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:
Jan. 11, 2011
Filed:
Jan. 30, 2008
Glen E. Schmidt, Bartlesville, OK (US);
Gregory J. Golden, Owasso, OK (US);
Bob Farmer, Bartlesville, OK (US);
Michel Baillargeon, Bartlesville, OK (US);
Ray Shepherd, Tulsa, OK (US);
Thomas Burghardt, Schwabach, DE;
Glen E. Schmidt, Bartlesville, OK (US);
Gregory J. Golden, Owasso, OK (US);
Bob Farmer, Bartlesville, OK (US);
Michel Baillargeon, Bartlesville, OK (US);
Ray Shepherd, Tulsa, OK (US);
Thomas Burghardt, Schwabach, DE;
Siemens Industry, Inc., Alpharetta, GA (US);
Abstract
A system and method for providing a serial communication bus is disclosed. A serial communication bus connects multiple footprint devices, such as electronic sensors in a process control sample system. The footprint devices can utilize various footprint device specific communication protocols. Multiple tophat devices act as general I/O ports for connecting with the footprint devices. Each tophat device identifies the footprint device specific communication protocol of a connected footprint device, converts outputs signals transmitted from the connected footprint device from the footprint device specific communication protocol of the footprint device to a standard bus communication protocol, and converts input signals directed to the connected footprint device from the standard bus communication protocol to the footprint device specific communication protocol of the footprint device. The serial communication bus connects the tophat devices and transmits input and output signals using the standard bus communication protocol.