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A method for transmitting messages in a redundantly operable communication network which includes a first subnetwork with a tree topology and a second subnetwork, wherein messages are transmitted in the first subnetwork in accordance with a spanning tree protocol. Here, communication devices associa

A method for transmitting messages in a redundantly operable communication network which includes a first subnetwork with a tree topology and a second subnetwork, wherein messages are transmitted in the first subnetwork in accordance with a spanning tree protocol. Here, communication devices associated with network nodes of the first subnetwork interchange messages containing topology information with one another to form a tree topology, messages are transmitted in the second subnetwork in accordance with a parallel or ring redundancy protocol, communication devices associated with network nodes of the second subnetwork interchange messages containing topology information for the first subnetwork with one another in accordance with the parallel or ring redundancy protocol and compare the messages with locally available topology information for the first subnetwork, and communication devices associated with network nodes of the second subnetwork determine resultant topology information for the first subnetwork based on a comparison result.

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1. A method for transmitting messages in a redundantly operable industrial communication network, comprising: transmitting messages in a first subnetwork with a tree topology in accordance with a spanning tree protocol, communication devices associated with network nodes of the first subnetwork inte

1. A method for transmitting messages in a redundantly operable industrial communication network, comprising: transmitting messages in a first subnetwork with a tree topology in accordance with a spanning tree protocol, communication devices associated with network nodes of the first subnetwork interchanging messages containing topology information with one another to form a tree topology, a root network node being determined as a basic element of the tree topology by the communication devices associated with the network nodes of the first subnetwork based on the interchanged topology information, and loop-free connections being set up from the root network node to remaining network nodes of the first subnetwork;transmitting messages in a second subnetwork of the industrial communication network in accordance with a parallel or ring redundancy protocol in accordance with one of (i) International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 62439-3, clause 4, (ii) high-availability seamless redundancy protocol in accordance with IEC 62439-3, clause 5 and (iii) media redundancy protocol in accordance with IEC 62439;coupling the first and second subnetworks to one another via a plurality of communication devices;interchanging, by communication devices associated with network nodes of the second subnetwork, messages containing topology information for the first subnetwork with one another in accordance with the parallel or ring redundancy protocol, comparing said messages with locally available topology information for the first subnetwork, and determining resultant topology information for the first subnetwork based on a comparison result;wherein the communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork utilize the determined resultant topology information for the first subnetwork to adapt their configuration with respect to at least one of closed connections to the first subnetwork and open connections to the first subnetwork;wherein the resultant topology information for the first subnetwork is consistently determined by all communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork;wherein the communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork provide consistent resultant topology information for utilization by the spanning tree protocol in the first subnetwork; andwherein error handling is implemented in a subnetwork directly affected by an error or a fault based on a communication protocol implemented in the directly affected subnetwork without affecting another subnetwork. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the topology information for the first subnetwork comprises details of existing connections between network nodes of the first subnetwork; and wherein loop-free connections from the root network node to the remaining network nodes of the first subnetwork are set up using a determination of minimum path costs to the root network node. 3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the messages are transmitted between communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork only in accordance with the parallel or ring redundancy protocol. 4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the messages are transmitted between communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork only in accordance with the parallel or ring redundancy protocol. 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second subnetwork, for use of the spanning tree protocol in the first subnetwork, is represented by an individual communication device which connects network nodes to one another in the first subnetwork. 6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spanning tree protocol is one of a rapid spanning tree protocol and a multiple spanning tree protocol. 7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the messages containing topology information for the first subnetwork are bridge protocol data units. 8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the messages containing topology information for the first subnetwork each comprise a port priority vector which is interchanged and compared among communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork. 9. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the messages containing topology information for the first subnetwork each comprise a port priority vector which is interchanged and compared among communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork. 10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication devices associated with the network nodes of at least one of the first subnetwork and the second subnetwork comprises switches or bridges. 11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the parallel or ring redundancy protocol comprises one of a parallel redundancy protocol, a high-availability seamless redundancy protocol and a media redundancy protocol. 12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the second subnetwork includes a ring topology; wherein one of the parallel and ring redundancy protocol is the high-availability seamless redundancy protocol;wherein the communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork each comprise at least one first transmitting and receiving unit and one second transmitting and receiving unit each having an interface for a network connection of the second subnetwork, both transmitting and receiving units having an identical network address and an identical device identifier;wherein a signal processing unit is connected to each of the first and second transmitting and receiving units, the signal processing unit forwarding messages to be transmitted to both transmitting units in a parallel manner and detecting redundant messages received by the receiving units; andwherein a coupling element is connected to each of the signal processing units and is used to connect one of a simply connected network node and a redundancy-free subnetwork to the signal processing unit. 13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein messages which are redundant with respect to one another are identified by a consistent sequence number; wherein sequence numbers of messages which have already been received in an error-free manner are stored in a memory unit associated with the signal processing unit; and wherein the signal processing unit, upon receiving a new message, checks its sequence number for a match with a sequence number which has already been stored. 14. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the second subnetwork has a ring topology; wherein the parallel or ring redundancy protocol is the media redundancy protocol; andwherein a communication device in the second subnetwork is configured as a monitoring and control unit which detects an interruption inside the ring topology using transmitted test data packets and controls forwarding of data packets containing useful data, the data packets being addressed to a first terminal connection of the communication device configured as a monitoring and control unit, to a second terminal connection of this communication device. 15. A communication device for a redundantly operable industrial communication network comprising a first subnetwork with a tree topology and message transmission in accordance with a spanning tree protocol, a second subnetwork with message transmission in accordance with a parallel or ring redundancy protocol and a plurality of communication devices which couple both subnetworks, the communication device comprising: means for transmitting messages inside the second subnetwork of the industrial communication network in accordance with the parallel or ring redundancy protocol in accordance with one of (i) International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 62439-3, clause 4, (ii) high-availability seamless redundancy protocol in accordance with IEC 62439-3, clause 5 and (iii) media redundancy protocol in accordance with IEC 62439;means for interchanging messages containing topology information for the first subnetwork with further communication devices associated with network nodes of the second subnetwork in accordance with the parallel or ring redundancy protocol, the topology information determining a root network node as the basic element of the tree topology, and the root network node forming a starting point for setting up loop-free connections to remaining network nodes of the first subnetwork;means for comparing interchanged messages containing topology information for the first subnetwork with locally available topology information for the first subnetwork and for determining resultant topology information for the first subnetwork based on a comparison result; andmeans for adapting a configuration of the communication device with respect to one of closed connections to the first subnetwork and open connections to the first subnetwork using a determined resultant topology information for the first subnetwork;wherein error handling is implemented in a subnetwork directly affected by an error or a fault based on a communication protocol implemented in the directly affected subnetwork without affecting another subnetwork. 16. The communication device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the communication device is configured to transmit messages inside the second subnetwork solely in accordance with the parallel or ring redundancy protocol. 17. The communication device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the spanning tree protocol is a rapid spanning tree protocol or a multiple spanning tree protocol. 18. The communication device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the spanning tree protocol is one of a rapid spanning tree protocol or a multiple spanning tree protocol. 19. The communication device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the messages containing topology information for the first subnetwork are bridge protocol data units. 20. The communication device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the messages containing topology information each comprise a port priority vector which is interchanged and compared among communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork. 21. The communication device as claimed in claim 19, wherein the messages containing topology information each comprise a port priority vector which is interchanged and compared among communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork. 22. The communication device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the communication devices associated with the network nodes of at least one of the first subnetwork and the second subnetwork are switches or bridges. 23. The communication device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the parallel or ring redundancy protocol is one of a parallel redundancy protocol, a high-availability seamless redundancy protocol and a media redundancy protocol. 24. The communication device as claimed in claim 23, wherein the second subnetwork has a ring topology; wherein the parallel or ring redundancy protocol is the high-availability seamless redundancy protocol;wherein the communication devices associated with the network nodes of the second subnetwork each comprise at least one first transmitting and receiving unit and one second transmitting and receiving unit each having an interface for a network connection of the second subnetwork, both transmitting and receiving units having an identical network address and an identical device identifier;wherein a signal processing unit is connected to each of the first and second transmitting and receiving units;wherein the signal processing unit includes a multiplexer unit for forwarding messages to be transmitted to both transmitting units in a parallel manner and a redundancy handling unit for processing messages received by both receiving units, the redundancy handling unit comprising a filter unit which is set up to detect received redundant messages; andwherein a coupling element is connected to each of the signal processing units and is utilized to connect one of a simply connected network node and a redundancy-free subnetwork to the signal processing unit. 25. The communication device as claimed in claim 24, wherein messages which are redundant with respect to one another are identified by a consistent sequence number; wherein the signal processing unit is associated with a memory unit which is configured to store sequence numbers of messages which have already been received in an error-free manner; andwherein the redundancy handling unit is configured to check for a sequence number which has already been stored when a new message is received.