EMBEDDED HISTORIANS WITH DATA AGGREGATOR

• US 20080288775A1
• Filed: 05/17/2007
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Baier, John J., McGreevy, Robert J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,974,937 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/157
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4183 characterised by data acquisition, e.g. workpiece identification
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Systems and methods that aggregate history data collected via embedded historians with additional data that is supplied by third parties. Triggering events can be defined for initiating aggregation of such history data with additional data, which enable a process/application to retrieve the operational metric data of the industrial unit/entity from any of a plurality of systems operatively coupled to such industrial unit/entity.

Claims

1. An industrial automation system, comprising:

a plurality of embedded historians that are distributed as part of an industrial unit, to collect historian data associated with the industrial automation system; and

an aggregator component that aggregates the historian data with additional data for the industrial automation system.

2. The industrial automation system of claim 1, the additional data supplied via third parties.

3. The industrial automation system of claim 1 further comprising a publication arrangement that determine data availability from third parties.

4. The industrial automation system of claim 1 further comprising an organizational hierarchy data model with nodes that represent units associated with the industrial automation system.

5. The industrial automation system of claim 1 further comprising an artificial intelligence component that facilitates aggregation of the data.

6. The industrial automation system of claim 1 further comprising a Human Machine Interface (HMI) to graphically display a view of the industrial automation system.

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

8. The industrial automation system of claim 1, the embedded historian component associated with at least one of a controller, a module in a chassis, a server, a sensor, and a factory component.

9. The industrial automation system of claim 1 further comprising a locator component that identifies embedded historians.

10. The industrial automation system of claim 1 further comprising triggering events defined as part of initiation for operation of the aggregator component.

11. A method of locating historians within an industrial plant comprising:

collecting history data via an embedded historian from units associated with an industrial process; and

aggregating the history data with additional data to facilitate management of the industrial process.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising configuring the embedded historian to a predetermined setting for collection of data.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising defining a common organizational data model for a plant associated with the industrial process.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising employing a directory to track source of data.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising collecting historian data across various levels of the industrial plant.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising employing a polling mechanism for third party detection and identification.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising defining triggering events for initiating data aggregation.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising employing predetermined models for the aggregating act.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising verifying occurrence of the triggering event.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising displaying the aggregated data to a user.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising self identifying the historians via tags created therein.

22. A computer implemented system comprising the following computer executable components:

a data collection component with direct interface to a controller without employing a transitional layer, to supply collected history data; and

an aggregator component that aggregates the history data with additional data.

23. The computer implemented system of claim 22 further comprising a data base that services the data collection component.

24. The computer implemented system of claim 22, the aggregator component is part of an application that runs on a control unit of the industrial plant.

25. The computer implemented system of claim 22 further comprising a publish and subscribe component to determine availability of data from third parties, to the aggregator component.

26. An industrial controller system comprising:

collection means for collecting history data related to an industrial process; and

means for aggregating the history data with additional data upon occurrence of a triggering event.

27. The industrial controller system of claim 26 further comprising means for graphically displaying a view of an industrial control system.

28. The industrial controller system of claim 27 further comprising means for identifying suppliers of the additional data.

29. The industrial controller system of claim 28 further comprising means for displaying aggregated data to a user.

30. The industrial controller system of claim 27 further comprising means for representing units associated with the industrial plant as nodes.