Delivery of automated notifications by an industrial asset

• US 10,313,281 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2016
• Issued: 06/04/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Billi, Sharon M., Como, Christopher W., Gray, Edward A., Reissner, Kyle K., Walter, Jonathan D., Singhai, Mohit, Reichard, Douglas J., Sandler, Scott N., Bliss, Ronald E., Pantaleano, Michael J., Cahalane, Ryan, Korpela, Jessica, McCleave, Bruce T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt, Yves
• Application Number:
  US14/987,399
• Publication Number:
  US 20170195265A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,247 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24086 Expert system, guidance operator, locate fault and indicate how to repair
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0267 Fault communication, e.g. human machine interface [HMI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications

Abstract

An automated industrial notification platform creates a link between a given industrial asset and one or more people or support entities qualified to provide support for the asset. An industrial device or machine stores electronic expert tag information that records and catalogs one or more support people or entities to be notified in response to detection of various types of performance or maintenance issues. The tag can include the experts'"'"' identities, contact information, roles relative to the industrial asset, event priorities, and other relevant information. Since the tag is stored in a memory location of the industrial asset, the tag travels with the asset so that experts are globally associated with the asset regardless of the asset'"'"'s location. Notification components integrated with the industrial asset detect conditions that may require expert assistance, and send an automated notification to one or more experts identified by the tag information.

Claims

1. An industrial device, comprising:

a memory that stores executable components;

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

an event identification component configured to detect an event of the industrial device for which a notification is to be generated and to identify an event category of the event;

a notification component configured to determine a recipient for the notification based on expert tag information stored on the memory, and to generate notification information based on the event, wherein the expert tag information defines;

a first current location of the industrial device,

event categories, and

sets of one or more recipients respectively associated with the event type, categories, and

the notification component is configured to select, as the recipient, one of the defined recipients defined by the expert tag information as corresponding to the event category of the event, and having a second current location that is within a defined distance from the first current location defined by the expert tag;

a communication component configured to initiate a sending of the notification information to a client device associated with the recipient via an external network; and

a tag update component configured to add, as part of the expert tag information, a record of a software update performed on the industrial device in response to detection of the software update,

wherein the communication component is configured to include the record of the software update in the notification information, and

the tag update component is further configured to update the expert tag information based on at least one of manual input received via an interface component of the industrial device or an automatically detected status of the industrial device.

2. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the event comprises at least one of a machine downtime condition, a device fault, a mechanical fault, a software fault, a condition in which a process parameter has fallen outside a defined range, an operational inefficiency, an alarm condition, or a scheduled maintenance event.

3. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the expert tag information defines contact information for respective recipients of the sets of one or more recipients, and the communication component is configured to format the notification information for delivery in accordance with the contact information defined for the recipient.

4. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the notification component is further configured to control sending of the notification information to the client device based at least in part on the second current location of the recipient.

5. The industrial device of claim 1, further comprising a location component configured to determine a geographical location of the industrial device,

wherein the communication component is further configured to include location information identifying the geographical location in the notification information.

6. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein

the notification component is further configured to retrieve, from the memory, one or more maintenance notes determined to be relevant to the event of the industrial device, and

the communication component is further configured to include the one or more maintenance notes in the notification information.

7. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the industrial device comprises at least one of an industrial controller, a motor drive, a meter, a telemetry device, a sensor, an industrial robot, or a vision system.

8. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the expert tag information comprises:

a first data table that defines associations between the event categories and respective expert roles qualified to address the respective event categories, and

a second data table that defines associations between the expert roles and the sets of one or more recipients.

9. A method for generating automated notifications, comprising:

in response to detecting a software update performed on an industrial device, recording, by a system comprising a processor, a record of the software update in expert tag information stored on the industrial device;

detecting, by the system, occurrence of an event associated with the industrial device;

determining, by the system, an event type corresponding to the event;

determining, by the system, a recipient to be notified of the event based on the expert tag information stored on the industrial device, wherein the determining comprises;

determining a first location of the industrial device based on location data stored as part of the expert tag information, and

selecting the recipient in response to determining that the event type of the event is defined in the expert tag information as being associated with the recipient and that a second location of the recipient is within a defined distance of the first location of the industrial device;

generating, by the system, notification information based on the event;

initiating, by the system, a sending of the notification information to a client device associated with the recipient via an external network, wherein the notification information includes the record of the software update; and

updating, by the system, the expert tag information based on at least one of manual input or an automatically detected status of the industrial device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the detecting the occurrence of the event comprises detecting at least one of a machine downtime event, a device fault, a mechanical fault, a software fault, a condition in which a process parameter has fallen outside a defined range, an operational inefficiency, an alarm condition, or a scheduled maintenance event.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the sending comprises sending the notification information in accordance with contact information defined for the recipient by the expert tag information.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the generating comprises generating the notification information to include security credential information that enables remote access to the industrial device by the client device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the generating comprises generating the notification information to include the first location of the industrial device.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the generating comprises:

retrieving one or more maintenance notes stored or, the industrial device determined to be relevant to the event; and

generating the notification information to include the maintenance notes.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving and storing, by the system, video streams from respective video capture devices, and

sending, by the system as part of the notification information, a video presentation to the client device, the video presentation comprising a selected subset of the video streams.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

in response to detecting a software update performed on an industrial device, adding a record of the software update in expert tag information stored on the industrial device;

determining that an event associated with the industrial device has occurred for which a notification is to be generated;

determining an event type of the event;

referencing the expert tag information stored on the industrial device based on an identification of the event, wherein the expert tag information identifies a first location of the industrial device and assigns recipients to respective event types;

selecting one or more recipients for the notification based on the referencing, wherein the selecting comprises selecting, as the one or more recipients, a subset of the recipients that are assigned to the event type of the event and that are currently located at respective one or more second locations that are less than a defined distance from the first location of the industrial device;

generating the notification based on the event and device information included in the expert tag information;

initiating a sending of the notification to one or more client devices respectively associated with the one or more recipients, wherein the notification includes the record of the software update; and

updating the expert tag information based on at least one of manual input or an automatically detected status of the industrial device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the determining that the event has occurred comprises detecting, as the event, at least one of a machine downtime event, a device fault, a mechanical fault, a software fault, a condition in which a process parameter has fallen outside a defined range, an operational inefficiency, an alarm condition, or a scheduled maintenance event.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the generating comprises generating the notification to include security credential information that enables remote access to the industrial device by the one or more client devices.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the generating comprises:

generating the notification information to include the first location of the industrial device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the generating comprises:

retrieving one or more maintenance notes stored on the industrial device determined to be relevant to the event; and

generating the notification information to include the maintenance notes.