Transmission of telegrams by a network distributor in an automation network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12047199-B2
Application number	US-202117451658-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2021
Priority date	Aug 14, 2019
Publication date	Jul 23, 2024
Grant date	Jul 23, 2024

Abstract

A network distributor has a plurality of input-output ports, a processor unit, and a memory unit. The ports connect network subscribers via a data line network, where the network subscribers include protocol subscribers to process telegrams as protocol telegrams. The processor unit receives telegrams via one port and outputs telegrams via another port, which is stored in a routing table in the memory unit. The processor unit further determines whether a telegram is a protocol telegram received via a port for which no port identifier is stored in the memory unit, and to discard the telegram if so. Checking and discarding of telegrams can be subject to a precondition, where fulfillment of the precondition leads to an exception from discarding the telegram.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A network distributor comprising:
a plurality of input-output ports,
a processor unit, and
a memory unit;
wherein the plurality of input-output ports are configured to connect respective network subscribers via a data line network, wherein the network subscribers comprise protocol subscribers configured to process telegrams formed as protocol telegrams,
wherein a port identifier is stored in the memory unit if the network subscriber connected via an input-output port is a protocol subscriber,
wherein the processor unit is configured to receive telegrams via an input-output port and to output telegrams via a further input-output port stored in a routing table in the memory unit, and
wherein the processor unit is further configured to check a telegram to determine whether the telegram is a protocol telegram and has been received via an input-output port for which no port identifier is stored in the memory unit, and to discard the telegram if the check is positive,
wherein the checking and discarding of the telegram are subject to a precondition to be considered by the processor unit, and
wherein fulfillment of the precondition leads to an exception from discarding the telegram.

2. The network distributor according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor unit is configured to check whether the telegram received via the input-output port has a telegram identifier, and
wherein the processor unit is configured to recognize the telegram as a protocol telegram based on the telegram identifier.

3. The network distributor according to claim 2 ,
wherein a telegram formed as a protocol telegram is formed as an Ethernet telegram,
wherein the Ethernet telegram comprises an Ethernet header section and an Ethernet data section,
wherein the telegram identifier comprises a first identifier and a second identifier,
wherein the Ethernet header section comprises the first identifier of the telegram identifier, and
wherein the processor unit is configured to evaluate the first identifier of the telegram identifier in the Ethernet header section.

4. The network distributor according to claim 2 ,
wherein a telegram formed as a protocol telegram is formed as an Ethernet telegram,
wherein the Ethernet telegram comprises an Ethernet header section and an Ethernet data section,
wherein the Ethernet data section comprises a field bus protocol header section,
wherein the telegram identifier comprises a first identifier and a second identifier,
wherein the Ethernet header section comprises the first identifier of the telegram identifier and the field bus protocol header section comprises the second identifier of the telegram identifier, and
wherein the processor unit is configured to evaluate the first identifier of the telegram identifier in the Ethernet header section and the second identifier of the telegram identifier in the field bus protocol header section.

5. The network distributor according to claim 1 , wherein the precondition under which a checking and discarding of a telegram is set comprises determining whether the address of the telegram corresponds to a predetermined address.

6. An automation network comprising a plurality of network subscribers interconnected by a data line network,
wherein network subscribers are configured as protocol subscribers for processing telegrams that are configured as protocol telegrams,
wherein the automation network comprises at least one network distributor comprising a plurality of input-output ports, a processor unit, and a memory unit,
wherein the plurality of input-output ports are configured to respectively connect network subscribers via the data line network,
wherein a port identifier is stored in the memory unit if the network subscriber connected via the input-output port is a protocol subscriber,
wherein the processor unit is configured to receive a telegram via an input-output port and to output it via a further input/output input-output port stored in a routing table in the memory unit, and
wherein the processor unit is further configured to check a telegram as to whether the telegram is a protocol telegram and has been received via an input-output port for which port identifier is stored in the memory unit, and to discard the telegram if the check is positive,
wherein the checking and discarding of the telegram are subject to a precondition to be considered by the processor unit, and
wherein fulfillment of the precondition leads to an exception from discarding the telegram.

7. The automation network according to claim 6 ,
wherein the processor unit is configured to check whether the telegram received via the input-output port has a telegram identifier, and
wherein the processor unit is configured to recognize the telegram as a protocol telegram based on the telegram identifier.

8. The automation network according to claim 6 , which is configured as a master-slave system,
wherein a protocol subscriber is configured as the master subscriber, which is configured to output telegrams configured as protocol telegrams via the data line network,
wherein the master subscriber is further configured to set, in the processor unit of the network distributor, that no protocol subscriber is connected to an input-output port of the network distributor.

9. The automation network according to claim 8 ,
wherein the master subscriber is configured to predefine a network structure of the network subscribers and to transmit the predefined network structure to the processor unit of the network distributor via the data line network, and
wherein the processor unit is configured to tag the input-output ports of the network distributor to which protocol subscribers are connected via the data line network with the port identifier in the memory unit based on the predetermined network structure.

10. The automation network according to claim 8 ,
wherein the master subscriber is configured to detect a network structure of the network subscribers by query telegrams,
wherein, when a network subscriber configured as a protocol subscriber receives a query telegram, the protocol subscriber is configured to enter protocol subscriber information into the query telegram and to return the query telegram to the master subscriber if no subsequent protocol subscriber is connected via the data line network,
wherein, when the network distributor receives a query telegram via the input-output port, the network distributor is configured to enter port information into the query telegram and to return the query telegram to the master subscriber,
wherein the master subscriber is configured to output further query telegrams to the network distributor on the basis of the port information, which further query telegrams are forwarded by the processor unit of the network distributor to the network subscriber connected via the data line network via the further input-output port stored for the respective query telegram in the routing table in the memory unit,
wherein the master subscriber is configured to communicate, based on the protocol subscriber information of the received further query telegrams, to the processor unit of the network distributor to which of the plurality of input-output ports of the network distributor protocol subscribers are connected via the data line network, and
wherein the processor unit is configured to identify the input-output ports of the network distributor to which a protocol subscriber is connected via the data line network with the port identifier in the memory unit.

11. A method for transmitting data in an automation network comprising a plurality of network subscribers and at least one network distributor w

Assignees

• Beckhoff Automation Gmbh

Inventors

• Büttner Holger
• Janssen Dirk
• Vonnahme Erik
• Rettig Thomas
• Beckhoff Hans
• Bunte Thorsten
• Beckhoff Johannes

Classifications

• H04L45/745

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04L12/40169 Primary

  Flexible bus arrangements (arrangements for maintenance or administration involving management of faults; events, alarms H04L41/06; automatic restoration of network faults H04L41/0654) · CPC title

• H04L12/403 Primary

  with centralised control, e.g. polling · CPC title

• H04L49/30

  Peripheral units, e.g. input or output ports · CPC title

• H04L12/40006 Primary

  Architecture of a communication node (current supply arrangements H04L12/10; intermediate storage or scheduling H04L49/90) · CPC title