ON-PREMISE DATA COLLECTION AND INGESTION USING INDUSTRIAL CLOUD AGENTS

• US 20150281355A1
• Filed: 10/27/2014
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Maturana, Francisco P., Asenjo, Juan L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,838,476 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/548 Object oriented; Remote method invocation [RMI] non-remote method invocation G06F9/449
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A cloud agent facilitates collection of industrial data from one or more data sources on the plant floor and migration of the collected data to a cloud platform for storage and processing. Collection services associated with the cloud agent perform on-premise data collection of historical, live, and/or alarm data directly from industrial devices networked to the agent or from intermediate data concentrators that gather the data from the devices. Queue processing services executed by the cloud agent package the data into a data packet comprising header information that identifies a customer associated with the industrial enterprise, processing priority information, and other information that informs data processing services on the cloud platform how to process and/or direct the incoming data. The cloud agent then establishes a communication channel to the cloud platform and sends the data via the channel.

Claims

1. A cloud agent device, comprising:

a memory that stores computer-executable components;

a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the computer-executable components, the computer-executable components comprising;

a collection services component configured to receive industrial data from a data source device of an industrial enterprise and to compress the industrial data to yield a compressed data file; and

a queue processing component configured to package the compressed data file with header information based on message queuing information maintained in a message queuing data store to yield a compressed data packet and to send the compressed data packet to a cloud platform, wherein the message queuing information comprises at least a customer identifier associated with the industrial enterprise and priority information specifying a processing priority for the industrial data.

2. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the priority information defines multiple processing priorities and associates the multiple processing priorities with respective data types.

3. The cloud agent device of claim 2, wherein the data types comprise at least one of alarm data, historical data, or live data.

4. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the header information comprises at least one of the customer identifier, a site identifier associated with a plant facility, a virtual service engineer identifier, the priority information, a message type identifier indicating a type of the industrial data, or a process identifier indicating a type of processing to be performed on the industrial data.

5. The cloud agent device of claim 4, wherein the compressed data packet is configured to be processed by a data process service that executes on the cloud platform in accordance with the header information.

6. The cloud agent device of claim 5, wherein information contained in the header information corresponds to an identity of a manifest assembly to be retrieved by the data process service in the cloud platform and executed on the industrial data contained in the compressed data file.

7. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the queue processing component is further configured to, in response to creation of the compressed data packet, send request data to an agent registry device residing on a registry cloud platform, and wherein the request data comprises a cloud agent identifier that identifies the queue processing component and a device identifier that identifies the cloud agent device.

8. The cloud agent device of claim 7, wherein the queue processing component is further configured to create a communication channel to the cloud platform in response to receipt of certification data from the agent registry device indicating permission for the queue processing component to exchange data with the cloud platform.

9. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the message queuing information further comprises a security setting that permits access to the cloud platform by the cloud agent device.

10. The cloud agent device of claim 1, further comprising an interface component configured to receive configuration input that sets at least one parameter of one or more of the collection services component or the queue processing component, wherein the least one parameter comprises at least one of a type of data compression to be performed on the industrial data, a type of encryption to be performed on the industrial data, an expiration time for a communication channel between the cloud agent device and the cloud platform, or a processing priority to be associated with a specified data type.

11. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the queue processing component is further configured to store the compressed data packet on the memory in response to a determination that a communication channel between the cloud agent and the cloud platform is disabled, and to forward the compressed data packet to the cloud platform in response to a determination that the communication channel has been reestablished.

12. A method for sending industrial data to a cloud platform, comprising:

collecting, by a cloud agent device comprising at least one processor, industrial data from a data source device of an industrial enterprise;

compressing, by the cloud agent device, the industrial data to yield a compressed data file;

appending, by the cloud agent device, the compressed data file with header information based on message queuing information maintained in a message queuing data store to yield a compressed data packet, wherein the message queuing information comprises at least a customer identifier associated with the industrial enterprise and priority information specifying a processing priority for the industrial data; and

sending, by the cloud agent device, the compressed data packet to a cloud platform.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

defining multiple processing priorities with the priority information; and

storing association data in the message queuing data store, wherein the association data associates the multiple processing priorities with respective data types.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the appending the header information comprises appending at least one of the customer identifier, a site identifier associated with a plant facility, a virtual service engineer identifier, the priority information, a message type identifier indicating a type of the industrial data, or a process identifier indicating a type of processing to be performed on the industrial data.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the header information is configured to be processed by a data process service that executes on the cloud platform to facilitate determination of a type of processing to be performed on the industrial data on the cloud platform.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the header information identifies a manifest assembly to be retrieved by the data process service in the cloud platform and executed on the industrial data contained in the compressed data file.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising, in response to generation of the compressed data packet, sending request data to an agent registry device located on a registry cloud platform, wherein the request data comprises a cloud agent identifier that identifies a cloud agent instance executing on the cloud agent device and a device identifier that identifies a hardware platform on which the cloud agent instance executes.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving, by the cloud agent device, certification data from the agent registry device; and

in response to receiving the certification data, establishing, by the cloud agent device, a communication channel to the cloud platform.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a cloud agent device comprising a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving industrial data from a data source device associated with an industrial enterprise;

compressing the industrial data to generate a compressed data file;

packaging the compressed data file with header information retrieved from a message queuing data store based on a type of the industrial data to yield a compressed data packet, wherein the header information comprises at least a customer identifier associated with the industrial enterprise and priority information specifying a processing priority for the industrial data; and

sending the compressed data packet to a cloud platform.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

in response to creation of the compressed data packet, sending request data to an agent registry device that executes on a registry cloud platform, wherein the request data comprises a cloud agent identifier that identifies a cloud agent instance executing on the cloud agent device and a device identifier that identifies a hardware platform on which the cloud agent instance executes; and

in response to receiving certification data from the agent registry device, creating a communication channel to the cloud platform.