EXTENSIBLE DEVICE OBJECT MODEL

• US 20120079461A1
• Filed: 09/29/2010
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Keller, Michael R., Rustad, James S., Copass, Benjamin J., Stegemeyer, Michael L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,134,971 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/136
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41845 characterised by system universality, reconfigurability, modularity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/86 Mapping to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• 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

Abstract

Systems and/or methods are provided relating to an extensible framework. The extensible framework provides constructs with which device developers can model devices within the framework to enable a host application utilizing the framework to interact with the devices. New devices can be supported by the framework without disrupting existing devices or the host application.

Claims

1. An automation control apparatus, comprising:

an extensible framework, comprising;

a node configured to represent a device, in an industrial automation environment, within the extensible framework;

wherein the node comprises;

a module, comprising;

a data object configured to retain data associated with a data source, wherein the data source corresponds to a feature of the device;

a translator configured to format raw data from the data source associated with the device in accordance with a structure of the data object; and

a connection configured to transport the raw data from the data source to the translator.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module is configured to represent a portion of the device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module further comprises a sub-module.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module includes module identification information, wherein the module identification information includes at least one of a device type, a revision number, or a name.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the device is a composite device that includes one or more sub-components and the module represents one of the one or more sub-components of the device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the node further comprises a module set configured to retain a plurality of modules, wherein each module is configured to represent disparate portions of the device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the translator stores formatted data in the data object.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device is a physical device.

9. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the device includes at least one of a controller, a field device, a sensor, a drive, or an I/O module.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the connection employs a network connection via at least one of a physical wire, an Ethernet medium, a fiber optic medium, or a wireless communications channel.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a host application that interacts with the device via the extensible network.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the extensible framework further comprising a node creation component configured to instantiate the node based upon device specific information associated with the device.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the node creation component is further configured to query a mapping description with the device specific information to select a node creator from a collection of node creators.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the node creator is configured to:

select the data object from a collection of available data objects,

select the translator from a collection of available translators, and

select the connection from a collection of available connections,

wherein the selections are based upon data objects, translators, and connections specified in the mapping description in association with the device specific information.

15. A method, comprising:

obtaining device specific information;

identifying a data object, a translator, and a connection, specified in a mapping description, based upon the device specific information; and

instantiating a node representing a device in an automation control system specified by the device specific information, wherein the node includes one or more modules where each module includes instances of the data object, the translator and the connection.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising coupling the node to a data source via the data object, the translator, and the connection, wherein the data source corresponds to at least a portion of the device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

transporting data from the data source to the translator via the connection formatting the data, at the translator, in accordance with the data object;

forwarding the formatted data to the data object; and

exposing the data to a host application.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

selecting a node creator from a collection of node creators, wherein the selected node creator is specified by the mapping description; and

employing the node creator to instantiate the node.

19. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon:

an extensible framework, comprising;

a node space that includes a plurality of nodes, wherein each node of the plurality of nodes represents a device in an industrial automation environment comprises;

at least one module configured to represent the device, the at least one module includes a plurality of data objects, each data object of the plurality of data objects is configured to store data associated with a feature of the device;

a plurality of translators respectively associated with the plurality of data objects, each translator configured to convert data from a first format associated with the device to a second format associated with a respective data object; and

a plurality of connections respectively associated with the plurality of translators, each connection of the plurality of connections being configured to transport data from the device to a respective translator.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform at least the following:

obtain device specific information;

query a mapping description with the device specific information to identify at least one data object, at least one translator, and at least one connection associated with a device indicated by the device specific information; and

instantiate a node within the node space that includes the at least one data object, the at least on translator, and the at least one connection identified in the mapping description.