AUTOMATIC CONTROLLER RELATIONSHIP RESOLUTION

• US 20090192645A1
• Filed: 01/24/2008
• Published: 07/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Kalan, Michael D., Govindaraj, Subbian, Staron, Raymond J., Hall, Kenwood H., D'Mura, Paul R., Rischar, Charles Martin, Jasper, Taryl J., Kretschmann, Robert J., Vasko, David A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,996,093 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/110
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31327 Directory service for database

Abstract

In an industrial control system, a relatively large number of bindings can permeate between different controllers. As a modification is made in a primary binding, supplemental bindings can be impacted and can become erroneous. The supplemental bindings can be automatically resolved such that they are no longer erroneous. Resolution can take place through access of a distributed directory that holds information related to the different controllers. To lower a likelihood of control system error or failure, the primary binding and supplemental binding can be placed online in synchronization.

Claims

1. A module capable of implementation upon an industrial control configuration, comprising:

an obtainment component that collects metadata related to a change in a controller relationship; and

a correction component that resolves a dependent relationship based at least in part upon the collected metadata as a function of the change in the controller relationship.

2. The system of claim 1, the correction component utilizes a directory component to resolve the dependent relationship.

3. The system of claim 2, the directory component implements as a distributed directory.

4. The system of claim 1, resolution of the dependent relationship takes place at runtime.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a recognition component that identifies at least one relationship that is dependent upon the change in the controller relationship, at least one identified dependent relationship is resolved by the correction component.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a validation component that authenticates the change in the controller, the dependent relationship is not resolved unless the change is authenticated.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a backup component that retains information of a controller state before the change, if the change is not authenticated, then the controller is reinstated through the retained information.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising an assessment component that tests the resolved dependent relationship.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising an evaluation component that analyzes a result of the tests.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a gate component that cancels the dependent relationship resolution and instructs the correction component to re-resolve the dependent relationship.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a synchronization component that activates the controller relationship and the dependent relationship at about an equal time.

12. An industrial control method, comprising:

identifying a supplemental binding that is at least partially erroneous through alteration of a primary binding; and

modifying the supplemental binding such that the supplemental binding is no longer erroneous.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising analyzing a directory, a result of the analysis is used in modifying the supplemental binding such that the supplemental binding is no longer erroneous.

14. The method of claim 13, the directory is a distributed directory.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising gathering information that relates to the alteration of the primary binding, the gathered information is used to identify the supplemental binding that becomes at least partially erroneous.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising initiating the altered primary binding and modified supplemental binding at about one time.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising validating the primary binding modification or the supplemental binding modification.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising nullifying the primary binding alteration or the supplemental binding modification based upon a negative validation result.

19. The method of claim 12, alteration of the primary binding is creating of the primary binding.

24. The method of claim 12, modifying the supplemental binding such that the supplemental binding is no longer erroneous includes deleting a first supplemental binding that is erroneous and creating a second supplemental binding such that the second supplemental binding is not erroneous.

25. The method of claim 12, the supplemental binding that is at least partially erroneous includes when the supplemental binding is in failure according to at least one aspect, when the supplemental binding is no longer optimal, when the supplemental binding becomes unnecessary, or a combination thereof.

20. A industrial control system, comprising:

means for analyzing a distributed directory to determine a manner in which to change a supplemental binding that becomes less effective from an alteration to a primary binding; and

means for implementing the determined manner upon the supplemental binding.

21. An industrial control system, comprising:

means for retaining metadata of a binding among a primary component and a supplemental component in a directory; and

means for automatically resolving the binding when the primary component moves from a first location to an auxiliary location in an industrial control system through utilization of the retained metadata.

22. The system of claim 21, the first location and the auxiliary location are physical entities.

23. The system of claim 21, the directory is a distributed directory.

26. A computer program embodied upon a computer-readable medium comprising:

program code for collecting metadata related to a change in a controller relationship; and

program code for resolving a dependent relationship based at least in part upon the collected metadata as a function of the change in the controller relationship.