Dynamic sustainability search engine

• US 8,892,540 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2009
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walker, Marcia Elaine, Kaufman, Philip John
• Primary Examiner(s): LEROUX, ETIENNE PIERRE
• Application Number:
  US12/429,830
• Publication Number:
  US 20100274810A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,034 Days
• Field of Search: 707/780, 707/999.005, 707/5, 707/706, 709204-206
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The innovation relates to systems and/or methodologies for facilitating dynamic sustainability searches. A sustainability search component executes a query, and returns one or more results that satisfy a set of search criteria and a set of sustainability factors. The search criteria can include keywords, such as product types, process types, and additional features related to the keywords, such as price, location, brand, and so forth. The sustainability factors are alternative cost measures for a given process, product, or plant element. The sustainability search component can analyze the returned results, and rank the results based on sustainability.

Claims

1. A sustainability search system, comprising:

at least one processor coupled to memory retaining instructions for;

a query component that searches at least one industrial automation controller for data elements, wherein the query component is configured to;

receive a set of search criteria and a set of sustainability factors, wherein the set of search criteria comprises at least one of a process, a product made by the process, an article of manufacture of the process, or a plant element carrying out the process, and wherein the set of sustainability factors comprise measures of at least one of an environmental impact or a socio-environmental impact for the at least one of the process, the product made by the process, or the plant element carrying out the process, wherein the industrial automation controller is configured to control an input/output (I/O) module, a programmable controller, a communications module, a sensor, an output device, or a combination thereof, of the process; and

identify one or more data elements based on the set of search criteria and the set of sustainability factors, wherein the data elements comprise data associated with the at least one of the process, the product made by the process, the article of manufacture of the process, or the plant element carrying out the process; and

an evaluation component configured to analyze the data elements identified by the query component, wherein the evaluation component is configured to analyze the data elements by determining a sustainability score for each data element based at least in part on the set of sustainability factors associated with each data element.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of sustainability factors include at least one of a human sustainability factor, a planet sustainability factor, or a financial sustainability factor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of a user or an application assigns weight values to the set of sustainability factors and the evaluation component determines the sustainability score based on the assigned weight values.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the data elements comprise at least one of a file, a bill of materials, a specification, a website, an article of manufacture, or a database entry.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a ranking component configured to organize the analyzed data elements based at least in part on the sustainability scores determined by the evaluation component.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the ranking component is configured to perform at least one of:

organizing the data elements from most desirable sustainability score to least desirable sustainability score;

or

truncating data elements not having a sustainability score within a threshold, or organizes only a subset of the data elements.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising an interface component configured to facilitate user interaction with at least one of the query component, the evaluation component, or the ranking component.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the interface component at least one of exposes one or more interfaces for displaying at least one of the set of search criteria, sustainability factors, located data elements, sustainability scores, or organization of the data elements, or communicates at least one of the set of search criteria, the set of sustainability factors, the located data elements, the sustainability scores, or the organization of the data elements with an application or process.

9. A method for dynamic sustainability searches, comprising:

employing a processor executing computer executable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to implement the following acts;

receiving a set of search criteria and a set of sustainability factors, wherein the set of search criteria comprises at least one of a process, a product made by the process, an article of manufacture of the process, or a plant element carrying out the process, and wherein the set sustainability factors comprises measures of at least one of an environmental impact or a socio-environmental impact for the at least one of the process, the product made by the process, the article of manufacture of the process, or the plant element carrying out the process;

querying at least one store of an industrial automation controller to generate query results based on the set of search criteria and wherein the industrial automation controller is configured to control an input/output (I/O) module, a programmable controller, a communications module, a sensor, an output device, or a combination thereof, of the process;

assigning a weight to each sustainability factor of the set of sustainability factors, wherein the weight is either assigned by at least one of a user, an application, or a thread, or the weight is assigned as a default weight; and

determining a sustainability score for each query result based at least in part on the associated sustainability factors and the weights assigned to each of the sustainability factors.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sustainability factors comprise at least one of a human sustainability factor, a planet sustainability factor, or a financial sustainability factor.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the query results comprise at least one of a data element, a file, a bill of materials, a specification, a website, an article, or a database entry.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising ranking the query results based on their respective sustainability scores.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein ranking the query results further comprises at least one of ranking only query results having a sustainability score within a threshold, or ranking only a subset of the query results.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising exposing one or more interfaces to display at least one of the set of search criteria, the set of sustainability factors, the query results, the sustainability scores, or query result rankings.

15. The method claim 9, further comprising transmitting to at least one of an application, a process, or a thread at least one of the set of search criteria, the set of sustainability factors, the query results, the sustainability scores, or query result rankings.

16. A computer-implemented system facilitating dynamic sustainability searches, comprising:

means for receiving a set of search criteria and a set of sustainability factors, wherein the set of search criteria comprises at least one of a process, a product made by the process, an article of manufacture of the process, or a plant element carrying out the process, and wherein the set of sustainability factors comprises metrics for measuring at least one of an environmental impact or a socio-environmental impact for the process, product, article of manufacture, or plant element;

means for searching at least one industrial automation controller to generate query results based on the set of search and the set of sustainability factors, wherein the industrial automation controller is configured to control an input/output (I/O) module, a programmable controller, a communications module, a sensor, an output device, or a combination thereof, of the process;

means for enabling at least one of a user, an application, a thread, or a process to determine a prioritization value for each of the sustainability factors;

means for calculating a sustainability score for each query result based at least in part on the set of sustainability factors and associated prioritization values; and

means for ranking the query results based on their respective sustainability scores.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising means for at least one of exposing one or more interfaces to display at least one of the set of search criteria, the set of sustainability factors, query results, sustainability scores, or query result rankings, or communicating to at least one of an application, a process, a data store, or a thread at least one of the search criteria, the sustainability factors, the query results, the sustainability scores, or the query result rankings.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising means for automating one or more features of the system via at least one of artificial intelligence or machine learning.