Tag management within a decision, support, and reporting environment

• US 20050144154A1
• Filed: 11/19/2004
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: IndX Software Corp. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: DeMesa, Jesse G., Ougarov, Andrei V.
• Granted Patent: US 7,698,292 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/903 Querying for retrieval from the web G06F16/953
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A system and methods for retrieving and presenting data in a tag-based component environment. The disclosed system provides an efficient mechanism for associating point and non-point data using highly configurable data acquisition strategies. The data acquisition strategies incorporate customized retrieval routines to perform data acquisition at desired intervals so as to reduce unnecessary bandwidth consumption and computational overhead.

Claims

1. A system for developing computer models for the collection and display of data, the system comprising:

a component builder that provides functionality for generating reusable components for collecting point data and non-point data associated with at least one back-end data source, wherein the point data comprises data collected from at least one addressable informational source and the non-point data comprises context-defining data associated with the point data; and

a view builder that provides functionality for generating reusable views that correspond to specific components generated by the component builder, wherein the views specify how the point data and non-point data collected by a corresponding component is to be displayed.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein, the component builder further provides functionality for defining and associating differential collection strategies for the point data and non-point data.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein, the component builder further provides functionality for aggregating point data and non-point data from a plurality of addressable informational sources while maintaining the differential collection strategies for the point data and non-point data.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein, the differential collection strategies for the point data and non-point data differ with respect to the frequency of collection.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein, the frequency of collection of point data generally occurs at a greater rate than the frequency of collection of non-point data.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein, the differential collection strategies for the point data and non-point data differ with respect to the manner in which the point data and non-point data are collected.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein, the point data is collected based upon a publish-and-subscribe data collection approach.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein, the point data is collected as streaming data from the at least one addressable informational source of the back-end data source.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein, the non-point data is collected based upon a structured query approach.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein, the non-point data is collected via application programming interface (API) calls.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein, the point data comprises operational data representative of at least one of:

monitoring, control, and reporting functions, relating to the operation of a selected back-end data source.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein, the point data reflects real-time values associated with the at least one addressable informational source of the at least one back-end data source.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein, the point data collected from the at least one addressable informational source is obtained at a substantially constant time interval to maintain up-to-date information to be displayed by the corresponding component.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein, the non-point data is collected relatively infrequently while still maintaining up-to-date information to be displayed by the corresponding component.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein, the non-point data comprises at least one of:

relational, structural, attribute and documentational data.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein, the view builder provides functionality for inserting a view corresponding to a first component within a view corresponding to a second component such that point data and non-point data can be aggregated and displayed in a user-defined manner.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein, the component builder provides functionality for generating a composite component that includes at least one previously generated component and wherein the solution builder provides the ability to selectively include at least a portion of the point data and non-point data from the previously generated at least one component within the composite component.

18. The system of claim 1 further comprising, a module that provides functionality for creating instances of a selected component wherein each instance of the selected component is further associated with a respective back-end data source to allow that instance of the selected component to collect the point data and non-point data from the respective back-end data source.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein, the module enables a user to specify a frequency with which the point data and non-point data are to be collected.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein, the module enables a user to separately specify, for each instance of a component, a frequency with which the point data and non-point data are to be collected.

104. The method of claim 1 wherein, the non-point data comprises at least one of:

relational, structural, attribute and documentational data.

21. A method of generating a computer model for the collection and display of aggregated point data and non-point data, the method comprising:

collecting point data comprising data collected from at least one addressable informational source based upon a specified point data acquisition strategy;

collecting non-point data comprising context-defining data associated with the point data based upon a specified non-point data acquisition strategy;

identifying at least one relationship associating the point data and non-point data; and

displaying the point data and non-point data in a first aggregate view.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein, the collection of point data and non-point data is performed using a first reusable software component.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein, a second reusable software component further collects additional point data and non-point data, said second reusable software component including the first software component as a member.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein, the identification of point data and non-point data relationships and display thereof is performed using a first reusable view component.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein, a second reusable view component further identifies relationships associating the collected point data and non-point data and displays the point data and non-point data in a second aggregate view by including the first view component such that when a user accesses the second view to view data collected by the second view component, the first aggregate view is displayed within the second aggregate view.

26. The method of claim 21 wherein, the point data acquisition strategy and the non-point data acquisition strategy differ with respect to the frequency with which the point data and non-point data are collected.

27. The method of claim 21 wherein, the point data acquisition strategy and the non-point data acquisition strategy differ with respect to the manner in which the point data and non-point data are collected.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein, the point data acquisition strategy is based upon a publish-and-subscribe data collection approach.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein, the point data acquisition strategy collects streaming data from the at least one addressable informational source.

30. The method of claim 27 wherein, the non-point data acquisition strategy is based upon a structured query approach.

31. The method of claim 27 wherein, the non-point data acquisition strategy collects data using application programming interface (API) calls.

32. The method of claim 21 wherein, the point data comprises operational data representative of at least one of:

monitoring, control, and reporting functions, relating to the operation of a selected back-end data source.

33. The method of claim 21 wherein, the point data reflects real-time values associated with selected at least one addressable informational source of at least one back-end data source.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein, the point data collected from the at least one addressable informational source is obtained at a user-defined constant time interval to maintain up-to-date information.

35. The method of claim 21 wherein, the non-point data is collected relatively infrequently while still maintaining up-to-date information.

36. The method of claim 21 wherein, the non-point data comprises at least one of:

relational, structural, attribute and documentational data.

37. A method of generating a computer representation used in the collection of aggregated point data and non-point data, the method comprising:

collecting point data comprising data collected from at least one addressable informational source;

collecting non-point data comprising context-defining data associated with the point data;

identifying at least one relationship associating the point data and non-point data so as to define a base component; and

defining a first extended component comprising an instantiation of the base component wherein at least a portion of the point data and non-point data of the base component is used in the first extended component.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein, the first extended component comprises other point data and non-point data in addition to that provided by the instantiation of the base component.

39. The method of claim 37 wherein, a plurality of base components are defined by relationships associating the point data and non-point data, and wherein the first extended component comprises instantiations of the plurality of base components.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein, the plurality of base components that are included within the extended component are reusable and represent sub-units of the extended component.

41. The method of claim 37 further comprising,

defining a second extended component comprising an instantiation of the first extended component wherein at least a portion of the first extended component is used in the second extended component definition.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein, the second extended component comprises other point data and non-point data in addition to that provided by the instantiation of the first extended component.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein, a plurality of base components are defined by relationships associating the point data and non-point data, and wherein the second extended component further comprises instantiations of the plurality of base components.

44. The method of claim 37 wherein, differential collection strategies are used in the collection of the point data and non-point data.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein, the differential collection strategies used in the collection of point data and non-point data differ with respect to the frequency of collection.

46. The method of claim 45 wherein, the frequency of collection of point data generally occurs at a greater rate than the frequency of collection of non-point data.

47. The method of claim 44 wherein, the differential collection strategies used for the collection of point data and non-point data differ with respect to the manner in which the point data and non-point data are collected.

48. The method of claim 47 wherein, the point data is collected using a publish-and-subscribe data collection approach.

49. The method of claim 47 wherein, the point data is collected as streaming data from at least one addressable informational source associated with at least one back-end data source.

50. The method of claim 47 wherein, the non-point data is collected using a structured query approach.

51. The method of claim 47 wherein, the non-point data is collected via application programming interface (API) calls.

52. The method of claim 37 wherein, the point data comprises operational data representative of at least one of:

monitoring, control, and reporting functions, relating to the operation of a selected back-end data source.

53. The method of claim 37 wherein, the point data reflects real-time values associated with at least one addressable informational source of at least one back-end data source.

54. The method of claim 37 wherein, the non-point data comprises at least one of:

relational, structural, attribute and documentational data.

55. The method of claim 37 wherein, the base component represents a tag having component members defined thorough the at least one relationship associating the point data and non-point data.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein, the tag represents a logical collection of point data and non-point data associated with at least one of:

a selected instrument, operation, function, view and business element.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein, the business element represents an item of selected from the group consisting of:

machinery, equipment, and production.

58. A system of generating a computer representation used in the collection of aggregated point data and non-point data, the system comprising:

a first data acquisition component the provides functionality for collecting point data comprising data collected from at least one addressable informational source;

a second data acquisition component that provides functionality for collecting non-point data comprising context-defining data associated with the point data; and

a component builder that provides functionality for identifying at least one relationship associating the point data and non-point data so as to define a base component;

the component builder further providing functionality for defining a first extended component comprising an instantiation of the base component wherein at least a portion of the point data and non-point data of the base component is used in the first extended component.

59. The system of claim 58 wherein, the component builder further provides functionality for including within the first extended component other point data and non-point data in addition to that provided by the instantiation of the base component.

60. The system of claim 58 wherein, the component builder further provides functionality for defining a plurality of base components defined by relationships associating the point data and non-point data, and wherein the component builder provides functionality for defining the first extended component to include instantiations of the plurality of base components.

61. The system of claim 58 wherein, the component builder is further configured to define a second extended component comprising an instantiation of the first extended component wherein at least a portion of the first extended component is used in the second extended component definition.

62. The system of claim 58 wherein, the first and second data acquisition components provide functionality for defining and executing differential collection strategies used in the collection of the point data and non-point data.

63. The system of claim 62 wherein, the differential collection strategies used in the collection of point data and non-point data differ with respect to the frequency of collection.

64. The system of claim 58 wherein, the base component represents a tag having component members defined thorough the at least one relationship associating the point data and non-point data.

65. The system of claim 64 wherein, the tag represents a logical collection of point data and non-point data associated with at least one of:

a selected instrument, operation, function, view and business element.

66. The system of claim 65 wherein, the business element represents an item selected from the group consisting of:

machinery, equipment, and production.

67. An apparatus comprising a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon to represent a collection of data from multiple sources and providing:

at least one instance of at least one base component, each instance of the at least one base component including point data comprising data collected from at least one addressable informational source and non-point data comprising context-defining data associated with the point data;

at least one instance of at least one extended component, each instance of the at least one extended component comprising an instantiation of at least one base component wherein at least a portion of the point data and non-point data of the at least one base component is used in each instance of the at least one extended component; and

a first reusable view that specifies how data collected by instances of the at least one base component and the at least one extended component are to be displayed.

68. The apparatus of claim 67 further comprising, a second reusable view including as a component at least a portion of the first view wherein the second view displays data collected by instances of the at least one base component and the at least one extended component in a display area corresponding to the first view.

69. The apparatus of claim 67 wherein, the point data and non-point data of the at least one base component are used to model a first business element.

70. The apparatus of claim 69 wherein, the first business element comprises an item selected from the group consisting of:

machinery, equipment, and production.

71. The apparatus of claim 69 wherein, the extended component models a second business element of which the first business element is a logical subunit.

72. The apparatus of claim 70 wherein, the second business element is selected from the group consisting of:

a plant, facility, and factory.

73. The apparatus of claim 67 wherein, differential collection strategies are used in the collection of the point data and the non-point data.

74. The apparatus of claim 73 wherein, the differential collection strategies for the point data and non-point data differ with respect to the frequency of collection.

75. The apparatus of claim 67 wherein, the base component represents a tag having component members defined thorough the at least one relationship associating the point data and non-point data.

76. The apparatus of claim 75 wherein, the tag represents a logical collection of point data and non-point data associated with at least one of a selected instrument, operation, function, view and business element.

77. An apparatus comprising a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon to represent a collection of data from multiple sources and providing:

at least one instance of at least one first component, each instance of the at least one first component including point data and first non-point data collected from at least one tag-based informational source and second non-point data collected from at least one non-tag-based informational source wherein the first non-point data comprises context-defining information associated with the point data and the second non-point data comprises information associated with a data management application; and

at least one instance of at least one second component, each instance of the at least one second component comprising an instantiation of at least one first component wherein at least a portion of the point data and non-point data of the at least one first component is used in each instance of the at least one second component.

78. The apparatus of claim 77, further comprising a first reusable view that specifies how data collected by instances of the at least one first component and the at least one second component are to be displayed.

79. The apparatus of claim 78 further comprising, a second reusable view including as a component at least a portion of the first view wherein the second view displays data collected by instances of the at least one first component and the at least one second component in a display area corresponding to the first view.

80. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein, the first component represents a tag having component members defined thorough the at least one relationship associating the point data and first non-point data.

81. The apparatus of claim 80 wherein, the tag represents a logical collection of point data and first non-point data associated with at least one of:

a selected instrument, operation, function, view and business element.

82. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein, the point data and first non-point data of the first component are merged in a joined table.

83. The apparatus of claim 82 wherein, the joined table is of a form compatible with the second non-point data information associated with a data management application such that the point data, first non-point data, and second non-point data may be used collectively.

84. The apparatus of claim 83 wherein, the collective use of the point data, first non-point data, and second non-point data comprises creating a reusable view that displays at least a portion of the data in a combined manner.

85. The apparatus of claim 83 wherein, the collective use of the point data, first non-point data, and second non-point data comprises manipulating the data in a combined manner.

86. The apparatus of claim 83 wherein, the collective use of the point data, first non-point data, and second non-point data comprises visualizing the data in a combined manner.

87. The apparatus of claim 83 wherein, the collective use of the point data, first non-point data, and second non-point data comprises accessing the data in a combined manner.

88. The apparatus of claim 83 wherein, the collective use of the point data, first non-point data, and second non-point data comprises associating the data in a combined manner.

89. A system for developing computer models for the collection and display of data, the system comprising:

a component builder that provides functionality for generating reusable components for collecting tag-based point data and first non-point data associated with at least one back-end data source, wherein the point data comprises data collected from at least one addressable informational source and the first non-point data comprises context-defining data associated with the point data;

the component builder further providing functionality for collecting second non-point data associated with a non-tag-based informational source and

a view builder that provides functionality for generating reusable views that correspond to specific components generated by the component builder, whereby a user can generate at least one view that specifies how the point data and non-point data collected by a corresponding component is to be displayed.

90. The system of claim 89 wherein, the component builder further provides functionality for defining and associating differential collection strategies for the point data and non-point data.

91. The system of claim 90 wherein, the component builder further provides functionality for aggregating point data and non-point data from a plurality of addressable informational sources while maintaining the differential collection strategies for the point data and non-point data.

92. The system of claim 91 wherein, the differential collection strategies for the point data and non-point data differ with respect to the frequency of collection.

93. The system of claim 92 wherein, the frequency of collection of point data generally occurs at a greater rate than the frequency of collection of non-point data.

94. The system of claim 93 wherein, the differential collection strategies for the point data and non-point data differ with respect to the manner in which the point data and non-point data are collected.

95. A method of generating a computer representation used in the collection of aggregated point data and non-point data, the method comprising:

collecting point data comprising data collected from at least one addressable informational source;

collecting first non-point data comprising context-defining data associated with the point data;

collecting second non-point data comprising data associated with a non-tag-based informational source;

identifying at least one relationship associating the point data and first non-point data so as to define a base component; and

defining a first extended component comprising an instantiation of the base component wherein at least a portion of the point data and first non-point data of the base component is used in the first extended component in combination with the second non-point data.

96. The method of claim 95 wherein, a plurality of base components are defined by relationships associating the point data and first non-point data, and wherein the first extended component comprises instantiations of the plurality of base components.

97. The method of claim 95 wherein, the plurality of base components that are included within the extended component are reusable and represent sub-units of the extended component.

98. The method of claim 95 further comprising defining a second extended component comprising an instantiation of the first extended component wherein at least a portion of the first extended component is used in the second extended component definition.

99. A method for managing information associated with at least one tag-based system, the method comprising:

identifying at least one point data source associated with the at least one tag-based system configured to provide point data,

identifying at least one non-point data attribute associated with the point data of the at least one point data source wherein the at least one non-point data attribute is used in the development of a data acquisition rule for acquiring point data from the at least one point data source, and

populating a tag-based data structure with the at least one non-point data attribute and acquired point data from the at least one point data source thereby integrating the point data and non-point data in a manner that provides combined accessibility.

100. The method of claim 99, further comprising generating at least one view providing a visual representation of at least a portion of the non-point data and point data in the tag-based data structure.

101. The method of claim 99, wherein the data acquisition rule provides a mechanism by which to access the point data from the at least one point data source and further specifies a mechanism by which to populate the tag-based data structure with the acquired point data.

102. The method of claim 99, wherein the tag-based data structure is configured in such a manner so as to permit the point data and non-point data to be related to other information contained within non-tag based non-point data structures.

103. The method of claim 99 wherein, the point data comprises operational data representative of at least one of:

monitoring, control, and reporting functions, relating to the at least one point data source.