APPLICATION AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT FOR INDUSTRIAL CONTROL DEVICES

• US 20070293952A1
• Filed: 06/18/2007
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Batke, Brian, Callaghan, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,693,581 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/9
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4188 characterised by CIM planning or realisation
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31101 Configuration file with format of relevant messages for different equipment
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31166 Access data by name, object, stored in list, database
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31324 Distributed real time knowledge, database
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31334 Database with devices, configuration, of plant
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database

Abstract

The subject invention provides systems and methods that facilitate accessing and management of information (e.g., instructions, executables, classes, objects . . . ) associated with a control system. The systems and methods enable a control system entity the ability to leverage functionality of another control system entity, for example, to employ a service and/or execute an application within an execution environment of the other control system entity. Other capabilities include, but are not limited to, installing and uninstalling, registering and deregistering, loading and/or unloading instructions, commencing, pausing and terminating instruction execution, passing parameters and variables to instructions, modifying, overriding instructions and removing instructions, reliable messages, files, executables, classes, data structures, schema, objects, services, notifications, behaviors, alerts, etc. Optionally, a security mechanism can be utilized to determine the scope of access to the control system entity and/or instructions, applications, and services therein.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates interaction between industrial control components, comprising:

a first industrial control component with an execution environment; and

a management component that enables management of one or more instructions and/or data with respect to the first industrial control component.

2. The system of claim 1, the management component enables management of one or more of data files, configurations, and objects persisted in a database management system that is local and/or remote to the industrial control component.

3. The system of claim 1, the management component includes a map component that maps data between local and remote data, the data resides in at least one of memory, data files, and object database management system(s) (ODBMS) and/or relational database management system(s) (RDBMS).

4. The system of claim 1, the management component is resident on a second industrial control component.

5. The system of claim 4, the second component is one of a hard controller, a soft controller, a module, a scanner, a bridge, a Human Machine Interface (HMI), an agent, autonomous I/O, a module, a SCADA system, a MES, a ERP system, a MC system, an application, a sensor network, a bridge, a scanner, a database, a server, a client, and a user.

6. The system of claim 4, further comprising a security component that at least one of denies, provides and revokes access to the first industrial control component by the second component.

7. The system of claim 6, the security component defines a scope of access to the second component, the scope of access is at least one of application specific and extensible.

8. The system of claim 6, the security component authenticates and authorizes the second component to access the first industrial control component.

9. The system of claim 1, the management component deploys a plurality of instructions and/or data that comprise a service on the first control component.

10. The system of claim 1, the management component reads and/or writes data on the first control component.

11. The system of claim 1, the management component initiates execution of the instructions on the first control component and provides information necessary for the service.

12. The system of claim 1, the management component removes a plurality of instructions and/or data that comprise a service from the first control component.

13. The system of claim 1, the management component receives instructions and/or data from a high-level information system including one or more of an MES system, ERP system, and object or relational database(s).

14. The system of claim 1, the first industrial control component is one of a hard controller, a soft controller, a module, a scanner, a bridge, a Human Machine Interface (HMI), an agent, and autonomous I/O.

15. The system of claim 1, the one or more instructions are associated with at least one of a reliable message, a binary file, an ASCII file, source code, an executable, a class, a data structure, a schema, an object, a service, a notification, a behavior, an alert, a PLC program, and a timer.

16. The system of claim 1, the management component further enables a second industrial component to at least one of install, uninstall, register, deregister load, unload, spawn, invoke, pause, publish, post, search, query, retrieve, move, modify, copy, override, and terminate at least one instruction, application or service.

17. The system of claim 1, the management component further enables a second industrial component to at least one of install, uninstall, register, deregister load, unload, spawn, invoke, publish, post, search, query, retrieve, move, modify, copy, and override at least one data value, variable, data reference, database value, configuration or file.

18. The system of claim 1, the management component further enables a second industrial component to pass at least one of a parameters and a variable to the instruction.

19. The system of claim 1, the management component further enables a second industrial component to read and/or write to an object persistence store, or provide persistence to an object used to execute code related to the execution of one or more instructions.

20. The system of claim 1, the management component further enables a second industrial component to read and/or write data employed for persistence or configuration of an industrial component, the data includes at least one of a data object, code object, java class or object, java bean, container, and variable to the instruction.

21. The system of claim 1, the at least one instruction and/or data is at least one of encrypted, digitally signed, encoded, compressed, and password protected.

22. An industrial automation device interaction system comprising:

a first industrial automation device; and

a management component included within the first device that manages automation logic and/or data provided to, removed from and/or stored on at least a second industrial automation device.

23. The system of claim 22, the first device includes a container component from which automation logic and/or data is added and/or removed by the management component

24. The system of claim 23, the automation logic and/or data is encapsulated by one or more software components.

25. The system of claim 23, further comprising one or more information systems communicatively coupled to the first automation device that provide the automation logic and/or data to the management component.

26. The system of claim 25, the one or more information systems includes at least one of a database system, an MES system, an MRP system, and an ERP system.

27. A method for executing a service in a first control device by a second control device, comprising:

storing at least one service; and

employing an execution environment of the first control device by the second device to execute the service.

28. The method of claim 27, the service includes at least one of a reliable message, a binary file, an ASCII file, source code, an executable, a class, a data structure, a schema, an object, a service, a notification, a behavior, an alert, and a timer.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising utilizing the second device to at least one of load, unload, spawn, invoke, pause, publish, post, search, query, retrieve, move, modify, copy, override, and terminate the service.

30. The method of claim 27, further comprising utilizing the second device to pass at least one of a parameter and a variable to the service.

31. The method of claim 27, further comprising utilizing the second device to provide object persistence to the service.

32. The method of claim 27, further comprising at least one of authenticating and authorizing the second control device to utilize the execution environment to execute the service.

33. The method of claim 27, the service is at least one of encrypted, digitally signed, encoded, compressed, and password protected.

34. The method of claim 27, further comprising transmitting data that is at least one of encrypted, digitally signed, encoded, compressed, and password protected to the first device via the second device.

35. The method of claim 27, further comprising concurrently providing the service to the first control device and at least one other device.

36. The method of claim 27, the service is associated with at least one of a diagnostic, a firmware update, a protocol conversion, and a custom-written service.

37. The method of claim 27, the service performs a portion of the control function.

38. A system that facilitates interaction between industrial control components, comprising:

means for a first industrial control component with an execution environment; and

an interface component that enables a second component to utilize the execution environment of the first industrial control component to execute at least one instruction.