DELIVERY OF AUTOMATED NOTIFICATIONS BY AN INDUSTRIAL ASSET

• US 20170195265A1
• Filed: 01/04/2016
• Published: 07/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Billi, Sharon M., Reissner, Kyle K., Pantaleano, Michael J., Cahalane, Ryan, McCleave, Bruce T., Como, Christopher W., Gray, Edward A., Korpela, Jessica, Walter, Jonathan D., Singhai, Mohit, Reichard, Douglas J., Sandler, Scott N., Bliss, Ronald E.
• Granted Patent: US 10,313,281 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24086 Expert system, guidance operator, locate fault and indicate how to repair
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0267 Fault communication, e.g. human machine interface [HMI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications

Abstract

An automated industrial notification platform creates a link between a given industrial asset and one or more people or support entities qualified to provide support for the asset. An industrial device or machine stores electronic expert tag information that records and catalogues one or more support people or entities to be notified in response to detection of various types of performance or maintenance issues. The tag can include the experts'"'"' identities, contact information, roles relative to the industrial asset, event priorities, and other relevant information. Since the tag is stored in a memory location of the industrial asset, the tag travels with the asset so that experts are globally associated with the asset regardless of the asset'"'"'s location. Notification components integrated with the industrial asset detect conditions that may require expert assistance, and send an automated notification to one or more experts identified by the tag information.

Claims

1. An industrial device, comprising:

a memory that stores executable components;

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

an event identification component configured to detect a condition of the industrial device for which a notification is to be generated;

a notification component configured to determine at least one recipient for the notification based on expert tag information stored on the memory, and to generate notification information based on the condition; and

a communication component configured to initiate a sending of the notification information to a client device associated with the at least one recipient via an external network.

2. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the expert tag information defines one or more event types and one or more recipients, including the at least one recipient, respectively corresponding to the one or more event types, and wherein the notification component selects the at least one recipient based on which of the one or more event types corresponds to the condition.

3. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the condition comprises at least one of a machine downtime condition, a device fault, a mechanical fault, a software fault, a condition in which a process parameter has fallen outside a defined range, an operational inefficiency, an alarm condition, or a scheduled maintenance event.

4. The industrial device of claim 2, wherein the expert tag information defines contact information for respective recipients of the one or more recipients, and the communication component is configured to format the notification information for delivery in accordance with the contact information defined for the at least one recipient.

5. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the notification component is further configured to control sending of the notification information to the client device based at least in part on a current location of at least one of the client device or the at least one recipient.

6. The industrial device of claim 2, further comprising a tag update component configured to update the expert tag information based on at least one of manual input received via an interface component of the industrial device or an automatically detected status of the industrial device.

7. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the tag update component is further configured to determine a geographical location of the industrial device, and the communication component is further configured to include location information identifying the geographical location in the notification information.

8. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the notification component is further configured to retrieve, from the memory, one or more maintenance notes determined to be relevant to the condition of the industrial device, and the communication component is further configured to include the one or more maintenance notes in the notification information.

9. The industrial device of claim 1, wherein the industrial device comprises at least one of an industrial controller, a motor drive, a meter, a telemetry device, a sensor, an industrial robot, or a vision system.

10. A method for generating automated notifications, comprising:

detecting, by a system comprising at least one processor, occurrence of an event associated with an industrial device;

determining, by the system, at least one recipient to be notified of the event based on expert tag information stored on the industrial device;

generating, by the system, notification information based on the event; and

initiating, by the system, a sending of the notification information to a client device associated with the at least one recipient via an external network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining comprises determining an event type to which the event belongs and identifying the at least one expert as being associated with the event type based on the expert tag information.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the detecting comprises detecting at least one of a machine downtime event, a device fault, a mechanical fault, a software fault, a condition in which a process parameter has fallen outside a defined range, an operational inefficiency, an alarm condition, or a scheduled maintenance event.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the sending comprises sending the notification information in accordance with contact information defined for the at least one recipient by the expert tag information.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining comprises determining the at least one recipient based in part on a current location of at least one of the client device or the at least one recipient.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising updating, by the system, the expert tag information based on at least one of manual input or an automatically detected status of the industrial device.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the generating comprises generating the notification information to include security credential information that enables remote access to the industrial device by the client device.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining a geographical location of the industrial device; and

generating the notification information to include location information identifying the geographical location.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the generating comprises:

retrieving one or more maintenance notes stored on the industrial device determined to be relevant to the event; and

generating the notification information to include the maintenance notes.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the selecting comprises determining that the one or more recipients are defined by the expert tag information as being associated with an event type to which the event belongs.

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

determining that an event associated with an industrial device has occurred for which a notification is to be generated;

referencing expert tag information stored on the industrial device based on an identification of the event;

selecting one or more recipients for the notification based on the referencing;

generating the notification based on the event and device information included in the expert tag information; and

initiating a sending of the notification to one or more client devices respectively associated with the one or more recipients.