Indexing and searching manufacturing process related information

• US 8,285,744 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• 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: Dorgelo, Eric G., Gordon, Kevin G., Bromley, Clifton H., Reichard, Douglas J., Semkow, Marc D., Virji, Shafin A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ehichioya, Fred I
• Assistant Examiner(s): Smith, Garrett
• Application Number:
  US11/240,701
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078824A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,566 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures

Abstract

Indexing agents and/or data brokers are leveraged to provide search query results related to manufacturing processes. The indexing agents allow different manufacturing configuration data types to be “sub-indexed,” allowing them to be easily searched. In one instance, the sub-indices can be aggregated together to create an overall index to facilitate in query searches of the configuration data. Separate indexing agents can be utilized for indexing contents of the configuration components for the human-machine interface (HMI) and control system and the like. Data brokers can be employed to facilitate in responding to query searches by indexing/searching real-time process variables (tags) and historical data in persistent storage. A search engine can then be employed to aggregate the search results and present them to a user in a selectable fashion. User selected results are then rendered in the proper format and displayed to the user.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates searching manufacturing process information, comprising:

a memory that stores computer-executable components;

a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the computer-executable components, the computer-executable components including;

a plurality of indexing agents, specific to a plurality of disparate types of manufacturing information, that are configured to access the plurality of disparate types of manufacturing information from a manufacturing process within an industrial automation system and configured to create searchable sub-indices for the plurality of disparate types of manufacturing information, wherein a number of the plurality of indexing agents employed is at least one of expanded or reduced based in part on a change in a number of the plurality of disparate types of manufacturing information; and

a manufacturing process search engine configured to employ the at least a portion of the searchable sub-indices to facilitate in responding to a manufacturing process information search query, wherein the manufacturing process search engine includes at least one data broker configured to access at least one of real-time data from an industrial automation device or historical data associated with a data storage.

2. The system of claim 1, the computer-executable components further comprising:

a master indexing component configured to derive an overall index via aggregation of the at least the portion of the searchable sub-indices.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the manufacturing process search engine is further configured to employ the overall index to facilitate in responding to a manufacturing process information search query.

4. The system of claim 1, the computer-executable components further comprising:

a manufacturing process indexing component configured to provide at least one index based on at least a portion of the searchable sub-indices.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the manufacturing process search engine is further configured to process a natural language search query for manufacturing process information.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one data broker is further configured to search within at least one a set of files, a set of indexes, or a set of namespaces for an instance of an object based in part on the manufacturing process information search query.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the manufacturing process search engine is further configured to aggregate search results from the at least one data broker and at least one of the plurality of indexing agents to provide at least one search result object to a user.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the search result object comprises a user selectable search result object.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the search result object comprises at least one of a text object or a graphical object.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of disparate types of manufacturing information comprises at least one of process configuration data, a real-time process variable, or historical process data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the process configuration data comprises at least one of a human machine interface (HMI) project, controller code, a recipe definition, or a report definition.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the data brokers utilize at least one of the plurality of indexing agents to facilitate searching process configuration data.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of indexing agents operates in real-time to index real-time manufacturing process data in response to reception of a search query.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of indexing agents are remotely coupled to the manufacturing process indexing component.

14. A method for facilitating searching manufacturing process information, comprising:

mapping at least one first indexing agent to a first type of information accessed from a manufacturing process within an industrial automation system;

mapping at least one second indexing agent to a second type of information accessed from the manufacturing process;

creating one or more type-specific indices by employing the at least one first indexing agent and the at least one second indexing agent;

changing a number of indexing agents employed in the industrial automation system in response to a change in a number of types of information accessed from the manufacturing process; and

employing at least one of the one or more type-specific indices, real-time data accessed from an industrial automation device via a first data broker, or historical data accessed from a data storage via a second data broker to facilitate responding to a manufacturing process information search query.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

deriving at least one overall searchable index based on aggregation of the one or more type-specific indices.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

employing the at least one overall searchable index to facilitate responding to the manufacturing process information search query.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the responding includes responding to a natural language search query relating to manufacturing process information.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

accessing the real-time data from the industrial automation device via the first data broker; and

accessing the historical data associated with the data storage via the second data broker.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

aggregating search results from at least one of the first data broker, the second data broker, at least one first indexing agent, or the at least one second indexing agent; and

generating at least one search result object based on the aggregating.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the generating includes generating at least one user selectable search result object.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the generating includes generating at least one of a text object or a graphical object.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

accessing at least one of the first type of information or the second type of information from the manufacturing process, including accessing at least one of process configuration data, a real-time process variable, or historical process data.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

accessing at least one of the first type of information or the second type of information from the manufacturing process, including accessing at least one of a human machine interface project data, controller code, a recipe definition, or a report definition.

24. The method of claim 14, further comprising, searching at least one of a file, an index, or a namespace for an instance of an object that matches a received search string associated with the manufacturing process information search query.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein the creating includes indexing real-time manufacturing process data by employing at least one of the at least one first indexing agent or the at least one second indexing agent operating in real-time.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause an industrial automation system, including at least one processor, to perform operations, comprising:

accessing a first and a second type of information from a manufacturing process within an industrial automation system;

creating a first set of sub-indices by employing a first set of indexing agents that are mapped to the first type of information;

creating a second set of sub-indices by employing a second set of indexing agents that are mapped to the second type of information;

modifying a number of sets of indexing agents in response to at least one of an increase or decrease in a number of types of manufacturing information received from the manufacturing process; and

employing at least one of the first set of sub-indices, the second set of sub-indices, real-time data accessed from an industrial automation device via a first data broker, or historical data accessed from a data storage via a second data broker to facilitate responding to a manufacturing process information search query.

28. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying at least one of a file, an index, or a namespace for an instance of an object that matches a received search string associated with the manufacturing process information search query.

29. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining at least one overall index based on at least one of the first set of sub-indices or the second set of sub-indices.