CN1084992C - Control network and confiquration method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A control network and its configuration method are described, in which sensor and actuator units (16, 17) are connected to a configurable converter (12). These converters, in addition to any other converters (18) (such as A/D (analog/digital) converters, etc.) that may be necessary to convert physical signals into network data, also perform sensor data conversion according to externally provided conditions . In a preferred embodiment, the possible sensor data intervals are compressed to 1 bit for each condition associated with this sensor unit. This conversion is done before transmitting the sensor data to other nodes, thereby significantly reducing network traffic. The communication traffic is further reduced since each sensor unit only transmits its current state when the logical value of its state has changed. The described network is particularly suitable for low-bandwidth media with high noise levels, such as power supply lines and infrared radiation.

Description

Control network and its configuration method

The present invention relates generally to the configuration process of digital data transmission networks. More specifically, the invention defines a network structure consisting of nodes with sensor units and execution units and provides a method for configuring such a network structure. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a control system, such as a building control system, which can be configured by a person without programming skills.

Numerous efforts are known to provide buildings and industrial sites with a reliable and easy-to-use control system for applications such as switching loads based on time, temperature and actual sensor values of intrusion detectors. Although in the past decade, the structure and safety and robustness of modems or transceivers for various possible transmission media (such as infrared or radio frequency electromagnetic waves, twisted pair cables, coaxial cables, and alternating current (AC) power lines) and safe and robust ( ro-bust) have made significant progress in the structure of the network protocol, but there is still a lack of a control network structure that can be installed, configured and used by anyone, at least in principle. The prior art has generally been unsuccessful in this regard, although it has provided some assistive tools to the professional network administrator.

US-A-4 864 492 provides a system and method for applying a knowledge-based expert system to establish configuration parameters individualized to individual workstations in a complex network. Use this knowledge to provide menus of options and control choices available to network administrators. A further reference to the prior art relates to graphical representations of network topology. For example US-A-4 942 540 describes a method for setting up and selecting a communication path between a user terminal and a target terminal by selecting communication parameters from a scrolling menu. Depending on the menu selection, a graphical representation of the terminal and path is displayed. European Patent Application EP-A-0490 624 provides an operating system and method by which a network administrator can graphically describe a network by defining a plurality of nodes with their own hardware and operating systems, and then can define Configuration parameters are generated for the various operating systems of the nodes (usually workstations or PCs) according to the protocol of the communication paths between them and according to the constraints that such nodes and communication paths constitute a network. Obviously, this approach to solving network configuration problems is meaningless to users other than professional network administrators.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an intuitive and usable network configuration method, especially for building control and automation.

The invention assumes the existence of a network for controlling eg a building, said network consisting of several individual nodes. Each node has at least one modem or transceiver for communicating data over the transmission medium. Each node also includes a read/write (r/w) memory for storing microcode and a microprocessor for executing the microcode stored in the memory. Inside the network, each node has a node identification (ID). This node ID allows the sending and/or receiving node to be identified by reading a specific part of the transmitted data (eg a header). Typically, each node has at least one sensor unit or execution unit. Although the network within the scope of the invention is basically a network based on so-called peer-to-peer networking, it is also assumed that there are special nodes with user interfaces. This special node is designed to accept user input or to display and store information about the network and its nodes. After the network configuration is complete, these nodes can act as "peers" and communicate directly without relying on the central node.

Networks of the type described above are known. An early example is "The Smart Plug" by N. McArthur et al. (Wireless World, pp. 46-51, December 1979). Another more recent network is described in European patent application EP-A-0 393 117.

The special feature of the present invention is that a node of a control network includes modem means for sending and/or receiving data via a transmission medium and at least one sensor unit, the node further includes configurable converter means for converting said sensor the output of the unit is converted into digital data transmittable via said transmission medium, and storage means for storing externally provided configuration data for use by said configurable converter means, said configuration data being externally provided with respect to said sensor Extracted from the control condition data of the unit. Nodes with execution units include corresponding conversion means to interpret the digital data sent by the sensor units and initiate the required execution unit operations.

An important aspect of the present invention is that network data communication is carried out according to a defined digital data format, namely a bit pattern. This bitmap indicates whether a (current) value measured by the sensor element satisfies a condition. In one embodiment of the present invention, the bitmap is reduced to "true" and "false", ie, "1" or "0", represented by one bit, thereby significantly limiting the amount of data transfer on the transmission medium. Data transfers are also reduced because nodes only transmit data when the logical value of the associated state changes from "true" to "false" or vice versa, rather than continuously sending data to the network.

It may be instructive to think of this approach as mapping or compressing the entire range of the sensor into a finite number of bins associated with a defined bitmap. In contrast to conventional linear or logarithmic converters, which convert input values into corresponding output values according to a fixed coding scheme, according to the present invention, the coding scheme is dynamically assigned to the sensor units and adapted by the network A requirement or condition provided externally by a user. Ideally, network communication would thus be reduced to "status reporting". Such "status reports" are issued by nodes with sensor units and received by nodes with execution units. However, certain functions of the network, eg all applications depending on the actual state of the sensor units, may require the continuous transmission of a (fixed) coded signal. The sensor data provided by the configuration process according to the invention are independent of the specific (physical) properties of the measured parameters and can be combined arbitrarily for the purpose of controlling the execution unit.

The invention is particularly suitable for point-to-point control networks, eg for load control in buildings or factories. It is shown to significantly reduce network traffic and thus can be optimally applied to transmission media with low bandwidth or low throughput. Such a medium may be, for example, infrared light waves, ultrasonic waves, or alternating current (AC) power lines.

In a preferred embodiment, each condition (IF condition) with respect to a sensor unit is assigned a specific bit position in the data stream sent with this sensor unit and node. If the range of this unit is divided into, for example, 4 intervals by the user's IF (if) condition, there are 4 bits indicating whether the respective conditions are satisfied.

However, the IF (if) condition could be encoded according to other encoding schemes, eg in binary encoding, in which case the 4 intervals would be encoded by only 2 bits. It is obvious to an expert in the field that the exact coding scheme can be chosen arbitrarily from known coding schemes.

In yet another aspect of the invention, each node with an execution unit whose action is controlled by the IF conditions of one or more sensor units receives an encoded representation of the bitmap, assigned to each IF condition, along with their respective Information about logical connections (ie, Boolean operations that combine individual IF conditions, such as "AND" or "OR"). The third type of information added to the execution unit nodes is about priorities, which come into play when user input contains inconsistent or contradictory IF conditions.

These and other novel features believed to be characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as its best mode of use and other objects and advantages, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of the embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings:

Figure 1 shows a network consisting of several nodes connected to a building's power lines.

Figure 2 shows a detail of the display screen during configuration according to the invention.

Figure 3A shows the details of data transfer in a known control network.

Figure 3B shows the details of data transfer according to the present invention.

The mode of realizing the present invention

Referring first to Figure 1, there is shown a network 10 of several nodes. All nodes of the network include a modem 11 which activates a node controller 12 to transmit data to a transmission medium 15 according to a control code stored in a memory 13 of each node during configuration. The transmission medium 15 of the depicted example is the building's power supply lines. However, as previously stated, the present invention can be applied to any transmission medium. A node also includes a sensor unit 16 and an execution unit 17, where each node may include any combination of these units. The sensor units and actuating units are connected to appropriate converter means 18, which operate according to a fixed switching scheme which does not change during the installation and configuration of the network itself. Examples of such known converters are A/D (Analog/Digital) and D/A (Digital/Analog) converters, F/D (Frequency/Digital) and D/F (Digital/Frequency) converters and the like. One of the nodes 101 also includes means for running programs and an interface for communicating with an operator or user. This special node will be referred to as the manager or A-node hereinafter. In the depicted example, Node A is a personal computer (PC) with a plug-in board with a modem device and all other components for the PC to communicate as a node within the network. It will be clearly seen that the network described is indeed of the class of peer-to-peer networks, despite the presence of one special node, the A-node. In this mode of operation of the network, after completing the configuration process, node A becomes indistinguishable from other nodes in the network.

The first step in setting up the network is to make the A node recognize each node installed in the network. This identification process can be accomplished in several ways. In this example, a configuration program installed in node A includes a library of predefined node types. Whenever a new node is installed, a signal is generated that allows Node A to identify the type of node, including all its sensors and execution units, as well as the node ID (identification), the address that allows communication with this newly installed node.

After all the nodes of the network are installed and identified as the type of nodes stored in the library, a second list 20 as shown in Figure 2 is generated on the display of the A node. All statements in the first column as IF (if) statements and entries in the second column as THEN (then) statements. Furthermore, all statements in one field in the IF column are considered to be connected by AND, while statements in two different fields are considered to be connected by a Boolean OR operator. The configuration process forces the user to insert only sensor unit-related statements into the first column and actuator unit-related statements into the second column. For each node, its available elements 211 are displayed as a set of icons 21 under the node name defined by the user. An inexperienced user can create an entry in the table by dragging and dropping the desired unit icon 211 into a field of the table 20 using a pointer (mouse). After the drag and drop operation, the user will be prompted to provide further details of the condition to be defined.

After completing the table entries according to the desired network configuration and control parameters, the A-node generates all necessary configuration data and sends them to the other nodes of the network. The exact method is described below with reference to a simple case. It should be noted that the exact method (eg definition of parameters) can easily be changed by experts in the field.

In the described example, the library provides a STATEDEF (state definition) variable for each sensor unit. In the case of the brightness sensor unit, the C language definition of this variable is:

           
typedef struct{

    SNVT_lux threshold1;

    SNVT_lux threshold2;

    Char logic;

    SNS_MATRIX snsMatrix;
				
<dp n="d5"/>
}

BGT_STATE_DEF;

        

  typedef struct {

  unsigned out SNSStIndex：2；/*行位置*/

  unsigned out StatePos：6；/*在STATENV中的位位置*/

}

SNS_MATRIX；

该变量保有由一个节点所传送的全部网络变量的组合有效负载构成的矩阵中的位位置。关于这些网络变量的详细情况将在下文中描述。This definition allows the user to define two thresholds. The threshold can be considered to represent the value measured by the brightness sensor. It should be noted that the actual format of these measurements in the network relies on fixed conversion and format operations (eg A/D conversion) which may be different in different network environments and/or for different types of sensors. However, these formats (hereinafter referred to as "uncoded formats") have no relation to the present invention. The third variable is a character variable, which represents the relationship between two thresholds, such as equal to, greater than, less than, etc. Its value is predetermined by the object library and assigned according to the user's input. The SNS_MATRIX variable is defined as:

  typedef struct {

  unsigned out SNSStIndex: 2; /* row position */

  unsigned out StatePos: 6; /* bit position in STATENV */

}

SNS_MATRIX;

This variable holds the bit position in the matrix formed by the combined payload of all network variables transmitted by a node. Details about these network variables are described below.

When the user wants the brightness sensor to control several devices or the same execution unit under different conditions, several BGT_STATE_DEF variables are defined.

The information stored in the STATE_DEF variable is grouped into configuration variables for each sensor unit, in the case of a brightness sensor the definition of this variable is:

           
typedef struct{

    uSHORT8 noStates; /* no states defined at all */

    BGT_STATE_DEF state Def[SNS_BGT_STATE_MAX];

    SNS_DEFECT snsDefect[SNS_ST_MAX]; /* Status: sensor defect */

    uSHORT8 updateTime/*Time to update the sensor*/

}

SNS_BGT_CFG;

        

This configuration variable contains, in addition to the STATE_DEF variable, information on the handling of sensor defects and information on a time period after which new values are transmitted by the sensor (update period).

When referring to the role of network variables (NV) described above, some physical limitations of the control network have to be considered. Since the invention is specifically designed for transmission media with low bandwidth and high noise levels, network traffic is limited and has to be managed. In the first step of allocating network resources to nodes, each node identified by the preceding installation steps is associated with a certain number of network variables (NV). A network variable is a string of data, effectively functioning as a container, characterized by its sequence of start bits (header) or stop bits (trailer), or a combination of both. In addition to these bits, a network variable carries a number of bits, either fixed or variable, to represent the information to be transmitted, data, which is denoted by the term "payload" in established communication terms. NV An example can be found in Figure 3B.

The payload given to each node in the network in the form of a finite number of NVs is assigned in the second step of node sensor unit assignment. Through this assignment step, each sensor unit is given a maximum number of possible states, which corresponds to the maximum number of states assigned to any one sensor unit by the user during the preceding configuration procedure. Essentially, a fixed number of bits are reserved in the NV's payload for each sensor cell.

Although both allocation steps in this example are static, ie determined before the actual configuration process, the present invention also considers dynamically allocating resources at each level according to the user's desired configuration. In this variant, either the network variable is assigned to the node according to the number of statements about the node, or the bit position in the NV payload assigned to the node is reserved only for the statements actually defined by the user. The obvious advantage of the dynamic allocation scheme is that resource utilization is more economical than static allocation. However, this advantage is offset by more complex and time-consuming administrative operations.

typedef struct{

      uSHORT 8 ruleDefNr；/*定义的规则数(＜＝RULES_MAX)*/
      RULE_DEF ruleDef[ACT_230_RULE_MAX]；/*规则*/

      SNVT_lev_disc   idleState；

}    

ACT 230-CFG；

它包括一个数代表由使用者定义的陈述值，这些陈述是关于这一电源开关(这个数要相对于初始化过程中分配给该电源开关的最大数进行检验，还包括执行定义的状态本身，该状态由RULE_DEF表示Returning now to the description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and the processing of the second column entries in the table, we recall that those entries, THEN (therefore) statements define the state of the execution units in the node. User input in this column is converted into configuration variables. For example, a configuration variable that controls a power switch is defined as:

typedef struct{

      uSHORT 8 ruleDefNr; /* number of defined rules (<=RULES_MAX)*/
      RULE_DEF ruleDef[ACT_230_RULE_MAX]; /* rule */

      SNVT_lev_disc idleState;

}    

ACT 230-CFG;

It includes a number representing the value of the user-defined statement about this power switch (this number is checked against the maximum number assigned to the power switch during initialization, and also includes the implementation-defined state itself, the Status is represented by RULE_DEF

           
typedef struct {

    unsigned inACTSTIndex: 6; /* sensor position in nvi ActST[] */

    unsigned invInState: 1; /* 1 = 0 inversion; 0 = no inversion */

    unsigned logicRule: 1; /* 0 = _AND (and), 1 = _OR (or) */

    unsigned inStatePos: 6; /* bit position in state nvi (left to right) */

    unsigned stateAct; 2; /* 0 = _ST_OFF, 1 = ST_ON, 2 = ST_INV */

    SNS_DEFECT snsDefect;

}

RULE_DEF
        

It includes the desired state (stateAct), which in the case of a switch can be ON, OFF or CHANGE, denoted by 0, 1, 2 respectively. RULE_DEF also includes the variables inACTStIndex and inStatePos, which indicate the received network variable (NV) payload or bit position in the combined payload matrix, and the variable logicRule, which determines the bit and The logical operation to be completed between the next bit related to this execution unit pointed out by the next RULE_DEF, in the case where the logicRule is set to "AND (and)", its stateAct can be left-no assignment, because only the following A RULE_DEF is evaluated before the execution unit operation is complete. Only when OR (or) is encountered as a logicRule value, the action defined by stateAct is performed if the conditions posed by all previous AND (and) operator-connected RULE_DEFs are met. So the next RULE_DEF is ignored as long as it is related to the same execution unit, regardless of whether it is combined with the AND operator. If not satisfied, proceed to the next RULE_DEF or RULE_DEF group accordingly.

After evaluation of the above variables, those STATE_CFG and ACT_CFG variables associated with a node's sensor units and execution units are combined into one CFG variable.

           
typedef struct {

    SNS_BGT＿＿CFG snsBgtCfg; /*Brightness sensor configuration*/
				
<dp n="d8"/>
    SNS_PSH＿＿CFG snsPshCfg; /* button sensor configuration */

    ACT_230＿＿CFG act230Cfg; /*power supply relay configuration*/

}

CFG;

        

For example, it describes the CFG variables of a node that includes a brightness sensor and a button as sensor units, and a power line switch (e.g. a relay) as actuation unit. When the CFG data generated by node A is transmitted to all nodes and stored in their local microcontroller memory, the program code on which the invention is based is substantially complete. However, in order to be able to operate adequately as a control network, those network variables (NVs) containing sensor unit state information have to be addressed to those nodes with execution units controlled by said sensor unit states. The task of addressing individual nodes in the network can be achieved in different ways, which are in principle known to experts in the field. In the network of this example, network variables (NV) assigned to a node are identified by a separate header. In a process that may be called "linking", nodes containing execution units are instructed to receive network variables (NV) containing relevant sensor data.

The following describes in more detail the operation of the network configured according to the above example, assuming a hypothetical scenario where when the brightness measured by the brightness sensor of node 2 exceeds the threshold of 30000Lux and the button of node 2 is in the "ON" position at the same time , the user wants the power relay of node 1 to be cut off. When the measured brightness is in the range of 0 to 20000Lux and only when the button of node 2 is in the "ON" position, the power relay should be activated. Finally, in a hypothetical scenario, it is assumed that the user wants to continuously display the measured luminance value on the display of node A.

In the installation step, node 1, which has a power switch, and node 2, which includes a brightness sensor and a button, are connected to the power line by simply plugging them into the socket of the power line. Each node exchanges an initialization sequence with a powered-up A-node also connected to the same power line. A node compares the initialization sequence of each node with the entries in its node library, and generates representations about the node, its sensors or execution units, the states and the maximum number of these units allowed, and the network variables assigned to the node ( NV) and other information of the node object. At the same time, a graphical representation or icon (as shown in Figure 2) of each node and its elements is produced, allowing the user to use a mouse-type pointing or control device during subsequent configuration steps.

The configuration system lets the user choose between monitor mode and configuration mode. First the monitor mode is described, which is not particularly important to the invention: once the brightness sensor of node 2 is selected, the user is essentially prompted to give the time interval at which the measurement should be displayed. The configuration system then recognizes a specific network variable (SNV) whose payload contains only the unencoded format of the luminance value as defined above. Furthermore, the time interval for node 2 to generate and transmit the SNV is set according to the user's input. The A node is instructed to receive this SNV and display the luminance value after the appropriate conversion operation. The values can also be directly transferred and stored as data suitable for further processing in a spreadsheet program or similar. A schematic diagram of SNV processing is shown in Figure 3A. As previously stated, the generation and processing of data in unencoded format is not particularly relevant to the present invention.

The configuration mode in which the table 20 shown in FIG. 2 is generated by the configuration system can be seen as an important element of the present invention. Now the user can use the mouse to drag the sensor unit 211 into the field in the first column according to the aforementioned hypothetical scenario. In order to generate the first operating mode or condition as described in the hypothetical scenario, it is sufficient to drag the brightness sensor icon to the first field of the IF (if) column in the configuration table and fill in 30000Lux as the first threshold when prompted to require a threshold up. Then select Greater Than. The button icon for Node 2 is dragged to the same field, and the configuration system automatically connects the two sensor unit states with an AND relationship. Users can define the button as a logic switch and set its value to ON. Then drag the power switch unit of node 1 to the adjacent field of THEN column in the configuration table and define it as OFF. In order to configure the second operation mode, drag the brightness sensor unit of node 2 to the next field of the IF (condition) column of the configuration table, and set the thresholds as 0Lux and 20000Lux respectively. These two values are linked with the "less than" and "less than or equal to" measurements. The button for node 2 is then dragged to the same field, and the configuration system automatically connects the two sensor unit states with an "AND" relationship as described above. Repeat the aforementioned process of dragging and configuring the power switch unit, and set its value to ON.

After completing these steps, the configuration system is enabled to generate and send two CFG type messages, here the CFG message assigned to node 1 contains the ACT_230_CFG message. The CFG message for node 2 contains SNS_BRIGHT_CFT and SNS_PSH_CFG messages. ACT_230_CFG contains four RULE_DEFs as previously defined, while SNS_BRIGHT_CFG contains two BGT_STATE_DEFs, and SNS_PSH_CFG contains one PSH_STATE_DEF.

In the first BGT_STATE_DEF, the SNVT_Lux value is set to 30000, and the character variable is set to "GREATER THAN (greater than)". SNS_MATRIX is set to the unassigned bit position BP22 of the payload of the network variable 32 assigned to node 2 . This bit position is assumed to be bit 22 of the first transmitted network variable NV1(t). Therefore, outSNSStIndex is set to "1" pointing to NV1(t), and outState Pos is set to "22". The second BGT_STATE_DEF contains thresholds 0 and 20000, and the character is set to "R" to indicate an interval relationship (0<measured value<=20000). SNS_MATRIX points to bit position BP13 of the payload of NV1(t). SNS_PSH_CFG contains a PSH_STATE_DEF, in which the character variable is set to "1", indicating the switch function of this button. The bit position within the payload of NV1 is defined by SNS_MATRIX (for BP17).

In the first RULE_DEF, the bit pointer (inACTStIndex, inStatePos) points to the first previously assigned bit (bit position BP22) of the brightness sensor of the second network variable NV2(r) received by node 1. Under the conditions of the present hypothetical scenario, NV2(r) is equal to NV1(t), ie the first NV transmitted by node 2 . The value of inACTStIndex is set to "2", and inStatePos is set to "22". The LogicRule value is set to "AND". The bit pointer of the second RULE_DEF points to bit position BP17, the switch position. logicRule is set to "OR". The stateAct variable is set to "ST_OFF".

In the third RULE_DEFF, the bit pointer (inACTStIndex, inStatePos) points to the second assigned bit (BP13) of the brightness sensor of the second received network variable NV2(r). The logicRule value is set to "AND". The fourth RULE_DEFF indicates bit position 17, the switch position. logicRule is set to "OR (or)". The stateAct variable is set to "ST_ON". The logicRule value is also stored as part of the configurable converter 33 .

In the hypothetical scenario described, only one network variable is utilized, namely NV1(t)=NV2(r). However, in a more general case, each node with multiple sensor units would have several network variables NV available to write bits defining the state of the sensor. The same applies to nodes with execution units corresponding to the number of incoming or received network variables (NV). In this case, all the outer rows or outgoing network variables (NV) of a node are viewed as a matrix 32 whose rows are network variables (NV) and whose columns are bit positions. The same applies to received network variables (NV). Thus, a row of the matrix 32 of network variables (NV) that is sent appears in a row (albeit at a different row position) within the matrix 31 of network variables that are received. The configuration process extracts for each execution unit the matrix positions of all sensor states associated with this execution unit.

A simple control circuit can be realized by using the means provided by the present invention as follows. A brightness sensor state "too Dart (too dark)" (<20000Lux) is defined and associated with the execution unit state "increase (increase)", which can increase the power supply to a light source. The "too Bright" state (>50000Lux) can be defined similarly. The default state of the execution unit is set to "STOP (stop)", freezing the current flow of the power supply. The interval between 20000Lux and 50000Lux constitutes a control hysteresis, which prevents oscillation of the control circuit. It is easy to see that this configuration enables feedback control of brightness in a room or building.

Claims (7)

1. A control network for controlling application devices, consisting of at least one node, said one node (10, 101) comprising modem means (11) for transmitting and/or receiving data via a transmission medium (15), and At least one sensor unit (16), characterized in that said one node further comprises: configurable converter means (18) for converting the output of said sensor unit into digital data (BP13, BP17, BP22) for transmission over said transmission medium, and a memory for storing configuration data provided externally means (13) for use by said configurable converter means (18), said configuration data being extracted from externally provided control condition data concerning said sensor unit (16). 2. A control network as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said nodes comprise at least one execution unit (17), configurable converter means (18) for converting digital data (PB13) received from sensor units (16) , BP17, PB22) into the operation of the execution unit, the memory device (13) is used to store the configuration data provided from the outside for the use of the configurable converter, the configuration data is provided from the outside about the Extracted from the control condition data of the execution unit. 3. The control network according to claim 2, characterized in that the configurable converter means (18) comprises a means (33) for operating with logical operators (AND (and), OR (or)) by a plurality of The sensor unit (16) transmits data (BP13, BP17, BP22), said operators are also extracted from control conditions provided externally on said same execution unit. 4. The control network according to claim 1, characterized in that corresponding to each control condition data about said one sensor unit (16) provided from the outside, digital data sent by said sensor unit (16) is compressed into 1-bit data (BP13, BP17, BP22). 5. A control network as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the configurable converter means comprise memory means (13) for storing microcode, and microprocessor means (12) for executing said memory means Microcode stored in . 6. A method of configuring a control network comprising nodes (10, 101), each of said nodes comprising modem means (11) for sending and/or receiving data via a transmission medium (15), at least some of which also comprise a sensor unit (16) and/or execution unit (17) with configurable converter means (18) for converting the output of said sensor unit to be sent to another node in the network via said transmission medium digital data (PB13, BP17, BP22) and/or used to convert the received bitmap into a predetermined operation of the execution unit, wherein the control condition data provided from the outside is related to the predetermined state of the sensor unit IF information, and THEN information related to the predetermined operation of the execution unit, and if several IF information are associated with one execution unit, there is logical operation information of the several IF information, if several THEN instructions Associated with one of the execution units, there is priority information about the sequence of the several THEN instructions to be executed, and also link information associated with the nodes whose data is to be exchanged, all this information is extracted and converted into a configuration Data loaded into storage means (13) connected to said converter means (12) for said converter means to perform said conversion. 7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that a configuration table (20) is generated for pre-formatting externally provided control condition data, said configuration table essentially having an IF column for use with the sensor unit The entry associated with the predetermined state of (16) has a THEN column for the entry associated with the predetermined operation of the execution unit (17), where the entry in a field of the IF column is operated with logical AND Joins, where entries from different rows in the table are joined with a logical OR operation.

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