DISTRIBUTED HISTORIAN ARCHITECTURE

• US 20070112801A1
• Filed: 09/28/2006
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Herbst, Robert, Hartman, Justin, McGreevy, Robert, Sadowski, Deborah
• Granted Patent: US 7,831,317 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

A distributed historian framework is provided where historical data is collected in accordance with an organizational model of a hierarchical system that is distributed across various elements of an enterprise. A directory service operates with the organizational model to enable configuration of historian components within the organization and to enable data to be located within the organization. In one aspect, an industrial automation system is provided. The system includes at least one historian component to archive data within an organization. A common data model then exposes functionality and data of the organization to the historian component.

Claims

1. An industrial automation system, comprising:

at least one historian component to archive data within an organization; and

a common data model that exposes functionality of the historian component across one or more layers of the organization.

2. The system of claim 1, the common data model having one or more data nodes and branches that are managed as a singular or collective entity while being viewed, managed or distributed across substantially all or portions of an enterprise.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) that forms an application view of a historian data collection system.

4. The system of claim 1, the common data model is associated with at least one of an S88 model or an S95 model.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a directory service for locating data components within an organization.

6. The system of claim 1, the common data model enables data identified for historian purposes to be automatically collected by one or more components of the organization.

7. The system of claim 1, the common data model enables historian functionality to be exposed and integrated with one or more components of the organization.

8. The system of claim 1, the common data model enables security services that are distributed to one or more historian components.

9. The system of claim 1, the historian component is provided in a controller, in a module in a chassis, on a client or a server, in a sensor, or in a factory component.

10. The system of claim 1, the common data model is an Organizational Data Model that includes a tree-like hierarchical and heterogeneous structure of organizational Units.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising nodes in a organizational hierarchy that have associated items representing a plant'"'"'s production and control equipment, tags, backing tags, Alarm &

Event objects), programs, equipment phases, or I/O devices.

12. The system of claim 1, the common data model includes metadata that identifies how data is top be collected for historian purposes.

13. The system of claim 12, the common data model enables auto configuration routines where one or more historian components are automatically discovered and configured.

14. The system of claim 1, the common data model enables scaling that includes the ability of one or more components of an organization to collaborate to provide an overall scheme for historical data collection.

15. The system of claim 14, the common data model enables data collection load sharing between historian components.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising messaging components that enable data collection load sharing between the historian components.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data structure that represents at least one of an enterprise, a plant, or a control layer within the plant.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising a publish and subscribe component that enables data to be reported and generated based upon a change in the data.

19. A computer readable medium having a data structure stored thereon to facilitate data collection, comprising:

a first data field to specify controller data structures; and

a second data field to mark the data structure for historical collection of data.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, the second data field is stored as metadata.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising at least one of an enterprise field, a site field, an area field, a work field, an equipment field, a batch field, a continuous field, a discrete field, and an inventory field.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising a data collection field, a plant field, or an embedded field.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising a field for collecting process or discrete data, and a field for collecting alarms or events data.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising analysis components, mathematical calculators, components for interaction with report elements, embeddable presentation components, reporting components, replication of configuration components, storage components, archiving components, data compression components, filtering components, security components, or scalability components.

25. A distributed historian communications method, comprising:

defining a common data structure over multiple tiers of an organization;

employing a security framework within the common data structure; and

applying the security framework to at least one historian data collection component.

26. A distributed historian method, comprising:

publishing data according to a change in the data; and

subscribing to a historian service to receive and collect the data.

27. A distributed historian system, comprising:

means for defining data structures in a control system;

means for communicating the data structures across a network;

means for aggregating the data structures from one or more historian data sites; and

means for collecting at least one alarm or at least one event from the data structures.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising means for publishing the data structures.

29. The system of claim 28, further comprising means for subscribing to a service that publishes the data structures.

30. A computer readable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon, comprising:

providing an embedded historian component at a lower level tier of a common data structure; and

providing a middle tier historian component at least one layer than the embedded historian component; and

providing a common data structure to enable data and functionality sharing between the middle tier historian component and the embedded historian component.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 30, further comprising providing an enterprise historian component that shares data and functionality with the middle tier historian component and the embedded historian component.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 30, further comprising generating an historian interface from a web server component.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 30, further comprising blending time series data and event data in an interface component.