NETWORK DEVICE FOR DISTRIBUTING COMPUTING OPERATIONS BY DATA COMMUNICATION IN A NETWORK

Abstract

A network device is provided for distributing computing operations via data communication in a network, the device including: a network interface device to connect the network device to the network; and a processor device to divide an arithmetic operation into partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally and partial arithmetic operations to be calculated remotely, to locally calculate the partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally, and to provide them as locally calculated partial arithmetic operations, the network interface device being further to send the partial arithmetic operations to be calculated remotely to the network and to receive them as remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations, and the processor device being further to calculate the arithmetic operation based on the remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations and the locally calculated partial arithmetic operations. A level measuring device, a method of distributing computing operations, and a nontransitory computer-readable storage medium are also provided.

Claims

1. A network device for distributing computing operations via data communication in a network, the network device comprising: a network interface device configured to connect the network device to the network; and a processor device configured to divide an arithmetic operation into partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally and partial arithmetic operations to be calculated remotely, to locally calculate the partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally, and to provide them as locally calculated partial arithmetic operations, wherein the network interface device is further configured to send the partial arithmetic operations to be calculated remotely to the network and to receive them as remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations, and wherein the processor device is further configured to calculate the arithmetic operation based on the remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations and the locally calculated partial arithmetic operations.

2. The network device according to claim 1, wherein the partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally and the partial arithmetic operations to be calculated remotely are calculated in parallel.

3. The network device according to claim 1, wherein the network interface device is further configured as an APL interface or as a WLAN interface.

4. The network device according to claim 1, wherein the network interface device is further configured to be coupled to a network router and/or a network switch.

5. The network device according to claim 1, wherein the network interface device is further configured to send the partial computing operations to be computed remotely to the network and to one or more network subscribers.

6. The network device according to claim 1, further comprising an actuator device, wherein computing operations are to compute signals for driving the actuator device.

7. The network device according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor device, wherein computing operations are to compute sensor signals of the sensor device.

8. The network device according to claim 1, wherein computing operations are to perform a self-diagnosis or a security test.

9. A level measuring device, comprising a network device according to claim 1.

10. A computer network, comprising a plurality of network devices according to claim 1.

11. A method of distributing computing operations by data communication in a network, the method comprising the following steps: connecting a network device to the network; dividing an arithmetic operation into partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally and partial arithmetic operations to be calculated remotely, and calculating the partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally and as locally calculated partial arithmetic operations; sending the partial arithmetic operations to be calculated remotely to the network and receiving them as remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations; and calculating the arithmetic operation based on the remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations and the locally calculated partial arithmetic operations.

12. A nontransitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored therein, which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of the method of claim 11.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0036] FIG. 1 shows a device for distributing computing operations by data communication in a network according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0037] FIG. 2 shows a network device for distributing computing operations via data communication in a network according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0038] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a method for distributing computing operations via data communication in a network according to one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0039] FIG. 1 shows a device for distributing computing operations by data communication in a network according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0040] According to one embodiment of the invention, the following is provided:

[0041] APL, for example, brings high-bandwidth network technology to the field level of process plants. This makes it possible to equip sensors, S1, S2, S3, S4 (e.g., level sensors) and actuators (e.g., valves) with a network interface.

[0042] A switch 10 can be used to couple the network interfaces of the sensors or actuators to the network. The switch can be designed as a coupling element in computer networks that interconnects network segments.

[0043] According to one embodiment of the invention, the following is provided:

[0044] Due to the high bandwidth networking, the network nodes S1, S2, S3, S4 can exchange large amounts of data 1, 2, 3, 1.1, 2.1, and 3.1.

[0045] Due to the possibility of exchanging large amounts of data, raw data can be exchanged. This has the advantage that a network node does not perform the entire calculation operation itself, but splits the calculation operations and distributes them in the network for processing. The network nodes S1, S2, S3, and S4 calculate the partial results and send the calculated partial results back over the network. These calculated partial results are combined by the initiator to an overall result and output.

[0046] According to one embodiment of the invention, the following is also provided:

[0047] A measuring device for level measurement with radar technology is equipped with more than one antenna. Each antenna acts as a transmitter and receiver. Thus, each antenna must have its own data evaluation from the raw data. To make the calculation as fast and efficient as possible, the sensor sends the raw data of some antennas to one or more other sensors, which evaluate the raw data. The measuring sensor then receives the results of the evaluated raw data and calculates the exact level from the total result.

[0048] According to one embodiment of the invention, the following is provided:

[0049] A differential pressure sensor measures the differential pressure simultaneously with a measuring cell and the static pressure with another measuring cell. In addition, a temperature measurement can be read in. This temperature measurement can be internal or external. The raw data of the respective measuring cell must be standardized and converted in a calculation operation for further processing. The normalization of the measured values is outsourced to different sensors and combined in the measuring sensor to a complete result.

[0050] According to one embodiment of the invention, the following is provided:

[0051] In addition to the actual measurement task, a sensor must also perform other arithmetic operations. These are, e.g., a self-diagnosis or a safety test, e.g., access protection. The sensor sends the raw data required for self-diagnosis to one or more sensors. These one or more sensors then evaluate the raw data and return the result to the requesting sensor.

[0052] According to one embodiment of the invention, the following is provided:

[0053] A sensor calculates a main measured value from raw data. The same raw data is sent to one or more sensors, which also generate measured values from it using alternative algorithms. These measured values can be used to validate the main measured value and, if necessary, generate diagnostic data.

[0054] FIG. 2 shows a network device 100 for distributing computing operations via data communication in a network according to one embodiment of the invention. The network device 100 for distributing computing operations by data communication in a network includes a network interface device 10 and a processor device 20. The network interface device 10 is adapted to connect the network device 100 to the network. The network interface device 10 may be coupled to the processor device 20 via a network connection.

[0055] The processor device 20 is configured to divide an arithmetic operation into partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally and partial arithmetic operations to be calculated remotely, and to calculate the partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally and provide them as locally calculated partial arithmetic operations;

[0056] The network interface device 10 is configured to send the partial arithmetic operations to be remotely calculated to the network, and to receive the partial arithmetic operations as remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations.

[0057] The processor device 20 is further configured to calculate the arithmetic operations based on the remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations and the locally calculated partial arithmetic operations.

[0058] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method 300 for distributing computing operations by data communication in a network according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0059] As a first step S301, a connection of the network device to the network is performed.

[0060] As a second step S302, an arithmetic operation is divided into partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally and partial arithmetic operations to be calculated remotely, and these partial arithmetic operations to be calculated locally and to be provided as locally calculated partial arithmetic operations are calculated.

[0061] As a third step S303, the partial arithmetic operations to be remotely calculated are sent to the network and received as remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations.

[0062] As a fourth step S304, the arithmetic operations are calculated based on the remotely calculated partial arithmetic operations and the locally calculated partial arithmetic operations.

[0063] Supplementally, it should be noted that “comprising” and “having” do not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite articles “a” or “an” do not exclude a plurality. It should further be noted that features or steps that have been described with reference to any of the above embodiments may also be used in combination with other features or steps of other embodiments described above. Reference signs in the claims are not to be regarded as limitations.