SYSTEM FOR CREATION AND MANAGEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION AND INFORMATION SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES

• US 20100042376A1
• Filed: 08/12/2008
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Weatherhead, N. Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,579 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/409 characterised by using manual data input [MDI] or by using control panel, e.g. controlling functions with the panel; characterised by control panel details or by setting parameters G05B19/408, G05B19/4093 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32128 Gui graphical user interface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

The innovation relates to a system and/or methodology for the creation and management of industrial automation services and design templates. In addition, it allows for users to view processes, applications, protocols, data types, and so forth as semantically intuitive graphical objects that can be dragged, dropped, and tagged to allow for combining functionalities and/or integrating disparate applications or systems through a services model. Additionally, the innovation provides a library for user management of the services and templates.

Claims

1. An application programming interface that facilitates industrial automation solutions, comprising:

an interface component that graphically represents at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design element; and

a design tool that provides for users to at least one of develop or modify at least one industrial automation service, by at least one of;

associating, or disassociating graphical representations of at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design element.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the design tool further provides for the development of at least one industrial automation service by de-abstracting at least one design template, and associating graphical representations of at least one of:

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design element with the design template.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a transclusion component that de-abstracts the design templates by appending at least one class specific layer to the design templates.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the class specific layers include at least one of:

a customer specific layer, an industry specific layer, an application specific layer, and a project specific layer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the design tool provides for users to develop at least one industrial automation design template by at least one of:

abstracting at least one industrial automation service, or manipulating graphical representations of at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design element.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the design tool includes an abstraction component that abstracts the industrial automation services by removing at least one class specific layer.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the class specific layers include at least one of:

a customer specific layer, an industry specific layer, an application specific layer, and a project specific layer.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component obtains a set of data, wherein the data includes at least one of a set of user requirements, a functional specification, a Piping and Instrumentation drawing (P&

ID drawing), an electrical drawing, a design template, an operation, or a manufacturing execution system (MES).

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the industrial automation services are created based at least in part on the data.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the interface component includes a wizard component that navigates users through at least one question, wherein the data is based at least in part on the answers to the questions.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the interface component includes a wizard component that exposes at least one interface that directs users to upload or input the data.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a policy component that provides for users to determine policies regarding the creation and management of at least one industrial automation service.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a binding component that provides for binding underlying languages in their native languages using at least one of:

at least one translation layer, or at least one translation bridge.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a processing component that evaluates computer executable commands for use by the design tool, wherein the processing component evaluates the computer executable commands at least in part by emulating an industrial controller.

15. The system of claim 1, the industrial automation services include at least one of:

design specifications, drawings, software code, testing schemas, bills of materials (B.O.M), installation specifications, manufacturing execution systems (MES), or enterprise resource planning (ERP).

16. The system of claim 15, the design tool provides for translation from a first industrial automation service to a second industrial automation service.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising an artificial intelligence component that facilitates automating at least one feature of the system.

18. A system facilitating information solutions, comprising:

an interface component that obtains a set of data; and

a design tool that based at least in part on the data generates at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design template.

19. The system of claim 18, the interface component enables users to view processes, applications, protocols, and data types as graphical objects.

20. The system of claim 19, the interface component exposes at least one graphical user interfaces (GUI) that enable users to manipulate the graphical objects, wherein manipulation includes at least one of:

associating, disassociating, or modifying.

21. The system of claim 18, the data includes at least one of:

a set of user requirements, a functional specification, a Piping and Instrumentation drawing (P&

ID drawing), an electrical drawing, a design template, an operation, or a manufacturing execution system (MES).

22. The system of claim 18, further comprising a wizard component that assists users in at least one of:

describing, creating, or modifying the industrial automation services, by at least one of;

navigating users through a series of questions, wherein the set of data is based at least in part on the answers to the questions, or exposing at least one interface that directs users to at least one of;

upload the set of data, or input the set of data.

23. The system of claim 18, further comprising transclusion component that de-abstracts at least one design template by appending at least one class specific layer to the design template, wherein the industrial automation services are based at least in part on the de-abstracted design templates.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the class specific layers, include at least one of:

a customer specific layer, an industry specific layer, an application specific layer, and a project specific layer.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the design tool includes an abstraction component that abstracts at least one industrial automation service by removing at least one class specific layer from the service, wherein the design templates are based at least in part on the abstracted industrial automation services.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein the industrial automation services include at least one of:

design specifications, drawings, software code, testing schemas, bills of materials (B.O.M), installation specifications, manufacturing execution systems (MES), or enterprise resource planning (ERP).

27. The system of claim 18, further comprising a processing component that evaluates computer executable commands, wherein the design tool generates the design templates or industrial automation services based at least in part on the evaluations.

28. The system of claim 18, further comprising a binding component that provides for binding underlying languages in their native languages between the respective applications.

29. The system of claim 18, further comprising a policy component that enables users to define policies regarding the creation and management of services and templates, wherein at least one of the design tool or the interface component applies at least one of the policies during at least one of creation or management of the services or templates.

30. The system of claim 18, further comprising an artificial intelligence component that facilitates automating at least one feature of the system, the features including at least one of describing, creating, modifying, or managing at least one of:

at least one service, or at least one template.

31. A method facilitating industrial automation solutions, comprising:

collecting a set of user data;

representing at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design element graphically; and

developing at least one industrial automation service based at least in part on the user data, by at least one of associating or disassociating at least one graphical representation of at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design element.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising de-abstracting at least one design template to generate at least one industrial automation service, and associating at least one graphical representation of at least one of:

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design element with the design templates.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising de-abstracting the design templates by appending at least one class specific layer to the design templates, wherein the class specific layers include at least one of:

a customer specific layer, an industry specific layer, an application specific layer, and a project specific layer.

34. The method of claim 31, further comprising generating at least one industrial automation design template by at least one of:

abstracting at least one industrial automation service, or manipulating graphical representations of at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design element.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising abstracting the industrial automation services by removing at least one class specific layer, wherein the class specific layers include at least one of:

a customer specific layer, an industry specific layer, an application specific layer, and a project specific layer.

36. The method of claim 31, further comprising obtaining the set of data by at least one of:

prompting users to answer at least one question, or exposing at least one interface that directs users to upload or input the data, wherein the data includes at least one of a set of user requirements, a functional specification, a Piping and Instrumentation drawing (P&

ID drawing), an electrical drawing, a design template, an operation, or a manufacturing execution system (MES).

37. The method of claim 31, further comprising determining at least one policy regarding at least one of creation, modification, or management of at least one industrial automation service, wherein the policies are used at least in part in the generation of at least one of:

at least one service, or at least one template.

38. The method of claim 31, further comprising binding underlying languages in their native languages using at least one of:

at least one translation layer, or at least one translation bridge.

39. The method of claim 31, wherein the industrial automation services include at least one of:

a design specification, a drawing, a chunk of software code, a testing schema, a bills of materials (B.O.M), an installation specification, a manufacturing execution system (MES), or an enterprise resource planning (ERP).

40. The method of claim 31, further comprising translating from a first industrial automation service to a second industrial automation service.

41. The method of claim 31, further comprising automating the creation of at least one of:

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design templates using artificial intelligence.

42. A system facilitating creation and management of industrial automation services and design templates, comprising:

means for collecting a set of user data, wherein the data includes at least one of a set of user requirements, a functional specification, a Piping and Instrumentation drawing (P&

ID drawing), an electrical drawing, a design template, an operation, or a manufacturing execution system (MES);

means for representing at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design element graphically, wherein the industrial automation services include at least one of design specifications, drawings, software code, testing schemas, bills of materials (B.O.M), installation specifications, manufacturing execution systems (MES), or enterprise resource planning (ERP); and

means for generating at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design template based at least in part on at least one of the user data, or manipulation of the graphical representations of at least one of;

at least one industrial automation service, or at least one design elements.