Patent Application
20190102234
The present invention relates to executing runtime programmable applications and more particularly to communications between apparatuses executing runtime programmable applications.
Configuration of devices for different applications is difficult particularly, when the number of devices and the number of software and hardware configurations of the devices is high.
The invention is defined by the features of the independent claims. Some specific embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system comprising a first apparatus configured to execute a first runtime programmable application, and a second apparatus configured to execute a second runtime programmable application, wherein the first runtime programmable application program comprises one or more references to variables of the second apparatus, wherein the first apparatus and the second apparatus are configured to communicate one or more variables defined by the references over a network connection and to set at least one of a variable of the first apparatus and a variable of the second apparatus on the basis of communicated runtime variables.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus configured to execute a first runtime programmable application, and configured to communicate with another apparatus configured to execute a second runtime programmable application, wherein the first runtime programmable application program comprises one or more references to variables of said another apparatus, wherein the apparatus is configured to communicate one or more variables defined by the references over a network connection and to set at least one of a variable of the apparatus and a variable of said another apparatus on the basis of communicated runtime variables.
An application program may refer to a runtime programmable application. A runtime programmable application may be capable of running or executing statement programming type of coding. The application program may comprise program instructions that may be executable by an interpreter for direct execution of the program instructions without compiling the program instructions into machine language. Program instructions may be programmed into the application program by statement programming. The program instructions may comprise one or more references to variables of apparatus executing the application program or to one or more apparatus connected to the apparatus executing the application. Accordingly, an application program executed on one apparatus may be capable of programming an application program residing in another apparatus to be executed in said another apparatus.
For running a runtime programmable application the system shall have a firmware or pure hardware support (later referred firmware). The firmware may take care of interpreting of runtime commands and statements, inter node communication, enable local variables setting and reading, enable remote variable setting and reading, enable (re)programming of runtime application programs, enable execution of runtime applications, may enable peripheral control interface to allow runtime program to configure and utilize available system peripherals and may protect crucial peripherals for inter node communication and for firmware operation. The firmware may offer methods for firmware reprogramming by programming tool or even by a runtime program application.
The nodes connected for data communications may form a communications network, where data may be routed from a sending/originating node to a destination node via one or more intermediary nodes.
A node 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107 may be configured to execute one or more runtime programmable applications. A runtime programmable application program may comprise one or more references to variables of another node. Nodes connected by a network connection may execute runtime programmable applications and variables defined by the references may be communicated over a network connection between nodes. One or more variables of the nodes may be set on the basis of communicated runtime variables.
In an embodiment, the system may comprise a terminal device 108 for managing the system. The terminal device may be configured to establish a terminal connection to at least one of the nodes 107 of the system. The terminal connection provides that applications of the node connected to the terminal device may be programmed by the terminal device. The node connected to the terminal device may be configured to cause programming of one or more other nodes by the terminal device over connections between the nodes. In this way applications executed by the nodes may be managed by the terminal device and all the nodes in the system do not necessarily have to be directly connected to the terminal device.
In an example the terminal device may be a personal computer, a smart phone or tablet computer running a suitable operating system with terminal emulator application. The terminal device may be connect to the node, for example node 107, by a wired connection. The terminal device may be logged in to the node by providing user credentials to the node over the wired connection. After the terminal device has been logged in a file containing a main application program may be uploaded to the node, for example by a command “file upload main1”. After the main application program has been uploaded one or more statements may be executed. Examples of the statements for logging in to the node, uploading the main application program and programming the node may comprise, with annotations between “/*” “*/” signs:
The method may start 201, when the apparatus is switched ON and capable of executing applications.
Phase 202 may comprise executing an initial application. The initial application program may be configured to perform at least one of setting up one or more initial variable values of the apparatus and setting up one or more existing peripherals of the apparatus. The initial application program may be e.g. an initialization file, a startup batch file or a startup script, which is read during or after boot/startup. The initial application program may also be executed during or after a reboot/restart. A reboot/restart may be needed for execution of a new main application program in phase 204. The initial application program and the main application program may be parts of the same application.
Phase 203 may comprise checking a duty cycle of the apparatus. The method may remain in phase 203 until a duty cycle timeout has elapsed. A duty cycle may refer to a time period comprising an execution time of an application program by an apparatus and a resting time immediately after or immediately preceding the execution time. Application duty cycle defines frequency of executing a main application program in phase 204. A duty cycle timeout defines a checkup moment when an application program resting period is passed. The resting period may be a set up time period or system default time period. The resting period may have a fixed length or a variable length. On the background may be other software or system processing activities like message delivery of the network. However, from a main application point of view, the resting period is a time period, where a node hosting the main application is in a low power mode of operation until the timeout has elapsed.
If the duty cycle timeout has elapsed, the method may proceed to phase 204, where a main application program is executed. The main application program may be an infinite loop which is ran every application duty cycle to perform the active application, until reboot or restart 205 is needed. The active application may be the main application program that may be activated for execution, at startup of the apparatus. Initially the main application program may be empty and programmed into use whenever is needed to via a terminal console connection from control location by user, central control or even by other node applications on runtime. A programming tool may be connected wirelessly or via wired connection to an apparatus hosting the main application program such that the main application program may be (re)programmed. The connection may be a direct connection without intermediary nodes between the programming tool and the apparatus hosting the main application. On the other hand the connection may be a remote connection, where the remote application tool and the apparatus hosting the main application are connected over a network. The programming tool may be the terminal device 108 or the programming tool may be hosted by the terminal device. The programming tool may be in just a set of commands for writing runtime program statements or more sophisticated tool.
The method may proceed from phase 204 to check the duty cycle in phase 203. The main application program may cause execution of a sequence of instructions and the method may proceed to phase 203 after the last instruction has been reached.
In an embodiment the method may comprise checking in phase 205 a need for restart of the apparatus after execution of the main application. If a need for restart id determined, the method may proceed to the beginning and phase 202 may be executed.
The local variables 302 and the remote variables 304 may be stored to a runtime memory, for example a Random Access Memory (RAM). In this way access to the variables is fast. An initial application program and a main application program may be stored to a flash memory. Additionally, the flash memory may store data, for example files. The data may comprise for example data obtained by peripheral devices such as sensors. The flash provides that the applications and data may be preserved even if the node was switched OFF or the node enters a low power mode of operation, where the contents of the runtime memory may be discarded. The nodes comprise a central processing unit (CPU) that is capable of executing the applications stored in the flash memory.
Examples of programming applications are explained in the following with reference to
Node 102 may be connected to a peripheral device. In this example, the peripheral device is a temperature sensor and the node 102 will be referred to as a temperature sensor node, however, it should be appreciated that also other sensors or devices that are capable of generating data may be used. The temperature sensor node may be configured with a sensor for measuring temperature. The sensor may be for example an analog temperature sensor, whereby the temperature sensor node may have an analogue to digital converter connected to the temperature sensor. An example of the main application program for the temperature sensor may comprise the following instructions with annotations between “/*” “*/” signs:
Node 103 may be a heater actuator node. The heater actuator node may have a digitally controlled heater. An example of the main application program for the temperature sensor may comprise the following instructions with annotations between “/*” “*/” signs:
Once the main application program is executed 204 in the controller node 101, a messaging comprising messages msg1, msg2 and msg3 illustrated in
After node 102 receives the msg1, it answers to the controller node 101 with msg2 ″node 102>node 101 “int1 9” where the value 9 is the latest value of the local variable int1 that stores a temperature value obtained by the sensor. It should be appreciated that if the controller node has not yet received the value from the temperature sensor node 102, a default or an initial value is used. In other implementations, it is feasible that operations such as extrapolation and/or averaging may be performed to the local variable int10.
Node 101 may push data or modified data to a local variable 302 of the node 103. For example, depending on the received value, the controller node 101 may control the heater actuator node to switch the heater ON or OFF. Accordingly, the controller node 101 may send e.g. msg3″node 101>node 103 “int1=1”, if the value was 9.
Node 104 may be a storage node. An example of the main application program for the storage node may comprise the following instructions with annotations between “/*” “*/” signs:
The main application program of the temperature sensor node may be added the following instructions to support the storage node functionality:
When the temperature sensor node supports the storage node in accordance with the above applications, once the temperature sensor is restarted 205, the following messaging is performed:
Node 105 may be an analysis node. An example of the main application program for the analysis node may comprise the following instructions with annotations between “/*” “*/” signs:
The main application program of the storage node 104 may be added the following instructions to support the analysis node 105 functionality:
When the storage node supports the analysis node 105 in accordance with the above applications, once the storage node is restarted 205, the following messaging is performed:
When the analysis node 105 is restarted 205, the following messaging is performed:
The analysis node provides analysis results that may be utilized in one or more other nodes of the communications network. To the main application program of the control node 101 may be changed to the following instructions to utilize the analysis results of the analysis node 105:
It should be appreciated that one or more further analysis nodes 106 similar to the analysis node 105 could be added in the communications network, where each further analysis node could be caused by the main application program to provide different analysis of variables stored in the storage node 104. For example, whereas the analysis node 105 causes setting the local variable (node 101 int0) of the control node with a temperature that is a one day old, the further analysis node could be cause to set another remote variable of the control node for example with a temperature that is a week old temperature. In this way, more complex control could be achieved.
The apparatus, for example a node, 500 may comprise a central processing unit 501 and a memory 502, 503, and one or more communications interfaces. The central processing unit 501 may comprise one or more processing cores or processors. The communications interfaces may comprise a network interface 504 for communications with apparatuses belonging to the same communications network, a terminal interface 505 for communications with a terminal device, and a peripheral interface 506 for controlling of one or more peripheral devices and/or data transfer with one or more peripheral devices. The processor may comprise one or more processing cores. The processor may comprise at least one application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC. The processor may comprise at least one field-programmable gate array, FPGA. The processor may be means for performing method steps in the device. The method steps comprise instructions that are stored to the memory. The instructions may be part of application programs, whereby performing the method steps may cause execution of the application programs and/or, one or more instructions. Examples of the peripheral devices comprise sensors such as temperature sensors and devices that are capable of generating data, and actuators such as heater actuators.
The memory may comprise random-access memory and/or permanent memory. The memory may comprise at least one RAM chip. The memory may comprise solid-state, magnetic, optical and/or holographic memory, for example. The memory may be at least in part accessible to the processor 501. The memory may be at least in part comprised in the processor 501. The memory may store a computer program comprising computer instructions that the processor is configured to execute, to cause one or more functionalities described in the embodiments. The processor and the memory may be operatively connected to the processor for communications of data for execution of the computer program by the processor. The connection between the processor and the memory may be a data bus for example. When computer instructions configured to cause the processor to perform certain actions are stored in the memory, and the device in overall is configured to run under the direction of the processor using computer instructions from the memory, the processor and/or its at least one processing core may be considered to be configured to perform said certain actions. The memory may be at least in part comprised in the processor. The memory may be at least in part external to the device 500 but accessible to the device. Control parameters affecting operations in the device may be stored in one or more portions of the memory and used to control operation of the device.
The network interface, the terminal interface and the peripheral interface may provide communications channels for communications of data, packets and/or messages. Examples of the network interfaces, terminal interfaces and peripheral interfaces comprise cards and modules that may be configured to establish wired or wireless connections. Wireless connections for network and terminal interfaces may comprise IEEE 802.11 based Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) connections, for example. The wired connections for network and terminal interfaces may comprise Ethernet, for example. Wireless connections for the peripheral interface may comprise Bluetooth, for example. Wired connections for peripheral interfaces comprise a computer data bus and RS-232 serial connection for example. The processor 501 may be operated to control at least some of the communications interfaces 504, 505, 506 by applying at least some of embodiments associated with execution of runtime programmable applications illustrated above in connection with
It is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention disclosed are not limited to the particular structures, process steps, or materials disclosed herein, but are extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understood that terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. In addition, various embodiments and example of the present invention may be referred to herein along with alternatives for the various components thereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as de facto equivalents of one another, but are to be considered as separate and autonomous representations of the present invention.
Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of lengths, widths, shapes, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.
While the forgoing examples are illustrative of the principles of the present invention in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without the exercise of inventive faculty, and without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention. Accordingly, it is not intended that the invention be limited, except as by the claims set forth below.
The verbs “to comprise” and “to include” are used in this document as open limitations that neither exclude nor require the existence of also un-recited features. The features recited in depending claims are mutually freely combinable unless otherwise explicitly stated. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the use of “a” or “an”, i.e. a singular form, throughout this document does not exclude a plurality.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20175867 | Sep 2017 | FI | national |
