On-premise data collection and ingestion using industrial cloud agents

• US 9,838,476 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2014
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Maturana, Francisco P., Asenjo, Juan L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Keller, Michael A
• Application Number:
  US14/525,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20150281355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,135 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/548 Object oriented; Remote method invocation [RMI] non-remote method invocation G06F9/449
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A cloud agent facilitates collection of industrial data from one or more data sources on the plant floor and migration of the collected data to a cloud platform for storage and processing. Collection services associated with the cloud agent perform on-premise data collection of historical, live, and/or alarm data directly from industrial devices networked to the agent or from intermediate data concentrators that gather the data from the devices. Queue processing services executed by the cloud agent package the data into a data packet comprising header information that identifies a customer associated with the industrial enterprise, processing priority information, and other information that informs data processing services on the cloud platform how to process and/or direct the incoming data. The cloud agent then establishes a communication channel to the cloud platform and sends the data via the channel.

Claims

1. A cloud agent device, comprising:

a memory that stores computer-executable components;

a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the computer-executable components, the computer-executable components comprising;

a collection services component configured to receive industrial data from a data source device of an industrial enterprise and to compress the industrial data to yield a compressed data file; and

a queue processing component configured to package the compressed data file with header information based on message queuing information maintained in a message queuing data store to yield a compressed data packet and to send the compressed data packet to a cloud platform,

wherein

the queue processing component is further configured to upload manifest data to the cloud platform, the manifest data defining, for respective priority queues configured in the cloud platform, customer-specific preferences relating to processing of industrial data received at the cloud platform and assigned to the priority queues, and the customer-specific preferences defining, for the respective priority queues, at least a processing priority for the industrial data, an upload frequency for the industrial data, and a storage location within the cloud storage for the industrial data,

the industrial data contained in the compressed data packet is assigned to one of the priority queues selected based on the header information contained in the compressed data packet, and is processed by a data process service that executes on the cloud platform in accordance with the manifest data to yield processed data, and

a reporting services component on the cloud platform delivers the processed data to a client device in a defined format.

2. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the header information comprises at least one of the customer identifier, a site identifier associated with a plant facility, a virtual service engineer identifier, priority information, a message type identifier indicating a type of the industrial data, or a process identifier indicating a type of processing to be performed on the industrial data.

3. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein information contained in the header information corresponds to an identity of a subset of the manifest data to be executed on the industrial data contained in the compressed data file.

4. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the queue processing component is further configured to, in response to creation of the compressed data packet, send request data to an agent registry device residing on a registry cloud platform, and wherein the request data comprises a cloud agent identifier that identifies the queue processing component and a device identifier that identifies the cloud agent device.

5. The cloud agent device of claim 4, wherein the queue processing component is further configured to create a communication channel to the cloud platform in response to receipt of certification data from the agent registry device indicating permission for the queue processing component to exchange data with the cloud platform.

6. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the message queuing information further comprises a security setting that permits access to the cloud platform by the cloud agent device.

7. The cloud agent device of claim 1, further comprising an interface component configured to receive configuration input that sets at least one parameter of one or both of the collection services component or the queue processing component, wherein the at least one parameter comprises at least one of a type of data compression to be performed on the industrial data, a type of encryption to be performed on the industrial data, an expiration time for a communication channel between the cloud agent device and the cloud platform, or a processing priority to be associated with a specified data type.

8. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the queue processing component is further configured to store the compressed data packet on the memory in response to a determination that a communication channel between the cloud agent and the cloud platform is disabled, and to forward the compressed data packet to the cloud platform in response to a determination that the communication channel has been reestablished.

9. The cloud agent device of claim 1, wherein the message queuing information comprises at least a customer identifier associated with the industrial enterprise and priority information defining multiple priority queues maintained on the cloud platform and corresponding to respective multiple data types, the data types comprising at least an alarm data type, a historical data type, and a live data type.

10. A method for sending industrial data to a cloud platform, comprising:

uploading, by a cloud agent device comprising at least one processor, manifest data to a cloud platform device of a cloud platform, wherein the manifest data defines, for respective priority queues configured in the cloud platform, customer-specific preferences relating to processing of data received at the cloud platform device and assigned to the priority queues, and wherein the customer-specific preferences define, for the respective priority queues, at least a processing priority for the data, an upload frequency for the data, and a storage location within the cloud storage for the data;

collecting, by the cloud agent device, industrial data from a data source device of an industrial enterprise;

compressing, by the cloud agent device, the industrial data to yield a compressed data file;

appending, by the cloud agent device, the compressed data file with header information based on message queuing information maintained in a message queuing data store to yield a compressed data packet, wherein the header information identifies one of the priority queues to which the industrial data contained in the compressed data packet is to be assigned; and

sending, by the cloud agent device, the compressed data packet to the cloud platform device, wherein the sending causes the industrial data contained in the compressed data packet to be processed by a data process service that executes on the cloud platform in accordance with a subset of the manifest data associated with the one of the priority queues to yield processed data, and wherein the processed data is sent to a client device in a defined format.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing association data in the message queuing data store, wherein the association data associates the multiple priority queues with the respective data types.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the appending the header information comprises appending at least one of a customer identifier, a site identifier associated with a plant facility, a virtual service engineer identifier, priority information, a message type identifier indicating a type of the industrial data, or a process identifier indicating a type of processing to be performed on the industrial data.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the header information identifies the subset of the manifest data to be retrieved by the data process service in the cloud platform and executed on the industrial data contained in the compressed data packet.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising, in response to generation of the compressed data packet, sending request data to an agent registry device located on a registry cloud platform, wherein the request data comprises a cloud agent identifier that identifies a cloud agent instance executing on the cloud agent device and a device identifier that identifies a hardware platform on which the cloud agent instance executes.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, by the cloud agent device, certification data from the agent registry device; and

in response to receiving the certification data, establishing, by the cloud agent device, a communication channel to the cloud platform.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the message queuing information comprises at least a customer identifier associated with the industrial enterprise and priority information defining the priority queues maintained on a cloud platform, and wherein the priority queues are associated with respective data types comprising at least an alarm data type, a historical data type, and a live data type.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a cloud agent device comprising a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

uploading manifest data to a cloud platform device of a cloud platform, wherein the manifest data defines, for respective priority queues configured on the cloud platform, customer-specific preferences relating to processing of data received at the cloud platform device and assigned to the priority queues, and wherein the customer-specific preferences define, for the respective priority queues, at least a processing priority for the data, an upload frequency for the data, and a storage location within the cloud storage for the data;

receiving industrial data from a data source device associated with an industrial enterprise;

compressing the industrial data to generate a compressed data file;

packaging the compressed data file with header information retrieved from a message queuing data store based on a type of the industrial data to yield a compressed data packet, wherein the header information identifies one of the priority queues to which the industrial data contained in the compressed data packet is to be assigned; and

sending the compressed data packet to the cloud platform device, wherein the sending causes the industrial data contained in the compressed data packet to be processed by a data process service that executes on the cloud platform in accordance with a subset of the manifest data associated with the one of the priority queues to yield processed data, and wherein the processed data is sent to a client device in a defined format.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

in response to creation of the compressed data packet, sending request data to an agent registry device that executes on a registry cloud platform, wherein the request data comprises a cloud agent identifier that identifies a cloud agent instance executing on the cloud agent device and a device identifier that identifies a hardware platform on which the cloud agent instance executes; and

in response to receiving certification data from the agent registry device, creating a communication channel to the cloud platform.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the packaging the compressed data file with the header information comprises appending, to the compressed data file, at least one of a site identifier associated with a plant facility, a virtual service engineer identifier, a message type identifier indicating a type of the industrial data, or a process identifier indicating a type of processing to be performed on the industrial data.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising, in response to generation of the compressed data packet, sending request data to an agent registry device located on a registry cloud platform, wherein the request data comprises a cloud agent identifier that identifies a cloud agent instance executing on the cloud agent device and a device identifier that identifies a hardware platform on which the cloud agent instance executes.