PRIORITIZATION ASSOCIATED WITH CONTROLLER ENGINE INSTANCES

• US 20080208363A1
• Filed: 04/10/2007
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Govindaraj, Subbian, Staron, Raymond J., Hall, Kenwood H., Kretschmann, Robert J., Rischar, Charles M., Grgic, Richard J., Vasko, David A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,797,060 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/2
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25229 Partition control software among distributed controllers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or method that facilitates management within an industrial environment. A controller can execute with a real-time operating system such that the controller can include two or more controller engine instances executing as processes on the controller. A partition component can organize one or more controller engine instances based upon priority data corresponding to controller engine instance priority in relation with the industrial environment.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates employing hierarchical priorities within an industrial environment, comprising:

a controller that executes with a real-time operating system such that the controller can include two or more controller engine instances executing as processes on the controller; and

a partition component that organizes one or more controller engine instances based upon priority data corresponding to controller engine instance priority in relation with the industrial environment.

2. The system of claim 1, the priority data is provided by at least one of a user, an entity, a group, a facility, an enterprise, a business, a factory, a collection of machines, a collection of computers, a collection of users, a programmer, a machine, a computer, a disparate industrial environment, a third-party, the Internet, a network, or a disparate network not affiliated with the industrial environment.

3. The system of claim 1, the priority data is based upon a portion of criteria related to at least one controller data, a make of a controller, a revision of the controller, a model of a controller, a type of controller, a brand of a controller, a vendor of a controller, an age of a controller, a controller physical location, a controller functionality, a functionality of a portion of the industrial environment, controller engine instance data, a host controller, a processor resource related to a host controller, a controller engine instance functionality, a controller engine instance priority, a controller engine instance creation data, or a controller engine instance age data.

4. The system of claim 1, the priority data is based upon a portion of criteria related to at least one of a code functionality within the industrial environment, a programming code language, load distribution data, installation data, a physical location, a hierarchical structure, user defined data, automatically created priority data based on an evaluation of an industrial environment, or priority data generated based on a user evaluation.

5. The system of claim 1, the priority data is related to at least one of program association, application type, location, geography, batch process relation, hardware type, proximity, a user preference/need, load distribution, user-defined prioritization, code association, an industrial automation process step, a potential affect of the segmentation, a cost of equipment, a preventative maintenance, a business analysis, a replacement cost, a product quality, a profit analysis, a safety within the environment, an independency relationship, or a dependency relationship.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a distributed controller engine instance that concurrently executes on a portion the controller and a portion of a disparate controller within the industrial automation environment.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an importance identifier component that ascertains two or more hierarchical priority rankings within the industrial environment based upon an evaluation of the environment to generate priority data.

8. The system of claim 7, the importance identifier component employs memberships within the two or more hierarchical priority rankings based upon the evaluation for at least one of the controller engine instance, a controller, a device, a portion of a process, a portion of an application, a portion of data, or a distributed controller engine instance.

9. The system of claim 8, the partition component enables at least one of a manipulation or approval of at least one of the membership or hierarchical priority ranking.

10. The system of claim 9, the at least one of manipulation or approval is employed by at least one of a user, a machine, a group, a facility, or the Internet.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a balance component that allocates a load related to the industrial environment to at least one of a controller or a controller engine instance.

12. The system of claim 11, the partition component organizes the controller engine instance based upon a portion of the allocation implemented by the balance component.

13. The system of claim 1, the partition component groups a controller engine instance within the industrial environment based upon a hierarchical representation of devices, the hierarchical representation of devices is based at least in part upon one of a proprietary standard or an industry standard which can be at least one of ISA S95, or ISA S88.

14. The system of claim 13, the hierarchical representation is based at least in part upon the partitioning utilized by the balance component.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a security component that defines at least one of a security level, an authorization, or a privilege that corresponds to at least one the controller engine instance or the controller engine instance priority.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a search component that facilitates querying data associated with at least one of the controller, the controller engine instance, the controller engine instance priority, or data related to the industrial automation environment.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising a log component that tracks data related to at least one of the controller, the controller engine instance, or the controller engine instance priority.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising a bridge component that provides a first network protocol utilized to carry data from the partition component and configures the data for transmittal over a second network protocol.

19. The system of claim 18, the bridge component bridges multiple communication networks.

20. The system of claim 18, the first network protocol is one of Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), Fieldbus, Profibus, Hart, Modbus, ASI-bus, or Foundation Fieldbus.

21. The system of claim 20, the second network protocol is at least one of Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), Fieldbus, Profibus, Hart, Modbus, ASI-bus, or Foundation Fieldbus.

22. A method that facilitates prioritizing an industrial environment, comprising:

employing a controller with a real time operating system in an industrial environment;

executing at least one or more controller engine instances on the controller, the controller engine instance executes as a process on the controller;

utilizing at least one controller engine instance to manage at least one of a device or a portion of a process within the industrial environment; and

partitioning the industrial environment based upon priority to establish a hierarchy of importance therewith.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

evaluating the industrial environment to identify two or more degrees of priority;

organizing the industrial environment into at least two or more groups based upon the evaluation; and

enforcing isolation between each group, each group includes distinct execution space within the industrial environment.

24. The method of claim 22, the priority is based upon a portion of criteria related to at least one controller data, a make of a controller, a model of a controller, a type of controller, a brand of a controller, a vendor of a controller, an age of a controller, a controller physical location, a controller functionality, a functionality of a portion of the industrial environment, controller engine instance data, a host controller, a processor resource related to a host controller, a controller engine instance functionality, a controller engine instance priority, a controller engine instance creation data, or a controller engine instance age data.

25. A computer-implemented system that facilitates employing hierarchical priorities within an industrial environment, comprising:

means for employing a controller within an industrial environment, the controller includes a real time operating system;

means for executing two or more controller engine instances as processes on the controller; and

means for organizing one or more controller engine instances based upon priority data corresponding to controller engine instance priority in relation with the industrial environment.