CONFIGURATION AND MONITORING VIA DESIGN DIAGRAM REPRESENTATION

• US 20140129002A1
• Filed: 11/02/2012
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Brandes, Russell, Rudder, Michael W., Reed, Dale E.
• Granted Patent: US 9,244,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/83
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence

Abstract

A design diagram representation for an industrial operator interface that combines configuration and presentation aspects is provided. The design diagram representation illustrates state transitions, interlocks, and/or permissives for an industrial process or device as a dataflow diagram, a state diagram, or other such diagrams, and renders live state information for the process or device as numeric indicators, string indicators, color-animated state icons, and the like. Flow lines of the diagram are highlighted based on the displayed state information to convey an overall status of the process. In addition, the design diagram representation includes one or more data fields that allow an operator to modify or set a numeric variable for the industrial process (e.g. a timer, a setpoint, etc.), thereby allowing the industrial process to be viewed and configured using a single interface.

Claims

1. A system for displaying state information for an industrial process, comprising:

a design diagram template configured for display on an operator interface, wherein the design diagram template is configured to display status data for an industrial process and includes at least one numeric entry field configured to receive input data that sets a corresponding at least one parameter of the industrial process.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the design diagram template comprises at least one of a dataflow diagram or a state diagram.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mapping component configured to receive configuration data that maps a status display graphic object of the design diagram template to a data structure in an industrial controller.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the data structure is at least one of a data tag, a function block, or an equipment module.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the design diagram template is further configured to control highlighting of connecting lines of the at least one of the dataflow diagram or the state diagram based on at least a portion of the status data.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the status data includes at least one of a process variable, a control variable, a target process variable, a gate status, a device running status, or a device ready status.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one numeric entry field includes an entry field for at least one of a delay time, a setpoint value, a run time, a clamping limit, a scaling range, an alarm threshold, a data entry range, or a rate of change limit.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a graphic object library that stores a plurality of design diagram templates including the design diagram template.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the graphic object library classifies the plurality of design diagram templates according to at least one of an industry, a type of industrial process, or a type of device.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the status data is displayed as at least one of a numeric indicator, a string indicator, a color-coded text box, or a highlight.

11. A method for viewing and configuring an industrial process via an animated state diagram, comprising:

rendering, on an operator interface, live status data for an industrial process on a design diagram representation of the industrial process; and

receiving, via the design diagram representation, configuration input that writes a numeric value to at least one process parameter of the industrial process.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising rendering, as the design diagram representation, at least one of a state diagram or a dataflow diagram.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising mapping at least one status display object of the design diagram representation to at least one of a data tag, a function block, or an equipment module in an industrial controller.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the rendering comprises rendering at least one of a process variable, a control variable, a target process variable, a gate status, a device running status, or a device ready status.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving comprises receiving numeric input representing at least one of a delay time, a setpoint value, a run time, a clamping limit, a scaling range, an alarm threshold, a data entry range, or a rate of change limit.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising maintaining the design diagram representation in a library of design diagram representations available for display on the operator interface, wherein the library of design diagram representations classifies the design diagram representations according to at least one of an industry, a type of industrial process, or a type of device

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the rendering comprises rendering the live status data on at least one of a numeric indicator, a string indicator, a color-coded text box, or a connecting line highlight.

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

displaying, on a design diagram representation of an industrial process, state data for an industrial process;

receiving, via the design diagram representation, configuration input that sets or changes a value of a process variable of the industrial process to yield a new value; and

in response to the receiving the configuration input, writing the new value to a data structure of an industrial controller.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, the operations further comprising altering a highlight of a connecting line of the design diagram representation based in part on at least a portion of the state data.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising classifying a plurality of design diagram representations, including the design diagram representation, in a graphic object library of an operator interface according to at least one of an industry, a type of industrial process, or a device type.