RFID architecture in an industrial controller environment

• US 20070055470A1
• Filed: 09/08/2005
• Published: 03/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Chand, Sujeet, Hall, Kenwood, Somogyi, Andreas, Owen, Joseph, Bapat, Vivek, Tinnell, Kenneth, Pietrzyk, Arthur, Morse, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,510,110 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/104
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/05 Programmable logic controllers, e.g. simulating logic interconnections of signals according to ladder diagrams or function charts
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31197 Near field communication nfc
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/00 Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation

Abstract

An RFID reader and/or writer module in an industrial controller (e.g., PLC). The RFID module interfaces internally to the controller for tight integration therewith. The RFID module can also be part of a controller communications framework and as a standalone module with the PLC as a master device, and interact with the RFID module in the same manner as it interacts with other I/O devices connected to the controller. In another aspect, RFID read/write tag technology is incorporated into some or all major PLC and rack components, and utilized for wireless communication both between PLC system components and between the PLC and other devices, locations, and media. The RFID tag can be used to store and exchange electronic keying data, security information, module diagnostics and warranty information, series and revision levels code, I/O configuration data, and, replacement data. Artificial intelligence is also employed.

Claims

1. An RFID system, comprising:

a controller having an internal controller communications framework that facilitates communications between components connected thereto; and

an RFID (radio frequency identification) reader that interfaces to the internal controller communications framework and communicates RFID information to the controller.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID reader is also a writer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the internal controller communications framework is packet-based.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID reader is manufactured as part of the internal controller communications framework.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID reader is manufactured an internal component of the controller.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID reader is a module that is separate from the controller.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein configuration data of the RFID reader is stored in the controller.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID reader reads an RFID tag and stores RFID tag information in the controller.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the RFID tag information is communicated from the reader and stored directly into a memory of the controller.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein presence of the tag information triggers activation of middleware software which is utilized to process the tag information.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein a task is initiated in response to the RFID reader reading a tag.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a middleware software component internal to RFID reader and that interfaces to the internal controller communications framework.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID reader communicates over the internal controller communications framework according to a CIP (Common Industrial Protocol) communications technology.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller acts as a master device relative to the RFID reader which is a slave device.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the controller has associated therewith a controller RFID tag that includes controller data and the RFID reader has associated therewith a reader RFID tag that includes reader data.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the internal controller communications framework facilitates communications to a remote node of a network via a network interface.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID reader reads RFID data from a component tag attached to a component that is internal to the controller.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising an artificial intelligence (AI) component that employs a probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis to prognose or infer an action that a user desires to be automatically performed.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising a signal strength processing component that processes signal strength values of RFID tags associated with a plurality of RFID readers.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the signal processing component is internal to at least one of the controller and the RFID reader.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller includes the RFID reader to read RFID data of an RFID tag and a bar code scanner to read bar code data of a bar code.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the controller compares a portion of the bar code data with a portion of the RFID data.

23. A rack-mountable system, comprising:

a rack that includes a communications connection and slots for receiving modules that interface to the connection;

a controller that is insertable into the rack, manages signals and data, and that includes a packet-based communications framework; and

an RFID reader that interfaces to the packet-based communications framework to communicate RFID information.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the RFID reader is housed as a module that is separate from the controller, and which module inserts into the rack.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the RFID reader is housed in a chassis that also houses the controller, and the RFID reader communicated RFID tag data to the controller via the packet-based communications framework.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the RFID reader includes a middleware software component that processes tag data.

27. The system of claim 23, further comprising an RFID tag associated with the controller such that the RFID tag initiates communications with the RFID reader when an event or an attribute changes.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein the rack is associated with a rack tag that stores component data of one or more modules of the rack.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein the controller is associated with a controller tag that stores component data associated with internal controller components.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein the controller includes a component tag that is associated with a corresponding internal controller component.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the RFID reader reads the component tag to determine a status of the corresponding internal controller component.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the RFID reader reads the component tag to enable operation of the corresponding internal controller component.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein the RFID reader reads the component tag to determine at least one of warranty and diagnostic data related to the corresponding internal controller component.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein the RFID reader reads the component tag to determine at least one of series code data and revision code data.

35. The system of claim 30, wherein the RFID reader reads the component tag to determine if the internal controller component is a correct component for installation in the rack.

36. The system of claim 30, wherein the internal controller component is the RFID reader.

37. The system of claim 23, wherein the controller receives and processes the RFID information into a secure data stream that is transmitted to a remote database.

38. The system of claim 23, wherein the controller is one of a programmable logic controller (PLC) and a small logic controller (SLC).

39. An RFID system, comprising:

a first RFID component that at least one of reads data from and writes data to a plurality of RFID tags; and

a PLC module that controls an automation process which facilitates processing of the plurality of RFID tags.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the PLC includes a signal strength processing component that receives and processes signal strength data from the first RFID component and a second RFID component, and in response thereto, assigns the first RFID component to a subset of the plurality of RFID tags and the second RFID component to another subset of the plurality of RFID tags.

41. The system of claim 39, wherein the first RFID component is part of one of the PLC module and a standalone crate module, and the second RFID component is disposed as a remote network node.

42. The system of claim 39, wherein the PLC module utilizes internal information associated with material movement to filter the data.

43. A method of providing an RFID-based industrial automation system, comprising:

providing a controller that interacts with one or more aspects of an automation process; and

integrating an RFID reader in the industrial controller such that RFID tag data read from an RFID tag associated with the automation process is communicated internally from the RFID reader to the controller.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising communicating the tag data via a packet-based communications framework that is common to both the RFID reader and the controller.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the controller is a PLC.

46. The method of claim 43, further comprising at least one of the acts of:

automatically powering down the RFID reader after a predetermined number of read operations; and

automatically powering down the RFID reader after a predetermined time duration.

47. The method of claim 43, further comprising accessing a complete history of an object associated with the RFID tag in response to reading the RFID tag.

48. The method of claim 43, further comprising automatically initiating a task in response to reading the RFID tag.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the task is executed in at least one of the controller and the RFID reader.

50. The method of claim 43, further comprising reading sensor diagnostics data from the RFID tag.

51. The method of claim 43, further comprising enabling operation of the controller only if series and revision code data stored in an associated controller RFID tag is verified.

52. A method of providing an RFID-based industrial automation system, comprising:

providing a controller that interacts with one or more aspects of an automation process;

integrating an RFID reader in the industrial controller such that RFID tag data read from an RFID tag associated with the automation process is communicated internally from the RFID reader to the controller; and

tagging a component of the controller.

53. The method of claim 52, further comprising acts of:

applying the RFID tag to the component that is the industrial controller;

writing at least one of warranty data, diagnostics data, and key data of the controller to the RFID tag; and

updating the at least one of warranty data, diagnostics data, and key data of the controller to the RFID tag.

54. The method of claim 52, further comprising acts of:

applying the RFID tag to the component that is the RFID reader;

writing at least one of warranty data, diagnostics data, and key data of the RFID reader to the RFID tag; and

updating the at least one of warranty data, diagnostics data, and key data of the RFID reader to the RFID tag.

55. The method of claim 52, further comprising acts of:

applying the RFID tag to an internal component of the controller;

writing at least one of warranty data, diagnostics data, and key data of the internal component to the RFID tag; and

updating the at least one of warranty data, diagnostics data, and key data of the internal component to the RFID tag.

56. The method of claim 52, further comprising acts of:

applying the RFID tag to the controller and a second RFID tag to the RFID reader;

writing key data to the RFID tag and second key data to the second RFID tag; and

enabling operation of the controller and the RFID reader only if the key data and the second key data agree.

57. The method of claim 52, further comprising acts of:

applying an RFID tag to each of multiple internal components of the controller;

writing security data to each RFID tag, which security data corresponds uniquely to each of the multiple internal components; and

enabling operation of the controller only if the security data of each of the internal components matches a predetermined security data list.

58. An RFID-based industrial automation system, comprising:

means for controlling one or more aspects of an automation process;

means for reading with a plurality of reading means tag data from an RFID tag associated with the automation process, at least one of the plurality of reading means is internal to the means for controlling; and

means for enabling select ones of the plurality of reading means to read the tag data and disabling select ones of the plurality of reading means from reading the tag data.