Redundant application stations for process control systems

• US 20040153700A1
• Filed: 01/02/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Nixon, Mark J., Beoughter, Ken
• Application Number:
  US10/335,289
• Publication Number:
  US 20040153700A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 9/03 with multiple-channel loop, i.e. redundant control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1675 Temporal synchronisation or re-synchronisation of redundant processing components
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2025 using centralised failover control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2033 switching over of hardware resources

Abstract

An application station for use in a process control system includes a redundancy manager and a redundancy link subsystem coupled to the redundancy manager. The redundancy manager is adapted to communicate with a second application station via a redundancy communication link. The redundancy manager establishes a redundancy context with the second application station and uses the redundancy context to track the operations of the second application station. Additionally, the redundancy manager receives information from the second application station via the redundancy link and the redundancy link subsystem and, in response to the information, executes a switchover of the operations of the second application station to the application station.

Claims

1. An application station for use in a process control system, the application station comprising:

a redundancy manager; and

a redundancy link subsystem coupled to the redundancy manger and adapted to communicate with a second application station via a redundancy communication link.

2. An application station as defined in claim 1, wherein the redundancy manager establishes a redundancy context with the second application station.

3. An application station as defined in claim 2, wherein the redundancy manager maintains the redundancy context so that the operations of the application station track the operations of the second application station.

4. An application station as defined in claim 1, wherein the redundancy manager is adapted to receive information from the second application station via the redundancy link and the redundancy link subsystem and, in response to the information, to switchover operations of the second application station to the application station.

5. An application station as defined in claim 4, wherein the information received from the second application station includes monitored resource status.

6. An application station as defined in claim 4, wherein the information received from the second application station includes information indicative of the operational health of the second application station.

7. An application station as defined in claim 4, wherein the information received from the second application station includes one of failure information and information associated with a user directive to carryout a switchover.

8. An application station as defined in claim 4, wherein the operations of the second application station include virtual control operations.

9. An application station as defined in claim 4, wherein the operations of the second application station include redundant application operations.

10. An application station as defined in claim 4, wherein the operations of the second application station include network communications operations.

11. An application station as defined in claim 1, further including a redundant application that is communicatively coupled to the redundancy manager.

12. An application station as defined in claim 11, wherein the redundant application is a layered application.

13. An application station as defined in claim 1, further including a virtual control block that is communicatively coupled to the redundancy manager.

14. An application station as defined in claim 1, further including a communications subsystem that is communicatively coupled to the redundancy manager.

15. An application station as defined in claim 1, wherein the redundancy link subsystem is adapted to communicate via the redundant link using an Ethernet communication scheme.

16. A redundancy manager for use in an application station, comprising:

a heartbeat manager;

an application programming interface; and

a resource monitor communicatively coupled to the heartbeat manager and the application programming interface.

17. A redundancy manager as defined in claim 16, wherein the heartbeat manager monitors information received from an application station, and wherein the information is associated with the operational status of the application station.

18. A redundancy manager as defined in claim 16, wherein the application programming interface includes one of an application registration function, an application de-registration function and a directed switchover function.

19. A redundancy manager as defined in claim 16, wherein the application programming interface is adapted to interface a plurality of clients to the redundancy manager.

20. A redundancy manager as defined in claim 16, wherein the resource monitor is communicatively coupled to a plurality of application station resources.

21. A method of establishing a redundancy context within a process control system having first and second application stations, comprising:

downloading a configuration associated with the first application station to the second application station;

determining that the first application station provides a sufficient quality of service; and

sending information pertaining to a set of resources used by the first application station to the second application station;

determining that the second application station has access to the set of resources used by the first application station; and

establishing the redundancy context within the process control system in response to a determination that the second application station has access to the set of resources used by the first application station.

22. A method as defined in claim 21, wherein downloading the configuration associated with the first application station to the second application station includes conveying information via a process control network.

23. A method as defined in claim 21, wherein determining that the first application station provides a sufficient quality of service includes determining that the first application station provides at least the quality of service provided by the second application station.

24. A method as defined in claim 23, wherein determining that the first application station provides at least the quality of service provided by the second application station includes evaluating one of a maximum permissible data latency parameter and a maximum permissible loss of control time parameter.

25. A method as defined in claim 21, wherein determining that the first application station provides the sufficient quality of service includes determining a processor class and an amount of available memory.

26. A method as defined in claim 21, wherein sending information pertaining to the set of resources used by the first application station to the second application station includes sending one of control information and communications information.

27. A system for establishing a redundancy context within a process control system, comprising:

a first application station; and

a second application station communicatively coupled to the first application station, wherein the first application station is programmed to;

download a configuration to the second application station;

determine that the first application station provides a sufficient quality of service; and

send information pertaining to a set of resources used by the first application station to the second application station, and wherein the second application station is programmed to;

to determine that the second application station has access to the set of resources used by the first application station; and

establish the redundancy context within the process control system in response to a determination that the second application station has access to the set of resources used by the first application station.

28. A system as defined in claim 27, wherein the first application station is programmed to download the configuration to the second application station by conveying information via a process control network.

29. A system as defined in claim 27, wherein the first application station is programmed to determine that the first application station provides a sufficient quality of service by determining that the first application station provides at least the quality of service provided by the second application station.

30. A system as defined in claim 27, wherein the first application station is programmed to send the information pertaining to the set of resources used by the first application station to the second application station by sending one of control information and communications information.

31. A machine accessible medium having data stored thereon that, when executed, causes a machine to:

download a configuration associated with a first application station to a second application station;

determine that the first application station provides a sufficient quality of service;

send information pertaining to a set of resources used by the first application station to the second application station;

determine that the second application station has access to the set of resources used by the first application station; and

establish a redundancy context within a process control system in response to a determination that the second application station has access to the set of resources used by the first application station.

32. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 31 having data stored thereon that, when executed, causes the machine to download the configuration associated with the first application station to the second application station by conveying information via a process control network.

33. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 31 having data stored thereon that, when executed, causes the machine to determine that the first application station provides a sufficient quality of service by determining that the first application station provides at least the quality of service provided by the second application station.

34. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 31 having data stored thereon that, when executed, causes the machine to send the information pertaining to the set of resources used by the first application station to the second application station by sending one of control information and communications information.

35. A method of maintaining a redundancy context in a process control system having first and second application stations, comprising:

communicating a change in a condition of the first application station to the second application station via a first redundancy manager and a redundancy link; and

updating information within the second application station based on the change in the condition via a second redundancy manager.

36. A method as defined in claim 35, wherein communicating the change in the condition of the first application station to the second application station via the first redundancy manager and the redundancy link includes communicating one of a configuration change, an operating parameter change, sequencing information, batch phase information, alarm information, event information and resource locking information.

37. A method as defined in claim 36, wherein communicating the change in the condition of the first application station to the second application station via the first redundancy manager and the redundancy link includes communicating information associated with a custom function block.

38. A method as defined in claim 35, wherein updating the information within the second application station based on the change in the condition via the second redundancy manager includes updating a redundant application within the second application station.

39. A method as defined in claim 35, wherein updating the information within the second application station based on the change in the condition via the second redundancy manager includes updating a virtual control block within the second application station.

40. A system for maintaining a redundancy context in a process control system, comprising:

a first application station; and

a second application station communicatively coupled to the first application station via a redundancy link, wherein the first application station is programmed to communicate a change in a condition of the first application station to the second application station via a first redundancy manager and the redundancy link, and wherein the second application station is programmed to update information within the second application station based on the change in the condition via a second redundancy manager.

41. A system as defined in claim 40, wherein the change in the condition of the first application station is one of a configuration change and an operating parameter change.

42. A system as defined in claim 40, wherein the second application station is programmed to update the information within the second application station based on the change in the condition via the second redundancy manager by updating a redundant application within the second application station.

43. A system as defined in claim 40, wherein the second application station is programmed to update the information within the second application station based on the change in the condition via the second redundancy manager by updating a virtual control block within the second application station.

44. A machine accessible medium having data stored thereon that, when executed, causes a machine to:

communicate a change in a condition of a first application station to a second application station via a first redundancy manager and a redundancy link; and

update information within the second application station based on the change in the condition via a second redundancy manager to maintain a redundancy context in a process control system.

45. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 44 having data stored thereon that, when executed, causes the machine to communicate the change in the condition of the first application station to the second application station via the first redundancy manager and the redundancy link by communicating one of a configuration change and an operating parameter change.

46. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 44 having data stored thereon that, when executed, causes the machine to update the information within the second application station based on the change in the condition via the second redundancy manager by updating a redundant application within the second application station.

47. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 44 having data stored thereon that, when executed, causes the machine to update the information within the second application station based on the change in the condition via the second redundancy manager by updating a virtual control block within the second application station.

48. A redundant application station system, comprising:

a first application station having a first redundancy manager;

a second application station having a second redundancy manager; and

a redundancy link communicatively coupling the first and second redundancy managers.

49. A redundant application station system as defined in claim 48, wherein the first and second application stations are adapted to communicate status information via the redundancy link.

50. A redundant application station system as defined in claim 49, wherein the first and second application stations are adapted to maintain a redundancy context within a process control system based on the status information.

51. A redundant application station system as defined in claim 50, wherein the first and second application stations are adapted to enable the operations of the first application station to switchover to the second application station based on the status information.

52. A method of changing the configuration of an application station, comprising:

establishing a redundancy context between the application station and a standby application station;

executing a switchover operation to switchover the operations of the application station to the standby application station;

disabling the switchover operation;

changing the configuration information of the application station;

enabling the switchover operation; and

executing the switchover operation to switchover the operations of the standby application station to the application station.

53. A method as defined in claim 52, wherein changing the configuration information of the application station includes upgrading an application within the application station.

54. A method as defined in claim 53, wherein changing the configuration information of the application station includes upgrading a virtual control function with the application station.