Methods and systems for management and control of an automation control module

• US 7,441,114 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2002
• Issued: 10/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Fanuc Automation North America Incorporated
• Original Assignee: GE Fanuc Automation North America Incorporated
• Inventors: Collier, David Scott, Bolfing, Brad J., Mercer, Ferrell Louis, Kadingo, Jason Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Smithers; Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gergiso; Techane J
• Application Number:
  US10/241,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20040049674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,233 Days
• Field of Search: 713/152, 709/217, 709/220, 709/223
• US Class Current: 713/152
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer

Abstract

An automation control module (ACM) including an ACM central processing unit (CPU) and a web system electrically connected to the ACM CPU. The web system is configured to process security layer encrypted hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests from a network.

Claims

1. An automation control module (ACM) comprising:

an ACM central processing unit (CPU) comprising a programmable logic controller (PLC) and a system memory comprising an operating system, a user program, and data;

a backplane interface electrically coupled to said ACM CPU and a backplane electrically coupled to said backplane interface; and

a web system comprising a secure web server electrically coupled to said ACM CPU and a network, wherein said web system is embedded within said ACM, said secure web server configured to process security layer encrypted hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests transmitted from a remote computer via the network based on session keys mutually agreed to by said web system and the remote computer, said web system configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU to a secure network interface and embed said ACM data within at least one web page file based on function tags embedded within said at least one web page file, wherein said function tags provide a mechanism to control the ACM data by at least one of modifying said at least one web page file and creating a new web page file, and wherein said backplane is configured to couple said ACM CPU to at least one of a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, and a proximity sensor.

2. An ACM in accordance with claim 1 wherein the security layer encrypted HTTP requests are encrypted using secure sockets layer (SSL).

3. An ACM in accordance with claim 1 wherein said secure network interface is configured to receive the security encrypted HTTP requests from the remote computer, decrypt the security encrypted HTTP requests from the remote computer, and transfer decrypted HTTP requests to said secure web server.

4. An ACM in accordance with claim 3 wherein said secure web server is configured to respond to the decrypted HTTP requests by processing the decrypted HTTP requests and transferring the responses to said secure network interface.

5. An ACM in accordance with claim 4 wherein said network interface is configured to receive the responses to the decrypted HTTP requests, encrypt the responses to the decrypted HTTP requests, and send the encrypted responses to the network.

6. An ACM in accordance with claim 3 wherein said secure web server comprises at least one web page file.

7. An ACM in accordance with claim 3 wherein said secure web server is configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU to said secure network interface.

8. An ACM in accordance with claim 3 wherein said secure web server is configured to transfer ACM data to said ACM CPU.

9. An ACM in accordance with claim 3 wherein said secure web server is configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU to said secure network interface and embed said ACM data within at least one web page file based on said function tags embedded within said at least one web page file.

10. An ACM in accordance with claim 3 wherein said web server is configured to send said at least one web page file through said secure network interface to the remote computer.

11. An ACM in accordance with claim 1 wherein said PLC is coupled to at least one of a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor

12. An automation control module (ACM) system comprising:

an ACM comprising a programmable logic controller (PLC) and an ACM CPU comprising a system memory, said system memory comprising an operating system, a user program, and data, said ACM further comprising a backplane interface electrically coupled to said ACM and a backplane electrically coupled to said backplane interface;

a network;

a computer electrically coupled to said network and configured to communicate with said network; and

a web subsystem comprising a secure web server electrically coupled to said ACM and said network, wherein said web subsystem is embedded within said ACM, said secure web server configured to process security layer encrypted hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests received from said computer through said network based on session keys coordinated by said computer and said web subsystem, said web subsystem configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU to a secure network interface and embed said ACM data within at least one web page file based on function tags embedded within said at least one web page file, wherein said function tags provide a mechanism to control the ACM data by at least one of modifying said at least one web page file and creating a new web page file, and wherein said backplane is configured to couple said ACM CPU to at least one of a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, and a proximity sensor.

13. An ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said security layer encrypted HTTP requests are encrypted using secure sockets layer (SSL).

14. An ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said secure network interface is configured to receive said security encrypted HTTP requests from said computer though said network, decrypted said security encrypted HTTP requests from said network, and transfer decrypted HTTP requests to said secure web server.

15. An ACM system in accordance with claim 14 wherein said secure web server is configured to respond to the decrypted HTTP requests by processing the decrypted HTTP requests and transferring the responses to said secure network interface.

16. An ACM system in accordance with claim 15 wherein said network interface is configured to receive said responses to the decrypted HTTP requests, encrypt said responses to the decrypted HTTP requests, and send the encrypted responses to through said network to said computer.

17. An ACM system in accordance with claim 16 wherein said computer is configured to decrypt the encrypted responses.

18. An ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said secure web server comprises at least one web page file.

19. An ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said secure web server is configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU to said network interface.

20. An ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said secure web server is configured to transfer ACM data to said ACM CPU.

21. An ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said secure web server is configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU to said secure network interface and embed said ACM data within said at least one web page file based on said function tags embedded within said at least one web page file.

22. An ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said web server is configured to send said at least one web page file to said secure network interface.

23. A method for management and control of an automation control module (ACM), said method comprising:

providing an ACM central processing unit (CPU) including a system memory having an operating system, a user program, and data, a backplane interface electrically coupled to the ACM CPU, a backplane electrically coupled to the backplane interface, a programmable logic controller (PLC), and a web system electrically coupled to the ACM and a network;

electrically coupling the web system including a web server to the ACM CPU and a secure network interface, the secure network interface electrically connected to a network, wherein the web system is embedded within the PLC, and wherein the backplane is configured to couple the ACM CPU to at least one of a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, and a proximity sensor;

processing security layer encrypted hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests from a remote computer using the web system and based on session keys mutually agreed to by the remote computer and the web system comprising;

receiving the security layer encrypted HTTP requests from the network using the network interface;

decrypting the request; and

transferring the decrypted requests to the web server;

transferring ACM data from the ACM CPU using the web system;

embedding the ACM data within at least one web page file based on function tags embedded within the at least one web page file; and

providing, via the function tags, a mechanism to control the ACM data by at least one of modifying the at least one web page file and creating a new web page file.

24. A method in accordance with claim 23 wherein said processing security layer encrypted HTTP requests from the network using the web system further comprising:

processing the decrypted request using the web server;

transferring a web page representing a requested web page to the secure network interface;

encrypting the web page representing the requested web page using the secure network interface; and

sending the encrypted web page representing the requested web page through the network.