INDUSTRIAL CONTROL METADATA ENGINE

• US 20090300021A1
• Filed: 05/27/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Kalan, Michael D., Govindaraj, Subbian, Staron, Raymond J., Hall, Kenwood H., D'Mura, Paul R., Rischar, Charles Martin, Jasper, Taryl J., Kretschmann, Robert J., Vasko, David A., Liberman, Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 9,798,319 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41845 characterised by system universality, reconfigurability, modularity
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31134 PCD profinet component description, field device description module
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

In an industrial control setting, different components can have information that can be valuable to various entities, such as other components, technicians, and the like. A decision can be made as to what information should be available to entities and a determination can be made if the information should be published in a directory or be discoverable. Security can be taken into account in determining if information should be published and decision making can employ adaptive learning, such that a publish and/or discovery decision criterion can be modified based on the learning.

Claims

1. A module capable of implementation upon an industrial control configuration, comprising:

an analysis component that evaluates metadata of a module of the industrial control configuration; and

a selection component that can choose at least a portion of the metadata for disclosure, the choice is made as a function of a result of the metadata evaluation.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a placement component that populates at least a portion of the chosen metadata upon a directory of the industrial control configuration.

3. The system of claim 2, the directory is a distributed directory.

4. The system of claim 1, the metadata includes at least one service of the module, at least one capability of the module, at least one relationship of the module with an entity, at least one dependency of the module, or a combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a gateway component that enables the chosen metadata to be discoverable.

6. The system of claim 1, the choice is made based upon a likelihood of an entity of the industrial control system requesting the metadata, a security characteristic of the metadata, volatility of the metadata, or a combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a security component that determines if at least a portion of the metadata should be made available as a function of risk associated with the metadata.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an obtainment component that collects a modification suggestion in relation to the metadata; and

an alteration component that changes the metadata based upon the collected modification suggestion.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a resolution component that decides if selected metadata should be published or if the selected metadata should be discoverable.

10. An industrial control configuration method, comprising:

intelligently and automatically selecting metadata for publication upon a directory of the industrial control configuration; and

publishing the selected metadata upon the directory.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising collecting a suggested change to the metadata.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining if the suggested change should be implemented.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising implementing the suggested change based upon a positive determination.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising publishing the changed metadata upon the directory, the changed metadata replaces the selected metadata.

15. A system capable of implementation upon an industrial control configuration, comprising:

means for intelligently and automatically selecting metadata for availability to an entity of the industrial control configuration; and

means for enabling the selected metadata to be discoverable.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for collecting a suggested change to the metadata.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising means for determining if the suggested change should be implemented.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for enabling a user to manually override the automatically selected metadata.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for recording information related to historical access of the available metadata.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising means for altering the means for intelligently and automatically selecting metadata based upon the recorded information.

21. A computer program embodied upon a computer-readable medium comprising:

program code for evaluating metadata of a module of and industrial control configuration; and

program code for selecting at least a portion of the metadata for disclosure, the selection is made as a function of a result of the metadata evaluation.