CLOUD COMPUTING AS A BASIS FOR A PROCESS HISTORIAN

• US 20100257227A1
• Filed: 04/01/2009
• Published: 10/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: McLaughlin, Paul F., Burd, Matthew G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,218,000 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0264 Control of logging system, e.g. decision on which data to store; time-stamping measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A system includes a computing cloud having at least one data storage unit and at least one processing unit. The computing cloud is configured to receive information associated with at least one process collected by an industrial tool, archive the process-related information, analyze the process-related information, and instruct a client device on a type of data to be cached by the client device. §The industrial tool could include a sensor configured to collect data associated with industrial equipment. Also, the client device may be associated with a local environment, the sensor may be configured to capture sensor readings at a specified interval, and the local environment may be configured to use a subset of the sensor readings. The client device can be configured to provide all of the sensor readings to the computing cloud.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a computing cloud comprising at least one data storage unit and at least one processing unit, wherein the computing cloud is configured to;

receive information associated with at least one process collected by an industrial tool;

archive the process-related information;

analyze the process-related information; and

instruct a client device on a type of data to be cached by the client device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the industrial tool comprises a sensor configured to collect data associated with industrial equipment.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the client device is associated with a local environment, the sensor is configured to capture sensor readings at a specified interval, the local environment is configured to use a subset of the sensor readings, and the client device is configured to provide all of the sensor readings to the computing cloud.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing cloud is configured to provide data relating to the information associated with at least one process collected by the industrial tool including trend displays, alarms, event summaries, and event archives to the client device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing cloud is configured to allow the client device to connect to the computing cloud through a Service Oriented Architecture.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing cloud is configured to aggregate data from a plurality of client devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing cloud is configured to support a partition model with at least a first part of the information stored in the client and a second part of the information stored in the computing cloud, and wherein the computing cloud is configured to provide consistency between the first part of the information and the second part of the information.

8. A method comprising:

obtaining data associated with at least one process tool from a client, wherein the at least one process tool comprises at least one sensor used to collect the data;

storing the data related to the at least one process tool in a computing cloud; and

providing access to the data associated with the at least one process tool in the computing cloud through a secure connection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the computing cloud instructs the client to cache specified data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the computing cloud instructs the client to cache a subset of sensor readings produced by the at least one sensor and to provide all of the sensor readings to the computing cloud.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the caching allows the computing cloud to achieve physical proximity performance.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the secure connection is a file transfer protocol secure connection.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the data comprises data associated with at least one of temperature and vibration of the at least one process tool.

14. An apparatus comprising:

at least one data storage unit in a computing cloud, the at least one data storage unit configured to store information associated with at least one industrial tool; and

at least one processing unit configured to;

control connections between the computing cloud and at least one client;

record information from the at least one client; and

provide physical proximity performance to the at least one client when accessing information from the at least one client.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the computing cloud is configured to instruct the at least one client to cache a subset of information captured by the at least one client.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the computing cloud is configured to store all of the information captured by the at least one client.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, where the computing cloud is configured to connect to the at least one client through a secure connection.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the secure connection is a file transfer protocol secure connection.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the information associated with the at least one industrial tool comprises at least one of temperature information and vibration information associated with the at least one process tool.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is configured to allow the at least one client to connect to the computing cloud through a Service Oriented Architecture.