Patent ID: 11956339
Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 9:
10. A process control system (PCS), comprising:
a communication network comprising a cable connection including a plurality of physical cables including a first cable for connecting between a process controller and an I/O access device, and a second cable independent from the first cable for connecting between the process controller and a second node comprising the I/O access device or another device, the I/O access device coupling to at least one I/O module that is coupled to receive an output of the I/O access device, with an output of the I/O module coupled to a field device which is coupled to processing equipment,
wherein the process controller and the I/O access device each comprise a processor and a memory that implements a send and receive logic for communicating using any of multiple redundancy protocols including a first redundant protocol and a second redundant protocol,
wherein the send and receive logic is for configuring the cable connection for supporting simultaneously communicating between the process controller and the second node utilizing both the first redundant protocol and the second redundant protocol, the first redundant protocol is implemented for critical communication and the second redundant protocol is implemented for normal communication, for the simultaneous communication, by utilizing the first cable and the second cable, and
the process controller, the I/O access device, and plurality of switches, each implement two separate virtual local area networks (VLANs) as a first VLAN and a second VLAN, wherein the first VLAN is used for the critical communication and the second VLAN is used for the normal communication simultaneously, wherein the two separate VLANs implemented to segregate data communications for different data flows across the two separate VLANs.