System and method for cloud computing

• US 9,218,000 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2009
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: McLaughlin, Paul F., Burd, Matthew G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): CELANI, NICHOLAS P
• Application Number:
  US12/416,830
• Publication Number:
  US 20100257227A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,456 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0264 Control of logging system, e.g. decision on which data to store; time-stamping measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A system includes a computing cloud having at least one data storage unit and at least one processing unit. The computing cloud is configured to receive information associated with at least one process collected by an industrial tool, archive the process-related information, analyze the process-related information, and instruct a client device on a type of data to be cached by the client device. §The industrial tool could include a sensor configured to collect data associated with industrial equipment. Also, the client device may be associated with a local environment, the sensor may be configured to capture sensor readings at a specified interval, and the local environment may be configured to use a subset of the sensor readings. The client device can be configured to provide all of the sensor readings to the computing cloud.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a computing cloud comprising (i) at least one data storage unit comprising at least one memory device configured to store instructions and (ii) at least one computer processing unit configure to execute the instructions, wherein the computing cloud is configured to;

receive process-related data collected by a local environment, the process-related data associated with at least one process and collected by an industrial tool in an industrial plant;

archive the process-related data;

analyze the process-related data collected by the local environment to determine the data needed for an immediate operation of the local environment; and

instruct a client device associated with the local environment to store a subset of the data based on the analysis of the process-related data from the local environment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the industrial tool comprises a sensor configured to collect data associated with industrial equipment.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the sensor is configured to capture sensor readings at a specified interval, the local environment is configured to use a subset of the sensor readings, and the client device is configured to provide all of the sensor readings to the computing cloud.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing cloud is configured to provide trend displays, alarms, event summaries, and event archives based on the process-related data to the client device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing cloud is configured to allow the client device to connect to the computing cloud through a Service Oriented Architecture.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing cloud is configured to aggregate data from a plurality of client devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the computing cloud is configured to support a partition model with at least a first part of the data stored in the client and a second part of the data stored in the computing cloud; and

the computing cloud is configured to determine whether each of the first part and the second part is stored in the client or the computing cloud according to a location of the data, the location comprising one of the computing cloud and the client.

21. The system of claim 2, wherein the sensor is configured to measure one or more operational conditions of an automated factory.

8. A method comprising:

obtaining, using a computing cloud comprising at least one memory device storing instructions executed by at least one computer processing unit, data associated with at least one process tool from a client, wherein the at least one process tool comprises at least one sensor in an industrial plant and used to collect the data;

storing the data related to the at least one process tool in the computing cloud;

analyzing the data related to the at least one process tool to determine the data needed for an immediate operation of the process tool;

instructing the client, based on the analysis, to cache a subset of the data;

caching, by the client, the subset of the data that is obtained by the process tool according to the instructing; and

providing access to the data associated with the at least one process tool in the computing cloud through a secure connection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the computing cloud receives data from a plurality of clients and uses the data from the clients in performance benchmarking.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the computing cloud instructs the client to cache the data by caching a subset of sensor readings produced by the at least one sensor and to provide all of the sensor readings to the computing cloud.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

aggregating, with a local collector, data from a plurality of clients in diverse geographic areas, the aggregated data collected by the computing cloud, wherein the obtained data from the at least one process tool from the client is part of the aggregated data.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the secure connection is a file transfer protocol secure connection.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the data comprises data associated with at least one of temperature and vibration of the at least one process tool.

14. An apparatus comprising:

at least one data storage unit comprising at least one memory device configured to store (i) data associated with at least one industrial tool within an industrial plant in a computing cloud and (ii) instructions; and

at least one computer processing unit configured to execute the instructions in order to;

control connections between the computing cloud and at least one client;

record data from the at least one client;

analyze the data from the at least one client to determine the data needed for an immediate operation of the at least one client; and

instruct the at least one client, based on the analysis, to cache a subset of the data;

wherein the at least one client is configured to cache the subset of the data that is obtained by the industrial tool according to the instructing.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one computer processing unit is configured to instruct the at least one client on the data to be cached by instructing the at least one client to cache the subset of data captured by the at least one client.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one memory device is configured to store all of the data captured by the at least one client.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, where the apparatus is configured to connect to the at least one client through a secure connection.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the secure connection is a file transfer protocol secure connection.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the data associated with the at least one industrial tool comprises at least one of temperature and vibration data associated with the at least one process tool.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is configured to allow the at least one client to connect to the computing cloud through a Service Oriented Architecture.