Receiver network component for operation in a communication network, communication network and method for operating a communication network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9832254-B2
Application number	US-201514668140-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2015
Priority date	Mar 25, 2014
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

A receiver network component operates in a communication network of an automation system. The component receives data messages sent redundantly by transmitter network components of the communication network and rejects duplicates of an already received data message. Interoperability of network components from different manufacturers is ensured even for device-redundant transmitter network components and redundant transmission of data messages is achieve with comparatively low complexity. The receiver network component is prompted by reception of a current data message from one of the transmitter network devices to check whether a data message with identical useful data has already been received from another transmitter network component. The data message is processed if it is received for the first time and it is rejected as a duplicate if it is a data message with such useful data that have already been received in an earlier data message from another transmitter network component.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A receiver network component for operation in a communication network of an automation system, the receiver network component comprising:
a device for receiving data messages sent redundantly from at least two different device-redundant transmitter network components of the communication network, each of the at least two different transmitter network components including at least one communication port and configured to reject duplicates of a data message already received by the receiver network component;
the receiver network component being configured to be prompted by a reception of a current data message from one of the transmitter network devices to check the currently received data message as to whether another data message with identical useful data has already been received from another transmitter network component; and
the receiver network component being configured to process the currently received data message when the currently received data message has a useful data content that is received for the first time, and to reject the currently received data message as a duplicate data message when the useful data content in the currently received data message has already been received in the other data message from the other transmitter network component.

2. The receiver network component according to claim 1 , wherein the receiver network component is configured to perform the check on the currently received data message using a sender identifier contained in the currently received data message.

3. The receiver network component according to claim 2 , wherein:
the receiver network component comprises a group information item about such transmitter network components that send identical, in terms of a useful data content thereof, data messages to the receiver network component while they are operating; and
the receiver network component is configured to perform the check on the currently received data message using the sender identifier of the currently received data message and the sender identifiers of the transmitter network components indicated in the group information item.

4. The receiver network component according to claim 3 , wherein the group information item contains sender identifiers of transmitter network components such that a sender identifier of all those transmitter network components that send data messages with identical useful data content to the receiver network component while they are operating is selected as a group sender identifier and the sender identifiers of all other associated transmitter network components are associated with the group sender identifier.

5. The receiver network component according to claim 1 , wherein the receiver network component is configured to perform the check on the currently received data message using a sequence number contained in the currently received data message.

6. The receiver network component according to claim 1 , wherein:
the receiver network component is also configured to be prompted by the reception of the currently received data message to check whether another data message with identical useful data has already been received from the same transmitter network component, and to process the currently received data message when the currently received data message has a useful data content that is received for the first time and to reject the currently received data message as a duplicate when the currently received data message has useful data that has already been received in the other data message from the same transmitter network component.

7. A communication network of an automation system having a plurality of network components connected to one another for interchanging data messages with redundant data message interchange, the communication network comprising:
at least one receiver network component;
at least two different transmitter network components, each of the at least two different transmitter network components including at least one communication port and configured, in operation, to send identical, in terms of a useful data content thereof, data messages to said at least one receiver network component;
said at least one receiver network component being configured, upon receiving a current data message from one of said transmitter network devices:
to check the current data message for whether a data message with identical useful data has already been received from another said transmitter network component; and
to process a data message with a useful data content received for the first time further; or
to reject as a duplicate a data message with such useful data as have already been received in an earlier data message from another said transmitter network component.

8. The communication network according to claim 7 , wherein:
said transmitter network components are configured to add sender identifiers to the data messages sent by them; and
said at least one receiver network component is configured to perform the check on the currently received data message using the sender identifier.

9. The communication network according to claim 8 , wherein:
said at least one receiver network component contains a group information item about such transmitter network components as send identical, in terms of a useful data content thereof, data messages to said at least one receiver network component while they are operating; and
said at least one receiver network component is configured to perform the check on the currently received data message using a sender identifier thereof and the sender identifiers of said transmitter network components indicated in the group information item.

10. The communication network according to claim 7 , wherein at least one of said transmitter network components is configured to send to said at least one receiver network component a network configuration message that contains a dedicated sender identifier and sender identifiers of all such transmitter network components as send during operation identical, in terms of a useful data content thereof, data messages, like the at least one transmitter network component, to the at least one receiver network component.

11. The communication network according to claim 7 , wherein said transmitter network components are configured to allocate to the data messages sent by them sequence numbers that are time-synchronized to one another; and the at least one receiver network component is configured to perform the check on the currently received data message using the sequence number.

12. The communication network according to claim 7 , which comprises such transmitter network components as themselves send data messages with identical useful data to the at least one receiver network component, wherein the data messages are sent to the at least one receiver network component via different communication paths of the communication network; and
wherein the at least one receiver network component is also configured, upon receiving a current data message, to check whether a data message with identical useful data has already been received from the same transmitter network component, and:
to further process a data message with a useful data content received for the first time; or
to reject as a duplicate a data message with such useful data as have already been received in an earlier data message from the same transmitter network component.

13. A method of operating a communication network of an automation system having a plurality of network components that are connected to one another for interchanging data messages, the method comprises:
interchanging the data messages

Assignees

• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Heine Holger
• Hoga Clemens

Classifications

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• G05B19/4185

  characterised by the network communication · CPC title

• G05B9/03

  with multiple-channel loop, i.e. redundant control systems · CPC title

• H04L12/40176 Primary

  involving redundancy (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking in interconnections G06F11/2002; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking in storage systems using spares or by reconfiguring G06F11/2053) · CPC title

• Y02P90/18

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic