Graphical interface for display of assets in an asset management system

• US 9,665,433 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2015
• Issued: 05/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Grewal, Ardaman Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): Iwarere, Seye
• Application Number:
  US14/708,125
• Publication Number:
  US 20150242286A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 705 29, 705 28, 700 83
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/05 Programmable logic controllers, e.g. simulating logic interconnections of signals according to ladder diagrams or function charts
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/418 Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31396 Business management, production, document, asset, regulatory management, high level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• 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: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or method that facilitates employing a graphical user interface to monitor and/or manage an asset within an industrial environment. A graphical user interface can facilitate asset management including a first field that provides a user with a hierarchical representation of assets within an industrial environment. The graphical user interface can further include a second field that displays available management functionality associated with an asset selected within the first field.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores instructions; and

a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the instructions to perform operations, comprising;

receiving, via interaction with a display of a location-based hierarchical representation of asset devices within an industrial environment, input data that selects an asset device of the asset devices, wherein the location-based hierarchical representation comprises nodes representing at least areas of the industrial environment and sections within the areas;

displaying, in response to receipt of the input data, a graphical representation of the asset device, wherein the graphical representation comprises a geographic map identifying a location of the asset device within the industrial environment;

in response to receipt, via interaction with the geographic map, of selection input that identifies the asset device, displaying a set of asset management functions that are available to be performed on the asset device, wherein the displaying comprises rendering at least one of the set of asset management functions accessible during a first daily time period and inaccessible during a second daily time period; and

in response to receiving selection data that selects a node of the location-based hierarchical representation representing one of the areas, initiating performance of backup operations on a subset of the asset devices associated with the one of the areas.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the assets comprise at least one of a programmable logic controller, one or more industrial control programs available for execution on the programmable logic controller, a hardware asset executing software, or a hardware asset with installed firmware.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of asset management functions is determined based on a type of the one of the asset devices and a current state of the one of the asset devices.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of asset management functions comprise at least one of an archive operation, a backup operation, a firmware update operation, a software update operation, or a validation operation.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise, in response to selection of a validation function of the set of asset management functions, performing a validation operation on the one of the asset devices.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying a modification to the assets comprising at least one of an addition of a new asset device, removal of one of the asset devices, or modification of one of the asset devices;

creating a record of the modification in a data repository; and

displaying the record of the modification via the display.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the displaying further comprises displaying at least one of the set of asset management functions based on a user identity.

7. A method, comprising:

displaying, by a system comprising a processor, a location-based hierarchical representation of asset devices within an industrial enterprise, wherein the location-based hierarchical representation comprises nodes corresponding to at least areas within the industrial environment and sections within the areas;

receiving, by the system, first input data via interaction with the location-based hierarchical representation, wherein the first input data identifies an asset device of the asset devices;

in response to the receiving the first input data, displaying, by the system, a graphical representation of the asset device, wherein the graphical representation comprises a geographic map indicating a location of the asset device within the industrial enterprise;

in response to receipt of second input data identifying a selected asset device, of the asset devices, displaying a set of asset management functions that are available to be performed on the selected asset device, wherein the displaying comprises determining the set of asset management functions to be displayed based on a time of day; and

in response to receiving third input data identifying one of the nodes of the location-based hierarchical representation corresponding to one of the areas, executing, by the system, backup operations on a set of asset devices associated with the one of the areas.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the displaying the hierarchical representation comprises displaying a representation of at least one of an industrial controller, one or more programs available for execution on the industrial controller, a hardware asset executing software, or a hardware asset with installed firmware.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the displaying the set of asset management functions comprises determining the set of asset management functions to be displayed based on at least one of a type of the selected asset device or a current state of the selected asset device.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the displaying the set of asset management functions comprises displaying at least one of an archive function, a backup function, a firmware update function, a software update function, or a validation function.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining the set of asset management functions to be displayed further based on a user identity.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising, in response to receiving fourth input data selecting a validation function of the set of asset management functions, executing a validation operation on the selected asset device.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying an alteration to the asset devices, wherein the alteration comprises at least one of an addition of a new asset device, removal of one of the asset devices, or modification of one of the asset devices;

generating a record of the modification in a data repository; and

displaying the record of the modification via the hierarchical representation.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, in response to execution by a system including a processor, cause the system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving, via interaction with a display of a location-based hierarchical representation of asset devices within an industrial environment, first input data that selects an asset device of the asset devices, wherein the location-based hierarchical representation comprises nodes representing at least areas of the industrial environment and sections within the areas;

displaying, based on the first input data, a graphical representation of the asset device, wherein the graphical representation comprises a geographic map identifying a location of the asset within the industrial environment;

in response to receipt of second input data identifying a selected asset device, of the asset devices, displaying a set of asset management functions that are available to be performed on the selected asset device, wherein the displaying comprises determining the set of asset management functions to be displayed based on a time of day; and

in response to receiving third input data that selects a node of the location-based hierarchical representation corresponding to one of the areas, performing backup operations on multiple asset devices, of the asset devices, located within the one of the areas.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying a modification to the asset devices comprising at least one of an addition of a new asset device, removal of one of the asset devices, or modification of one of the asset devices;

creating a record of the modification in a data repository; and

displaying the record of the modification via the display.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the asset devices comprise at least one of an industrial controller, one or more programs available for execution on the industrial controller, a hardware asset executing software, or a hardware asset with installed firmware.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising, in response to receiving fourth input data selecting one of the asset devices, displaying a set of asset management functions that are available to be performed on the one of the asset devices.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the displaying the set of asset management functions further comprises determining the set of asset management functions to be displayed based on a user identity.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising, in response to receiving fourth input data selecting a validation function of the set of asset management functions, executing a validation operation on the selected asset device.