Transformation of industrial data into useful cloud information

• US 10,018,993 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2016
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Lawson, Douglas C., Reichard, Douglas J., Harkulich, Joseph A., Hessmer, Rainer, Chand, Sujeet, Farchmin, David W.
• Primary Examiner(s): TANG, KAREN C
• Application Number:
  US15/206,744
• Publication Number:
  US 20160323392A1
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: 709217
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 11/01 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4185 characterised by the network communication
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31326 Database to manage communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31334 Database with devices, configuration, of plant
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33139 Design of industrial communication system with expert system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/12 Synchronisation of different clock signals provided by a plurality of clock generators
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/14 Time supervision arrangements, e.g. real time clock
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 7/01 Probabilistic graphical models, e.g. probabilistic networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 : specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 : Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 : Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A cloud-compatible industrial device is provided. The industrial device generates or collects raw industrial data in connection with monitoring and/or controlling an automation system, and includes a cloud interface that couples the industrial device to one or more cloud-based services running on a cloud platform. To reduce consumption of cloud-based resources such as bandwidth and storage utilization, the industrial device can transform the raw industrial data into refined data that is amenable for cloud-based storage, computing, or analysis. Exemplary transformations include filtering, pruning, re-formatting, compressing, summarizing. In one or more embodiments, the industrial device can also add contextual metadata to the raw data prior to delivery to the cloud.

Claims

1. An industrial controller, comprising:

a memory that stores executable components;

a processor operatively coupled to the memory that executes the executable components, the executable components comprising;

a component that executes an industrial control program, wherein execution of the industrial control program causes the industrial controller to process input signals from industrial input devices of an automation system and to control output signals directed to industrial output devices of the automation system;

a component that generates and collects data generated by an industrial automation event, activity, or process implemented by the industrial input devices and the industrial output devices;

a cloud interface component that communicatively couples the device to a web-based cloud; and

a transformation component that transforms the data into refined data for processing by the web-based cloud according to a determined requirement of the web-based cloud, wherein the transformation component appends contextual metadata to the data, the contextual metadata comprising at least an identity of a site and a production area from which the data originates, an identity of a product being produced at a time the data was generated, a quality indicator for the product, and an actionable tag,

wherein

the transformation component determines the identity of the site and the production area based on a referencing of a hierarchical organizational model of an industrial enterprise that includes at least an enterprise level, a site level, and a production area level, and

the cloud interface component sends the refined data to a cloud-based application running on the web-based cloud to notify a user in accordance with the actionable tag.

2. The device industrial controller of claim 1, wherein the identity of the site and the production area indicates an origin of the data within a hierarchical organization model of the industrial enterprise.

3. The industrial controller of claim 1, wherein the cloud interface component is further configured to send information about the industrial controller to the web-based cloud in connection with a device configuration routine, and wherein the information comprises at least one of a device identifier, a geographic location of the industrial controller, a location of the industrial controller relative to at least one other device within a plant hierarchy, identification of one or more other devices in proximity to the industrial controller, or diagnostic information for the industrial controller.

4. The industrial controller of claim 1, wherein the transformation component is further configured to append other contextual metadata to the data, the other contextual metadata identifying at least one of a date and a time that the data was generated, a shift at the time the data was generated, an employee on shift at the time that the data was generated, a lot number, an alarm active at the time that the data was generated, or a state of a machine at the time the data was generated.

5. The industrial controller of claim 4, wherein the cloud interface component is further configured to receive a request from the cloud-based application to append the other contextual metadata to the data, and the transformation component is configured to append the other contextual metadata in response to receipt of the request.

6. The industrial controller of claim 5, wherein the cloud-based application is at least one of a notification application, a business intelligence application, a visualization application, a reporting application, a storage application, or an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application.

7. The industrial controller of claim 1, wherein the transformation component is further configured to at least one of compresses, aggregates, encrypts, filters, or re-formats the data to yield the refined data.

8. The industrial controller of claim 1, wherein the transformation component is configured to tag the data with the actionable tag in response to determining that a value contained in the data is indicative of at least one of an alarm condition or an achieved production goal.

9. The industrial controller of claim 8, wherein the transformation component is further configured to tag the data with notification information specifying at least one of an employee to be notified, a destination device to which a notification is to be sent, a required action, a due date for the required action, or a format for the notification.

10. A method for transforming industrial data, comprising:

executing, by an industrial device comprising at least one processor, an industrial control program, wherein the executing causes the industrial device to process input signals from input devices and to control output signals directed to output devices;

generating and collecting, by the industrial device, industrial data generated via control of an industrial process via the input devices and the output devices;

determining, by the industrial device, a plant site identifier and a production area identifier associated with the industrial data based on a referencing of a hierarchical organizational model of an industrial enterprise that defines at least an enterprise level, a site level, and a production area level;

transforming, by the industrial device, the industrial data into refined data in accordance with a requirement of a cloud-based application, wherein the transforming comprises at least adding contextual information to the industrial data, the contextual information comprising at least an actionable tag, the plant site identifier, the production area identifier, an identity of a product being produced at a time that the industrial data was generated, and a quality indicator for the product; and

transferring, by the industrial device, the refined data to the cloud-based application to facilitate notifying a user in accordance with the actionable tag.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending, by the industrial device, information about the industrial device to the cloud-based application as part of a device configuration routine, and wherein the information comprises at least one of a device identifier, a geographic location of the industrial device, a location of the industrial device relative to at least one other device within a plant hierarchy, identification of one or more other devices in proximity to the industrial device, or diagnostic information for the industrial device.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising adding, by the industrial device, other contextual information to the industrial data, the other contextual information comprising at least one of a date and a time that the industrial data was produced, a shift at the time the industrial data was produced, an employee on shift at the time that the industrial data was produced, a lot number, an alarm active at the time that the industrial data was produced, and a state of a machine at the time the industrial data was produced.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the adding the other contextual information comprises adding the other contextual information in response to receiving a request from the cloud-based application to add the other contextual information to the industrial data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving the request comprises receiving the request from at least one of a notification application, a business intelligence application, a visualization application, a reporting application, a storage application, or an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising at least one of compressing, aggregating, encrypting, filtering, or re-formatting the industrial data by the industrial device to yield the refined data.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the transforming comprising adding the actionable tag to the industrial data in response to determining that a value contained in the industrial data is indicative of at least one of an alarm condition or an achieved production goal.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising tagging, by the industrial device, the industrial data with notification information specifying at least one of an employee to be notified, a destination device to which a notification is to be sent, a required action, a due date for the required action, or a format for the notification.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing device to perform operations, comprising:

executing an industrial control program, wherein the executing causes the computing device to process input signals from industrial input devices and to control output signals directed to industrial output devices;

transforming data generated by the executing into refined data in accordance with a requirement of an application executing on a cloud platform, wherein the transforming comprises at least

referencing a hierarchical organizational model of an industrial enterprise that includes at least an enterprise level, a site level, and a production area level,

determining, based on the referencing, a plant site identifier and a production area identifier representing an origin of the data, and

adding contextual data to the data, the contextual data comprising at least the plant site identifier, the production area identifier, an identity of a product being produced at a time that the data was generated, a quality indicator associated with the product, and an actionable tag;

establishing a connection to the application via the cloud platform; and

sending the refined data to the application on the cloud platform to facilitate notifying a user in accordance with the actionable tag.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise adding other contextual data to the data, the other contextual data comprising at least one of a date and a time that the data was generated, a shift at the time the data was generated, an employee on shift at the time that the data was generated, a lot number, an alarm active at the time that the data was generated, and a state of a machine at the time the data was generated.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the adding the other contextual data comprises adding the other contextual data in response to receiving a request from the application to add the other contextual data to the data.