Incremental association of metadata to production data

• US 7,734,590 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Issued: 06/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Kalan, Michael D., Hood, Gavan W., Baier, John J., Chand, Sujeet, Hall, Kenwood H., Briant, Stephen C.
• Primary Examiner(s): To; Baoquoc N
• Application Number:
  US11/240,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,712 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/100, 707/103.R
• US Class Current: 707/636
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or method that facilitates utilizing metadata appended to data related to an industrial automation environment with a controller that is associated with a hierarchically structured data model. An interface component can facilitate receipt of data associated with at least one of an instruction set, a configuration, and a collection. An append component can affix metadata to at least one of the instruction set, the configuration, and the collection, wherein the metadata conforms to a hierarchically structured data model.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates manufacturing within an industrial automation environment, comprising:

a memory;

an interface component that facilitates receipt of data associated with a controller related to the automation environment, wherein the data is at least one of an instruction set or a configuration;

an append component that affixes metadata to the at least one of the instruction set or the configuration, wherein the metadata relates to a hierarchically structured data model associated with the controller and implements a common definition of data related to the industrial automation environment, wherein the hierarchically structured data model represents at least a physical hierarchical location within an industrial automation environment that includes at least one tag and at least one device, wherein the physical hierarchical location is indicative of at least a portion of a factory-level, a cell-level, a subcell level, an input within a subcell, or an output within a subcell;

a validate component that utilizes a template and at least one of a discoverable service or a set of services to validate at least one of metadata, data, metadata affixed to data, or manipulations to metadata;

a distribute component that facilitates distribution of the data to at least one of the system, a disparate system, a component within the system, or a component within the disparate system; and

a bridge component that provides a first network protocol utilized to carry the data from the controller and configures the data for transmittal over a second network protocol.

2. The system of claim 1, the instruction set is related to a manufacturing demand for a product.

3. The system of claim 1, the configuration relates to at least one of a manufacturing or an automation system.

4. The system of claim 1, the collection relates to data about a product to meet a demand.

5. The system of claim 1, the hierarchically structured data model is based at least in part upon industrial standard architecture ISAS95.

6. The system of claim 1, the hierarchically structured data model is based at least in part upon industrial standard architecture ISA_S88.

7. The system of claim 1, the hierarchically structured data model is based at least in part upon a combination of industrial standard architectures ISAS95 and ISA_S88.

8. The system of claim 1, the distribute component utilizes at least one of a directory service, a caching service, or a storage service to enable the metadata to be distributed to a participating system.

9. The system of claim 8, the distribute component provides the distribution of metadata with data to the participating system during a communication outage.

10. The system of claim 1, the bridge component bridges multiple communication networks.

11. The system of claim 1, the first network protocol is one of Fieldbus, Profibus, Hart, Modbus, AS interface-bus, or Foundation Fieldbus.

12. The system of claim 11, the second network protocol is Common Industrial Protocol (CIP).

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the validate component provides multiple versions of the metadata.

14. The system of claim 1, the template extends from a shipped product or pre-defined information.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a security component that provides at least two layers of protection in relation to a modification to metadata.

16. The system of claim 1, the metadata is system configuration that affects at least one of operation or safety of a delivered system.

17. The system of claim 1, the metadata is a template that is at least one of the following:

a raw material definition;

a work order;

a recipe;

a physical template;

a procedural template;

a template that can be modified;

or a standard-based template.

18. A machine-implemented method that facilitates implementing appending data related to an industrial automation environment with metadata, comprising:

implementing a hierarchically structured data model relating to at least a controller comprised within the industrial automation environment;

affixing metadata to data associated with the controller, wherein the data is an instruction set or a collection and wherein the metadata is associated with a hierarchically structured data model related to the automation environment, wherein the hierarchically structured data model represents at least a physical hierarchical location within an industrial automation environment that includes at least one tag and at least one device, wherein the physical hierarchical location is indicative of at least a portion of a factory-level, a cell-level, a subcell level, an input within a subcell, or an output within a subcell;

validating the metadata and data with a template and a version;

utilizing the metadata with data to implement a common definition of data to facilitate efficient data organization in the hierarchical industrial automation environment;

distributing the data to at least one of a system, a disparate system, a component within the system, or a component within the disparate system; and

providing a first network protocol utilized to carry the data from the controller and configuring the data for transmittal over a second network protocol.

19. The method of claim 18, the common definition includes a portion of an aspect of an industrial automation environment that is accessible to all components therein.

20. The method of claim 18, the hierarchically structured data model represents the physical hierarchical location within an industrial automation environment of at least one of a device, a tag, or a variable.

21. The method of claim 18, the physical hierarchical location of is indicative of at least a portion of a factory-level, a cell-level, a subcell level, an input within a subcell, and an output within a subcell.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

distributing the metadata with data to a participating industrial automation environment.

23. The method of claim 18, the hierarchically structured data model is based at least in part upon one or more of industrial standard architecture ISAS95 or ISA_S88.

24. The method of claim 18, further comprising providing a mapping between disparate data.

25. A computer memory comprising a controller utilized within an industrial automation environment, the controller comprising:

instructions for storing data;

instructions for facilitating receipt of data associated with at least a controller related to the automation environment, wherein the data is at least one of, a configuration or a collection;

instructions for affixing metadata to the at least one of the configuration or the collection, wherein the metadata conforms to a hierarchically structured data model associated with the controller, wherein the hierarchically structured data model represents at least a physical hierarchical location within an industrial automation environment that includes at least one tag and at least one device, wherein the physical hierarchical location is indicative of at least a portion of a factory-level, a cell-level, a subcell level, an input within a subcell, or an output within a subcell;

instructions for validating the metadata against a template and a version; and

instructions for utilizing data with the affixed metadata to implement a common definition of data associated with the hierarchically structured data model;

instructions for distributing the data to at least one of a system, a disparate system, a component within the system, or a component within the disparate system; and

instructions for providing a first network protocol utilized to carry the data from the controller and configuring the data for transmittal over a second network protocol.