The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 17, 1990
Filed:
Apr. 19, 1989
William E Floro, Willoughby, OH (US);
Mark Luboski, Euclid, OH (US);
Timothy J Murphy, Parma, OH (US);
Allen-Bradley Company, Inc., Milwaukee, WI (US);
Abstract
An inter-processor communication module is inserted into a slot of an equipment rack of the type used to connect I/O modules to system processors in a programmable controller. Using two of the inter-processor communication modules in two respective racks, a supervisory processor is connected to two respective local area processors in a distributed control system. The inter-processor communication module has a serial channel controller that connects to the supervisory processor through a serial I/O port and a serial communication channel to communicate blocks of I/O status data. The serial channel controller is coupled to a backplane controller through a common memory and arbitration circuitry to exchange blocks of I/O status data. The backplane controller, which is also a part of the inter-processor communication module, plugs into the backplane of the rack and exchanges blocks of I/O status data with a local area processor. The two controllers also exchange processor status data to coordinate communications which are initiated by the supervisory processor and the local area processor. Methods of transferring I/O status data between the supervisory processor and the local area processors are also disclosed.