SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR NOTIFYING MULTIPLE HOSTS FROM AN INDUSTRIAL CONTROLLER

• US 20120112893A1
• Filed: 01/13/2012
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Bezdicek, Jan, Hall, Kenwood H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,803,667 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/286.02
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/027 Alarm generation, e.g. communication protocol; Forms of alarm

Abstract

The subject invention facilitates alert notification in an industrial environment. The systems and methods enable subscribing devices, such as hosts, to receive events and/or alarms associated with industrial controllers. In addition, a subscribed component can unsubscribe, refresh notification related information, and/or acknowledge a notification. The foregoing can be achieved through a set of objects (e.g., notify objects) that implement a notification and dynamic subscription process. A host system can instantiate an associated notify object, subscribe to an event, and be notified about the event. The invention enables multiple hosts to subscribe to the same event, allows each host to select events of interest, and enables the events to be queued if the events occur faster than can be sent. In one aspect of the invention, the systems and methods can be utilized with an event and alarm infrastructure that is applicable on a Control and Information Protocol (CIP).

Claims

1. A system that provides alert notifications, comprising:

a subscription component configured to create an instance of a notify object class within a controller in response to receipt of a subscription request from a host, and to subscribe the instance of the notify object class to an alert object within the controller, wherein the alert object corresponds to an alert type specified by the subscription request.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instance of the notify object class is configured to send a notification to the host in response to generation of an alert by the alert object.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the subscription component is configured to subscribe the instance of the notify object class to the alert object through a subscription object.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the instance of the notify object class is configured to receive the notification from the alert object via the subscription object.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instance of the notify object class comprises a set of class instance attributes.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the set of class instance attributes includes at least an alert type attribute set to the alert type specified by the subscription request.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the instance of the notify object class has a set of associated services that facilitate at least one of subscription to receive the notification, cancellation of a subscription the notification, refreshment of alert related information, or acknowledgement of the notification.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the instance of the notify object class is configured for use in an alert and subscription architecture comprising a dynamic publisher/subscriber layer that allows the host to register for notifications published by the controller.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the alert and subscription architecture further comprises a notification layer that specifies behavior of notifications generated by the instance of the notify object class.

10. A method for sending alert notifications, comprising:

creating an instance of a notify object class within a controller in response to receipt of a subscription request from a subscribing entity; and

subscribing the instance of the notify object class to an alert object within the controller corresponding to an alert type specified by the subscription request.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending, by the instance of the notify object class, a notification to the subscribing entity in response to an alert being generated by the alert object.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising subscribing the instance of the notify object class to the alert object through a subscription object.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending the notification from the alert object to the instance of the notify object class via the subscription object.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the creating the instance of the notify object class comprises creating the instance of the notify object class having a set of class instance attributes.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising setting an alert type attribute of the set of class instance attributes to an alert type specified by the subscription request.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending the notification using an alert and subscription architecture comprising a dynamic publisher/subscriber layer that allows the subscribing entity to register for notifications generated by the controller.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the sending the notification comprises sending the notification using the alert and subscription architecture further comprises a notification layer that specifies behavior of notifications generated by the controller.

18. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computer system to perform operations, including:

generating an instance of a notify object class within a controller in response to receiving a subscription request from a host; and

subscribing the instance of the notify object class to an alert object within the controller, the alert object corresponding to an alert type specified by the subscription request.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, the operations further including sending, by the instance of the notify object class, a notification to the host in response to generation of an alert by the alert object.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, the operations further including associating the instance of the notify object class with a set of class instance attributes.