Toshiba ETH-100 1. The Point Database Concept

1. The Point Database Concept

The heart of the ETH-100’s mapping capabilities is an element called the “point database” (refer to Figure 1). The point database is entirely user- configurable, and provides the end-to-end mapping information that allows primary (Ethernet) network requests to be routed to the correct locations on the secondary network (the ASD ports), while at the same time ensuring that the content of the request will be understood once it gets there. Additionally, the point database provides the added benefit of “data mirroring”, whereby current copies of point values (ASD registers) are maintained locally within the ETH-

100itself. This greatly reduces the primary network’s request-to-response latency time, as requests (read or write) can be entirely serviced locally, thereby eliminating the time required to execute a secondary network transaction.

When properly configured, the gateway will become essentially “transparent” on the network, and the primary network master can engage in a seamless dialogue with one or more secondary network devices (ASDs).

Ethernet	Point	ASD
Network	Database	Ports

Figure 1: The Point Database Concept

6