Personalized Plant Asset Data Representation and Search System

• US 20090077055A1
• Filed: 09/14/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Dillon, Steven R., Rome, Gregory H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,323,247 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0272 Presentation of monitored results, e.g. selection of status reports to be displayed; Filtering information to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification

Abstract

A process control system uses an asset data and search expert to collect data, or status information, pertaining to assets of a process plant from various sources or functional areas of the plant including. The collected information may then be accessed by a user through a user interface routine displaying a graphical user interface to that user'"'"'s computer. The user may browse through status information on various assets, identifying them by device, unit, process, area, alert status, health, performance, or other data types. The asset data and search expert tracks user interaction with such plant data by, for example, tracking the types of search fields a user most frequently searches with or the type of information a user more frequently browses for. The expert automatically profiles this tracked information to develop user preferences that are later used in personalizing the reporting of asset data, personalizing searching for asset data, and personalizing the results of such searches. The expert may also automatically identify asset data that correlates with other asset data to present correlated asset data when the primary asset data is selected for viewing.

Claims

1. A method of reporting status information regarding an entity within a process plant, the method comprising:

receiving initial status information from a data source in response to a user request;

prioritizing the initial status information based on historical user preference data to identify a subset of higher priority status information within the status information;

generating a report that includes the higher priority status information ranked above other of the status information; and

displaying the report to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the initial status information comprises profiling historical data to identify the user preference data, the historical data representing past user interaction with status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprises:

storing user interaction data regarding user interaction with status information on any entity within the process plant and displayed on a computer; and

analyzing the user interaction data to develop the user preference data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user interaction data is tracked during a search for the status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the user interaction data represents an amount of time a user interacts with the status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the user interaction data represents a number of times a user interacts with the status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the user interaction data represents the frequency within which the status information regarding any entity within the process plant has been accessed by a user.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the status information regarding any entity within the process plant comprises a health index, a variability index, a usability index, or a performance index.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the status information regarding any entity within the process plant comprises an alert status or urgent event status.

10. The method of claim 3 further comprising continuously tracking the computer for user interaction data.

11. The method of claim 3 further comprising tracking the computer for user interaction data in response to a user initiated event at the computer.

12. The method of claim 3 further comprising tracking the computer for user interaction data in response to a remote initiation signal.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the initial status information identifies the higher priority status information and lower priority status information, and wherein the report displays only the higher priority status information.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the initial status information identifies the higher priority status information and lower priority status information, and wherein the report displays both the higher priority status information and the lower priority status information.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the initial status information identifies the higher priority status information and lower priority status information, the method further comprising:

determining an assurance factor for the higher priority status information; and

displaying only the higher priority status information if the assurance factor is above a threshold value and displaying the higher priority status information and the lower priority status information if the assurance factor is below a threshold value.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the initial status information comprises prioritizing based on a single profile parameter of the user preference data.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

ranking the initial status information based on a first profile parameter to determine a first data ranking; and

ranking the first data ranking based on at least one second profile parameter to produce a second data ranking.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the initial status information comprises prioritizing based on multiple profile parameters of the user preference data.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the user request is a first search request, wherein the initial status information contains initial search results data in response to the first search request, wherein generating the report comprises generating a search report containing the higher priority status information, and wherein displaying the report comprises displaying the search report containing the higher priority status information.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising displaying the initial status information separately from the search report.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the higher priority status information represents predicted search results in response to the first search request.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

receiving a second search request from the user, the second search request being received after the first search request; and

prioritizing the higher priority status information of the search report based on the second search request to create a second search report;

displaying the second search report to a user.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the second search report contains only a subset of the higher priority status information of the search report.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the second search report contains all of the higher priority status information of the search report but where the priority of the higher priority status information has been rearranged in the second search report.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the user preference data comprises information regarding past user access to status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the initial status information comprises:

correlating the initial status information to other correlated status information, such that the subset of higher priority information includes the other correlated status information.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

correlating the initial status information to other correlated status information; and

displaying a report of the other correlated status information to the user.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the report to the user comprises:

displaying at least one graphical illustration of the report illustrating a graphical plot of the higher priority status information.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising displaying a plurality of different graphic illustrations of the report via a plurality of different graphical plots of the higher priority status information, each graphical plot plotting the higher priority status information based on a different plot criteria.

30. An apparatus for reporting status information on assets in a plant, the apparatus comprising:

a memory storing status information on the assets within the plant;

a display for displaying the stored status information; and

a status information reporter configured to;

a) receive initial status information from a data source in response to a user request;

b) prioritize the initial status information based on historical user preference data to identify a subset of higher priority status information within the status information; and

c) generate a report that includes the higher priority status information ranked above other of the status information.

31. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the status information reporter is configured to profile historical data to identify the user preference data, the historical data representing past user interaction with status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

32. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the status information reporter is configured to:

store user interaction data regarding user interaction with status information on any entity within the process plant and displayed on a computer; and

analyze the user interaction data to develop the user preference data.

33. An apparatus of claim 32, wherein the user interaction data is data tracked during a search for the status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

34. An apparatus of claim 32, wherein the user interaction data represents an amount of time a user interacts with the status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

35. An apparatus of claim 32, wherein the user interaction data represents a number of times a user interacts with the status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

36. An apparatus of claim 32, wherein the user interaction data represents the frequency within which the status information regarding any entity within the process plant has been accessed by a user.

37. An apparatus of claim 32, wherein the status information regarding any entity within the process plant comprises a health index, a variability index, a usability index, or a performance index.

38. An apparatus of claim 32, wherein the status information regarding any entity within the process plant comprises an alert status or urgent event status.

39. An apparatus of claim 32, wherein the status information reporter is configured to continuously track the computer for user interaction data.

40. An apparatus of claim 32, wherein the status information reporter is configured to track the computer for user interaction data in response to a user initiated event at the computer.

41. An apparatus of claim 32, wherein the status information reporter is configured to track the computer for user interaction data in response to a remote initiation signal.

42. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the status information reporter is configured to report only the higher priority status information.

43. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the status information reporter is configured to report the higher priority status information and lower priority status information.

44. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the status information reporter is configured to:

rank the initial status information based on a first profile parameter to determine a first data ranking; and

rank the first data ranking based on at least one second profile parameter to produce a second data ranking.

45. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the status information reporter is configured to prioritize the initial status information based on multiple profile parameters of the user preference data.

46. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the user preference data comprises information regarding past user access to status information regarding any entity within the process plant.

47. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the status information reporter is configured to:

correlate the initial status information to other correlated status information, such that the subset of higher priority information includes the other correlated status information.

48. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the status information reporter is configured to:

correlate the initial status information to other correlated status information; and

display a report of the other correlated status information to the user.

49. An apparatus of claim 30, further comprising a display controller configured to:

display at least one graphical illustration of the report illustrating a graphical plot of the higher priority status information.

50. An apparatus of claim 30, wherein the display controller is further configured to display a plurality of different graphic illustrations of the report via a plurality of different graphical plots of the higher priority status information, each graphical plot plotting the higher priority status information based on a different plot criteria.