Industrial Network Polling via Arbitration Line Priority Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional polling schemes in communication networks fail to differentiate between communication devices with varying data criticality, leading to inefficiencies and wasted time in polling devices without data, and do not prioritize high-priority devices effectively.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing a clock line and arbitration line with 'AND' logic, where communication devices send arbitration signals based on associated addresses, allowing the host device to prioritize communication devices based on their priority, ensuring only devices with data are polled and high-priority devices are served first.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the host device polls all communication devices sequentially using traditional broadcast polling, then all devices can be accessed, but time is wasted polling devices without data and high-priority devices are not served first
Solution Approach 1:
Communication devices perform preliminary actions by setting their arbitration line state (high or low) based on their address and data readiness before the host device polls them. This allows devices to indicate their polling readiness in advance, enabling the host to skip devices without data and prioritize high-priority devices, thus reducing wasted polling time and improving communication efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The arbitration line provides feedback from communication devices to the host device about their data status and priority. Devices with data ready set the arbitration line to a specific state, giving the host real-time information about which devices need polling, eliminating the need to poll all devices sequentially and reducing overall polling latency
2Ease of operation
If the host device uses broadcast polling to access all communication devices, then all devices can communicate, but the host wastes time polling devices that have no data to send
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the polling decision-making process from the host device and places it at the communication devices themselves. Each device independently determines whether it has data ready and sets the arbitration line accordingly, allowing the host to quickly identify and poll only those devices with data, thereby eliminating wasted polling time while maintaining full device accessibility
3Device complexity
If all communication devices are treated equally in the polling scheme, then the system is simple to implement, but high-priority devices cannot be served first
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by giving different arbitration line states to devices based on their address and priority level. High-priority devices use specific address ranges or arbitration patterns that distinguish them from low-priority devices, allowing the host to quickly identify and serve high-priority devices first while maintaining a relatively simple overall polling structure
Data Source
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AI summary
For polling communication devices in a communication system comprising a host device (HD) and communication devices (CD), wherein the host device is connected to the communication devices via a clock line (CL) for transmitting an clock signal to the communication devices and via an arbitration line (AL) implemented with "AND" logic for receiving arbitration signal transmitted by the communication devices, wherein each communication device is associated with an address (Add_k), wherein each communication device is configured to pull up or down the arbitration line for sending an arbitration signal according to the associated address (Add_k) when said communication device is ready to send data to the host device, the host device (HD) is able to: send a clock signal on the clock line during an arbitration cycle, causing the communication devices (CD) to send respective arbitration signals towards the arbitration line (AL) according to respective associated addresses (Add_k) from highest bit to lowest bit, during the arbitration cycle, receive a final signal corresponding to the lowest address, during the arbitration cycle, resulting from the "AND" logic applied to the arbitration signals, select the communication device (CD) associated with the lowest address, poll the selected communication device (CD) to receive data from the selected communication device during a communication cycle