SOURCE-INDEPENDENT QUERIES IN DISTRIBUTED INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM

• US 20170103103A1
• Filed: 09/23/2016
• Published: 04/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Nixon, Mark John, Enver, Alper Turhan, Bell, Noel Howard, Kidd, Joshua Brian, Muston, Paul R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,866,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2452 Query translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/256 in federated or virtual databases
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

Techniques for requesting and providing process plant data using a source-independent standardized query are provided. A requesting device generates a standardized query to obtain data from one or more data sources, such as relational or non-relational databases. The query utilizes a standardized format that does not depend upon the data source, which query may be generated as a JSON file. The standardized query may not be directly usable for any data sources. Instead, a data device generates one or more source-specific queries upon receipt of the standardized query. The source-specific queries utilize syntax native to each data source to obtain data. In some instances, the received data must be further processed to adjust for different sample times or sampling rates, such as by interpolation. The resulting data from all data sources may be aggregated into a data frame prior to being returned to the requesting device.

Claims

1. A system for accessing process plant data associated with the operation of a process plant from a plurality of electronic data sources, comprising:

a first electronic data source and a second electronic data source, each comprising a tangible, non-transitory storage medium storing the process plant data associated with the operation of the process plant;

a processor, communicatively coupled to the first and second electronic data sources;

a program memory, communicatively coupled to the processor, and comprising a tangible, non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a standardized query that utilizes a standardized query format;

generate a first data source-specific query based upon the standardized query, wherein the first data source-specific query utilizes a first query format associated with the first electronic data source;

generate a second data source-specific query based upon the standardized query, wherein the second data source-specific query utilizes a second query format associated with the second electronic data source;

cause the first data source-specific query to be executed to obtain a first set of data from the first electronic data source;

cause the second data source-specific query to be executed to obtain a second set of data from the second electronic data source; and

generate an aggregated data frame including the first and second sets of data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the standardized query includes a first indication of the first electronic data source and a second indication of the second electronic data source.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first indication identifies the first query format and the second indication identifies the second query format.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the first and second indications are prepended to indications of data columns.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the standardized query format utilizes a query syntax that is distinct from both a query syntax of the first query format and a query syntax of the second query format.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the query syntax of the standardized query format is not directly executable to obtain either of the first set of data from the first electronic data source or the second set of data from the second electronic data source.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the standardized query is contained in a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) file.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the standardized query includes an indication of a time range identifying a period of time corresponding to data entries in the first data set and the second data set.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the first electronic data source is a relational database and the second electronic data source is a non-relational database.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the standardized query includes an indication of a sample rate for the aggregated data frame.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first data set includes data having a first sample rate,

the second data set includes data having a second sample rate, and

generating the aggregated data frame includes aligning the first and second sample rates.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein aligning the first and second sample rates includes adding data points corresponding to unsampled times needed to achieve a desired sample rate.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the added data points are given values of the sampled data directly preceding the added data points in time.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein aligning the first and second data sample rates includes removing sampled data points.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second sets of data each include a plurality of data points containing information measured by one or more field devices within a process plant.

9. The system of claim 9, wherein the time range includes a plurality of time periods, and wherein at least two of the plurality of time periods are separated by excluded time periods, for which data is not queried.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the time range includes a plurality of time periods, and wherein the time range identifies a first time period associated with the first data set and a second time period associated with the second data set.

18. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for obtaining time-series data associated with the operation of a process plant from an electronic data source that, when executed by a processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to:

receive an indication of the electronic data source from which the data is to be obtained;

receive an indication of a time range for which the data is to be obtained, wherein the indication is expressed in a standardized query format that is independent of the electronic data source;

receive an indication of a characteristic of the data to be obtained, wherein the indication is expressed in the standardized query format that is independent of the electronic data source;

determine a data source-specific query format associated with the electronic data source;

generate a data source-specific query complying with the data source-specific format based upon the indications of the time range and the characteristic of the data to be obtained;

cause the data source-specific query to be executed to select the data from the electronic data source; and

receive the data from the electronic data source.

19. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the indication of the time range and the indication of the characteristics are received in a standardized query utilizing the standardized query format.

20. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, further storing instructions that cause the processor to:

receive an indication of a format in which the data is to be obtained, and

convert the data received from the electronic data source into the indicated format.

21. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the standardized query format utilizes a syntax that is distinct from a native syntax utilized by the electronic data source.

22. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the standardized query format utilizes a syntax that is not directly executable to obtain the data from the electronic data source.

23. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to generate the data source-specific query cause the processor to map the indicated time range and the indicated characteristics of the data to be obtained to the determined data source-specific query format.

24. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to cause the data source-specific query to be executed cause the processor to send the data source-specific query to an execution engine of the electronic data source, which execution engine queries the electronic data source using the data source-specific query.

25. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the indication of the time range includes a plurality of start times and a plurality of end times.

26. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the indication of the time range includes a sample rate for the data to be obtained.

27. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, further storing instructions that cause the processor to generate a data frame including the data received from the electronic data source, wherein the data frame includes a plurality of data points, each data point associated with a time within the time range.

28. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein each data point is associated with a time within the time range that aligns with an integer multiple of a sample period following a start time or is the start time.

29. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the indication of the characteristic of the data to be obtained includes an indication of one or more types of measurements regarding operation of the process plant.

30. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the indication of the one or more types of measurements includes one or more tags, aliases, and data types associated the data.

31. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the electronic data source is a big data storage node.

32. A method for providing data from an electronic data source, comprising:

receiving from a data requesting entity a standardized query in a standardized query format, wherein the standardized query format is different from a data source-specific query format utilized by the electronic data source;

extracting query parameters from the standardized query;

generating a data source-specific query in the data source-specific query format based upon the extracted query parameters;

executing the data source-specific query to obtain the data form the electronic data source; and

providing the obtained data to a data receiving entity.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the data requesting entity comprises a query block within an analytics program.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the standardized query utilizes a syntax that is not directly executable to obtain the data from the electronic data source.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein extracting the query parameters includes determining (i) a time period and a data parameter of the data, the time period having a start time and an end time the data parameter indicating a type of data to be obtained from the electronic data source, and (ii) a sampling rate.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein providing the obtained data to the requesting entity includes returning a set of data points associated with the time period, wherein each data point includes a timestamp that is the start time or an integer multiple of the period of the sampling rate following the start time.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein one or more data points are added to the data set with timestamps indicating integer multiples of the period of the sampling rate after the start time by using values of data entries in the electronic data source associated with times most closely prior to each timestamp of the one or more added data points.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the type indicated by the data parameter is a type of measurement or a measurement from a type of measurement device, wherein the measurement device is a field device disposed within a process plant.

39. The method of claim 35, wherein the data parameter further indicates a tag of the data to be obtained, an alias for the data to be provided to the data requesting entity, and a data format type for the data to be provided to the data requesting entity.

40. The method of claim 32, wherein providing the data to the data receiving entity comprises sending a data frame containing the obtained data to the data receiving entity, and wherein the standardized query includes an indication of a format for the data frame, and wherein the data frame is formatted according to the indication of the format for the data frame.

41. The method of claim 32, wherein the data receiving entity is the same entity as the data requesting entity.