MAPPING BETWEEN HIERARCHIES IN AN INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION SYSTEM

• US 20130275908A1
• Filed: 04/15/2013
• Published: 10/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reichard, Douglas J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,239,573 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/777
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2246 Trees, e.g. B+trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A mechanism for mapping data between different hierarchies within an industrial automation system facilitates the user of the different hierarchies. For example, the mechanism can include at least: locating an instance of data within a first hierarchical tree; and mapping the instance of the data within the first hierarchical tree to an instance of the data within a second hierarchical tree. The first hierarchical tree and the second hierarchical tree include instances of the same data arranged in different structural organizations. Utilizing the mechanism, when an instance of data in the first hierarchical tree is changed, a corresponding instance of the data in the second hierarchical tree can be updated according to the change.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores instructions; and

a processor that executes or facilitates execution of the instructions to at least;

locate a first instance of data within a first hierarchical tree; and

map the first instance of the data within the first hierarchical tree to a second instance of the data within a second hierarchical tree,

wherein the first hierarchical tree and the second hierarchical tree comprise the same data arranged in different structural organizations.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further executes or facilitates the execution of the instructions to display a visualization comprising the first hierarchical tree and the second hierarchical tree, wherein the visualization facilitates the mapping of the first instance of the data to the second instance of the data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the visualization comprises a tabbed document interface,

wherein the first hierarchical tree is displayed connected to a first tab of the tabbed document interface and the second hierarchical tree is displayed connected to a second tab of the tabbed document interface.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor further executes or facilitates the execution of the instructions to update the first instance of the data within the first hierarchical tree via the visualization in response to an input.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the processor further executes or facilitates the execution of the instructions to update the second instance of the data within the second hierarchical tree to a same value as the updated first instance of the data within the first hierarchical tree.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first hierarchical tree comprises a logical hierarchy of an industrial automation system, a physical hierarchy of the industrial automation system, or a control hierarchy of the industrial automation system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the second hierarchical tree is different from the first hierarchical tree and comprises a logical hierarchy of the industrial automation system, a physical hierarchy of the industrial automation system or a control hierarchy of the industrial automation system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein data represented by the first instance of the data within a logical hierarchy and the second instance of the data within a physical hierarchy is related to a device within an industrial automation system

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further executes or facilitates the execution to facilitate the first instance of the data within a logical hierarchical tree being mapped to the second instance of the data within a physical hierarchical tree according to an input from a touch screen, a keyboard or a mouse.

10. A method, comprising:

locating, by a system comprising a processor, a first instance of data within a first hierarchy; and

mapping, by the system, the first instance of the data within the first hierarchy to a second instance of the data within a second hierarchy,

wherein data represented by the first instance of the data within the first hierarchy and the second instance of the data within the second hierarchy is related to an entity within an industrial automation system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first hierarchy and the second hierarchy comprise the same data arranged in different structural organizations.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first hierarchy and the second hierarchy comprise at least two of a logical hierarchy of the industrial automation system, a physical hierarchy of the industrial automation system, or a control hierarchy of the industrial automation system.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, by the system, an input related to a change in the data represented by the first instance of the data within the first hierarchy and the second instance of the data within the second hierarchy;

updating the first instance of the data within the first hierarchy based on the change in the data;

mapping the updated first instance of the data within the first hierarchy to the second instance of the data within the second hierarchy to update the second instance of the data within the second hierarchy; and

locating the updated second instance of the data within the second hierarchy.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying, by the system, a visualization of the first hierarchy and the second hierarchy to facilitate modification of a subset of the data represented by the first instance of the data within the first hierarchy and the second instance of the data within the second hierarchy.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the visualization comprises a tabbed document interface,

wherein the first hierarchy is displayed connected to a first tab of the tabbed document interface and the second hierarchy is displayed connected to a second tab of the tabbed document interface.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

mapping an instance of data at a logical location within a first hierarchical tree to another instance of the data at a physical location within a second hierarchical tree; and

generating a display of the first hierarchical tree or the second hierarchical tree,

wherein the logical location is different from the physical location.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein a subset of the data represented by the instance of the data within the first hierarchy and the other instance of the data within the second hierarchy is related to a device within an industrial automation system.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the display comprises a first tab linked to a first editable visualization the first hierarchical tree and a second tab linked to a second editable visualization of the second hierarchical tree.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

editing the instance of the data at the logical location according to an input; and

updating the other instance of the data at the physical location to a value of the edited instance of the data via the mapping.