Controller equipment model systems and methods

• US 7,721,273 B1
• Filed: 06/04/2004
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhao, Tao, Kline, Robert C. Jr., Yuen, Kam-Por, Wodzisz, Shoshana L., Jarrett, James H., Brooks, Jeffery W., Ryan, Stephen D., Kalan, Michael D., Staron, Raymond J., Hall, Kenwood H., D'Mura, Paul R., Rischar, Charles Martin, Plache, Kenneth S., Stanek, Christopher E., Bezdicek, Jan, Johnston, David A., Morse, Richard Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, TUAN A
• Application Number:
  US10/860,870
• Time in Patent Office: 2,174 Days
• Field of Search: 717/135, 717/113, 717/105, 717/178, 717/149, 709/203, 709/250, 709223-224, 700 95- 97, 700/1, 700/7, 700/112, 700/67, 700/79, 715/744, 714/47, 703/6
• US Class Current: 717/149
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/056 Programming the PLC
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/13009 State machine instructions

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and methodology facilitating automated manufacturing processes in an industrial controller environment. An automation system is provided for automated industrial processing. The system includes an equipment phase object that is executed by a controller engine, wherein the equipment phase object can be accessible from internal instructions within the controller and/or from external instructions directed to the controller such as from a server or another controller across a network connection. A sequencing engine operates with the equipment phase object to facilitate automated industrial processing. The sequencing engine can be adapted to various industrial standards or in accordance with other state type models.

Claims

1. An automation system embodied on a computer readable medium that when executed on one or more processors facilitates automated industrial processing implemented as network interconnected controllers interacting with an industrial controller supporting execution of an industrial batch process, the system comprising:

an equipment phase object that is executed within the industrial controller, wherein the equipment phase object is accessible by at least one of internal instructions from within the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object and external instructions directed to the industrial controller from one or more of said network external controllers to at least one of access data, interact or control objects associated with the equipment phase object to affect operations within the industrial controller;

a plurality of state machines that operate at multiple levels of the industrial batch process, wherein the plurality of state machines are instantiated from within one or more of said controllers external to the industrial controller and direct the external instructions via the network to the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object to affect operation of the industrial controller, wherein each of the plurality of state machines executes a portion of the industrial batch process, the equipment phase object further operable for maintaining information related to at least one of configuration, state or execution associated with the industrial batch process pertinent to the industrial controller; and

wherein the equipment phase object upon concurrently receiving at least two instructions from one or more of said multiple levels of state machines, manages the at least two concurrently received instructions according to prioritization rules, wherein one or more of the at least two instructions is an instruction originated from said external state machines and directed as one or more concurrent external client requests to the prioritization service of the equipment phase object for synchronization in accordance to the rules.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a sequencing engine operating with the equipment phase object to facilitate automated industrial processing.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the sequencing engine is adapted to an S88 industrial state model.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising a resetting state to facilitate operations in an industrial process.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a program object that interacts with the equipment phase object.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a pause instruction to enable breakpoints to be set within a program.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an interface to configure at least one of a pre-state routine, a fault routine, or an initial state;

a component to allow a phase to send a command to the phase upon loss of communications with an external sequencer; and

a component to enable state machine implementation in a plurality of programming languages.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one of an internal sequencing command or an external sequencing command to access the equipment phase object.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a publisher component to send at least one notification to the system.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a subscriber component to receive the at least one notification.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a phase toolbar to interact with the equipment phase object.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component to synchronize parameters between interface components.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one structured tag, phase data type, and phase parameter to interact with the equipment phase object.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one of a secondary equipment phase object or a secondary sequencing engine operated in a redundant controller system.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one batch processor to facilitate operations of the state machines.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the state machines are provided for a subset of steps within a recipe.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the state machines are provided for at least one of the following control operations:

for each instance of an equipment module;

an operation recipe step the equipment phase module is associated with;

a unit procedure recipe step the operation recipe is associated with, and a batch procedure the unit procedure recipe step is associated with.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the state machines interact with multiple controller objects that are distributed across multiple controllers.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the equipment phase object at least one of enforces a state machine, provides services to command a phase, manages state routines, scans a routine based on an active state, provides services for sequencing engines to manage tags for parameter and report values, exposes state data for internal and external clients, provides configuration options and services for handling failures, holds, and restarts, provides services to report and clear phase failures, and provides services to request ownership of the phase and enforcing rules of ownership.

20. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more phase instances that have an entry point to serve as a binding interface to a program.

21. A method to facilitate automated sequential processing in a network of interconnected controllers interacting with an industrial controller supporting execution of an industrial batch process, comprising:

defining an equipment phase object within an industrial controller wherein the equipment phase object is simultaneously accessible by a plurality of state machines that operate at multiple levels of the industrial batch process, wherein the plurality of state machines are instantiated from within one or more of the network controllers external to the industrial controller;

associating internal controls within the controller and external controls to the equipment phase object;

associating the plurality of state machines with the equipment phase object, wherein the plurality of state machines direct the external controls via the network to the industrial controller to at least one of access data, interact or control objects associated with the equipment phase object to affect operation of the industrial controller, the equipment phase object further operable for maintaining information related to at least one of configuration, state or execution associated with the industrial batch process pertinent to the industrial controller; and

executing the equipment phase object from at least one of the external or internal controls, wherein the object upon concurrently receiving at least two controls from one or more of said multiple levels of state machines, manages the at least two concurrently received controls according to prioritization rules, wherein one or more of the at least two concurrently received controls is a control originated from said external state machines and directed as one or more concurrent external client requests to the prioritization service of the equipment phase object for synchronization in accordance to the rules.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising interfacing a sequencing application that queries a phase.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining if the phase is owned.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising reserving the phase for a sequencer if the phase is not busy or returning an error if the phase is busy.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising overriding the sequencing application and notifying a sequencer that its ownership has changed.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising providing sub states in addition to S88 state model definitions.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising defining a pause instruction to trigger a breakpoint in at least one state machine.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising providing a resume command to continue operation from the breakpoint.

29. A system to facilitate automated sequential processing in a network of interconnected controllers interacting with an industrial controller supporting execution of an industrial batch process, comprising the following components stored in computer memory and executable by a processor:

means for executing an equipment phase object within an industrial controller, the equipment phase object is accessible by at least one of internal instructions from within the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object and external instructions directed to the industrial controller from one or more of said network external controllers to at least one of access data, interact or control objects associated with the equipment phase object to affect operations within the industrial controller;

means for associating the equipment phase object with a plurality of state machines that operate at multiple levels of an industrial batch process, wherein the plurality of state machines are instantiated from within one or more of the network controllers external to the industrial controller, wherein the plurality of state machines are direct the external instructions to the industrial controller to at least one of access data, interact or control objects associated with the equipment phase object to affect operation of the industrial controller, the equipment phase object further operable for maintaining information related to at least one of configuration, state or execution associated with the industrial batch process pertinent to the industrial controller; and

means for concurrently controlling the object from at least two state machines of the plurality of state machines, wherein the equipment phase object upon concurrently receiving at least two external instructions from one or more of said multiple levels of state machines, manages the at least two concurrently received external instructions according to prioritization rules, wherein the at least two concurrently received external instructions are directed as one or more concurrent external client requests to the prioritization service of the equipment phase object for synchronization in accordance to the rules.

30. A computer readable medium having a data structure stored thereon for controlling an industrial state process in a network of interconnected controllers interacting with an industrial controller supporting execution of an industrial batch process, comprising:

an equipment phase object that controls one or more devices associated with the industrial batch process, wherein the equipment phase object is accessible by at least one of internal instructions from within the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object and external instructions directed to the industrial controller from one or more of said network external controllers to access data, interact or control objects within the equipment phase object to affect operations within the industrial controller, wherein the equipment phase object manages concurrent access from a plurality of state machines networked to the industrial batch process, wherein the plurality of state machines are instantiated from within one or more of said controllers external to the industrial controller and direct the external instructions via the network to the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object to affect operation of the industrial controller, wherein each of the plurality of state machines executes a portion of the industrial batch process, the equipment phase object further operable for maintaining information related to at least one of configuration, state or execution associated with the industrial batch process pertinent to the industrial controller, wherein the equipment phase object upon concurrently receiving at least two instructions from one or more of said multiple levels of state machines, manages the at least two instructions according to prioritization rules, wherein one or more of the at least two instructions is an instruction originated from said external state machines and directed as one or more concurrent external client requests to the prioritization service of the equipment phase object for synchronization in accordance to the rules.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein at least one of the instructions relates to an equipment phase command or a clear equipment phase command.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 31, wherein the equipment phase command commands an equipment phase to start, stop, abort, hold, restart, reset, pause, an auto pause or resume.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein at least one of the instructions relates to an equipment phase external request for communicating with an external sequencer.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 33, wherein the equipment phase external request includes one or more data fields comprising at least one of a request control, a request, a data value, or a control structure.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 34, wherein the request relates to at least one of a download of input parameters, an upload or download of output parameters, send message to an operator, clear message to operator, acquire resources, release resources, send message to linked phase, send message to linked phase and wait, cancel messages to linked phase, receive message from linked phase, download batch data, download or upload material data, upload reports or attributes, download or upload binding priority, or generate an electronic signature.

36. A computer readable medium having a data structure stored thereon for controlling an industrial state process in a network of interconnected controllers interacting with an industrial controller supporting execution of an industrial batch process, comprising:

at least one structured tag for interacting with an internal or an external sequence of industrial batch process;

an equipment phase object that executes at least one state routine associated with the industrial batch process; and

a phase data type associated with the equipment phase object that is accessible from a plurality of state machines networked to the industrial batch process, wherein the plurality of state machines are associated with the external sequence of the industrial batch process, wherein the equipment phase object is accessible by at least one of internal instructions from within the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object and external instructions directed to the industrial controller from one or more of said network external controllers to access data, interact or control objects within the equipment phase object to affect operations within the industrial controller, wherein the equipment phase object manages concurrent access from the plurality of state machines networked to the industrial batch process, wherein the plurality of state machines are instantiated from within one or more of said controllers external to the industrial controller and direct the external instructions via the network to the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object to affect operation of the industrial controller, wherein each of the plurality of state machines executes a portion of the industrial batch process, the equipment phase object further operable for maintaining information related to at least one of configuration, state or execution associated with the industrial batch process pertinent to the industrial controller, wherein the equipment phase object upon concurrently receiving at least two instructions from one or more of said multiple levels of state machines, manages the at least two instructions according to prioritization rules, wherein one or more of the at least two instructions is an instruction originated from said external state machines and directed as one or more concurrent external client requests to the prioritization service of the equipment phase object for synchronization in accordance to the rules.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein the phase data includes one or more elements, the elements include at least one of a state element, a running element, a holding element, a restarting element, a stopping element, an aborting element, a resetting element, an idle element, a held element, a complete element, a stopped element, an aborted element, a sub state element, a pausing element, a paused element, an auto pause element, a step index element, a failure element, a unit id element, or an owner element.

38. The computer readable medium of claim 37, wherein the elements include at least one of a pending request element, a download input parameter element, an upload parameter element, a send message element, a clear message element, an acquire resource element, a release resource element, a message to phase element, a cancel message to phase element, a wait message from phase element, an aborting request element, a generate electronic signature element, a download data element, or a new input parameter element.

39. A graphical user interface embodied on a computer readable medium that when executed on one or more processors facilitates controlling an industrial batch process in a network of interconnected controllers interacting with an industrial controller supporting execution of the industrial batch process, the graphical user interface comprising:

at least one display object for interacting with an internal or an external sequence of the industrial batch process wherein the at least one display object allows a user take ownership of a phase, to command the phase, and to monitor at least one of a current state, owner, or fault information for the phase; and

an equipment phase object that controls at least a portion of the industrial batch process, wherein the equipment phase object is accessible by at least one of internal instructions from within the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object and external instructions directed to the industrial controller from one or more of said network external controllers to access data, interact or control objects within the equipment phase object to affect operations within the industrial controller, wherein the equipment phase object manages concurrent access from the plurality of state machines networked to the industrial batch process, wherein the plurality of state machines are instantiated from within one or more of said controllers external to the industrial controller and direct the external instructions via the network to the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object to affect operation of the industrial controller, wherein each of the plurality of state machines executes a portion of the industrial batch process, the equipment phase object further operable for maintaining information related to at least one of configuration, state or execution associated with the industrial batch process pertinent to the industrial controller, wherein the equipment phase object upon concurrently receiving at least two instructions from one or more of said multiple levels of state machines, manages the at least two instructions according to prioritization rules, wherein one or more of the at least two instructions is an instruction originated from said external state machines and directed as one or more concurrent external client requests to the prioritization service of the equipment phase object for synchronization in accordance to the rules.

40. The graphical user interface of claim 39, further comprising a configuration menu having at least one input for selecting a pre-state routine, a fault routine, a program phase inhibit, an initial state, a complete state immediately selection, an initial step index, an external sequencer loss of communication command, and an external request hold action.

41. The graphical user interface of claim 40, wherein the parameters menu further comprising a parameter name field, a usage field, a value field, a data type field, or a description field.

42. The graphical user interface of claim 39, further comprising a parameters menu for configuring the control parameters or a monitor menu for monitoring the internal or external sequence.

43. The graphical user interface of claim 39, further comprising a phase toolbar having at least one of a tool tip display or a tab for monitoring a phase.

44. The graphical user interface of claim 43, wherein the tab includes at least one of a start button, a hold button, a restart button, a stop button, an abort button, a reset button, an auto pause button, a pause button, or a resume button.

45. The graphical user interface of claim 39, further comprising a display component to command phase from a graphic of a state diagram.

46. The graphical user interface of claim 39, wherein the graphic shows the types of owners or the number of owners for a respective phase.

47. The graphical user interface of claim 39, further comprising a component to allow users navigate to a logic program from a graphic or to create new logic directly from the graphic.

48. The graphical user interface of claim 39, wherein the graphic is re-sizeable.

49. The graphical user interface of claim 39, wherein the graphic is used in conjunction with developing or debugging logic or for viewing across a control room.

50. The graphical user interface of claim 39, further comprising at least one of an equipment phase list, an equipment phase state graphic, an inhibited phase graphic or a selection for a currently monitored equipment phase.