that are addressed to it, and each station, depending on its read authorization, reading the container messages of the serial bus, all the data that have been read in the stations being imported with the assistance of the synchronization message. Thus, equal-access stations of a ring-shaped, serial fiber-optic bus can exchange data, in direct-access, extremely quickly and in a strictly time-cyclical manner.

Abstract: A communication method for two communication parties linked to each other by means of a full-duplex point-to-point connection is disclosed. According to the present invention, this method is subdivided into an identification phase, a configuration phase and a data exchange phase, the communication parties identifying themselves to one another and defining their communication parameters during the identification phase, communication-party-dependent configuration data being exchanged between the two communication parties during the configuration phase, and cyclical and acyclical data being exchanged between the two communication parties during the data exchange phase if the configuration phase has been successfully completed. A fast periodic communication between two parties is consequently obtained, where no dual-port RAMs are required, with the result that this method is particularly cost-effective.

Abstract: Re-use and platform independence of application software is achieved by using component types comprising an interface and a body. This is followed by automatically generating components based on the developed component types. The development process steps are preceded by an adaptation process step, during which the functionality of all component types is defined for all the platforms.