Patent ID: 7143301

Claim:
A method of autoenumerating a plurality of slaves controlled by a central controller in a system for motion control, comprising: linking the central controller and the slaves in a network; determining a propagation delay parameter between said central controller and each respective slave in said plurality of slaves by a timing mechanism configured to establish timing at each slave based on the respective propagation delay and to delay reception of a servo clock message at each slave by an amount of time corresponding to the propagation delay parameters for information passed from the central controller to each slave so that actuator times at each of the slaves occurs simultaneously; transmitting a query message from the central controller along said network; receiving said query message at a slave of said plurality of slaves in said network; transmitting an answer message to said query message along said network from said slave to said central controller, said answer message enumerating said slave; receiving said answer message at said central controller; retransmitting said query message from said central controller along said network; relaying said retransmitted query message through said enumerated slave to a further slave; and transmitting a further answer message to said query message along said network from said further slave through said enumerated slave to said central controller, said further answer message enumerating said further slave.