Patent ID: 8984533
Filing Date: 2015-03-17
Classification: G05B,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A method of communicating between modules, the method comprising: sending a first message from a first module, wherein the first module includes a first data transport layer and a first application object layer, the first message originating at the first application object layer and being sent out of the first module via the first data transport layer; receiving the first message at a second module, wherein the second module includes a second data transport layer and a transaction layer, the first message being received via the second data transport layer; wherein the first module is a control-level module, and wherein the sending and receiving of the first message is achieved by way of communications involving a first protocol suitable for a manufacturing environment, wherein the transaction layer forms one or more standard interfaces suitable for facilitating communications with one or more enterprise modules, wherein the sending and receiving are governed by ladder logic and are performed in a synchronous manner, and wherein the first message is at least temporarily stored in a buffer after being received, prior to being acted upon by the ladder logic, wherein the sending includes synchronously sampling data from tags associated with the first message, wherein the sampled data is sent as part of the message, and wherein the sampled data from the tags is binary packed and placed into a tag buffer of the first module before being sent as part of one or more of (a) one or more messages including the first message or (b) one or message fragments.