Predictable real time data communication on a serial bus

摘要

A method for communicating data between a plurality of nodes connected by a serial bus carrying data in clocked data frames. The data is arranged in a virtual data frame and a portion of each clocked data frame is allocated for transmission of the virtual data frame. The virtual data frame is then broadcasted on the serial bus by dividing it into a plurality of units, and including each unit in an allocated portion of a respective one of a plurality of consecutive clocked data frames. <??>The virtual frame according to the invention allows a separate priority handling of the data to be sent, outside the handling of the serial bus. Thereby, problems associated with priority handling may be avoided, and a predictable communication is achieved. Further, the virtual frame is not communicated point-to-point, further improving the performance. <IMAGE> <IMAGE>