SUPERVISORY PROCESS CONTROL AND MANUFACTURING INFORMATION SYSTEM APPLICATION HAVING AN EXTENSIBLE COMPONENT MODEL

• US 20150039112A1
• Filed: 10/21/2014
• Published: 02/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric Software, LLC (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Invensys Systems Incorporated (Invensys PLC)
• Inventors: Resnick, Robert M., McIntyre, James P., LeBlanc, Laurence G., Erickson, Brian, Mody, Pankaj H., Sowell, Timothy Sr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,829,881 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/97
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4063 Monitoring general control system G05B19/4062 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4155 characterised by programme execution, i.e. part programme or machine function execution, e.g. selection of a programme
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34425 Same microprocessor for programming and for machine control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34427 Diagnostic, monitoring incorporated in controller
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0213 Modular or universal configuration of the monitoring system, e.g. monitoring system having modules that may be combined to build monitoring program; monitoring system that can be applied to legacy systems; adaptable monitoring system; using different communication protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

A template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility is disclosed that includes a number of time-saving application development tools that significantly enhance design productivity and allow re-using of previously developed application building blocks. The development facility includes an application object template library that stores a set of previously defined application object templates. The template library is accessed by developers through a configuration utility that facilitates specifying instances of the set of previously defined application object templates to be included in an application. Thereafter, application objects are instantiated from the selected ones of the set of previously defined application object templates in a build of the specified application.

Claims

1. A template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility comprising:

an application object template library storing a set of previously defined application object templates; and

a configuration utility facilitating specifying instances of the set of previously defined application object templates to be included in an application, and wherein application objects are instantiated from the selected ones of the set of previously defined application object templates.

2. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 wherein the application object template library comprises a set of generic application object templates and wherein the configuration utility further comprises a object template customization interface for deriving a customized child application object template from a selected one of the set of generic application object templates.

3. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 2 wherein the customized template includes at least one locked attribute dictated by an attribute specified in its parent template.

4. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 wherein an application object instantiated from one of the previously defined application object templates includes an associated graphical view defined within the application object template.

5. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 further comprising a toolkit for developing new object templates and importing the new object templates into the object template library.

6. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 further comprising a code rendering utility, and wherein the code rendering utility generates a set of primitive components incorporated within the application object template, and wherein the set of primitive components support multiple distinct interface types.

7. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 6 wherein the multiple distinct interfaces include a configuration interface and a runtime interface.

8. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 7 wherein the multiple distinct interfaces include a package interface facilitating maintaining the application object templates in a configuration database.