SOFTWARE, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS FOR MOBILE VISUALIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20130024542A1
• Filed: 06/26/2012
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2011
• 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, Huttelmaier, Kelly
• Granted Patent: US 9,535,415 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0428 Safety, monitoring G05B19/0423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24041 Pc as detachable debug, monitor device for control system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31467 Display of operating conditions of machines, workcells, selected programs
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/36159 Detachable or portable programming unit, display, pc, pda

Abstract

Systems, methods, and software for operating a mobile device to control industrial automation equipment are provided herein. In a first example, a mobile device application comprising program instructions executable by a mobile device is provided. When executed by the mobile device, the program instructions direct the mobile device to obtain industrial device information corresponding to an industrial device within an automation environment, and display the industrial device information on a display of the mobile device.

Claims

1. A mobile application comprising program instructions executable by a mobile device that, when executed by the mobile device, direct the mobile device to:

retrieve and execute the program instructions from a memory of the mobile device, wherein the mobile application was downloaded prior to execution from a mobile application store into the memory of the mobile device;

establish a communication link with an industrial device within an automation environment;

obtain industrial device information corresponding to the industrial device;

process the industrial device information to generate a graphical view of the industrial device information; and

display the graphical view of the industrial device information on a display of the mobile device.

2. The mobile application of claim 1, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the mobile device, allow a user of the mobile device to:

update the industrial device information so as to modify operation of the industrial device.

3. The mobile application of claim 1, wherein the industrial device information is obtained by the mobile device over a wireless Internet protocol (IP) communication link.

4. The mobile application of claim 1, wherein the industrial device information is at least one of configuration information, monitoring information, diagnostics information, control information, performance information, energy usage information, design and configuration, emulation, production management, batch, production, data management, historian, transaction, quality, compliance, change management, asset management, energy measurement, performance, visualization and visibility, metrics, and maintenance information.

5. The mobile application of claim 1, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the mobile device, allow a user of the mobile device to:

identify a physical proximity of the mobile device to the industrial device; and

grant change access to the industrial device information corresponding to the industrial device when the physical proximity is less than a threshold distance.

6. The mobile application of claim 1, wherein the mobile application is executed natively on the mobile device.

7. The mobile application of claim 1, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the mobile device, allow a user of the mobile device to:

identify a remaining power of a battery of the mobile device, and inhibiting change access to the industrial device information when the remaining power of the battery falls below a power threshold to successfully complete a change to the industrial device information.

8. A computer readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by a mobile device that, when executed by the mobile device, direct the mobile device to:

obtain industrial device information corresponding to an industrial device within an automation environment; and

display the industrial device information on a display of the mobile device.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the mobile device, allow a user of the mobile device to:

update the industrial device information so as to modify operation of the industrial device.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the industrial device information is obtained by the mobile device over a wireless Internet protocol (IP) communication link.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the industrial device information is at least one of configuration information, monitoring information, diagnostics information, control information, performance information, energy usage information, design and configuration, emulation, production management, batch, production, data management, historian, transaction, quality, compliance, change management, asset management, energy measurement, performance, visualization and visibility, metrics, and maintenance information.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the mobile device, allow a user of the mobile device to:

identify a physical proximity of the mobile device to the industrial device; and

grant change access to the industrial device information corresponding to the industrial device when the physical proximity is less than a threshold distance.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the program instructions comprise a mobile application downloaded from a mobile app store onto the mobile device.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the mobile device, allow a user of the mobile device to:

identify a remaining power of a battery of the mobile device, and inhibiting change access to the industrial device information when the remaining power of the battery falls below a power threshold to successfully complete a change to the industrial device information.

15. A method of operating a mobile device, the method comprising:

obtaining industrial device information corresponding to an industrial device within an automation environment; and

displaying the industrial device information on a display of the mobile device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

updating the industrial device information so as to modify operation of the industrial device.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the industrial device information is obtained by the mobile device over a wireless Internet protocol (IP) communication link.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the industrial device information is at least one of configuration information, monitoring information, diagnostics information, control information, performance information, energy usage information, design and configuration, emulation, production management, batch, production, data management, historian, transaction, quality, compliance, change management, asset management, energy measurement, performance, visualization and visibility, metrics, and maintenance information.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying a physical proximity of the mobile device to the industrial device; and

granting change access to the industrial device information corresponding to the industrial device when the physical proximity is less than a threshold distance.

20. A mobile application store to provide mobile applications for interaction with industrial automation environments, the mobile application store comprising:

one or more computer readable media having stored thereon at least one mobile application available for download to a mobile computing device over a communication network, wherein the mobile application comprises program instructions that, when executed by the mobile computing device, direct the mobile computing device to obtain industrial device information corresponding to an industrial device within an industrial automation environment and display the industrial device information on a display of the mobile device; and

a server system configured to receive a request initiated by the mobile computing device to obtain the mobile application and responsively transfer the mobile application to the mobile computing device.