System, method and article of manufacture for displaying an animated, realtime updated control sequence chart

• US 6,157,864 A
• Filed: 05/08/1998
• Issued: 12/05/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Allen-Bradley Company (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Technologies, LLC (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Sinclair, James A., Franklin, Paul F., Staron, Raymond J., Hoskins, Josiah C., Schwenke, Marvin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): OMAR, OMAR B
• Application Number:
  US09/075,148
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 700/79, 700/17, 700/18, 700/83, 700/86, 700/87, 700/80, 700/108, 700/174, 700/180, 700/26, 700/27, 714/46
• US Class Current: 700/79
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32161 Object oriented control, programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A system software solution for controlling an enterprise which defines and illustrates the electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, logic, diagnostics, external behavior, controlled resources and safety elements of an enterprise control system. The elements of the control system are encapsulated in objects of an object-oriented framework within a control assembly. The control assembly is the fundamental building block for providing object-oriented control of the enterprise. A control assembly component is a deployable control subsystem that provides an interface using a common object model that is configurable. The enterprise control system is used to define user interfaces including sequence charts that are updated in a substantially realtime manner utilizing the control assemblies associated with the generated code for the enterprise control system.

Claims

1. A method of enabling a computer having a display and operating under control of an object oriented framework, including one or more control assemblies, to control an enterprise comprising the steps of:

a) defining one or more user interfaces and one or more sequence charts by associating one or more control assemblies in a sequenced manner on a display;

b) generating a control code based on the sequence chart and the one ore more control assemblies;

c) initiating the enterprise control under the direction of the generated control code;

d) detecting a control assembly status based on the current status of the enterprise control; and

e) updating the sequence chart and the user interface on the display based on the enterprise status;

wherein a timing diagram of the enterprise is updated to reflect the current status of the enterprise.

2. A computer program embodied on computer-readable medium that controls an enterprise comprising:

a) a first component containing encapsulated status information and logic in a control assembly, the status information including at least one state of the control assembly;

b) a second component that instantiates at least one control assembly by obtaining enterprise information and up-dating the status of the control assembly to reflect the current enterprise information;

c) a third component that updates the status information to reflect the current enterprise information on a periodic basis; and

d) a fourth component that displays an enterprise representation on the display;

wherein a timing diagram of the enterprise is updated to reflect the current status of the enterprise.