초록 ▼

A redundant common communication system for a distributed process control or data processing system has multiple stations which are coupled to at least two redundant communication channels (such as communication busses). Each station includes a transmitter for transmitting data packets and a receive

A redundant common communication system for a distributed process control or data processing system has multiple stations which are coupled to at least two redundant communication channels (such as communication busses). Each station includes a transmitter for transmitting data packets and a receiver for receiving data packets. Each data packet includes a channel selection field which identifies a selected channel to be used by all station during a succeeding transmission of a data packet. Each station makes an assessment of quality of each channel based upon the occurrence of errors when that channel is in use. The station computes a margin value based upon assessed quality factors. When the station gets an opportunity to transmit, the channel selection field of the transmitted packet identifies a channel which is selected based upon the margin value and the frequency of previous use of each of the channels. As a result, frequent switching among the channels occurs, with the percentage of use of each channel being dependent upon the assessed quality of that channel by the various stations.

대표청구항 ▼

A common communication system having a plurality of stations, each of which is coupled to at least two active communication channels for communicating packets between the stations, each of the stations comprising: transmitter means selectively coupled to each channel for transmitting packets; receiv

A common communication system having a plurality of stations, each of which is coupled to at least two active communication channels for communicating packets between the stations, each of the stations comprising: transmitter means selectively coupled to each channel for transmitting packets; receiver means selectively coupled to each channel for receiving packets; channel quality assessment means coupled to the receiver means for assessing the quality of each of the channels based on previous use of the channels and providing a quality factor for each channel; and channel selection means coupled to the channel quality assessment means, the transmitter means and the receiver means for selecting the channel from among the active channels on which at least one subsequent packet is to be transmitted and received as a function of the quality factors, such that use of the active channels alternates.