Supervisory process control and manufacturing information system application having an extensible component model

• US 8,898,622 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2013
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric Software, LLC (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Invensys Systems Incorporated (Invensys PLC)
• Inventors: Resnick, Robert M., McIntyre, James P., LeBlanc, Laurence G., Sowell, Timothy, Erickson, Brian, Mody, Pankaj H.
• Primary Examiner(s): TECKLU, ISAAC TUKU
• Application Number:
  US13/901,979
• Publication Number:
  US 20130261773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4063 Monitoring general control system G05B19/4062 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4155 characterised by programme execution, i.e. part programme or machine function execution, e.g. selection of a programme
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34425 Same microprocessor for programming and for machine control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34427 Diagnostic, monitoring incorporated in controller
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0213 Modular or universal configuration of the monitoring system, e.g. monitoring system having modules that may be combined to build monitoring program; monitoring system that can be applied to legacy systems; adaptable monitoring system; using different communication protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

A template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility is disclosed that includes a number of time-saving application development tools that significantly enhance design productivity and allow re-using of previously developed application building blocks. The development facility includes an application object template library that stores a set of previously defined application object templates. The template library is accessed by developers through a configuration utility that facilitates specifying instances of the set of previously defined application object templates to be included in an application. Thereafter, application objects are instantiated from the selected ones of the set of previously defined application object templates in a build of the specified application.

Claims

1. A configuration facility for specifying a deployment model for supervisory process control and manufacturing information applications for associating application objects to particular physical computing devices and providing a view of the distribution of the objects upon the physical computing devices, the configuration facility comprising:

a processor;

one or more memory storage devices coupled to the processor;

platform definitions, stored on the one or more memory storage devices, specifying one or more physical computing device types;

engine definitions, stored on the one or more memory storage devices, specifying engines that execute upon the physical computing devices and thereby define types of services supported by the physical computing devices;

a plurality of application objects, stored on the one or more memory storage devices, being identified by location independent object names;

area definitions, stored on the one or more memory storage devices, specifying areas comprising logical groupings of the plurality of application objects, wherein each application object of the plurality of application objects is assigned a handle derived from an association with a specified area in which each application object is grouped;

a set of hierarchical relationships specifying assignments of the engines to particular ones of the physical computing devices, and assignments of the areas to particular ones of the engines; and

a deployment view generator, executed by the processor, depicting, in accordance with the set of hierarchical relationships, a hierarchy of physical computing devices, engines, and areas;

wherein a first application object is configured to communicate with a second application object through an engine hosting at least one of the areas to which the first application object is assigned using the assigned handle of the second application object.

2. The configuration facility of claim 1, wherein a user defines a set of areas, each area comprising a set of related application objects that are constrained to execute upon a same engine, and wherein the association between an area and an engine is depicted in a second view.

3. The configuration facility of claim 1, wherein the application objects include container objects including nested therein other application objects.

4. The configuration facility of claim 1, wherein the application objects are derived/instantiated from templates, and wherein the templates specify containment of other templates.

5. The configuration facility of claim 4, wherein the templates are capable of specifying a parent template from which the templates inherit characteristics including subsequent changes to a parent template after specifying a child template.

6. The configuration facility of claim 1, wherein the application objects communicate on a same computing device through engine objects, and communications across a network of computing devices are supported by the engine objects thereby insulating communications between the application objects from the topology of a computer system within which the application objects execute.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for implementing a configuration facility to specify a deployment model for supervisory process control and manufacturing information applications for associating application objects to particular physical computing devices and providing a view of the distribution of the objects upon the physical computing devices, said instructions, when executed by a computer, causing the computer to perform a method comprising:

specifying one or more physical computing device types stored on the computer-readable medium;

specifying engines stored on the computer-readable medium that execute upon the physical computing devices and thereby define types of services supported by the physical computing devices;

specifying application objects stored on the computer-readable medium identified by location independent object names;

specifying areas comprising logical groupings of the application objects, said application objects being assigned area-specific handles derived from an association with the specified areas;

specifying assignments of the engines to particular ones of the physical computing devices, and assignments of the areas to particular ones of the engines; and

depicting, in accordance with a set of hierarchical relationships specifying the assignments of the engines, a hierarchy of physical computing devices, engines, and areas;

wherein a first application object is configured to communicate with a second application object through an engine hosting at least one of the areas to which the first application object is assigned using the assigned handle of the second application object.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions for defining a set of areas, each area comprising a set of related application objects that are constrained to execute upon a same engine, and wherein the association between an area and an engine is depicted in a second view.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the application objects include container objects including nested therein other application objects.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions for deriving the application objects from templates, wherein the templates specify containment of other templates.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the templates are capable of specifying a parent template from which the templates inherit characteristics including subsequent changes to a parent template after specifying a child template.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the application objects communicate on a same computing device through engine objects, and further comprising instructions for supporting the communications across a network of computing devices by the engine objects thereby insulating communications between the application objects from the topology of a computer system within which the application objects execute.

13. A method of specifying a deployment model for supervisory process control and manufacturing information applications to associate application objects to particular physical computing devices and provide a view of the distribution of the objects upon the physical computing devices, said method comprising:

specifying, by platform definitions implemented by a computer executing a configuration facility, one or more physical computing device types;

specifying, by engine definitions implemented by the computer executing the configuration facility, engines that execute upon the physical computing devices and thereby define types of services supported by the physical computing devices;

specifying application objects identified by location independent object names;

specifying, by area definitions implemented by the computer executing the configuration facility, areas comprising logical groupings of the application objects, said application objects being assigned area-specific handles derived from an association with the specified areas;

specifying, by a set of hierarchical relationships implemented by the computer executing the configuration facility, assignments of the engines to particular ones of the physical computing devices, and assignments of the areas to particular ones of the engines; and

depicting, by a deployment view generator implemented by the computer executing the configuration facility in accordance with the set of hierarchical relationships, a hierarchy of physical computing devices, engines, and areas;

wherein a first application object is configured to communicate with a second application object through an engine hosting at least one of the areas to which the first application object is assigned using the assigned handle of the second application object.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising defining a set of areas, each area comprising a set of related application objects that are constrained to execute upon a same engine, and wherein the association between an area and an engine is depicted in a second view.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the application objects include container objects including nested therein other application objects.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising deriving the application objects from templates, wherein the templates specify containment of other templates.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the templates are capable of specifying a parent template from which the templates inherit characteristics including subsequent changes to a parent template after specifying a child template.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the application objects communicate on a same computing device through engine objects, and further comprising supporting the communications across a network of computing devices by the engine objects thereby insulating communications between the application objects from the topology of a computer system within which the application objects execute.