Patent ID: 6560235
Filing Date: 2003-05-06
Classification: G05B,H04L

Abstract:
A communication method between a plurality of automation devices and any one of a plurality of networks, wherein each network is characterized by a set of network-specific services and protocols and each automation device is characterized by device-specific data, said method comprising the steps of:organizing an interface RAM into a first control/status area for storing data common to the operation of all of the automation devices and a second free-format data exchange area for storing device-specific data for each of the automation devices; assigning each of the data common to the operation of all of the automation devices to a respective first data address location in the first control/status area of the interface RAM; assigning each of the device-specific data to a respective second data address location in the second free-format data exchange area of the interface RAM, wherein data is written into and read from said first and second data address locations in accordance with a specified universal service and protocol independent of each of said networks; and providing data from said first and second data address locations respectively in said first control/status area and said second free-format data exchange area to a given network in accordance with the specified service and protocol of said given network and configuration data stored in a non-volatile memory.