US 12,147,374 B2
Distributed control system and semiconductor inspection apparatus including same
Kazushi Yamashina, Tokyo (JP); Takashi Saegusa, Tokyo (JP); Yoshiro Gunji, Tokyo (JP); Tetsuji Ohsawa, Tokyo (JP); Yutaka Kasai, Tokyo (JP); Junichi Kitamura, Tokyo (JP); Naoya Ishigaki, Tokyo (JP); Shusaku Maeda, Tokyo (JP); and Yoshikuni Yokose, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to Hitachi High-Tech Corporation, Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 18/008,387
Filed by Hitachi High-Tech Corporation, Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Jun. 11, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/023030
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 5, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/250851, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 16, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0315673 A1, Oct. 5, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 13/42 (2006.01); G01R 31/26 (2020.01); G06F 13/34 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 13/4247 (2013.01) [G01R 31/2601 (2013.01); G06F 13/34 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A distributed control system comprising a tree topology network or a daisy-chain network including a communication parent station, communication child stations, and a plurality of communication paths among the communication parent station and the communication child stations,
wherein the communication parent station and the communication child stations include a scheduling unit that controls a transfer cycle that is temporal intervals of data transfer,
the scheduling unit sets the transfer cycle that is a fastest out of a plurality of the data as a reference cycle,
counts a number of times each time the reference cycle elapses, and imparts a value of the number of times to the reference cycle as a cycle number,
when the cycle number reaches an optional number, the number of times is returned to an initial value, which makes one cycle of transfer control, and the transfer control is repeatedly executed, and
for a timing of the reference cycle at which the data is transferred, the scheduling unit performs communication band control by executing scheduling processing to define the cycle number to which the reference cycle corresponds, on a basis of predetermined information corresponding to the data,
wherein the scheduling unit of the communication parent station reads the predetermined information from a memory unit while the communication parent station transmits an instruction for starting the scheduling processing to the communication child stations via at least one of the plurality of communication paths, and
wherein different cycle numbers are set for transferring the data of a same transfer cycle.