Allen-bradley Company, LLC

Kerry Van De Steeg

Steven P Blech

Gerald S Pepera

Gene S Laurich

James E Schey

A structural key is checked under program control to control the mode of operation for a processor-based electronic circuit board. A break-away key portion of the circuit board is connected to the main portion along a boundary of frangible links with circuit paths traversing the boundary and carrying logic signals. The presence or absence of the break-away portion is sensed by sensing the bit pattern at an I/O address. If the absence of the break-away portion is sensed, the function of a user-commanded motion block is tested and processor operation is limited to executing functions for the mode corresponding to the absence of the break-away portion.

Break-away key for electronic circuitry

An industrial controller Input/Output module includes on-board processing circuitry in the form of a microprocessor and associated memory, a first programmable logic circuit and a second programmable logic circuit connected through an isolation interface. The isolation interface is comprised of optical coupling circuits. The programmable logic circuits are programmed to provide circuitry for parallel-to-serial data conversion of 24 bits of system Input/Output data on each side of the isolation interface. The data is then transferred as serial data in both directions at once in response to a shift clock signal. The data signals and the shift clock signal utilize three one-bit optical coupling devices in the isolation interface. After transfer across the isolation interface, the system Input/Output data is converted to parallel data for further processing.

Method for synchronously transferring serial data to and from an

An industrial controller I/O module includes on-board programming circuitry in the form of a microprocessor and associated memory, a first programmable logic circuit and a second programmable logic circuit connected through an isolation interface. The programmable logic circuits are programmed by the microprocessor on power up by reading configuration data from the PROM and writing it to the logic circuits to define their I/O circuit functions in controlling the I/O drives on a controlled machine or process.

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Chagrin Falls, OH, United States of America

Kerry Van De Steeg