Programmable module for a modular installation of signal transmitters and method of driving the installation

1. A programmable module for a modular installation of signal transmitters, said module comprising:

a support base delimited by edges;

at least one signal transmitter fastened on said base;

at least one controller fastened on said base and linked to said at least one signal transmitter for driving the transmission of signals;

at least two connectors fastened on the edges of said base and linked to said controller, each connector having:

an electrical power supply interface for said at least one signal transmitter and said at least one controller; and

a bidirectional communication interface connected to said at least one controller and having a communication input and a communications output;

where at least one of said connectors is connected with a connector of a neighboring module in the modular installation for allowing a bidirectional communication between the controller of said module and the controller of said neighboring module and a distribution of the electrical power supply between the modules.

2. The module according to claim 1 , wherein at least one signal transmitter is a light signal transmitter, in particular of the light-emitting diode type.

3. The module according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one sensor for measuring a local parameter fastened on the base, in particular of the proximity sensor type, said at least one sensor generating local measuring data and the controller being linked to said at least one sensor to receive said local measurement data.

4. The module according to claim 1 , wherein the module includes a connector on each edge.

5. A modular installation of the type comprising several modules in accordance with claim 1 , wherein each module has at least one connector connected to a connector of a neighboring module.

6. The modular installation according to claim 5 , wherein the base of each module has at least one edge on which a connector is fastened, where said edge is contiguous to an edge of the base of an neighboring module on which a connector is also fastened, and the two connectors fastened on said contiguous edges are interconnected.

7. The modular installation according to claim 5 , wherein the bases of the modules are distributed in a planar or volume tiling, the base of each module being disposed contiguously to the base of at least one neighboring module, and each module being connected to its neighboring module(s) through their respective connectors.

8. The modular installation according to claim 5 , further comprising a single source of a driving program of the controllers of the modules, said source being provided to be connected to a controller of a module called master module.

9. A method for synchronous driving of a modular installation in accordance to claim 5 , wherein each module executes the same program in a periodic cyclic and synchronous manner, in which, at each cycle, each module establishes a bidirectional communication with the neighboring module(s) and executes one or more algorithms of said program.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein a module called master module constitute a unique source of the periodic timing for the execution of the same program by the modules, where said master module generates a synchrinization signal which is propagated step by step between the modules starting from the master module via their respective connectors.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the execution of the same program by the modules is preceded by a phase for inputting a driving algorithm to the controller of at least one module called master module, in the form of data frames distributed in successive periodic cycles, the other modules being called slave modules, and in which the execution of the same program by the modules includes the following phases:

a first phase for executing a distribution algorithm in which the data frames of the driving algorithm are synchronously and periodically distributed, step by step between the modules starting from at least one module called master module;

once the distributed driving algorithm is completely loaded in all controllers, a second phase for synchronously and periodically executing the driving algorithm by each controller.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the first distribution phase is preceded by a phase for determining a maximum distance corresponding to the greatest distance between the at least one master module and the most distant slave module(s) in the installation by routing from neighboring module to neighboring module according to the shortest path(s), to establish the time required for the distribution phase so that the distributed driving algorithm is completely loaded in all controllers.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the phase for inputting the driving algorithm and the first phase for executing the distribution algorithm are performed:

either sequentially, where said first phase begins once the driving algorithm is completely loaded in the controller of the at least one master module;

or in parallel, where each controller of a module receives in a current cycle, a data frame of the driving algorithm and propagates them to the controller(s) of the neighboring module(s) in the next cycle.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein, during the first phase for executing the distribution algorithm, at each cycle, the controller of each module performs the following operations:

receiving a synchronization signal on at least one communication input, and transmitting the synchronization signal on the communication outputs;

listening on all communication inputs of the module;

receiving a data frame of the driving algorithm on at least one communication input of the module, said data frame corresponding to a data frame transmitted during the previous cycle by a neighboring module on the communication output connected to said communication input of the module;

storing said data frame in said controller;

transmitting said data frame on the communication outputs to the neighboring modules.

15. The method according to claim 11 , wherein, during the second phase for executing the driving algorithm, at each cycle, the controller of each module performs the following operations:

receiving a synchronization signal on at least one communication input, and transmitting the synchronization signal on the communication outputs;

listening on all communication inputs of the module;

reading the measurement data coming from the at least one sensor;

reading variables called state variables representative of the state of the module in particular the state of the at least one signal transmitter;

reading a data packet called incoming data packet on at least one communication input of the module, said data packet integrating at least one input variable for executing of the driving algorithm;

executing the driving algorithm with, as an input, the input variable(s) of the data packet(s) received in the current cycle, the measurement data and the state variables, and, as an output, driving instructions of the signal transmitter(s) of the module, updating the state variables, and calculating output variables associated with each communications output;

transmitting on each communication output a data packet called said outgoing data packet integrating the output variables associated with each communication output.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein, during the second phase for executing the driving algorithm, at each cycle, the incoming data packet or each incoming data packet in a current cycle corresponds to an outgoing data packet transmitted during the previous cycle by a neighboring module on the communication output connected to said communication input of the module, and the outgoing data packet or each outgoing data packet transmitted in a current cycle is received by the concerned neighboring module in the next cycle.

17. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the second phase for executing the driving algorithm comprises, preferably at the beginning of the second phase, a communication phase with a unique timing source without jitter control, the unique timing source given by the synchronization signal at the beginning of each cycle sent by the controller of at least one master module.

18. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the second phase for executing the driving algorithm comprises, preferably after the starting of the installation, a communication phase with a variable number of timing sources and with jitter control, in which a controller of at least one slave module generates its own synchronization signal that is transmitted to the neighboring modules on its communication outputs.

19. The method according to any one of claim 11 , wherein the second phase for executing the driving algorithm implements a data routing protocol, in which during each cycle the data packets exchanged between two neighboring modules are cut and sent in several groups distributed over time slots longer than an offset time of the propagation between two neighboring modules of rank n and n+1 respectively, so that each byte of a group of order NO is received on a connector before sending the corresponding byte of a group of a higher order NO+1 on another connector.