Apparatus and method for controlling data transmissions in a communication network

Claim 1

An apparatus for controlling data transmissions in a communication network which includes a plurality of nodes connected to a common bus, each of said nodes having a communication processor with a memory and bus control means associated with the processor for transmitting data from the processor to the network over the bus, said bus control means including a direct memory access controller (DMAC) for accessing parallel data in the memory, means for converting from parallel data to serial data or vice versa, a bus control module for generating a bus acknowledge signal and responding to a bus request signal from the processor and a bus asserting signal from said bus control means during data transmission, and a bus driver for connection with the bus for data transmissions, the apparatus comprising: malfunction detect/control means provided in one of said nodes for detecting a malfunction in the network and generating a malfunction signal to said nodes including itself over the bus when the malfunction is detected; malfunction detect means provided in each of the other nodes for receiving said malfunction signal from the malfunction detect/control means over the bus; diagnosing means provided in every node, responding to the malfunction detect means for diagnosing whether the detected malfunction is occurred in its node; and wherein in the malfunctioned node, said diagnosing means forces the processor to stop its operation for data transmissions and the malfunction detect means or the malfunction detect/control means also forces the bus control means to disconnect with the bus, thereby removing the malfunction in the network; wherein, when said malfunction detect/control means continuously detects a malfunction in the network without receiving of a bus asserting signal, said malfunction detect/control means decides that the malfunction is occurred in the network itself and then produces an alarm to an operator of the network for repair thereof.

Claim 2

An apparatus for controlling data transmissions in a communication network which includes a plurality of nodes connected to a common bus, each of said nodes having a communication processor with a memory and bus control means associated with the processor for transmitting data from the processor to the network over the bus, said bus control means including a direct memory access controller (DMAC) for accessing parallel data in the memory, means for converting from parallel data to serial data or vice versa, a bus control module for generating a bus acknowledge signal and responding to a bus request signal from the processor and a bus asserting signal from said bus control means during data transmission, and a bus driver for connection with the bus for data transmissions, the apparatus comprising: malfunction detect/control means provided in one of said nodes for detecting a malfunction in the network and generating a malfunction signal to said nodes including itself over the bus when the malfunction is detected; malfunction detect means provided in each of the other nodes for receiving said malfunction signal from the malfunction detect/control means over the bus; diagnosing means provided in every node, responding to the malfunction detect means for diagnosing whether the detected malfunction is occurred in its node; and wherein in the malfunctioned node, said diagnosing means forces the processor to stop its operation for data transmissions and the malfunction detect means or the malfunction detect/control means also forces the bus control means to disconnect with the bus, thereby removing the malfunction in the network; wherein, when said malfunction detect/control means continuously detects a malfunction in the network without receiving of a bus asserting signal, said malfunction detect/control means decides that the malfunction is occurred in the network itself and then produces an alarm to an operator of the network for repair thereof.

Claim 4

A method for controlling data transmission in a communication network which includes a plurality of nodes connected to a common bus, each of said nodes having a communication processor with a memory, bus control means for providing a bus acknowledge signal to the communication processor and malfunction diagnosing means for diagnosing a malfunction, one of said nodes further having malfunction detect/control means for detecting a malfunction and generating a malfunction signal and each of the other nodes further having malfunction detect means for detecting malfunctions, the method comprising the steps of: detecting in the malfunction/control means a malfunction in the network and producing a malfunction signal to every node over the bus; detecting the malfunction signal in the malfunction detect means in every node; determining whether the malfunction is occurred, in the malfunction diagnosing means in each node responding to the bus control means; stopping the operation of the processor for data transmission responding to the malfunction diagnosing means and disconnecting the bus control means from the bus by the malfunction detect means in the node where the malfunction is occurred; indicating the network malfunction to an operator of the network by the malfunction detect/control means when the malfunction is continuously detected without a bus asserting signal from any node.

Claim 5

A method for controlling data transmission in a communication network which includes a plurality of nodes connected to a common bus, each of said nodes having a communication processor with a memory, bus control means for providing a bus acknowledge signal to the communication processor and malfunction diagnosing means for diagnosing a malfunction, one of said nodes further having malfunction detect/control means for detecting a malfunction and generating a malfunction signal and each of the other nodes further having malfunction detect means for detecting malfunctions, the method comprising the steps of: detecting in the malfunction/control means a malfunction in the network and producing a malfunction signal to every node over the bus; detecting the malfunction signal in the malfunction detect means in every node; determining whether the malfunction is occurred, in the malfunction diagnosing means in each node responding to the bus control means; stopping the operation of the processor for data transmission responding to the malfunction diagnosing means and disconnecting the bus control means from the bus by the malfunction detect means in the node where the malfunction is occurred; indicating the network malfunction to an operator of the network by the malfunction detect/control means when the malfunction is continuously detected without a bus asserting signal from any node.