REAL TIME EVENT VIEWING ACROSS DISTRIBUTED CONTROL SYSTEM SERVERS

• US 20130144404A1
• Filed: 12/01/2011
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: GODWIN, DANIEL, CHONG, JASON LE-ON, TAN DE JESUS, WALTER KELLY, GRANATELLI, DAVID, GILBERT, CHRIS MICHAEL, ASHLEY, CRAIG STUART
• Granted Patent: US 8,983,630 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/2
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4185 characterised by the network communication
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31239 Cache for server to fast support client
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31324 Distributed real time knowledge, database
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32407 Real time processing of data
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33149 Publisher subscriber, publisher, master broadcasts data to slaves, subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33151 Distributed client server
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33277 Distributed system with host as leader, host with multiple of agents
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

An automated event viewing method for a process control network that includes a plurality of distributed control system (DCS) servers that receive process event data from one or more industrial processes, wherein each DCS server is connected to one or more operator consoles for monitoring the one or more industrial processes. The method includes receiving process event data of the industrial processes in real time from the plurality of DCS servers and transmitting in real time the process event data of the industrial processes to one or more operator consoles that are not connected to the DCS server from which the process event data originated.

Claims

1. An automated event viewing method for a process control network including a plurality of distributed control system (DCS) servers that receive process event data from one or more industrial processes, wherein each DCS server is connected to one or more operator consoles for monitoring the one or more industrial processes, comprising:

receiving process event data of the industrial processes in real time from the plurality of DCS servers, and

transmitting in real time the process event data of the industrial processes to one or more operator consoles that are not connected to the DCS server from which the process event data originated.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving process event data further comprises:

receiving process event data of the industrial processes in real time from the plurality of DCS servers over the process control network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of receiving process event data further comprises:

storing the process event data in a real time data cache.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of transmitting in real time the process event data further comprises:

accessing the process event data from the real time data cache; and

transmitting in real time the process event data of the industrial processes to the one or more operator consoles.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of transmitting in real time the process event data further comprises:

receiving requests from one or more operator consoles for process event data originating from one or more DCS servers to which the one or more operator consoles are not connected; and

transmitting in real time the process event data that was requested of the industrial processes to the one or more operator consoles.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of receiving requests from one or more operator consoles further comprises:

receiving requests from one or more operator consoles for process event data, wherein each request includes at least one identifier.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of transmitting in real time the process event data further comprises:

identifying the process event data that was requested by the one or more operator consoles, based on the at least identifier in each request; and

transmitting in real time the process event data that was identified to the one or more operator consoles.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

storing a settings file for each of the one or more operator consoles that sent requests for process event data, wherein each settings file includes one or more identifiers for process event data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of transmitting in real time the process event data further comprises:

identifying the process event data that was requested by the one or more operator consoles, based on the settings file associated with each operator console; and

transmitting in real time the process event data that was identified to the one or more operator consoles.

10. A system for providing automated event viewing for a process control network, comprising:

a plurality of distributed control system (DCS) servers that receive process event data from one or more industrial processes, wherein each DCS server is connected to one or more operator consoles for monitoring the one or more industrial processes, and wherein a first DCS server, of the plurality of DCS servers, is configured for;

receiving process event data of the industrial processes in real time from all other DCS servers; and

transmitting in real time the process event data of the industrial processes to one or more operator consoles that are not connected to the first DCS server.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a non-transitory machine readable storage for storing the process event data that was received by the first DCS server in real time in a data cache.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the non-transitory machine readable storage comprises a Structured Query Language (SQL) database stored in a SQL server.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the first DCS server is further configured for:

receiving requests from one or more operator consoles for process event data originating from one or more DCS servers to which the one or more operator consoles are not connected; and

transmitting in real time the process event data of the industrial processes to the one or more operator consoles.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first DCS server is further configured for:

receiving requests from one or more operator consoles for process event data, wherein each request includes at least one identifier.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first DCS server is further configured for:

identifying the process event data that was requested by the one or more operator consoles, based on the at least one identifier in each request; and

transmitting in real time the process event data that was identified to the one or more operator consoles.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the first DCS server is further configured for:

storing a settings file for each of the one or more operator consoles that sent requests for process event data, wherein each settings file includes one or more identifiers for process event data.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the first DCS server is further configured for:

identifying the process event data that was requested by the one or more operator consoles, based on the settings file associated with each operator console; and

transmitting in real time the process event data that was identified to the one or more operator consoles.