METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DYNAMICALLY DISPLAY DATA ASSOCIATED WITH A PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM

• US 20110126142A1
• Filed: 11/23/2009
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Zhou, Ling, Moore, James Henry JR.
• Granted Patent: US 9,285,799 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/771
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4183 characterised by data acquisition, e.g. workpiece identification
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31467 Display of operating conditions of machines, workcells, selected programs
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31472 Graphical display of process
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Example methods and apparatus to dynamically display data associated with a process control system are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving in a graphics engine, process control information selected by a user, identifying process data associated with the selected process control information, retrieving the identified process data from a process controller, determining metadata associated with the retrieved process data, generating in the graphics engine a data representation based on the metadata, and displaying the data representation via a user interface.

Claims

1. A method to dynamically display data associated with a process control system, the method comprising:

receiving in a graphics engine, process control information selected by a user;

identifying process data associated with the selected process control information;

retrieving the identified process data from a process controller;

determining metadata associated with the retrieved process data;

generating in the graphics engine a data representation based on the metadata; and

displaying the data representation via a user interface.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a change to at least one of the process data or the metadata;

in response to receiving the change, modifying the data representation based on the at least one of the changed process data or the changed metadata; and

displaying the modified data representation via the user interface.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein modifying the data representation includes at least one of adding a second data representation to the data representation, adding a parameter to the data representation, removing a parameter from the data representation, modifying a parameter type of the data representation, or modifying a visualization of the data representation.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein generating the data representation includes:

identifying a type of the metadata in the graphics engine;

cross-referencing the identified metadata type with at least one data representation type in a database;

generating an instance of the at least one data representation type associated with the identified metadata type;

associating the metadata to a data field in the instance of the at least one data representation type; and

associating the process data associated with the metadata with the data field in the instance of the at least one data representation type to generate the data representation.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, further comprising prompting the user to select a data representation type prior to cross-referencing the identified metadata type with the at least one data representation type.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising rendering the data representation prior to displaying the at least one data representation.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the metadata includes cross-referencing in a database the process data to a type of metadata.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the metadata includes identifying metadata associated with the process data.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the selected process control information is identified by at least one of a batch identifier, a process identifier, a controller identifier, a field device identifier, a file associated with the process data, a link to the process data, one or more functional blocks, one or more parameters, one or more process control endpoints, or a process control routine.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein retrieving the process data includes at least one of subscribing to or reading the process data.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising parsing the metadata by data identifiers prior to generating the data representation.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving customization information associated with the data representation;

referencing the customization information to the data representation;

modifying the data representation based on the customization information;

displaying the modified data representation via the user interface; and

storing the referencing of the customization information to the data representation to a database.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein the customization information includes at least one of a modification of a display of the one or more data representations, a change in color of the one or more data representations, a change in layout of the one or more data representations, a change in graphics associated with the one or more data representations, a change in display format of the one or more data representations, or a change in identification associated with the one or more data representations.

14. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

generating in the graphics engine a second data representation based on the metadata; and

displaying the second data representation via the user interface.

15. An apparatus to dynamically display data associated with a process control system, the apparatus comprising:

a data manager to identify process data associated with selected process control information;

a metadata generator to determine metadata associated with the identified process data;

a data representation generator to generate a data representation based on the metadata; and

a data representation display manager to display the data representation via a user interface.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, further comprising:

a selection receiver to receive the process control information selected by a user; and

a data retriever to retrieve the identified process data from a process controller and to forward the identified process data to the data manager.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 16, wherein at least one of the data manager, the selection receiver, the data representation display manager, or the data representation generator is included within a graphics engine.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 16, wherein at least one of the data retriever or the metadata generator is included within a data server.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 18, wherein the data server is included within the graphics engine.

21. An apparatus as defined in claim 16, wherein:

the selection receiver is to receive a change to at least one of the process data or the metadata;

the data representation generator is to modify the data representation based on the at least one of the changed process data or the changed metadata; and

the data representation display manager is to display the modified data representation via the user interface.

23. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the data representation generator is to generate the data representation by:

identifying a type of the metadata;

cross-referencing the identified metadata type with at least one data representation type in a metadata rules database;

generating an instance of the at least one data representation type associated with the identified metadata type;

associating the metadata with a data field in the instance of the at least one data representation type; and

associating the process data associated with the metadata with the data field in the instance of the at least one data representation type to create the data representation.

25. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the data representation display manager is to render the data representation prior to displaying the at least one data representation.

26. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the metadata generator is to determine the metadata by cross-referencing in a metadata type database the process data to a type of metadata.

27. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the metadata generator is to determine the metadata by identifying metadata associated with the process data.

28. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the data manager is to identify the selected process control information by at least one of a batch identifier, a process identifier, a controller identifier, a field device identifier, a file associated with the process data, a link to the process data, one or more functional blocks, one or more parameters, one or more process control endpoints, or a process control routine.

29. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, further comprising a metadata parser to parse the metadata by data identifiers prior to the data representation generator generating the data representation.

30. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein:

the data representation display manager is to receive customization information associated with the data representation; and

the data representation generator is to;

reference the customization information to the data representation;

modify the data representation based on the customization information; and

store the referencing of the customization information to the data representation to a data representation database.

20. (canceled)

22. (canceled)

24. (canceled)

31. (canceled)

32. (canceled)

33. A machine-accessible medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:

receive process control information selected by a user;

identify process data associated with the selected process control information;

retrieve the identified process data from a process controller;

determine metadata associated with the retrieved process data;

generate a data representation based on the metadata; and

display the data representation via a user interface.

34-44. -44. (canceled)

45. An apparatus to dynamically display data associated with a process control system, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors that, when operative, cause the apparatus to;

receive process control information selected by a user;

identify process data associated with the selected process control information;

retrieve the identified process data from a process controller;

determine metadata associated with the retrieved process data;

generate a data representation based on the metadata; and

display the data representation via a user interface.

46. An apparatus as defined in claim 45, wherein the one or more processors, when operative, cause the apparatus to:

receive a change to at least one of the process data or the metadata;

in response to receiving the change, modify the data representation based on the at least one of the changed process data or the changed metadata; and

display the modified data representation via the user interface.

47. An apparatus as defined in claim 45, wherein the one or more processors, when operative, cause the apparatus to:

identify a type of the metadata;

cross-reference the identified metadata type with at least one data representation type in a database;

generate an instance of the at least one data representation type associated with the identified metadata type;

associate the metadata to a data field in the instance of the at least one data representation type; and

associate the process data associated with the metadata with the data field in the instance of the at least one data representation type to generate the data representation.

48. (canceled)