Method and apparatus for managing process control configuration

• US 9,501,208 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2013
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Jundt, Larry O., Lucas, J. Michael, Lewis, Marty James
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pan, Yuhui R
• Application Number:
  US14/048,496
• Publication Number:
  US 20140100668A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,141 Days
• Field of Search: 700/11
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4188 characterised by CIM planning or realisation
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25067 Graphic configuration control system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31418 NC program management, support, storage, distribution, version, update
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31467 Display of operating conditions of machines, workcells, selected programs
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31472 Graphical display of process
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32128 Gui graphical user interface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Flexible configuration of process control systems or plants allows draft changes or modifications to be made to parent process objects, e.g., in a configuration environment, without automatically triggering corresponding instantiations and/or downloads of the parent process objects and/or their derived children objects into a run-time system. Parent objects to which draft changes are allowed may include class objects, instance objects, and/or library objects. One or more modifications to a process object may be saved as a draft, and multiple drafts for a same process object may be saved as different versions. Children objects may indicate the particular version of a parent object draft from which they are derived. A user may indicate that a particular draft or version is to be published or approved. Unpublished or unapproved drafts are prevented from being instantiated in the run-time system, whereas published or approved drafts are allowed to be instantiated.

Claims

1. A method of flexibly configuring a process plant, comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a first user input indicative of a first modification to a process object, the process object corresponding to a specific element of the process plant, and the specific element operating according to an instantiation of the process object to provide a function corresponding to one or more processes being controlled in the process plant;

modifying, by the computing device and based on the first user input, the process object to generate a first draft modified process object corresponding to the specific element;

receiving a first user indication to publish the first draft modified process object;

publishing, based on the received first user indication, the first draft modified process object to generate a first published edition of the process object, and storing the first published edition of the process object in a data storage entity coupled to the computing device;

receiving, at the computing device, a second user input indicative of a second modification to the process object, the second modification being different from the first modification;

modifying, based on the second user input, the process object to generate a second draft modified process object;

receiving a second user indication to publish the second draft modified process object;

publishing, based on the received second user indication, the second draft modified process object to generate a second published edition of the process object, and storing, in the data storage entity coupled to the computing device, the second published edition of the process object, wherein both the stored first published edition of the process object and the stored second published edition of the process object are available for instantiation into the specific element of the process plant;

receiving, at the computing device, an indication of a user selection of one of the stored first published edition of the process object or the stored second published edition of the process object; and

causing, by the computing device and based on the received user selection;

(i) the selected one of the stored first published edition of the process object or the stored second published edition of the process object to be instantiated,

(ii) the instantiation of the selected published edition of the process object to be delivered, using a communication link, to the specific element of the process plant so that the specific element operates, during run-time, according to the instantiation of the selected published edition of the process object, and

(iii) a prevention of a delivery, to the specific element of the process plant, of an instantiation of the unselected one of the stored first published edition of the process object or the stored second published edition of the process object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the process object is a child process object, and receiving the first user indication to publish the first draft modified child process object comprises receiving a user indication to publish a draft of a modification to a parent process object of the child process object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the first user indication to publish the draft of the modified parent process object comprises receiving an indication of a user selection of the draft of the modified parent process object from a plurality of draft parent process objects, wherein each draft parent process object of the plurality of draft parent process objects includes a respective modification to the parent process object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the first user indication to publish the first draft modified child process object comprises receiving an indication of a user selection of the first draft modified process object from a plurality of draft modified process objects, wherein each draft modified process object of the plurality of draft modified process objects includes a respective modification to the process object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the process object is a parent process object from which a child process object is derived;

modifying the parent process object includes propagating the first modification to the child process object to generate a first draft modified child process object; and

storing, in the data storage entity, the first draft modified child process object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the function corresponding to the one or more processes being controlled in the process plant is one of (i) a function included in a control algorithm used to control of at least a portion of the one or more processes, or (2) a function that displays information generated based on the control of the at least a portion of the one or more processes.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, a user request to compare at least two of;

the process object, the first draft modified process object, the first published edition of the process object, the second draft modified process object, or the second published edition of the process object; and

causing to be presented, at a user interface, a comparison corresponding to the user request.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the parent process object is one of a instance object or a class object.

9. The method claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, that a draft package includes a plurality of draft modified objects, the plurality of draft modified objects corresponding to a plurality of different process entities of the process plant, and the plurality of draft modified objects including the first draft modified process object;

receiving, at the computing device, a user indication to publish the draft package to generate a published package;

upon receiving the user indication to publish the draft package to generate the published package, publishing, at the computing device, at least a subset of the plurality of draft modified objects to generate a set of published modified objects corresponding to the published package, the set of published modified objects including the first published edition of the process object; and

upon generation of the set of published modified objects, causing (i) an instantiation of the set of published modified objects, and (ii) delivery of the instantiated set of published modified objects to the plurality of different process entities so that the plurality of different process entities operates during run-time according to the instantiation of the set of published modified objects to provide respective functions corresponding to the one or more processes controlled in the process plant.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the process object is a child process object derived from a parent process object; and

determining that the draft package includes the plurality of draft modified objects comprises determining that the draft package includes the first draft modified process object and at least one of;

(i) a draft of a modification to the parent process object from which the child process object is derived, (ii) another parent process object, or (iii) another child process object.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving, at the computing device, an indication of a selection of the plurality of draft modified objects.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein:

(i) the draft package is a first draft package;

(ii) the method further comprises;

receiving, at the computing device, another user input indicative of a modification to the first draft package,

modifying, by the computing device and based on the another user input, the first draft package according to the another user input, and

storing, at the data storage entity, the modified first draft package as a second draft package; and

(iii) receiving the user indication to publish the draft package to generate the published package comprises receiving a user indication to publish one of the first draft package or the second draft package to generate the published package.

13. An apparatus for flexibly configuring a process plant, comprising:

a flexible configurator communicatively coupled to one or more data storage devices and communicatively coupled to a specific element included in the process plant, the flexible configurator including computer-executable instructions stored on one or more tangible, non-transitory memories, and the computer-executable instructions being operable by one or more processors to;

receive an indication of a first user-indicated modification to a process object, the process object corresponding to the specific element of the process plant, the specific element of the process plant including an instantiation of the process object, and the instantiation of the process object causing the specific element to operate, in run-time, to provide a function pertaining to a process being controlled in the process plant;

modify, based on the indication of the first user-indicated modification, the process object to generate a first draft modified process object for the specific element;

publish the first draft modified process object to generate a first published edition of the process object, and store, in the one or more data storage devices, the first published edition of the process object;

receive an indication of a second user-indicated modification to the process object, the second user-indicated modification being different from the first user-indicated modification;

modify, based on the indication of the second user-indicated modification, the process object to generate a second draft modified process object for the specific element;

publish the second draft modified process object to generate a second published edition of the process object, and store, in the one or more data storage devices, the second published edition of the process object, wherein both the stored first published edition of the process object and the stored second published edition of the process object are available for instantiation into the specific element;

receive a user selection of one of the first published edition of the process object or the second published edition of the process object; and

cause, based on the received user selection;

(i) the selected published edition of the process object to be instantiated,

(ii) the instantiation of the selected published edition of the process object to be downloaded into the specific element so that the specific element operates during run-time according to the instantiation of the selected published edition of the process object, and

(iii) a prevention of a download, into the specific element, of an instantiation of the unselected one of the stored first published edition of the process object or the stored second published edition of the process object.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the function provided by the specific element in run-time is a function included in a control algorithm used to control the process.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the function provided by the specific element in run-time is a display function to provide, at a user interface, real-time information corresponding to control of the process in the process plant.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the process object is one of:

a class object, an instance object, or a library object.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein:

the first draft modified process object is a particular draft modified process object included in a plurality of draft modified process objects corresponding to the process object; and

the publication of the particular draft modified process object is based on a selection of the particular draft modified process object from the plurality of draft modified process objects.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the flexible configurator includes further computer-executable instructions operable by the one or more processors to:

receive a user indication to publish a draft package, the draft package including a plurality of draft process objects, the plurality of draft process objects including the first draft modified process object, and the plurality of draft process objects corresponding to a plurality of different process entities of the process plant;

upon receiving the user indication to publish the draft package,

publishing the plurality of draft process objects corresponding to the draft package to form a plurality of published process objects; and

causing the plurality of published process objects to be instantiated in the process plant.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein at least one of:

the plurality of draft process objects included in the draft package is at least partially selected by a user;

the plurality of draft process objects included in the draft package further includes a draft modified child process object having a modification propagated from a respective draft modified parent process object;

or

the user indication to publish the draft package comprises a user indication to publish a selected draft package from a plurality of draft packages.

20. A method of flexibly configuring a process plant, comprising:

receiving, via an interface of a computing device, an input indicative of a first modification to a process object, a specific element controlling one or more processes in the process plant according to an instantiation of the process object, and the specific element communicatively connected to the computing device;

modifying, by the computing device and based on the input, the process object to generate a draft modified process object;

publishing the draft modified process object to generate a first published edition of the process object;

storing, in one or more data storage devices, the first published edition of the process object in conjunction with a second published edition of the process object, the second published edition of the process object corresponding to a second modification to the process object, the second modification being different from the first modification, and both of the stored first published edition of the process object and the stored second published edition of the process object being available for instantiation into the specific element;

receiving, by the computing device, a user selection of one of the stored first published edition of the process object or the stored second published edition of the process object; and

causing, by the computing device and based on the received user selection;

(i) an instantiation of the selected one of the stored first published edition of the process object or the stored second published edition of the process object to be generated and delivered to the specific element of the process plant, the instantiation of the selected published edition of the process object in the specific element causing the specific element to control the one or more processes in the process plant according to the instantiation of the selected published edition of the process object; and

(ii) a prevention of a delivery, to the specific element of the process plant, of an instantiation of the unselected one of the stored first published edition of the process object or the stored second published edition of the process object.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the input is a first user input, and wherein the publishing of the draft modified process object is triggered based on a receipt of a second user input indicative of an approval of the draft modified process object.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein:

the input is a first input, and the draft modified process object is a first draft modified process object; and

the method further comprises;

receiving a second input indicative of the second modification to the process object;

modifying the process object to generate a second draft modified process object;

publishing the second draft modified process object to generate the second published edition of the process object; and

storing, in the one or more data storage devices, the second published edition of the process object.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the process object is a child process object derived from a parent process object, and the first modification to the child process object comprises a propagation of a modification to the parent process object.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein:

the modification to the parent process object is a first modification to the parent process object;

the second modification to the child process object comprises a propagation of a second modification to the parent process object;

receiving the user selection of the one of the stored first published edition of the child process object or the stored second published edition of the child process object comprises receiving a selection of one of a stored first published edition of the parent process object corresponding to the first modification to the parent process object or a stored second published edition of the parent process object corresponding to the second modification to the parent process object.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein receiving the input indicative of the first modification to the process object comprises receiving an indication of at least one of:

adding to a content of the process object,

deleting at least a first part of the content of the process object,

disabling the at least the first part of the content of the process object or at least a second part of the content of the process object,

enabling a disabled content of the process object,

changing a value included in the process object,

changing a reference included in the process object, or

resolving a reference included in the process object.