Aggregator apparatus for standardized access to a plurality of network segments of a field bus system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11848796-B2
Application number	US-201917282825-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2019
Priority date	Oct 4, 2018
Publication date	Dec 19, 2023
Grant date	Dec 19, 2023

Abstract

An aggregator is designed to form first data connections to field access devices. The field access devices are connected to different network segments of a field bus system. The aggregator forms a second data connection to a host computer. The aggregator receive first data traffic from the host computer via the second data connections and to forward the first data traffic, via the first data connections to a field access device of that network segment in which the particular field bus component, to which the first data traffic is directed, is situated. The aggregator is also designed to receive second data traffic from a field bus component in one of the network segments via at least one of the first data connections and to forward the second data traffic to at least one of the host computers via at least one of the second data connections.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aggregator apparatus which is designed to form a plurality of first data connections to a plurality of field access devices, wherein the field access devices are connected to a plurality of different network segments of a field bus system,
wherein the aggregator apparatus is designed to form at least one second data connection to at least one host computer,
wherein the aggregator apparatus is designed to receive first data traffic from the at least one host computer via at least one of the second data connections and to forward the first data traffic via at least one of the first data connections to a field access device of that network segment in which the particular field bus component to which the first data traffic is directed is situated, and
to receive a second data traffic from a field bus component in one of the network segments via at least one of the first data connections and to forward the second data traffic to at least one of the host computers via at least one of the second data connections;
wherein the at least one host computer only registers once with the aggregator for authorized access to different network segments via different respective field access devices.

2. The aggregator apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the following is true:
the aggregator apparatus is designed to provide standardized access to a field bus system comprising a plurality of network segments;
the first data traffic is data traffic for the parametrization, configuration, and status monitoring of a field bus component;
the second data traffic received from a field bus component in one of the network segments comprises at least one parameter value of the particular field bus component;
the aggregator apparatus is designed to selectively forward the second data traffic received from a field bus component in one of the network segments to the host computer or to the host computers for which the second data traffic is intended; and
the aggregator apparatus is implemented as an independent aggregator device or in the form of a software module executable on a computer.

3. The aggregator apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the following is true:
the plurality of first data connections comprises at least one of the following: at least one wireless data connection, at least one wired data connection; and
the at least one second data connection comprises at least one of the following: at least one wireless data connection, at least one wired data connection.

4. The aggregator apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the aggregator is designed to forward the first data traffic on the basis of the field bus component indicated as the destination address of the first data traffic to a field access device of that network segment in which the particular field bus component is situated.

5. The aggregator apparatus of claim 4 , wherein routing information which indicates to which network segment a first data traffic directed to a specific field bus component is to be routed is stored on the part of the aggregator apparatus.

6. The aggregator apparatus of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the following is true:
the aggregator apparatus is designed to forward a first data traffic received from at least one of the host computers on the basis of the routing information to that network segment in which the field bus component to which the first data traffic is directed is situated;
the routing information is topology information specifying the topology of the network segments connected to the aggregator apparatus;
at least one of the field access devices is designed to ascertain topology information for the associated network segment by using a scan and to transmit the topology information to the aggregator apparatus;
at least one of the field access devices is designed to ascertain the field bus components present in the associated network segment using a scan;
at least one of the field access devices is designed to ascertain using a scan the field bus components present in the associated network segment and to transmit the scan results in the form of at least one file from the particular field access device to the aggregator apparatus;
the at least one field access device is designed to automatically carry out a scan of the associated network segment at prespecified time intervals; and
the aggregator apparatus is designed to initiate a scan on the part of the at least one field access device.

7. The aggregator apparatus of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the following is true:
routing information is assignment information which assigns the field bus components to the various network segments; and
the routing information is assignment information which indicates in which network segment the particular field bus component is situated.

8. The aggregator apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the following is true:
the aggregator apparatus is designed to authenticate the at least one host computer;
the aggregator apparatus is designed to authorize the at least one host computer;
the aggregator apparatus is designed to assign access authorizations to the at least one host computer for complete or partial access to specific network segments and/or specific field bus components and/or specific functionalities of field bus components;
the aggregator apparatus comprises a firewall, wherein the at least one host computer can be registered with the firewall of the host computer; and
the aggregator apparatus has an encryption and decryption unit for encrypting and decrypting the data traffic exchanged with the at least one host computer.

9. A field bus system, including:
a plurality of network segments, wherein each network segment comprises at least one field access device, at least one field bus, and at least one field bus component, wherein the at least one field access device is designed to allow access to field bus components in the particular network segment,
an aggregator apparatus which is designed to form a plurality of first data connections to at least some of the field access devices in different network segments;
wherein the aggregator apparatus is designed to form at least one second data connection to at least one host computer,
wherein the aggregator apparatus is designed to receive first data traffic from the at least one host computer via at least one of the second data connections and to forward the first data traffic via at least one of the first data connections to a field access device of that network segment in which the particular field bus component to which the first data traffic is directed is situated, and
to receive a second data traffic from a field bus component in one of the network segments via at least one of the first data connections and to forward the second data traffic to at least one of the host computers via at least one of the second data connections;
wherein the at least one host computer only registers once with the aggregator for authorized access to different network segments via different respective field access devices.

10. The field bus system of claim 9 , wherein the field bus system is designed such that the aggregator apparatus and the field access devices connected thereto mutually inform one another about their particular device identifiers.

11. The field bus system of claim 9 , wherein for identifying the field access devices connected to the aggregator apparatus, device identifiers of the field access devices connected to the aggregator apparatus are stored in the aggregator apparatus, wherein the aggregator apparatus is designed to identify itself to the field access devices connected to the

Assignees

• Endress Hauser Process Solutions Ag

Inventors

• Mayer Michael
• Pöschmann Axel

Classifications

• H04L45/02

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04L12/40 Primary

  Bus networks · CPC title

• H04L12/40045 Primary

  Details regarding the feeding of energy to the node from the bus · CPC title

• H04L63/0209

  Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones · CPC title

• H04L63/0471

  applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding · CPC title