Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at separate stations – Having measuring – testing – or monitoring of system or part
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-12
2004-06-29
Banks-Harold, Marsha D. (Department: 2686)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at separate stations
Having measuring, testing, or monitoring of system or part
C455S457000, C701S029000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06757521
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1) Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates to electronic diagnostic and maintenance tools for control networks.
2) Background
Electronic control systems are commonly used in a number of manufacturing transportation, and other applications, and are particularly useful to control machinery, sensors, electronics, and other system components. Manufacturing or vehicular systems, for example, may be outfitted with a variety of sensors and electrical and/or mechanical parts that may need to be activated, deactivated, monitored, enabled, disabled, adjusted or otherwise controlled when needed to perform their predefined functions. Control of the various system components is generally accomplished by providing suitable electronic signals to various actuators, relays, switches, or other control points within the system. Control systems often require that processes be carried out in a prescribed order, or with a level of responsiveness, that precludes sole reliance on manual control. Also, such systems may employ sensors or other components that require continuous or periodic monitoring or control, and therefore lend themselves to automated or semi-automated control.
A variety of different network architectures for controlling electronic systems have been developed or proposed. Examples of various control networks include programmable logic controller (PLC) based multiplexed control systems in which a single central processing unit (CPU) is used to control a number of input/output (I/O) modules or network nodes; network-controlled multiplexed control systems in which a network of interconnected CPUs are used to control a number of I/O modules at the various network nodes; and hierarchical, master-slave multi-bus control systems, wherein CPU-driven network nodes are connected together at each bus level in a loop configuration.
In most control networks, it is necessary to be able to diagnose operational problems that may occur within the system. Operational problems may result from wiring faults, component failures (either in the control network or in the components being controlled by the control network), or logic flaws, among other reasons. Also, it may be necessary to test the operation of the controls system from time to time, such as when components are added or removed, or when functionality of the control system is added or changed.
Traditionally, diagnosis and testing of a control network is carried out by manual activation of switches, relays or actuators, and observing the results on the input/output devices of the control system. Conventional meters (e.g., an Ohm-meter) may be used to determine if electrical signals from the control network are reaching the intended destination(s). Due to the different types of operational problems that can occur (e.g., wiring fault vs. component failure), and the myriad of possible places in which a fault or failure could occur, locating the source of an operational problem can be an extremely slow and laborious process. With the increasing complexity of control systems and the steadily growing number of components used in such systems, diagnosis and testing become even more critical and, in many respects, more difficult.
To conduct a complete manual test or diagnosis of a control system can be very time consuming and tedious. The test personnel generally need to read complicated circuit blueprints and locate each relay, switch, actuator or other component that needs to be tested. Often, multiple relays, switches or actuators will need to be activated, switched or otherwise positioned to test a particular system component. In such a case, the test personnel needs to locate and set each such relay, switch and/or actuator to its proper position, which can be a lengthy process. In many control systems, simply locating the appropriate switches, relays or actuators can be difficult, especially if the control system is complex and includes many components. Also, particularly in the case of on-board control systems used in vehicles (such as buses or rail cars), the switches, relays or actuators can be located in inconvenient places and thus hard to find or set to reach manually.
Diagnosis and testing of a control network is sometimes carried out by connecting a test computer (usually a laptop or other portable computerized device) to a diagnostic and maintenance port of the control network. The test computer is generally programmed to receive various types of information from the control network to allow an operator to monitor the functioning of the control system. The test computer may also be used to download new programming instructions to the control network via the diagnostic and maintenance port.
An illustration of a test computer set-up for monitoring a control network is illustrated in FIG.
1
. As shown in
FIG. 1
, a vehicle
101
(shown in phantom for convenience of illustration) has a control network
110
(shown in solid, dark lines) with various I/O modules dispersed throughout the vehicle
101
. A test computer
103
connects by a cord
106
to a module
112
containing the diagnostic and maintenance port. The test computer
103
is thereby able to monitor the functioning of the control network
110
.
FIGS. 2
,
3
and
4
are diagrams of test computer set-ups for different control networks as known in the art.
FIG. 2
illustrates a hierarchical, master-slave control network
120
, having,a master bus controller (MBC)
125
connected to a common bus
138
, which connects various network nodes in a loop configuration. The network nodes may include, for example, high-speed cell net controller (HCNC) modules
128
and digital input/output (DIO) modules
127
, or other types of modules, all of which generally operate in a slave mode with respect to the common bus
138
. The control network
120
may also include one or more secondary buses (not shown). Further information about certain types of hierarchical, master-slave control networks may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,907,486 and 6,061,600 and Japanese Patent documents 10-326259 and 10-333930, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth fully herein. The control network
120
may be physically connected to a test computer
123
from time to time through an RS-485 compatible diagnostic and maintenance port
129
, for the purpose of testing and monitoring the functionality of the control network
120
as generally described above.
FIG. 3
is a diagram of a PLC-based multiplexed control system
140
, in which a single main central processing unit (CPU)
146
is used to monitor and control a number of network nodes
150
. Each network node
150
typically includes a programmable logic controller (PLC) which, in turn, monitors various input signals or conditions (such as temperature, current, speed, pressure and the like) and generates output signals to various output devices (such as actuators, relays or switches) through input/output (I/O) modules
152
, thus providing localized control at various network node sites. The main control network CPU
146
communicates with the PLCs of each of the network nodes
150
over a main system bus
147
, and provides top-level command and control. The main control network CPU
146
may be physically connected to a test computer
149
from time to time through an RS-232 compatible diagnostic and maintenance port
148
, for the purpose of testing and monitoring the functionality of the control network
140
as previously described.
FIG. 4
is a diagram of a network-controlled multiplexed control system
160
in which a network of interconnected CPUs
170
are used to control a number of I/O modules
172
. A main CPU
166
is connected to other dispersed CPUs
170
over a control area network (CAN) bus or device net
167
. The CAN bus or device net
167
may be physically connected to a test computer
169
from time to time through a CAN bus or device net gateway
175
, which connects to the CAN bus or device net through a CAN
Banks-Harold Marsha D.
I/O Controls Corporation
Irell & Manella LLP
Ly Nghi H.
LandOfFree
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