Method and system for management and control of an automation control module

• US 7,536,475 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2002
• Issued: 05/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GE Fanuc Automation North America Incorporated
• Original Assignee: GE Fanuc Automation North America Incorporated
• Inventors: Miller, Daniel H., Collier, David Scott, Bolfing, Brad J., Mercer, Ferrell Louis, Kadingo, Jason Daniel, Chambers, Robert Baxter II, Elliott, David Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn; Nathan J
• Assistant Examiner(s): WASEL, MOHAMED A
• Application Number:
  US10/238,361
• Publication Number:
  US 20040049590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,443 Days
• Field of Search: 709/212, 709/217, 709/220, 709/221, 709/223, 709/246, 709/250, 709/236
• US Class Current: 709/236
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31196 SOAP, describes available services and how to call them remotely

Abstract

An automation control module (ACM) is provided that includes an ACM central processing unit (CPU), a backplane and a SOAP/XML and web server system electrically coupled to the backplane and to the ACM CPU. The SOAP/XML and web server system is embedded within the automation control module (ACM) and is configured to process simple object access protocol (SOAP)/extensible markup language (XML) requests from a network.

Claims

1. An automation control module (ACM) comprising:

an ACM central processing unit (CPU) configured to carry out ACM functions including at least one of user logic and function block executions, input/output (I/O) scanning, and communications with other devices;

a system memory coupled to said ACM CPU, said system memory comprising an operating system;

a backplane configured to couple at least one I/O module to said ACM;

said ACM and said backplane are electronically coupled to a backplane interface; and

a SOAP/XML and web server system electrically coupled to said backplane and said ACM CPU, and configured to process simple object access protocol (SOAP)/extensible markup language (XML) requests from a network, said SOAP/XML and web server system are embedded within said ACM and comprising a SOAP/XML server including an independent processor.

2. The ACM in accordance with claim 1 wherein said SOAP/XML and web server system comprises a web server electrically coupled to the network and a SOAP/XML server electrically coupled to said ACM CPU and said web server, said SOAP/XML server configured to process SOAP/XML requests from the network.

3. The ACM in accordance with claim 2 wherein said web server configured to receive SOAP/XML requests from the network and transfer the SOAP/XML requests to said SOAP/XML server.

4. The ACM in accordance with claim 3 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to respond to SOAP requests from the network.

5. The ACM in accordance with claim 2 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU through said web server to the network.

6. The ACM in accordance with claim 2 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to transfer ACM data received from the network via said web server to said ACM CPU.

7. The ACM in accordance with claim 2 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU and embed said ACM data within said SOAP/XML response based on function tags embedded within said SOAP/XML request.

8. The ACM in accordance with claim 7 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to send said SOAP/XML response through said web server to the network.

9. The ACM in accordance with claim 7 wherein said SOAP/XML request/response comprising at least one of hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), hypertext markup language (HTML), and references to other files.

10. The ACM in accordance with claim 1 wherein said SOAP/XML and web server system further comprises a network interface configured for connection to the network.

11. The ACM in accordance with claim 1 wherein said ACM comprises a backplane interface electrically coupled to said ACM and said backplane electrically coupled to said backplane interface.

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

a network;

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

an ACM coupled to said network, said ACM comprising;

a backplane configured to couple said ACM to at least one input/output (I/O) module;

said ACM and said backplane are electronically coupled to a backplane interface;

an ACM central processing unit (CPU) configured to carry out ACM functions including at least one of user logic and function block executions, I/O scanning, and communications with other devices;

a system memory coupled to said ACM CPU, said system memory comprising an operating system; and

a SOAP/XML and web server subsystem system electrically coupled to said backplane and said network and comprising a SOAP/XML server including an independent processor, said subsystem system configured to process simple object access protocol (SOAP)/extensible markup language (XML) requests received from said computer through said network.

13. The ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein a user is required to enter a valid user name and user password to access said ACM system.

14. The ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said SOAP/XML and web server subsystem comprises a web server electrically coupled to said network and a SOAP/XML server electrically coupled to said ACM CPU and said web server, said SOAP/XML server configured to process SOAP/XML requests generated from said computer and transmitted from said computer through said network to said ACM system.

15. The ACM system in accordance with claim 14 wherein said web server configured to receive SOAP/XML requests from said network and transfer the SOAP/XML requests to said SOAP/XML server.

16. The ACM system in accordance with claim 15 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to respond to SOAP requests sent from said computer through said network.

17. The ACM system in accordance with claim 15 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU through said web server and said network to said computer.

18. The ACM system in accordance with claim 15 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to transfer ACM data received from said computer via said network and said web server to said ACM CPU.

19. The ACM system in accordance with claim 16 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to transfer ACM data from said ACM CPU and embed said ACM data within said SOAP/XML response based on function tags embedded within said SOAP/XML request.

20. The ACM system in accordance with claim 16 wherein said SOAP/XML server configured to send said SOAP/XML response through said web server and said network to said computer.

21. The ACM system in accordance with claim 15 wherein said SOAP/XML and web server system further comprises a network interface electrically coupled to said network and said web server, said network interface configured to facilitate communication between said web server and said network.

22. The ACM system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said ACM comprises a backplane interface electrically coupled to said ACM and a backplane electrically coupled to said backplane interface.

23. The ACM system in accordance with claim 17 wherein said SOAP/XML request/response comprises at least one of hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), hypertext markup language (HTML), and references to other files.

24. A method for management and control of an automation control module (ACM) including an ACM central processing unit (CPU), a system memory coupled to the ACM CPU, the system memory including an operating system, a backplane, at least one input/output (I/O) module coupled to the backplane, and a SOAP/XML and web server system embedded within the ACM, the SOAP/XML and web server system electrically coupled to a network and comprising a SOAP/XML server including an independent processor, said method comprising:

embedding the SOAP/XML and web server system within the ACM;

electrically connecting the SOAP/XML and web server system embedded within the ACM to the backplane and the ACM CPU; and

processing simple object access protocol (SOAP)/extensible markup language (XML) requests from the network using the SOAP/XML and web server system.

25. The method in accordance with claim 24 wherein the SOAP/XML and web server system includes a web server electronically coupled to the network and a SOAP/XML server electrically coupled to the ACM CPU and the web server, processing SOAP/XML requests from the network using the SOAP/XML and web server system comprises processing SOAP/XML requests from the network using the SOAP/XML server.

26. The method in accordance with claim 25 wherein processing SOAP/XML requests from the network using the SOAP/XML server comprises:

receiving SOAP/XML requests from the network using the web server; and

transferring the SOAP/XML requests from the web server to the SOAP/XML server; and

responding to the SOAP/XML requests using the SOAP/XML server.

27. The method in accordance with claim 26 wherein the SOAP/XML server processes SOAP/XML requests from the network using the SOAP/XML server comprising:

receiving SOAP/XML requests from the network using the web server;

transmitting the SOAP/XML requests to the SOAP/XML server using the web server;

reading the SOAP/XML request from the SOAP/XML server;

requesting ACM data from the ACM CPU via function tags embedded within the a SOAP/XML request;

receiving the ACM data from the ACM CPU;

embedding the ACM data within the SOAP/XML request using the SOAP/XML server; and

sending the SOAP/XML response from the SOAP/XML server through the web server to the network.

28. The method in accordance with claim 27 wherein processing SOAP/XML requests from the network using the SOAP/XML server comprises transferring ACM data to the ACM CPU using the SOAP/XML server as directed by function tags embedded within the SOAP/XML request.