Method and system for automatically deciding what alarm, generated in an industrial plant, to hide or to present to an operator

• US 20060190584A1
• Filed: 12/20/2005
• Published: 08/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB AB (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Hansen, Magne, Gjerseth, Jan, Skold, Mikael
• Granted Patent: US 7,692,537 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24123 Alarm filtering, level and direct precursor, required action, blocking condition
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0272 Presentation of monitored results, e.g. selection of status reports to be displayed; Filtering information to the user

Abstract

A method and an alarm processing system for deciding what alarm, out of a number of alarms generated in an industrial plant or process, to present to a system operator. The method includes creating hiding rules, associating each hiding rule with a real-world object, storing these rules in a storage means, receiving an alarm related to a real-world object, determining if a hiding rule is associated with the real-world object evaluating the hiding rule, deciding from the hiding rule whether to present or hide the alarm, selectively and actively hide such alarms that are decided to be hidden and not presenting the alarm to the system operator. The invention also includes an alarm processing system and a computer program for carrying out the method.

Claims

1. A method for deciding what alarm, out of a number of alarms generated in an industrial plant or process, to present to a system operator, the method comprising:

creating hiding rules,

associating each hiding rule with a real-world object,

storing these rules in a storage means,

receiving an alarm related to a real-world object,

determining if a hiding rule is associated with said real world object,

evaluating the hiding rule,

deciding from the hiding rule whether to present or hide the alarm, and

selectively and actively hide such alarms that are decided to be hidden and not presenting the alarm to the system operator.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising,

creating at least one hiding mask,

associating at least one hiding rule with each hiding mask,

storing these masks in a storage means,

receiving an alarm related to a real-world object,

determining if a hiding rule is associated with said real-world object,

determining if the hiding mask associated with the hiding rule is active, if the hiding mask is active, evaluating the hiding rule,

deciding from the hiding rule whether to present or to hide the alarm, and

selectively and actively hide such alarms that are decided to be hidden and not presenting the alarm to the system operator.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

subscribing to information on process conditions and alarms from an access server.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

automatically acknowledging a hidden alarm when the alarm is cleared.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

presenting hidden alarms when specifically requested.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

presenting hidden alarms when a related hiding rule is deactivated.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

creating at least one software object that represents a real-world object, and associating a hiding rule relating to said real-world object with said software object.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

arranging software objects in multiple structures, where each structure represents a certain type of relation between the objects.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

configuring a hiding rule to hide alarms only from the object it is associated with.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

configuring a hiding rule to hide alarms from all descendants in a structure that the object is located in.

11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

implementing the software objects as aspect objects.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

configuring each hiding rule as an aspect of the aspect object for which said hiding rule is defined.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

configuring hiding masks as aspects of aspect objects that hold configuration data.

14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

implementing the alarm processing system as an aspect system that provides implementations for the hiding rule and the hiding mask aspect types.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

using a hiding mask manager to view and manage the total collection of hiding masks and hiding rules.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

using a configuration utility for creation of new hiding rules and hiding masks, and for editing or deleting existing ones.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating the hiding rules and/or hiding masks by means of an off-line utility, and loading them as configuration data to the alarm processing system.

35. A computer program comprising computer program code means for carrying out the steps of a method according to claim 1.

36. A computer readable medium comprising at least part of a computer program according to claim 1.

37. The computer program, according to claim 35, that is at least partially provided through a network.

38. A method according to claim 3, wherein the access server is an OPC server.

39. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

presenting hidden alarms when a related hiding rule no longer evaluates to true.

40. The method according to claim 8, wherein the certain type of relation between the objects is functional containment, location or the grouping of control system functions.

41. The method according to claim 15, wherein the hiding mask manager comprises a computer program.

46. The computer program, according to claim 37, wherein the network is the internet.

18. An alarm processing system for deciding what alarm, out of a number of alarms generated in an industrial plant or process, to present to a system operator, comprising:

means for creating hiding rules,

means for associating each hiding rule with a real-world object,

means for storing these rules in a storage means,

means for receiving an alarm related to a real-world object,

means for determining if a hiding rule is associated with said real-world object,

means for evaluating the hiding rule,

means for deciding from the hiding rule whether to present or hide the alarm, and

means for selectively and actively hide such alarms that are decided to be hidden and not presenting the alarm to the system operator.

19. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

means for creating at least one hiding mask,

means for associating at least one hiding rule with each hiding mask,

means for storing these masks in a storage means,

means for receiving an alarm related to a real-world object,

means for determining if a hiding rule is associated with said real-world object,

means for determining if the hiding mask associated with the hiding rule is active,

means for if the hiding mask is active, evaluating the hiding rule,

means for deciding from the hiding rule whether to present or to hide the alarm, and

means for selectively and actively hide such alarms that are decided to be hidden and not presenting the alarm to the system operator.

20. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

means for subscribing to information on process conditions and alarms from an access server.

21. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

means for automatically acknowledging a hidden alarm when the alarm is cleared.

22. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

means for presenting hidden alarms when specifically requested.

23. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

means for presenting hidden alarms when a related hiding rule is deactivated.

24. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

means for creating at least one software object that represents a real-world object, and associating a hiding rule relating to said real-world object with said software object.

25. The alarm processing system according to claim 24, further comprising:

means for arranging software objects in multiple structures, where each structure represents a certain type of relation between the objects.

26. The alarm processing system according to claim 25, further comprising:

means for configuring a hiding rule to hide alarms only from the object it is associated with.

27. The alarm processing system according to claim 25, further comprising:

means for configuring a hiding rule to hide alarms from all descendants in a structure that the object is located in.

28. The alarm processing system according to claim 24, wherein the software objects are aspect objects

29. The alarm processing system according to claim 28, wherein each hiding rule is an aspect of the aspect object for which said hiding rule is defined.

30. The alarm processing system according to claim 24, wherein hiding masks are aspects of aspect objects that hold configuration data.

31. The alarm processing system according to claim 29, wherein the alarm processing system is an aspect system that provides implementations for the hiding rule and the hiding mask aspect types.

32. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

a hiding mask manager to view and manage the total collection of hiding masks and hiding rules.

33. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

a configuration utility for creation of new hiding rules and hiding masks, and for editing or deleting existing ones.

34. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

means for generating the hiding rules and/or hiding masks by means of an off-line utility, and loading them as configuration data to the alarm processing system.

42. The alarm processing system according to claim 20, wherein the means for subscribing to information on process conditions and alarms from an access server is an OPC server.

43. The alarm processing system according to claim 18, further comprising:

means for presenting hidden alarms when a related hiding rule no longer evaluates to true.

44. The alarm processing system according to claim 25, wherein the certain type of relation between the objects comprises functional containment, location or the grouping of control system functions.

45. The alarm processing system according to claim 32, wherein the hiding mask manager comprises a computer program.