Apparatus and method for operating a computing platform without a battery pack

• US 8,359,484 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Issued: 01/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Majewski, Joseph Steven, Kikta, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): JOHNSON, TERRELL S
• Application Number:
  US13/243,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20120017115A1
• Time in Patent Office: 487 Days
• Field of Search: 713/2, 713/320
• US Class Current: 713/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24

Abstract

An application control engine computing platform having a shut-down mechanism that permits the platform to adequately start up and operate upon return of power after a power interruption, without a need of a battery pack. The mechanism may target the saving of control object runtime values and operational settings of those objects, rather than the saving of the complete set of objects, and all unsaved alarm and history records upon a power interruption.

Claims

1. An application control engine system comprising:

a dedicated computing platform;

a plurality of control objects in operating software of the platform; and

a shut-down mechanism connected to the computing platform; and

wherein;

the shut-down mechanism is for assuring a save of last known values of the control objects during normal operation of the computing platform;

the shut-down mechanism comprises a battery-less charge storage source for keeping the computing platform in normal operation upon a loss of regular power until a saving of the values of the control objects is or is assured as adequate so that the computing platform can return to normal operation virtually immediately upon a return of the regular power; and

the shut-down mechanism comprises persist objects for saving the last known values of the control objects routinely during normal operation of the computing platform.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the battery-less charge source comprises a traditional filter capacitor storage of electrical energy for enabling operation of the computing platform after a loss of power to the computing platform for a period of time sufficient for a persist object to persist a value of a control object.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the battery-less charge source comprises a traditional filter capacitor storage of electrical energy for enabling operation of the computing platform after a loss power to the computing platform for a period of time sufficient for a persist object to persist a value of control object.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the period of time sufficient to persist a value of a control object is less than 20 milliseconds.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein a value of a control object is a runtime, operation setting and/or parameter value.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the computing platform is a Java™

application control engine (JACE) computing platform.

7. The system of claim 1,

wherein:

an input slot of a persist object is attached to an output slot of a control object of the plurality of control objects;

an output slot of the persist object is attached to an input slot of a target control object;

the output slot of the control object provides a runtime, operation setting, and/or parameter value to the input slot of the persist objet which is to preserve the value; and

the output slot of the persist object is to provide the value preserved by the persist object to the target object after the power interruption ceases.

8. A system for a computing platform comprising:

a JACE computing platform;

a plurality of control objects in computing platform software;

a component integral to the platform for persisting to storage the most recent runtime, operational setting and/or parameter values of the control objects;

one or more persist objects connected to one or more of the plurality of control objects, wherein the one or more persist objects are for saving the last known values of the control objects routinely during normal operation of the computing platform; and

a battery-less charge storage connected to the computing platform for continued runtime upon a power-interruption sufficient to persist remaining values as needed to storage; and

wherein upon the power interruption, the control objects are or have been set to the most recent persisted runtime and operational setting and/or parameter.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a plurality of wiresheets for connecting control objects with persist objects; and

wherein a persist object is connected between it control object, whose runtime, operational setting and/or parameter value is to be persisted, and a control object which is to receive the runtime, operational setting and/or parameter value.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a “

changed( )”

callback mechanism; and

wherein;

the “

changed( )”

callback mechanism is invoked on an object when a value of the object is changed;

a persist object uses the “

changed ( )”

callback mechanism to determine when to write a current value of an object to persistent storage and when to read a persisted current value back into the persist object; and

the persisted current value is a restoration of a most recent runtime, operational setting and/or parameter value of the control object for use of the value by a next downstream control object.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein to ensure that values are persisted upon a power failure, an amount of time to persist a value of an object is less than an amount of runtime provided by the battery-less charge storage, for the computing platform after the power failure.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein a value of an object is persisted virtually immediately when charged.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

an anti-thrash algorithm; and

wherein the anti-thrash algorithm limits a number of persists of values to the persistence storage and/or values are persisted to the persistence storage only if the values have changed by more than a specified increment.

14. An application control engine system comprising:

a dedicated computing platform;

one or more control objects in operating software of the platform;

one or more persist objects far saving the last known values of the one or more control objects routinely during normal operation of the computing platform; and

a battery-less charge storage source for keeping the computing platform in normal operation upon a loss of regular power until a saving of the values of the control objects is or is assured as adequate so that the computing platform can return to normal operation virtually immediately upon a return of the regular power.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein for a persist object to save a last, known value of a control object is to persist the value of the control object.