Reliable messaging instruction

• US 20060209868A1
• Filed: 02/25/2005
• Published: 09/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Callaghan, David M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,706,895 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/428
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

The subject invention provides reliable messaging with and within a control environment. The systems and methods utilize a message broker that facilitates message exchange. The message broker can be located within an industrial controller, as a dedicated entity within a control environment and/or an entity external to the control environment. Messages transmitted from an industrial controller and/or the external entity can be routed through the message broker prior to reaching a destination, wherein the message can be stored in the message broker and subsequently obtained by a recipient. The message broker decouples the message sender (e.g., an industrial controller, an external entity . . . ) from the message recipient (e.g., an industrial controller, an external entity . . . ) such that messages can be successfully transmitted (to the message broker) regardless of a state of the recipient, and messages can be retrieved (from the message broker) regardless of a state of the sender.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates reliable messaging with a control environment, comprising:

a component that transmits messages for an industrial controller; and

a broker that receives and stores the messages independent of a state of a recipient of the message, and the recipient obtains the messages from the broker.

2. The system of claim 1, the recipient is one of a second industrial controller, a robot, a state machine, a subscriber to the broker, a database, a server, a client, an integration server, a business system, a business application, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), a Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and a Machine Control (MC) system.

3. The system of claim 1, the broker is located in one of the industrial controller that transmitted the messages, a second industrial controller, a dedicated entity within the control environment and an entity external to the control environment.

4. The system of claim 1, the broker decouples the industrial controller from the recipient by enabling the industrial controller to transmit the messages when the recipient is unavailable to receive the messages.

5. The system of claim 1, the broker decouples the industrial controller from the recipient by enabling the recipient to obtain the messages when the industrial controller is unavailable.

6. The system of claim 1, the broker dynamically morphs to adjust its message storage capacity based on a number and/or a size of received messages.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a security mechanism that authorizes message posting to the broker and message retrieval from the broker.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component that notifies the industrial controller that the messages were successfully stored in the broker.

9. The system of claim 8, the component further notifies the recipient that the messages are available from the broker.

10. The system of claim 9, the notification is one of an event, a broadcast, a multicast, and a unicast.

11. The system of claim 1, the messages stored in the broker are at least one of read, extracted, removed and modified by the recipient.

12. The system of claim 1, the industrial controller is one of a soft and a hard industrial controller.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component that obtains messages for the industrial controller from the broker, the messages are provided by at least one entity external from the control environment.

14. The system of claim 13, the external entity is one of a robot, a state machine, a subscriber to the broker, a database, a server, a client, an integration server, a business system, a business application, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), a Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and a Machine Control (MC) system.

15. The system of claim 1, the broker is at least one of volatile and non-volatile storage within the industrial controller.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component that manages the messages stored within the broker.

17. A system that provides reliable messaging with a control environment, comprising:

a reliable message application that facilitates data exchange for an industrial controller; and

a message manager that instantiates an instance of the reliable message application upon receiving a message to transmit to an entity, the instance establishes a connection with a broker and delivers the message to the broker.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a component that determines a location of the broker.

19. The system of claim 18, the location is one of an IP address, a hostname, a link and a path to the broker.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising a component that determines a location of the reliable message application.

21. The system of claim 20, the location is one of a URL, a link and a path to the reliable message application.

22. The system of claim 17, the message is conveyed to the message manager through a standard input port.

23. The system of claim 17, further comprising a component that notifies the industrial controller that the message was delivered to the broker.

24. The system of claim 23, the notification is conveyed to the industrial controller through a standard output port.

25. The system of claim 17, the message manager instantiates the instance to retrieve data from the broker.

26. The system of claim 25, the data is one of a message, an application, an instruction, control logic, an intelligent agent, a program, a routine, firmware, a patch, diagnostics, a parameter, a variable, an input, and an output.

27. The system of claim 17, the message is one of an instruction, control data, a history log, an error log, and a configuration.

28. A TCP/IP component that executes the system of claim 17.

29. A method that facilitates reliable messaging with a control environment, comprising:

transmitting a message from a controller to a recipient;

routing the message to a broker; and

storing the message in the broker when the recipient is unavailable, the recipient obtains the message from the broker.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising incorporating the broker in one of the controller, a second controller and a dedicated entity within the control environment.

31. The method of claim 29, the recipient is one of a second controller and an entity located external to the control environment.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising obtaining data for the controller from the broker, the data is provided to the broker from one of another controller and an entity located external to the control environment.

33. The method of claim 32, the data is one of a message, an application, an instruction, control logic, an intelligent agent, a program, a routine, firmware, a patch, diagnostics, a parameter, a variable, an input, and an output.

34. The method of claim 29, further comprising employing an instance of a reliable messaging application to facilitate at least one of establishing a connection with the broker, delivering the message to the broker, and retrieving a message from the broker.

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising utilizing standard I/O for one of invoking delivery of the message to the broker and retrieving at least one of a message and an application from the broker for the controller.

36. A system that facilitates reliable messaging with a control system, comprising:

means for storing communications between an industrial controller and an entity within a broker residing in the control system; and

means for retrieving the communications independent an availability of the industrial controller and the entity.