Transparent bridging and routing in an industrial automation environment

• US 20070061455A1
• Filed: 09/12/2005
• Published: 03/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Callaghan, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,853,677 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32

Abstract

The subject disclosure pertains to transparent communications in an industrial automation environment amongst automation system components. PLC modules can be provided with unique network addresses such as IP addresses and accessed over a network using those addresses. The actual protocol and route employed to communicate with the PLC modules need not be known to a client system in order to access the PLC modules. Industrial control system configurations can be modified and expanded without affecting the client system ability to function in the environment.

Claims

1. An industrial control system comprising:

a network module component communicatively coupled to a programmable logic controller;

a module component communicatively coupled to the programmable logic controller, the module is addressable via a network through the network module; and

a security component that controls access to the module component through the network module.

2. The system of claim 1, the programmable logic controller, the network module component and the module component communicate over a backplane.

3. The system of claim 1, the network module and the module component communicate over a control network.

4. The system of claim 3, the network employs at least one of Transparent Interprocess Communication (TIPC) and TCP/IP protocol.

5. The system of claim 4, the TCP/IP network utilizes at least one of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

6. The system of claim 1, the security component authenticates access privileges of a client.

7. The system of claim 6, the security component blocks network traffic from an unauthorized client.

8. The system of claim 1, the security component prevents access from clients outside a local area.

9. The system of claim 1, the security component hides the address of the modules from view over the Internet.

10. The system of claim 1, the security component is embedded within the network module.

11. The system of claim 1, the security component is embedded within the programmable logic controller.

12. A programmable logic controller system comprising:

a network module connected to a backplane, the network module communicatively coupled to a network; and

a PLC module addressable over a network that communicates via one of a plurality of protocols with the network module over the backplane, the network module translates a network request made to the PLC module to a backplane protocol request.

13. The system of claim 12, the plurality of protocols further comprising at least one of Industrial Protocol, Transparent Interprocess Communication and Internet Protocol.

14. The system of claim 12, the network further comprises a TCP/IP network that employs at least one of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a security component that regulates access to or interaction with the PLC module.

16. An industrial control system comprising:

a control device communicatively coupled to a network; and

a directory component communicatively coupled to the network that discovers and stores a list of control devices on the network.

17. The system of claim 16, the control device further comprising self-assigned network addresses, the network addresses based upon the control device type.

18. The system of claim 17, the control device further comprising a service component, the service component is assigned one of the network addresses.

19. The system of claim 16, the directory component discovers the control device utilizing a discovery protocol.

20. The system of claim 19, the control device writes information to the directory.

21. The system of claim 19, the control device reads information from the directory.

22. The system of claim 16, the directory component is communicatively coupled to a second network.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a client component communicatively coupled to the second network.

24. The system of claim 23, the directory component replicates the list of control devices for the client component.

25. The system of claim 22, the directory component provides access to the control device from the client component via the second network.

26. The system of claim 22, the client component connects directly to the control device.

27. The system of claim 22, the second network is the Internet.

28. A method of network access in an industrial controller environment comprising:

communicating with local PLC modules over a backplane;

communicating with a remote system via a TCP/IP network; and

authenticating communications between the remote system and local PLC modules.

29. The method of claim 28, authenticating communications further comprises validating a username and password.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising verifying privileges of the remote system.

31. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of claim 28.

32. A PLC communication method comprising:

communicating with a remote system via a TCP/IP network;

communicating with a local module over the backplane via a backplane protocol;

accessing the local module from the remote system by utilizing a TCP/IP network address of the local module; and

translating requests from the network to the backplane protocol.

33. The method of claim 32, the backplane protocol comprising at least one of Industrial Protocol, Transparent Interprocess Communication and Internet Protocol.

34. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of claim 32.

35. A method of communication in an industrial control environment comprising:

detecting a PLC module on a first network;

identifying an address associated with the module; and

propagating the address to a second network.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising persisting the address to a store comprising the address for all modules within a control environment.

37. The method of claim 35, further comprising presenting the addresses in a comprehensible form to facilitate identification and selection by a user.

38. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of claim 35.

39. A method of communication in an industrial controller environment comprising:

requesting network protocol addresses for industrial control devices communicatively coupled to one or more networks;

identifying an address associated with one or more devices; and

initiating communication with the one or more devices via the addresses.

40. The method of claim 39, the addresses are one or more of industrial protocol or Internet protocol addresses.

41. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of claim 39.