Method and apparatus for customization

• US 20060218310A1
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Published: 09/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Incorporated
• Inventors: Miller, Andrew A., Morris, Robert, Hawbaker, Jeffrey L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,788,731 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/13
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 25/00 Drugs for disorders of the nervous system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus and method for customization of a protective device. The apparatus and method includes coupling programmer programmable memory to a microprocessor for processing select logic schemes. The programmer programmable memory is adapted to be modifiable by only a programmer of said protective device. Elements associated with some of the logic schemes are implemented into the programmer programmable memory in the form of a compiled settings structure having a plurality of allocation fields.

Claims

1. An apparatus for customization of a protective device having a microprocessor for processing select logic schemes, said apparatus comprising:

programmer programmable memory coupled to said microprocessor, said programmer programmable memory including elements associated with some of the select logic schemes to be processed by said microprocessor and adapted to be modifiable by only a programmer of said protective device.

2. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 1, further including user programmable memory coupled to said microprocessor, said user programmable memory including elements associated with some of the select logic schemes and adapted to be modifiable by a user of said protective device.

3. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 1, further including fixed memory coupled to said microprocessor, said fixed memory being generally unmodifiable and including elements associated with some of the select logic schemes.

4. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 1, wherein the protective device is a protective relay.

5. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 1, wherein the elements are selected from a group consisting of operators, inputs, outputs, algorithms, code, and logic.

6. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 1, wherein the logic scheme processed by said microprocessor is selected from a group consisting of overcurrent, voltage, directional, distance, differential, and frequency protective logic schemes.

7. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 1, wherein the elements are implemented in the form of a compiled settings structure including a plurality of allocation fields.

8. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 7, wherein each of said elements is implemented in an allocation field of said compiled settings structure.

9. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 7, wherein the elements are designated for a particular type of protective device, and wherein one of the allocation fields is a protective device allocation field for specifying the particular type of protective device associated with the compiled settings.

10. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 7, wherein the elements are designated for a particular version of protective relay, and wherein one of the allocation fields is a reference allocation field for specifying the particular version of protective device associated with the compiled settings.

11. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 7, wherein one of the allocation fields is a digital signature allocation field for specifying the programmer of said programmer programmable memory.

12. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 7, wherein one of the elements is executable code.

13. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 12, wherein one of the allocation fields is an execution time allocation field for specifying the duration for executing the executable code.

14. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 12, wherein one of the allocation fields is a pointer allocation field for specifying a point at which portions of said code are to be executed by said microprocessor.

15. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 12, wherein the executable code includes code requiring execution during cold initialization of said protective device, and wherein one of the allocation fields is a cold initialization code pointer allocation field for specifying the executable code requiring execution during cold initialization.

16. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 12, wherein the executable code includes code requiring execution during warm initialization of said protective device, and wherein one of the allocation fields is a warm initialization code pointer allocation field for specifying the executable code requiring execution during warm initialization.

17. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 12, wherein the executable code includes code requiring execution at each processing interval, and wherein one of the allocation fields is a run time code pointer allocation field for specifying the executable code requiring execution during each processing interval.

18. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 12, wherein the executable code includes code requiring verification, and wherein one of the allocation fields is a settings validation code pointer allocation field for specifying the executable code requiring validation.

19. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 7, wherein one of the allocation fields is a settings structure allocation field including any elements requiring comparisons to associated thresholds.

20. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 7, wherein one of the allocation fields is a default settings allocation field including default values for associated elements.

21. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 6, further comprising volatile memory coupled to both the microprocessor and the programmer programmable memory.

22. An apparatus for customization of a protective device, comprising

a microprocessor for processing select logic schemes;

user programmable memory coupled to said microprocessor, said user programmable memory including elements associated with some of the select logic schemes and adapted to be modifiable by a user of said protective device;

fixed memory coupled to said microprocessor, said fixed memory being generally unmodifiable and including elements associated with some of the select logic schemes; and

programmer programmable memory coupled to said microprocessor, said programmer programmable memory including elements associated with some of the select logic schemes to be processed by said microprocessor and adapted to be modifiable by only a programmer of said protective device, wherein said elements associated with said programmer programmable memory are implemented in the form of a compiled settings structure including a plurality of allocation fields.

23. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 22, wherein at least one of the allocation fields includes executable memory.

24. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 23, wherein at least one of the allocation fields is a pointer allocation field for specifying a point at which portions of said code is to be executed by said microprocessor.

25. The apparatus for customization of a protective device of claim 23, further comprising volatile memory coupled to both the microprocessor and the programmer programmable memory.

26. A method for customizing a protective device, wherein the protective device includes a microprocessor for processing select logic schemes, said method including the steps of:

coupling programmer programmable memory to said microprocessor;

adapting the programmer programmable memory to be modifiable by only a programmer of said protective device;

implementing elements associated with some of the select logic schemes in the form of a compiled settings having a plurality of allocation fields into the programmer programmable memory;

implementing executable code into at least one of the allocation fields; and

designating at least one of the allocation fields as a pointer allocation field for specifying a point at which portions of said code is to be executed by said microprocessor.

27. The method for customizing a protective device,of claim 26, further comprising coupling volatile memory to both the microprocessor and the programmer programmable memory.

28. The method for customizing a protective device of claim 27, further comprising adapting the microprocessor for retrieving the compiled settings from the programmer programmable memory and temporarily saving the compiled settings in volatile memory

29. The method for customizing a protective device of claim 26, wherein implementing elements associated with some of the select logic schemes in the form of a compiled settings structure into the programmer programmable memory includes downloading, decoding, and saving the compiled settings into the programmer programmable memory in executable form.

30. The method for customizing a protective device of claim 26, further comprising providing fixed memory having elements accessible by the microprocessor for validation of the compiled settings in the programmer programmable memory.