Patent ID: 8824283

Claim:
A control node for a network of control nodes, data transmission between the control nodes in the network taking place in the form of data packets, the control node comprising: a transmitter module configured to manage the data to be sent in an output process image, to convert the output process image into a data packet and to output the data packet onto the network at a predetermined point in time, a receiver module configured to log on to the data packets of one or of a plurality of transmitter modules of further control nodes and to convert a received data packet into an input process image, a device specification stored in a memory area of the control node as a file, the device specification illustrating any of a hardware of the control node, a function of the control node and an interface of the control node to the outside, and a machine model imaging properties, the machine model being divided up into an organizing unit and a functional unit, the organizing unit determining operating states of the control node, the operating states of the control node indicating any of a manual operating mode, a semi-automatic operating mode and an automatic operating mode, and any of an initializing mode and a machine-operation mode, the functional unit comprising application programmes associated with the respective operating states, wherein the device specification is associated with the machine model.