Application-independent and component-isolated system and system of systems framework

• US 8,078,357 B1
• Filed: 06/06/2008
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Distrix Networks Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Spark Integration Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Trytten, Chad D., Angerilli, Anthony J. V., Mackay, Kenneth J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): MARC-COLEMAN, MARTHE Y
• Application Number:
  US12/135,125
• Time in Patent Office: 1,285 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36, 700/245, 700/248, 700/1, 709/201, 709/238, 709/211, 709/315, 709/213, 709/206, 707/10, 707/102, 707/104
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications

Abstract

Embodiments of an application-independent and component-isolated system and system of systems framework are provided. In some embodiments, a Distributed Integration Operating Schema (“DIOS”) framework allows integration of disparate software and hardware components and permits addition, removal, modification, failure of, and information exchange among such components. In some embodiments, DIOS uses an information model that comprises a user-defined hierarchy of information objects to facilitate communication of information among agents of a control system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of providing an information model for a control system, the information model facilitating communication of information among agents of the control system, the method comprising:

under control of a control system executing on one or more physical computing devices;

providing information in an information model comprising a hierarchy of information objects, the information objects comprising one or more fields defined using abstract primitives in a schema, at least one of the information objects having a first form and a second form that is different from the first form, the information model stored in a computer-readable medium accessible by the control system;

associating a publishing agent with a first subset of the information objects in the hierarchy, the first subset representing information that the publishing agent can produce for other agents, the publishing agent interacting with the one or more fields of the information objects in the first subset;

associating a subscribing agent with a second subset of the information objects in the hierarchy, the second subset representing information that the subscribing agent can request from other agents, the subscribing agent interacting with the one or more fields of the information objects in the second subset; and

communicating, by the control system, to the subscribing agent information produced by the publishing agent if there is at least one information object in common between the first subset and the second subset,

wherein neither the subscribing agent nor the publishing agent directly interacts with the control system, the subscribing agent and the publishing agent instead interacting with the one or more fields of their respective associated information objects,

wherein each of the information objects is responsible for and isolates from the associated publishing or subscribing agent the interaction with the control system, and

wherein the information is communicated to the subscribing agent without requiring knowledge by the subscribing agent of the publishing agent prior to the communication and without requiring knowledge by the publishing agent of the subscribing agent prior to the communication.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the publishing agent and the subscribing agent comprise the same agent.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first subset and the second subset comprise the same subset of information objects.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the publishing agent is executed on a first processor, the subscribing agent is executed on a second processor that is different from or the same as the first processor, and communicating comprises communicating the information over a communication medium, such that the subscribing agent does not need to specify a location for a source of the information.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the location comprises a local location or a remote location of the first processor or the second processor.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein associating a publishing agent with a first subset of the information objects comprises using a drag-and-drop interface to associate at least one of the objects in the first subset with the publishing agent.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein associating a subscribing agent with a second subset of the information objects comprises using a drag-and-drop interface to associate at least one of the objects in the second subset with the subscribing agent.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first form and the second form of the object or a field of the first form and the second form of the object comprise at least one of a data structure, a dimensional unit, a format, and a name.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising converting between the first form and the second form of the information object by providing a first function to convert from the first form to the second form.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein converting further comprises providing a second function to convert from the second form to the first form.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein at least one of the information objects has a third form, and the method further comprises providing a third function to convert from the second form to the third form.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising converting from the first form to the third form based at least in part on the first function and the third function.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the first form has a first property, the second form has a second property that is incompatible with the first property, and the first function converts from the first form to the second form without needing to match either the first property or the second property.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein at least one of the first property and the second property comprises at least one of a programming language, an operating system, a hardware architecture, a security model, and a network topology.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein converting is performed by an agent of the control system.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first form and the second form are separate objects in the hierarchy of information objects.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein organizing comprises generating a new object in the hierarchy from an existing code source by parsing the existing code source to produce an information representation of the existing code source.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the information objects further comprise a function call that can operate on information in the information model.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least some information objects further comprise metadata, wherein the metadata comprises data about the information included in an information object of the hierarchy.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the metadata comprises a trust value associated with an information object, and the method further comprises using the trust value to make a trust decision regarding information included in the information object.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information objects are configured such that the control system can be modified without requiring the associated publishing or subscribing agent to be modified.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of providing an information model for a control system, the information model facilitating communication of information among agents of the control system, the method comprising:

providing information in an information model comprising a hierarchy of information objects, the information objects comprising one or more fields defined using abstract primitives in a schema, at least one of the information objects having a first form and a second form that is different from the first form;

associating a publishing agent with a first subset of the information objects in the hierarchy, the first subset representing information that the publishing agent can produce for other agents, the publishing agent interacting with the one or more fields of the information objects in the first subset;

associating a subscribing agent with a second subset of the information objects in the hierarchy, the second subset representing information that the subscribing agent can request from other agents, the subscribing agent interacting with the one or more fields of the information objects in the second subset; and

communicating, by a control system, to the subscribing agent information produced by the publishing agent if there is at least one information object in common between the first subset and the second subset,

wherein neither the subscribing agent nor the publishing agent directly interacts with the control system, the subscribing agent and the publishing agent instead interacting with the one or more fields of their respective associated information objects,

wherein each of the information objects is responsible for and isolates from the associated publishing or subscribing agent the interaction with the control system, and

wherein the information is communicated to the subscribing agent without requiring knowledge by the subscribing agent of the publishing agent prior to the communication and without requiring knowledge by the publishing agent of the subscribing agent prior to the communication.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the information objects are configured such that the control system can be modified without requiring the associated publishing or subscribing agent to be modified.

24. A control system comprising an information model for facilitating communication of information among agents of the control system, the control system comprising:

a memory configured to store information in an information model comprising a hierarchy of information objects, the information objects comprising one or more fields defined using abstract primitives in a schema; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor comprising a software module configured to;

associate a publishing agent with a first subset of the information objects in the hierarchy, the first subset representing information that the publishing agent can produce for other agents, the publishing agent configured to interact with the one or more fields of the information objects in the first subset;

associate a subscribing agent with a second subset of the information objects in the hierarchy, the second subset representing information that the subscribing agent can request from other agents, the subscribing agent configured to interact with the one or more fields of the information objects in the second subset; and

communicate to the subscribing agent information produced by the publishing agent if there is at least one information object in common between the first subset and the second subset,

wherein neither the subscribing agent nor the publishing agent directly interacts with the control system, the subscribing agent and the publishing agent instead interacting with the one or more fields of their respective associated information objects,

wherein each of the information objects is responsible for and isolates from the associated publishing or subscribing agent the interaction with the control system, and

wherein the information is communicated to the subscribing agent without requiring knowledge by the subscribing agent of the publishing agent prior to the communication and without requiring knowledge by the publishing agent of the subscribing agent prior to the communication.

25. The control system of claim 24, wherein the information produced by the publishing agent comprises minimally-processed input data from an input device, and the software module is further configured such that the subscribing agent:

receives the minimally-processed input data;

further processes the minimally-processed input data; and

publishes the further-processed input data as a second form of the input data.

26. The control system of claim 24, wherein the software module is further configured to broker an information exchange between a plurality of agents.

27. The control system of claim 24, wherein the software module is further configured to establish a peer-to-peer connection between a plurality of agents having customized objects configured to broker an information exchange between each of the agents.

28. The control system of claim 24, wherein the processor comprises:

a first processor and a second processor different from the first processor;

the first processor configured to execute the publishing agent; and

the second processor configured to execute the subscribing agent.

29. The control system of claim 28, wherein neither the publishing agent nor the subscribing agent are required to know that they are executed on different processors.

30. The control system of claim 24, wherein the software module is configured such that:

the publishing agent produces information in a first representation;

the subscribing agent receives the information in the first representation; and

the subscribing agent produces the information in a second representation.

31. The control system of claim 30, wherein the first representation and the second representation are the same.

32. The control system of claim 24, wherein the information objects are configured such that the control system can be modified without requiring the associated publishing or subscribing agent to be modified.