Modular control manifest generator for cloud automation

• US 10,740,293 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2019
• Issued: 08/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Maturana, Francisco P., Cherpakov, Alexander B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Justin S
• Application Number:
  US16/592,376
• Publication Number:
  US 20200034337A1
• Time in Patent Office: 313 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 19/4185 characterised by the network communication
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31457 Factory remote control, monitoring through internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/164 File meta data generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/168 Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs query results presentation G06F16/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A manifest generation system generates a system model for a cloud computing architecture. The system generates the system model in the form of system, data, and metrics manifests that act as an information concentrator for configuring various aspects of data ingestion and data management. The manifest generation system leverages both information extracted from industrial devices, applications, and programs that make up physical industrial automation systems, as well as user selections identifying which data tags are to be collected, specifying data collection preferences, etc. In this way, manifest data for configuring cloud-level data monitoring and collection is mapped to the automation and control system configurations via information extracted from the system-level topology. This approach can automate and simplify aspects of the cloud-based data collection configuration process.

Claims

1. A system for configuring data collection for an industrial system, comprising:

a memory that stores executable components;

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

a device interface component configured to

identify a subset of available data tags defined in an industrial control program file that have data types enabling data collection, and

extract, from the industrial controller program file, data tag information that identifies the subset of the available data tags that have the data types enabling data collection;

a user interface component configured to receive tag selection data that selects data tags, from the subset of the available data tags, to be collected from one or more industrial devices by a cloud-based industrial data collection system; and

a manifest generation component configured to generate manifest data based on the tag selection input data, wherein the manifest data configures a cloud-based data collection system to collect data from the data tags.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the manifest data is at least one of system manifest data that defines the one or more industrial devices on which the data tags reside or data manifest data that defines data collection points corresponding to the data tags.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a sub-system of a control program development application used to create the industrial controller program file.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface component is configured to generate, on a client device, an interface display that renders the subset of the available data tags that have the data types enabling data collection, and to receive the tag selection data via interaction with the interface display.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the interface display comprises a first window that displays the subset of the available data tags that have the data types enabling data collection and a second window that displays the data tags selected to be collected from the one or more industrial devices by the cloud-based data collection system.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein

the interface display is configured to receive, via interaction with the interface display, tag organization data that defines one or more user-defined folders and assigns respective data tags, of the data tags, to the one or more user-defined folders,

the manifest generation component is configured to create a hierarchical model based on an organization of the user-defined folders and assignment of the respective data tags to the user-defined folders, and

the hierarchical model is usable by the cloud-based data collection system for at least one of an analytic service or a reporting service.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein

the device interface component is further configured to extract, from the industrial controller program file, scan period information defined in the industrial controller program file for a data tag of the data tags, and

the manifest generation component is configured to generate the manifest data to include the scan period information for the data tag.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the manifest generation component is further configured to generate, based on metrics definition input received via the user interface component, metrics manifest data that configures the cloud-based industrial data collection system to perform a defined data processing action on the data from the data tags.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the metrics manifest data defines one or more generic procedures to be executed on the data from the data tags and one or more parameters to be passed to the one or more generic procedures.

10. The system of claim 8, the metrics manifest data configures the cloud-based data collection system to perform the defined data processing action on two or more data sets having respective different data formats.

11. A method for configuring data collection for an industrial system, comprising:

extracting, by a system comprising a processor, data tag information from an industrial controller program that defines available data tags, wherein the data tag information identifies a subset of the available data tags that have data types enabling cloud-based data collection;

receiving, by the system, tag selection data that selects data tags, from the subset of the available data tags, to be collected from one or more industrial devices by a cloud-based data collection system; and

generating, by the system, manifest data based on the tag selection data, wherein the manifest data configures the cloud-based data collection system to collect data from the data tags.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the generating comprises generating at least one of system manifest data that defines the one or more industrial devices on which the data tags reside or data manifest data that defines data collection points corresponding to the data tags.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving the tag selection data comprises:

rendering, on a client device, an interface display that displays the subset of the available data tags that have the data types enabling cloud-based data collection, and

receiving the tag selection data via interaction with the interface display.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the rendering the interface display comprises:

rendering a first window that displays the subset of the available data tags that have the data types enabling cloud-based data collection, and

rendering a second window that displays the data tags selected to be collected from the from one or more industrial devices by the cloud-based data collection system.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the system via interaction with the interface display, tag organization data that defines one or more user-defined folders and assigns respective data tags, of the data tags, to the one or more user-defined folders; and

creating, by the system, a hierarchical model based on an organization of the user-defined folders and assignment of the respective data tags to the user-defined folders,

wherein the hierarchical model is usable by the cloud-based data collection system for at least one of an analytic service or a reporting service.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising extracting, by the system from the industrial controller program, scan period information defined in the industrial controller program for a data tag of the data tags,

wherein the generating comprises generating the manifest data to include the scan period information for the data tag.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating, by the system based on metrics definition input, metrics manifest data that configures the cloud-based data collection system to perform a defined data processing procedure on the data from the data tags.

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

generating data tag information based on analysis of an industrial controller program file, wherein the data tag information identifies available data tags defined in the industrial controller program file;

identifying a subset of the available data tags that have data types indicating eligibility for cloud-based data collection;

receiving tag selection data that selects data tags, from the subset of the available data tags, to be collected from one or more industrial devices by a cloud-based data collection system; and

generating manifest data based on the tag selection data, wherein the manifest data configures the cloud-based data collection system to collect data from the data tags.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the generating comprises generating at least one of system manifest data that defines the one or more industrial devices on which the data tags reside or data manifest data that defines data collection points corresponding to the data tags.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the receiving the tag selection data comprises:

rendering, on a client device, an interface display that displays the subset of the available data tags that have the data types indicating eligibility for cloud-based data collection, and

receiving the tag selection data via interaction with the interface display.