On-premise data collection and ingestion using industrial cloud agents

• US 10,334,048 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2017
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Maturana, Francisco P., Asenjo, Juan L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Keller, Michael A
• Application Number:
  US15/795,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20180063244A1
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/548 Object oriented; Remote method invocation [RMI] non-remote method invocation G06F9/449
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A cloud agent facilitates collection of industrial data from one or more data sources on the plant floor and migration of the collected data to a cloud platform for storage and processing. Collection services associated with the cloud agent perform on-premise data collection of historical, live, and/or alarm data directly from industrial devices networked to the agent or from intermediate data concentrators that gather the data from the devices. Queue processing services executed by the cloud agent package the data into a data packet comprising header information that identifies a customer associated with the industrial enterprise, processing priority information, and other information that informs data processing services on the cloud platform how to process and/or direct the incoming data. The cloud agent then establishes a communication channel to the cloud platform and sends the data via the channel.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

retrieving, by a cloud agent device comprising a processor, industrial data from a data source device via a first communication channel between the cloud agent device and the data source device;

appending, by the cloud agent device, customer data to the industrial data to yield a data packet;

sending, by the cloud agent device to an agent registry device, a request to create a second communication channel between the cloud agent device and a cloud platform, the request comprising at least an identifier of a cloud agent service executing on the cloud agent device and a physical device identifier of the cloud agent device;

in response to receiving certificate data from the agent registry device in response to the request, initiating, by the cloud agent device, creation of the second communication channel; and

sending, by the cloud agent device, the data packet to a processing device residing on the cloud platform via the second communication channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request further comprises an identity of the cloud platform for which the second communication channel is requested.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating comprises assigning an expiration time to the second communication channel.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, in response to a determination that the data packet has not completed transfer to the processing device prior to expiration of the expiration time, sending another request to the agent registry device for re-establishment of the second communication channel.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer data identifies a manifest assembly to be retrieved by the processing device in and executed on the industrial data contained in the data packet.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the appending comprises appending at least customer identification information and processing priority information specifying a relative priority for processing the industrial data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the appending further comprises selecting the relative priority based on message queuing information that defines processing priorities associated with respective data types of the industrial data.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing pre-processing on the industrial data in accordance with one or more processing preferences, wherein performing comprises at least one of compressing the industrial data, encrypting the industrial data, truncating redundant bits of the industrial data, aggregating the industrial data with other industrial data, or filtering the industrial data to conform to a defined data range.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving comprises retrieving the industrial data from at least one of an industrial controller, a motor drive, a telemetry device, a data historian device, an enterprise resource planning system, a manufacturing execution system, or an accounting system.

10. A cloud agent device, comprising:

a memory that stores executable components; and

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

a collection services component configured to retrieve industrial data from a data source device via a first communication channel between the cloud agent device and the data source device; and

a queue processing component configured to append customer data to the industrial data to yield a data packet, send a request to establish a second communication channel between the cloud agent device and a cloud platform, and in response to receiving certificate data from the agent registry device in response to the request, establish the second communication channel and send the data packet to a processing device of the cloud platform,

wherein the request comprises at least an identifier of a cloud agent service executing on the cloud agent device and a physical device identifier of the cloud agent device.

11. The cloud agent device of claim 10, wherein the request further comprises an identity of the cloud platform to which the data packet is to be sent.

12. The cloud agent device of claim 10, wherein the queue processing component is further configured to apply an expiration time to the second communication channel, and in response to a determination that the data packet has not completed transfer to the processing device within the expiration time, send another request to the agent registry device for re-establishment of the second communication channel.

13. The cloud agent device of claim 10, wherein the customer data identifies a manifest assembly that defines a type of processing to be applied to the industrial data by the processing device.

14. The cloud agent device of claim 10, wherein the customer data comprises at least customer identification data and processing priority information defining a priority for processing the industrial data.

15. The cloud agent device of claim 14, wherein the queue processing component is configured to select the priority based on message queuing information that defines processing priorities associated with respective industrial data types.

16. The cloud agent device of claim 10, wherein the queue processing component is further configured to at least one of compress the industrial data, encrypt the industrial data, truncate redundant bits of the industrial data, aggregate the industrial data with other industrial data, or filter the industrial data to comply with a defined data range.

17. The cloud agent device of claim 10, wherein the data source device comprises at least one of an industrial controller, a motor drive, a telemetry device, a data historian device, an enterprise resource planning system, a manufacturing execution system, or an accounting system.

18. A method, comprising:

registering, by an agent registry device comprising a processor, cloud agent registration information comprising a first cloud agent identifier and a first device identifier of a physical device on which a cloud agent corresponding to the cloud agent identifier has been installed;

receiving, by the agent registry device, a request from a cloud agent device for permission to create a communication channel to a customer-specific cloud platform, wherein the request comprises a second cloud agent identifier and a second device identifier of the cloud agent device; and

in response to determining that the second cloud agent identifier does not match the first cloud agent identifier or that the second device identifier was not previously registered by the agent registry device in association with the cloud agent identifier, deny access to the cloud platform by the cloud agent device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the request is a first request and the cloud agent device is a first cloud agent device, and the method further comprises:

receiving, by the agent registry device, a second request from a second cloud agent device for permission to create another communication channel to the customer-specific cloud platform, wherein the second request comprises a third cloud agent identifier and a third device identifier of the second cloud agent device; and

in response to determining that the third cloud agent identifier matches the first cloud agent identifier and that the third device identifier was previously registered by the agent registry device in association with the first cloud agent identifier, sending, by the agent registry device, certificate data permitting the second cloud agent device to establish the other communication channel.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the registering the cloud agent registration information comprises registering, as the first device identifier, a media access control address of the physical device.