Method and electronic switching circuit for a scalable communication interface in automation components

{
  "publication_number": "US2004105398A1",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "A1",
  "title": "Method and electronic switching circuit for a scalable communication interface in automation components",
  "abstract": "The invention relates to a method and an electronic switching circuit for a scalable communication interface between a first communication connection (16) having a first transmission cycle (17) of a first length, and a second communication connection (12) having a second transmission cycle (13) of a second length, comprising a receive list (5), (7), (15), (19) for the first transmission cycle and a send list (4), (6), (14), (18) for the second transmission cycle, a data telegram (2), (21), (22), (23), (24), (25), (26), (27), (28) received according to the receive list being associated with an element of the send list.",
  "claims": [
    "1. Electronic switching circuit for a scalable communication interface (103) between a first communication link (16) having a first transmission cycle (17) of a first length and a second communication link (12) having a second transmission cycle (13) with a second length, with a receive list (5, 7, 15, 19) for the first transmission cycle (11) and a send list (4, 6, 14, 18) for the second transmission cycle (13), wherein a data message (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28) received according to the receive list (5, 7, 15, 19) is associated with an element of the send list (4, 6, 14, 18). 2. Electronic switching circuit according to claim 1 for integration in a device, for example an automation component (100). 3. Electronic switching circuit according to claim 1 or 2 with a standardized connection technique for at least one or more communication interfaces (103), in particular for connecting standardized cable media. 4. Electronic switching circuit according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the scalability of the communication interface refers to its performance and/or usage functionality. 5. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 4, wherein the communication interface (103) is formed on the basis of a standard protocol functionality, preferably TCP/IP with Ethernet, with or without real-time capability. 6. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein the communication interface (103) is configured for connecting different device components, in particular components for connecting to a Soft Real-Time Ethernet or Isochronous Real-Time Ethernet. 7. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 6 with a scalable transmission rate, wherein the transmission rate is preferably specified via a planning process or a plug-and-play mechanism. 8. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 7 with a routing functionality between the communication interfaces (103). 9. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 8 with a redundancy functionality for setting up two or more redundant communication links by chaining point-to-point connections between the nodes of a communication network. 10. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 9, wherein the characteristic properties, in particular the transmission rate, can be associated arbitrarily with the communication interface(s) (103). 11. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 10, wherein the communication interface (103) can be scaled, adjusted and used with respect to its real-time functionality, in particular for Soft Real-Time Ethernet and Isochronous Real-Time Ethernet, and different automation components (100) can be operated with different requirements regarding the performance of a real-time communication link. 12. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 11, wherein synchronized transmission cycles (13, 17) from the application of automation components (100) can be used for connecting dynamic drives and fast input/output devices with a small transmission cycle (17) of the first communication link (16) and a smaller number of dynamic drives with standard input/output devices with a longer transmission cycle (13) of the second communication link (12). 13. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 12, wherein the first (16) and the second communication link (12) have different transmission rates. 14. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 13, wherein the first (17) and a second transmission cycle (13) are synchronous and the lengths of the first (17) and the second transmission cycle (13) are identical or are an integer multiple of each other. 15. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 14, wherein the send list (4, 6, 14, 18) is configured for m-fold transmission of a data message (20 - 28) within m consecutive transmission cycles (13, 17), after the data message (20 - 28) has been received n-fold during the first transmission cycle (17) according to the receive list (5, 7, 15, 19). 16. Electronic switching circuit according to claim 15, wherein m>n, if n≧1, preferably n=1. 17. Electronic switching circuit according to claim 16, wherein the data message (20 - 28) is transmitted only once according to the send list (4, 6, 14, 18) and wherein in addition a plurality of m−1 replacement data messages is transmitted according to the send list (4, 6, 14, 18) during the second transmission cycle (13). 18. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 17, wherein the first (16) and/or the second communication link (12) are bidirectional and a corresponding send list (4, 6, 14, 18) and a receive list (5, 7, 15, 19) is associated with each of the bidirectional communication links. 19. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 18, wherein the data message (20 - 28) represents real-time data. 20. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 19, wherein the first (16) and the second communication link (12) have an equidistance characteristic. 21. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 20, wherein the first (16) and the second communication link (12) represent an industrial Ethernet, in particular an Isochronous Real-Time Ethernet (IRTE) or a Soft Real-Time Ethernet (SRTE). 22. Electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 21 with several input and/or output ports, each of which have an associated receive (5, 7, 15, 19) and/or send list (4, 6, 14, 18), and with a coupling field (29) for coupling at least one of the ports with one or several of the other ports. 23. Automation system with several components (41, 42, 43, 44, 45) which are connected with each other via communication links (46, 47, 48, 49), with each of the components (41 - 45) including an electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 22 as an integral component or as an additional device. 24. Automation system with at least one first sub-network (50, 51, 52, 53) with first communication links and with at least one second sub-network (50, 51, 52, 53) with second communication links and with at least one coupling node (54, 55, 56) between the first and second sub-networks (50 - 53) with an electronic switching circuit according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 22. 25. Automation system according to claim 24 with several coupling nodes (54 - 59) which are connected with each other through a third sub-network (50). 26. Automation system according to claim 24 or 25, wherein the different sub-networks (50 - 53) have different transmission cycles and/or transmission rates. 27. Method for setting up a communication interface (103) between a first communication link (16) with a first transmission cycle (14) of a first length and a second communication link (12) with a second transmission cycle (13) of a second length, wherein the first (17) and the second transmission cycle (13) are preferably synchronized with each other, and wherein the first and the second length are preferably identical or an integer multiple of each other, with the following steps: receiving a data message (20 - 28) according to a receive list (5, 7, 15, 19) associated with the first transmission cycle (17), transmitting the data message (20 - 28) according to a send list (4, 6, 14, 18) associated with the second transmission cycle (13). 28. Method according to claim 27, wherein the first communication link (16) and the second communication link (12) have different transmission rates. 29. Method according to claim 27 or 28, wherein a data message (20 - 28) is received from a first station of the first communication link (16) during the first transmission cycle (17) and the data message (20 - 28) is transmitted m-fold within m consecutive transmission cycles (17, 13) to a second station of the second communication link (12). 30. Method according to claim 29, wherein the data message (20 - 28) is transmitted only once during the second transmission cycle (13, 17) and a replacement data message is transmitted (m−1)-fold during the subsequent second transmission cycles (13, 17). 31. Method according to one of the preceding claims 27 to 30, wherein the data message (20 - 28) includes real-time data. 32. Method according to one of the preceding claims 27 to 30, wherein the first (16) and the second (12) communication link have an equidistance characteristic. 33. Method according to one of the preceding claims 27 to 32, wherein the first (16) and the second (12) communication link (12) represent an industrial Ethernet, in particular an Isochronous Real-Time Ethernet or a Soft Real-Time Ethernet. 34. Method according to one of the preceding claims 27 to 33, wherein one or more input ports and/or one or more output ports, each having associated therewith a receive list (5, 7, 15, 19) and/or a send list (4, 6, 14, 18), are coupled via a coupling field (29). 35. Method according to one of the preceding claims 27 to 34, wherein the first (17) and the second transmission cycle (13) do not exhibit a mutual phase shift. 36. Computer program product with means for carrying out a method according to one of the preceding claims 27 to 35, when the computer program executes on an electronic switching circuit or an automation system."
  ],
  "cpc": [
    "H04L 12/40052",
    "H04L 12/6418",
    "H04L 2012/6454"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2002-03-11",
  "publication_date": "2004-06-03",
  "priority_date": "2001-03-22",
  "application_number": "US-47165203-A",
  "family_id": "26008875",
  "citations": [
    "US2001009547A1",
    "US2002064157A1",
    "US4639910A",
    "US5235595A",
    "US5566169A"
  ]
}