Audit trail in a programmable safety instrumented system via biometric signature(s)

• US 8,046,588 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Jones, Derek W., Gibart, Anthony G., Nair, Suresh R., Rollins, George E., Schuster, George K., Delcher, Ray C., Galera, Richard, Dogul, James E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn; Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vaughan; Michael R
• Application Number:
  US11/360,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20070199047A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,070 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 713/186
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints

Abstract

System(s) and method(s) that facilitate utilizing biometric sensors (e.g., fingerprint, hand scan, voice recognition . . . ) in manufacturing systems in order to maintain accurate safety audit trails. A safety audit system, utilizing a biometric sensing device, facilitates determining if a user is allowed to access and change the configuration of the manufacturing system. Once a user is allowed to change the configuration (e.g., programmable electronics, tooling changes, software updates, etc.) the changes are automatically recorded in a safety audit database. Automatic storage of configuration changes mitigates manual recording of changes thereby enhancing the safety audit data often necessary to meet safety standards for manufacturing systems.

Claims

1. A safety audit system, comprising:

a sensor identification component comprising at least one sensor that detects a configuration change to a manufacturing system and at least one biometric sensor that senses identifying biometric data for a user of the manufacturing system that makes the configuration change;

a lock component that determines whether the configuration change is authorized based at least in part upon the identifying biometric data; and

a safety system component that automatically records the configuration change and the identifying biometric data in a safety audit database based at least in part on a safety audit requirement of the manufacturing system,

wherein the safety audit database comprises a public portion that is accessible as a history of the configuration change and a private portion implemented at a time of manufacture of the manufacturing system that logs the history of the configuration change and is accessible only to an third party associated with supplying the manufacturing system in the event of an accident, and

wherein the safety system component shuts down the manufacturing system in response to the configuration change being unauthorized.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an analysis component that evaluates manufacturing system data with probabilistic anticipated data to determine a manufacturing system fault.

3. The system of claim 1, the biometric sensor is capable of performing at least one of:

fingerprint scan, voice recognition, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) matching, retinal scan, hand geometry analysis, iris scan, optical tissue scan, hair analysis, face recognition, vein scan, gait pattern analysis, lip movement analysis, hand signature analysis, or analysis of typing keystroke dynamics.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an external database that stores the safety audit database and the identifying biometric data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the safety system component stores an initial setup of the manufacturing system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the configuration change comprises at least one of a software version change, an inspection, a maintenance action, or a tool change.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the safety system component is configured to alert management in response to the user not being authorized to make the configuration change.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the safety system component is configured to alert management by email.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the safety system component is configured to alert management by an alarm.

10. A method of tracking configuration changes made to a manufacturing system, comprising:

employing a first sensor to detect a modification of a configuration of a device within the manufacturing system;

employing a second sensor to determine an identity of a user of the manufacturing system making the modification, wherein the second sensor is a biometric sensor;

matching the identity of the user to a list of authorized users in a safety audit database and determining that the user is authorized to make the modification based upon the identity;

permitting the modification to the device;

automatically recording the identity of the user and the modification to the device to a public portion of the safety audit database based at least in part upon a safety audit requirement of the manufacturing system, wherein the public portion of the security audit database is accessible to the user as a history of the configuration change; and

automatically recording the identity of the user and the modification to the device to a private portion of the safety audit database, wherein the private portion is implemented at a time of manufacture of the manufacturing system and is accessible only to a third party associated with supplying the manufacturing system in the event of an accident.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising alerting management in response to the user not being authorized to make the modification.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the automatically recording further comprises automatically recording at least one of the date of the modification or a type of the modification.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the automatically recording further comprises automatically recording at least one of a tool position, a robot arm velocity, a temperature, information representative of a tool replacement, or an assembly speed.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the matching further comprises matching the identity of the user to the list of authorized users based at least in part upon one or more certifications related to a process associated with the machine.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the matching further comprises reminding the user that recertification is due.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the matching further comprises matching the identity of the user to the list of authorized users based at least in part upon an area of the manufacturing system.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing system to perform operations, comprising:

employing a first sensor to detect a modification of a configuration of a device within the manufacturing system;

employing a second sensor to determine an identity of a user of the manufacturing system making the modification, wherein the second sensor is a biometric sensor;

matching the identity of the user to a list of authorized users in a safety audit database and determining that the user is authorized to make the modification based upon the identity;

permitting the modification to the device;

automatically recording the identity of the user and the modification to the device to a public portion of the safety audit database based at least in part upon a safety audit requirement of the manufacturing system, wherein the public portion of the security audit database is accessible to the user as a history of the configuration change; and

automatically recording the identity of the user and the modification to the device to a private portion of the safety audit database, wherein the private portion is implemented at a time of manufacture of the manufacturing system and is accessible only to a third party associated with supplying the manufacturing system in the event of an accident.