In a communication system in which a numerical controller and IO units each having a communication controller are connected, communication data is transmitted and received between the numerical controller and the communication controller of the IO units. The communication controller returns the communication data to the numerical controller when an ID contained in the communication data received from the numerical controller matches an ID set to an ID setting unit of the communication controller.

In accordance with at least one aspect of this disclosure, a system can include a main board, two or more redundant CPUs for any number of channels operatively connected to the main board and two or more power sources operatively connected to provide power to at least one or more of the two or more CPUs. A respective isolated communications block can be operatively connected to each of the two or more CPUs configured to provide external communications from other components on the main board to a respective CPU.

A system and method for detecting a failure in a redundant signal path during operation of the redundant path is disclosed. A test signal is sequentially injected into each signal path while an input signal is conducted by the other signal path not receiving the test signal. The test signal is selected at a frequency to verify operation of a filter connected in series along each path. A processor generates the test signal, injects the test signal at the input of the filter, and receives the output of the filter. The processor then generates a frequency response of the filter in each signal path as a function of the output from the filter and of the original test signal. The frequency response obtained along each of the redundant signal paths is compared to each other to detect a failure of one of the filters present along the respective signal paths.

An IO-Link master includes: an IO-Link communication port that communicates with an IO-Link device according to a predetermined communication protocol; a digital input port that receives a first signal value output from the IO-Link device; and a determiner that determines whether abnormality is generated in a digital input line connecting the digital input port to the IO-Link device based on a second signal value received with the IO-Link communication port and the first signal value.

A method may include obtaining, by a remote server, replacement data regarding various hardware components from various automation systems. The replacement data may describe component replacements of various component types that are used by the automation systems. The method may further include determining, by the remote server, a failure rate of a first component type using the replacement data. The first component type may be associated with an automation system. The method may further include determining, by the remote server, whether the failure rate of the first component type satisfies a predetermined replacement criterion. The method may further include transmitting, by the remote server and in response to determining that the failure rate of the first component type fails to satisfy the predetermined replacement criterion, a command to an automation system among the automation systems. The command may cause the automation system to replace a hardware component corresponding to the first component type with a hardware component corresponding to a second component type. The first component type may be different from the second component type.

A method for accessing functions of an embedded device, for example a controller programmable from memory, wherein function blocks of the embedded device are assigned to at least two hierarchically superimposed levels, an access to a function block of the embedded device occurs from outside of the embedded device by a data interface, and for access an authentication must occur for the level to which the respective function block is assigned, and again for each individual level above the level to which the function block is assigned, to permit execution of a function of the function block, wherein the functions of the function blocks permit access to a firmware of the embedded device.

A programmable logic controller includes an error detection unit, a data memory storing error occurrence information indicating, for each error kind, whether the error detection unit has detected an error, an error automatic cancellation processing unit determining whether an error factor of each error has been eliminated and, when the error factor has been eliminated, performing an error cancellation process including a process to change the error occurrence information to error non-occurrence, and an error-automatic-cancellation-permission determination unit referring to an error automatic cancellation permission setting and determining, when the error detection unit detects an error, whether the error is canceled by the error automatic cancellation processing unit on the basis of the error automatic cancellation permission setting, wherein the error automatic cancellation processing unit performs the error cancellation process on the error that the error-automatic-cancellation-permission determination unit has determined that the error automatic cancellation processing unit is to cancel.

The PLC communication system associated with the invention is characterized in that the system comprises a programmable logic controller (PLC), a plurality of processing devices, at least three communication processing nodes provided at the PLC and at the plurality of processing devices respectively to establish communication of the PLC and each of the processing devices and an interconnecting device and a plurality of communication lines for connecting the communication processing nodes with one another to establish data communication among the communication processing nodes. The PLC detects a state of communication failure and a display device displays an abnormal portion in a communication route based on the number of occurrences of the state of communication failure in respective interconnecting device and plurality of communication lines.

An electronic device having a temperature management function includes a platform controller hub (PCH), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD) and a hardware monitor. The PCH includes a first temperature sensor for sensing the first temperature of the PCH. The CPLD includes a memory and is coupled to the PCH. The CPLD reads the first temperature sensed by the first temperature sensor and saves it in the memory. The CPLD searches for an offset value in the memory and generates a device temperature according to the offset value and the first temperature. The hardware monitor is coupled to the CPLD and reads the device temperature.

A telecommunications system for a programmable logic controller (PLC) includes: a master module comprising a transmitter and a receiver; one or more slave modules configured to receive signals transmitted from the transmitter and transmit signals to the receiver in response to the transmitted signals; a signal conversion module configured to convert the signals transmitted between the master module and the slave modules into digital signals; a control module configured to control the signal conversion module and to determine whether there is an error in the signals transmitted between the master module and the slave modules based on the digital signals; a display module configured to display a result of the determination by the control module.