Peer-to-peer register exchange controller for PLCS

A communication network for programmable logic controllers (PLCs) wherein selected memory means of each PLC have at least two ports directly accessible by other PLCs and certain registers of the PLCs are identical to enable efficient, high-speed transfer of blocks of data between the PLCs.

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Claims

2. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 1, wherein each of said.Iadd.respective.Iaddend.multi-port.Iadd.image.Iaddend.memories comprise registers containing transferable data which is transferable between the others of said multi-port memories.

3. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 2, wherein each of said blocks includes a plurality of registers and the size of the registers containing data being transferred from one of said.Iadd.respective.Iaddend.multi-port.Iadd.image.Iaddend.memories to the other of said multi-port memories matches the size of said registers to which they are being transferred.

4. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 3, wherein each of said registers has an address including a first PLC ID number and a second, mailbox number, and the mailbox numbers of the blocks of registers are identical.

5. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 1, wherein each of said PLC's includes a dedicated communications processor to coordinate the transfer of data between the respective blocks.

6. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 1, including between 2 to 16 PLC's.

7. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of control processors can be selectively connected to a common communication bus.

10. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 8 wherein each of said registers has an address including a first, PLC ID number and a second, mailbox number, and the mailbox numbers of the blocks of registers are identical.

11. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 8, wherein each of said first and second PLC's includes a dedicated communications processor to coordinate the transfer of data between the respective blocks.

12. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 8, including between 2 to 16 PLC's.

13. The peer-to-peer communications network of claim 8 wherein each of said first and second control processors can be selectively connected to a common communication bus.

Referenced Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
4253148 February 24, 1981 Johnson et al.
4304001 December 1, 1981 Cope
4459655 July 10, 1984 Willemin
4486856 December 4, 1984 Heckel et al.
4550366 October 29, 1985 Toyama et al.
4607256 August 19, 1986 Henzel
4608661 August 26, 1986 Sasaki
4718039 January 5, 1988 Aichelmann, Jr. et al.
4754427 June 28, 1988 Okayama
Foreign Patent Documents
0200365 December 1986 EPX
Other references
  • Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 10, No. 80 (P-441) (2137) Mar. 29, 1986.
Patent History
Patent number: RE36263
Type: Grant
Filed: May 14, 1996
Date of Patent: Aug 3, 1999
Assignee: Schneider Automation, Inc. (North Andover, MA)
Inventors: Donald R. Janke (Milwaukee, WI), Kim J. Watt (Milwaukee, WI), Dirk I. Gates (Woodland Hills, CA)
Primary Examiner: Joseph Ruggiero
Law Firm: Ware, Fressola, Van Der Sluys & Adolphson LLP
Application Number: 8/645,606
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: 364/134; 364/14003; 395/20044
International Classification: G06F 1900; G06F 1516;