Systems and methods to provide customized release notes during a software system upgrade of a process control system

• US 8,898,660 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2008
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Hieb, Brandon, Denison, David R., Ramachandran, Ram, Fellows, Hubbard
• Primary Examiner(s): Nahar, Qamrun
• Application Number:
  US12/323,007
• Publication Number:
  US 20100131939A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,191 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/73 Program documentation

Abstract

An example customized documentation generation apparatus is disclosed that generates documents relevant to a software update/upgrade of a particular process control system. A notes instrumentation module instruments general release notes for at least one of an update or an upgrade of a process control system to correlate the release notes with a general process control system configuration to produce instrumented notes. An upgrade assessment module determines configuration information for a particular process control system to provide default filter settings. An items of interest filter applies the default filter settings for the particular process control system to the instrumented notes to filter the instrumented notes and produce custom release notes for the particular process control system. The custom release notes are provided to a user to alert the user regarding potential effects of the update/upgrade on the particular process control system.

Claims

1. A method for customizing documentation for software updates or upgrades for a process control system, comprising:

compiling general release notes for at least one of an update or an upgrade of a process control system;

instrumenting the general release notes to correlate the release notes with a general process control system to produce instrumented notes;

providing a predictive assessment of risk associated with the at least one of an update or an upgrade for a particular process control system in advance of installation of the at least one of an update or an upgrade on the particular process control system by matching configuration information for the particular process control system with the instrumented notes to filter the instrumented notes, associate a risk in the instrumented notes for the at least one of an update or an upgrade with a corresponding component of the particular process control system, and produce customized notes for the particular process control system; and

providing the customized notes to a user of the particular process control system in conjunction with the at least one of an update or an upgrade to alert the user regarding potential effects of the at least one of an update or an upgrade on the particular process control system.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising compiling knowledge base articles and instrumenting the knowledge base articles with the general release notes to produce the instrumented notes.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises user configuration information, installed third party application information, and current software version information.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising filtering the customized notes based on manual user refinement.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising transmitting at least one of an update or an upgrade for a process control system with the instrumented notes.

6. A method as defined in claim 5, further comprising matching the configuration information for the particular process control system with the instrumented notes to filter the instrumented notes and produce customized notes for the particular process control system upon initiation of installation of the at least one of an update or an upgrade at the particular process control system.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein providing further comprises generating a graphical user interface wizard to guide the user through installation of the at least one of an update or an upgrade and review of the customized notes at the particular process control system.

8. A customized documentation generation apparatus for generating documents relevant to a software update or upgrade of a particular process control system, comprising:

a processor configured to implement;

a notes instrumentation module instrumenting general release notes for at least one of an update or an upgrade of a process control system to correlate the release notes with a general process control system configuration to produce instrumented notes;

an upgrade assessment module providing a predictive assessment of risk associated with the at least one of an update or an upgrade for a particular process control system in advance of installation of the at least one of an update or an upgrade on the particular process control system by determining configuration information for a particular process control system to provide default filter settings; and

an items of interest filter applying the default filter settings for the particular process control system to the instrumented notes to filter the instrumented notes, associate a risk in the instrumented notes for the at least one of an update or an upgrade with a corresponding component of the particular process control system, and produce custom release notes for the particular process control system, the items of interest filter providing the custom release notes to a user of the particular process control system in conjunction with the at least one of an update or an upgrade to alert the user regarding potential effects of the at least one of an update or an upgrade on the particular process control system.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the notes instrumentation module instruments one or more knowledge base articles with the general release notes to produce the instrumented notes.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the configuration information comprises user configuration information, installed third party application information, and current software version information.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, further comprising custom filter settings provided by a user for the particular process control system, the items of interest filter applying the custom filter settings to the instrumented notes in conjunction with the default filter settings to produce custom release notes for the particular process control system.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the items of interest filter modifies the default filter settings based on the custom filter settings and filters the instrumented notes to produce custom release notes for the particular process control system.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the notes instrumentation module transmits the at least one of an update or an upgrade for a process control system to a user of the particular process control system along with the instrumented notes.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the items of interest filter filters the instrumented notes based on the default filter settings for the particular process control system to produce customized notes for the particular process control system upon initiation of installation of the at least one of an update or an upgrade at the particular process control system.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, further comprising a graphical user interface wizard guiding the user through installation of the at least one of an update or an upgrade and review of the customized notes at the particular process control system.

16. A graphical user interface wizard gathering master release notes and knowledge base articles related to at least one of a process control system software update or a process control system software upgrade, transforming the master release notes and knowledge base articles into custom release notes for a particular process control system implementation, and providing the custom release notes for user review, the graphical user interface wizard comprising a processor to implement:

a notes instrumentation module instrumenting the master release notes and knowledge base articles relating to the at least one of a process control system software update or a process control system software upgrade to correlate the mater release notes with a general process control system configuration to produce instrumented notes;

an upgrade assessment module providing a predictive assessment of risk associated with the at least one of an update or an upgrade for a particular process control system in advance of installation of the at least one of an update or an upgrade on the particular process control system by determining configuration information for the particular process control system implementation to provide default filter settings; and

an items of interest filter applying the default filter settings for the particular process control system implementation to the instrumented notes to filter the instrumented notes, associate a risk in the instrumented notes for the at least one of an update or an upgrade with a corresponding component of the particular process control system, and produce custom release notes for the particular process control system, the items of interest filter providing the custom release notes to a user of the particular process control system in conjunction with the at least one of a process control system software update or a process control system software upgrade to alert the user regarding potential effects of the at least one of a process control system software update or a process control system software upgrade on the particular process control system.

17. A graphical user interface wizard as defined in claim 16, wherein the configuration information comprises user configuration information, installed third party application information, and current software version information.

18. A graphical user interface wizard as defined in claim 16, further comprising custom filter settings provided by a user for the particular process control system, the items of interest filter applying the custom filter settings to the instrumented notes in conjunction with the default filter settings to produce custom release notes for the particular process control system implementation.

19. A graphical user interface wizard as defined in claim 16, wherein the items of interest filter modifies the default filter settings based on the custom filter settings and filters the instrumented notes to produce custom release notes for the particular process control system implementation.

20. A graphical user interface wizard as defined in claim 16, wherein the items of interest filter filters the instrumented notes based on the default filter settings for the particular process control system to produce customized notes for the particular process control system implementation upon initiation of installation of the at least one of a process control system software update or a process control system software upgrade at the particular process control system.

21. A machine accessible medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:

compile general release notes for at least one of an update or an upgrade of a process control system;

instrument the general release notes to correlate the release notes with a general process control system to produce instrumented notes;

provide a predictive assessment of risk associated with the at least one of an update or an upgrade for a particular process control system in advance of installation of the at least one of an update or an upgrade on the particular process control system by matching configuration information for the particular process control system with the instrumented notes to filter the instrumented notes, associate a risk in the instrumented notes for the at least one of an update or an upgrade with a corresponding component of the particular process control system, and produce customized notes for the particular process control system; and

provide the customized notes to a user of the particular process control system in conjunction with the at least one of an update or an upgrade to alert the user regarding potential effects of the at least one of an update or an upgrade on the particular process control system.

22. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 21, further comprising instructions that, when executed filtering the customized notes based on manual user refinement.

23. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 21, further comprising instructions that, when executed, generate a graphical user interface wizard to guide the user through installation of the at least one of an update or an upgrade and review of the customized notes at the particular process control system.