Embedding controllers and devices with data to facilitate up-to-date control and configuration information
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a memory;
at least one processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, configured to facilitate execution of computer-executable components, the computer-executable components comprising;
a data structure comprising a data field and a corresponding name field; and
an updating component configured to read, from a machine readable representation of an automation device, information comprising an identity, a data type, and a data size of a data element that the automation device has available for exchange with a controller, to create a hierarchical tag representing the data element based on the information, to dynamically populate the name field with the hierarchical tag, and to communicatively map the data field of the controller to the data element of the automation device based on the information,wherein the hierarchical tag comprises a device name that represents a name of the automation device and an element name that represents the data element of the automation device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An industrial automation system comprising a processor with an updating component coupled to automation devices via a network. The updating component reads control information from machine readable representations of the devices and populates a data structure with the control information. The updating component also updates configuration information of a device from data stored in a file object and/or the data structure, further allowing this transfer to be fragmented into a plurality of messages if the configuration information exceeds a threshold. As well, a vendor deployment methodology is provided that embeds devices and firmware for devices with a Device Type Manager (DTM) prior to deployment and can optionally allow post deployment updates to the DTM.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a memory; at least one processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, configured to facilitate execution of computer-executable components, the computer-executable components comprising; a data structure comprising a data field and a corresponding name field; and an updating component configured to read, from a machine readable representation of an automation device, information comprising an identity, a data type, and a data size of a data element that the automation device has available for exchange with a controller, to create a hierarchical tag representing the data element based on the information, to dynamically populate the name field with the hierarchical tag, and to communicatively map the data field of the controller to the data element of the automation device based on the information, wherein the hierarchical tag comprises a device name that represents a name of the automation device and an element name that represents the data element of the automation device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer-implemented method for automatically creating a data structure in a controller of an industrial control system, the method comprising:
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receiving information from at least one machine-readable representation of an automation device, the information specifying an identity, a data type, and a data size of an input or output data element available within the automation device for exchange with the controller; creating, within the controller, a data structure for mapping the input or output data element of the automation device to a data field in the data structure; creating a hierarchical tag representing the input or output data element based on the information, the hierarchical tag including a device name representing a name of the automation device and an element name representing the input or output data element; labeling the data field with the hierarchical tag; and mapping the data field of the controller to the input or output data element of the automation device. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing device to perform operations, including:
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receiving a machine-readable representation of an automation device, the machine-readable representation comprising information defining an identity, a data type, and a data size of a data element of the automation device available for exchange with a controller; creating, in response to the receiving, a data structure in the controller for mapping the data element to a data field of the data structure based on the information; labeling the data field with a hierarchical tag comprising a device name that represents a name of the automation device and an element name that represents the data element of the automation device; and mapping the data field to the data element. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification