FUNCTION BLOCK EXECUTION FRAMEWORK

• US 20120253482A1
• Filed: 03/29/2011
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Wacker, Paul, Brindle, Ralph Collins, Anand, Shilpa
• Granted Patent: US 8,983,632 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/23
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A system having a function block execution framework. Function blocks may be for use in a control system design. These blocks may be selected from a library of a function block engine. Selected function blocks may be executed for operational purposes. They may be continuously executed by a processor to maintain operational status. However, since a function block engine and a resulting system of function blocks may be operated with battery power, executions of function blocks may be reduced by scheduling the executions of function blocks to times only when they are needed. That means that the processor would not necessarily have to operate continuously to maintain continual execution of the function blocks and thus could significantly reduce consumption of battery power.

Claims

1. A function block execution framework comprising:

a function block engine;

a function block library having function blocks which are selected by the function block engine for control logic; and

a schedule mechanism connected to the function block engine; and

wherein the schedule mechanism provides to each function block in the control logic a periodic execution at a maximum time between successive executions of the respective function block that is sufficiently short enough to maintain an active functionality of the respective function block.

2. The framework of claim 1, a periodic execution at a maximum time between successive executions of a function block that is sufficiently short enough to maintain an active functionality of the function block is an execution time of the function block.

3. The framework of claim 2, wherein the execution times of the function blocks are indicated by a plurality of time slots from the schedule mechanism.

4. The framework of claim 3, wherein each execution time of the function blocks is within at least one time slot of the plurality of time slots.

5. The framework of claim 3, wherein each time slot comprises:

a base time; and

a multiplier of the base time; and

wherein the base time is a smallest execution time of the execution times of the function blocks.

6. The framework of claim 5, wherein the multiplier is an integer selected from a range of 1 to N.

7. The framework of claim 3, wherein:

each slot of virtually all of the slots comprises a base time;

the slots are in series in that a first slot has a duration equal to the base time, a second slot has a duration equal to the base time, which begins at an end of the duration of the first slot, a third slot has a duration equal to the base time, which starts at an end of the duration of the second slot, and an nth slot has a duration equal to the base time, which starts at an end of a duration of an (n-1)th slot;

N represents a total number of slots; and

n represents a number of a slot from 1 to N.

8. The framework of claim 1, wherein a function block is executed at a time when the active functionality of the respective function block is needed.

9. A method for executing function blocks, comprising:

receiving a baseline from an operating system;

executing the baseline with a function block engine;

selecting a set of function blocks needed by the function block engine from a library;

determining subsets of function blocks from the set of function blocks according to execution times;

executing the subsets of function blocks; and

waiting for another baseline if the function block engine is not executing a baseline; and

wherein;

an execution time is a maximum duration that a function block can sustain an active status before needing another execution;

a subset comprises function blocks that have execution times within a range of maximum durations of time;

the subset of function blocks has executions periodically repeated of the function blocks within the range of maximum durations of time of the subset so the function blocks of that subset can sustain an active status.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein subsets of function blocks are executed sequentially according to a schedule determined by ranges of maximum durations of time, respectively.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the subsets of function blocks are continually executed according to the schedule for sustaining continuous operation by the function blocks.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein each subset of function blocks to be executed is determined by a subset schedule connected to the set of function blocks.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the subset schedule comprises N time slots corresponding to N subsets;

n is a time slot from a 1st time slot through an Nth time slot;

the baseline is a duration of A;

a first time slot comprises a duration of A;

an n^th time slot comprises a duration of nA; and

the subset of function blocks have executions periodically repeated within the certain range of the maximum durations of time of the subset so that the function blocks sustain an active status as needed.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the function blocks having executions scheduled in each time slot are executed at about the same time within the time slot by a processor; and

an amount of time for an execution of one or more function blocks is a fraction of a total amount of time in the respective time slot; and

an amount of time remaining in the respective time slot, after the function blocks with executions scheduled in the respective time slot have been effected, needs no operation of the processor.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein each time slot has an execution scheduled for one or more function blocks.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein each function block within an nth time slot and each function block within the slots preceding the nth slot having a need for repeat executions are executed during a duration of the 1st time slot through the nth slot.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein:

one or more function blocks of a 1st time slot are executed at each duration of A;

one or more function blocks of a 2nd time slot are executed at each duration of 2A;

one or more function blocks of an nth slot are executed at each duration of nA; and

one or more function blocks are executed at each duration of more than one time slot.

18. A function block periodic execution framework comprising:

a function block engine;

a table of function blocks connected to the function block engine; and

a schedule menu mechanism connected to the table of function blocks; and

wherein;

the function blocks in the table are selected by the function block engine from a library of function blocks for use in control logic; and

the schedule menu mechanism comprises a list of the function blocks from the table of function blocks and a maximum amount of time under which that each function block can continually operate between two adjacent sequential executions of the respective function block.

19. The framework of claim 18, wherein the schedule mechanism categorizes the list of function blocks into sub-lists of function blocks according to ranges of the maximum amount of time that each function block can continually operate between two adjacent sequential executions.

20. The framework of claim 19, wherein each of the function blocks is executed only when a need for an active status of the function block is needed for use by the function block engine in the control logic.