Audit trail in a programmable safety instrumented system via biometric signature(s)

• US 20070199047A1
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Published: 08/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Nair, Suresh, Jones, Derek, Galera, Richard, Gibart, Anthony, Rollins, George, Dogul, James, Schuster, George, Delcher, Ray
• Granted Patent: US 8,046,588 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints

Abstract

System(s) and method(s) that facilitate utilizing biometric sensors (e.g., fingerprint, hand scan, voice recognition . . . ) in manufacturing systems in order to maintain accurate safety audit trails. A safety audit system, utilizing a biometric sensing device, facilitates determining if a user is allowed to access and change the configuration of the manufacturing system. Once a user is allowed to change the configuration (e.g., programmable electronics, tooling changes, software updates, etc.) the changes are automatically recorded in a safety audit database. Automatic storage of configuration changes mitigates manual recording of changes thereby enhancing the safety audit data often necessary to meet safety standards for manufacturing systems.

Claims

1. A safety audit system that facilitates recording configuration changes to a manufacturing system, comprising:

an identification component with a biometric sensor to sense and record biometric data for a user; and

a safety system component that tracks a configuration change(s) performed on the manufacturing system associated therewith.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a safety audit database for maintaining the configuration changes.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a lock component that is operatively connected to the safety system component, the lock component allows authorized users access to the manufacturing system.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising a computing component that writes selected data to a safety audit database based on at least one of manufacturing system faults and manufacturing system safety audit requirements.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising an analysis component that evaluates manufacturing system data with probabilistic anticipated data created by an analysis software to determine a manufacturing system fault.

6. The system of claim 1, sensor(s) contained in the sensor identification component are at least one of:

fingerprint, iris scan, retinal scan, voice recognition, DNA, hand geometry, optical tissue scan, hair analysis, face recognition, vein scan, RFID, gait pattern, lip movement, hand signature, barcode readers, magnetic strip and typing keystroke dynamics.

7. The system of claim 2, further comprising an external database that stores the safety audit database and data associated with authorized users.

8. The system of claim 5, the computing component communicates with the external database utilizing at least one of:

wireless, infra-red, Blue-tooth, ultra-wide band, WLAN, WWAN, WiFi and satellite.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising acquiring fault data associated with the manufacturing system.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising comparing fault data with predetermined threshold values.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising providing a notification to management.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising analyzing fault data.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising tracking data associated with users who attempt to modify configurations of the manufacturing system.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising evaluating safety audits.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising comparing fault data to predicted values.

9. A methodology for updating a safety audit database for a manufacturing system, comprising:

obtaining biometric data from a user who attempts to modify configuration(s) of the manufacturing system;

comparing the biometric data to authorized user data, and upon a valid match permitting configuration modification for the manufacturing system.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising recording the biometric data.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising evaluating safety audit modifications required by the manufacturing system.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising setting a threshold reference for safety audit modifications.

20. A safety audit system comprising:

means for acquiring biometric data from a user;

means for tracking the biometric data; and

means for controlling a manufacturing system based on the biometric data.