Internationalization of objects executable in a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system

• US 9,268,581 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2013
• Issued: 02/23/2016
• 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., Kasajian, Kenneth, Mody, Pankaj H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Anya, Charles E
• Application Number:
  US13/853,708
• Publication Number:
  US 20130298139A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0421 Multiprocessor system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

An application object for a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system application distributable to a plurality of networked computer devices and having a layered architecture, the application object comprising a set of text entries listed in a first language, a dictionary within each object drafted to enable the set of text entries to be translated into a plurality of multiple languages, and a set of one or more translation fields for storing text in each of the plurality of languages corresponding to the set of text entries listed in the first language.

Claims

1. A method of constructing an application object for a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system application distributable to a plurality of networked computer devices and having a layered architecture, said method comprising:

creating an object shape comprising a plurality of files;

generating a custom editor comprising one or more editor controls;

forming and modifying a dictionary using the custom editor;

appending the dictionary to the files within the object shape;

hosting execution of the application object in a run-time environment on an engine object, wherein said engine object binding location-derived handles to location-independent object names of the application object and other objects on a physical computing device, wherein said location-derived handles each comprising a plurality of fields that enable communication with the application object within the layered architecture, and wherein said engine object enabling communication between the application object and other objects on the physical computing device using the bound location-derived handles to identify the application object and other objects; and

executing the engine object and hosted application object on a platform object, wherein said platform object enabling communication between the application object and other objects across a plurality of networked computing devices including the physical computing device, and wherein executing the application object include;

retrieving a text of a set text entries, using a dictionary reader;

determining whether the retrieved text is not present in a selected language;

in response to the determination, displaying the text in a default language, and

otherwise, if the default language does not contain the requested word or phrase, translating and displaying the text in the next closest language used.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dictionary comprises one or more types of information selected from the group consisting of standard menus, editors, dialog boxes, user applications and operator messages.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the application object comprises:

the set of text entries corresponding to words presentable on a user interface in at least a first language; and

a set of translation dictionary entry references specified for the set of text entries to enable the set of text entries to be presented in at least a second language different than the first language, and each translation dictionary entry, referenced by one of the set of translation dictionary entry references, including a set of one or more translation fields for storing text in at least the second language.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the set of text entries in the first language comprises a context definition.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the set of text entries in the first language comprises a maximum characters declaration.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating the application object to a particular physical computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising deriving the application object from at least one template, and wherein the at least one template specifies containment of at least one other template.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising specifying a parent template from which the at least one other template inherits characteristics including subsequent changes to the parent template after specifying a child template.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the application object comprises a plurality of object attributes.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the object attributes comprise a name, an executable, a set of user-defined attributes, and a dictionary.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the object attributes correspond to primitives that are specific to the application object and contain business specific logic unique to the application object.

12. A method comprising:

modeling, by application objects, entities within a supervisory process control and manufacturing system, at least one of the application objects communicating with other application objects on a computing device through engine objects;

hosting, by the engine objects, the application objects in a run-time environment;

binding, by the engine objects, location-derived handles to location-independent object names of the application objects, wherein communication between application objects through engine objects uses the location-derived handles to identify the application objects, wherein the location-derived handles comprising a platform field identifying a platform object with which the application object is associated, an engine field identifying the engine object with which the application object is associated, and a signature field storing a value derived from a name of the application object;

registering, by the engine objects, the application objects with a scheduler process;

commanding the scheduler process to execute the registered application objects in a run-time environment; and

executing, by platform objects, the engine objects and associated application objects, wherein communications across a plurality of networked computing devices are supported by the platform objects, thereby insulating communications among application objects from a computer system topology within which the application objects execute, and wherein executing the application objects include;

retrieving a text of a set text entries, using a dictionary reader;

determining whether the retrieved text is not present in a selected language;

in response to the determination, displaying the text in a default language, and

otherwise, if the default language does not contain the requested word or phrase, translating and displaying the text in the next closest language used.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the application objects comprise:

the set of text entries corresponding to words presentable on a user interface in at least a first language; and

a set of translation dictionary entry references specified for the set of text entries to enable the set of text entries to be presented in at least a second language different than the first language, and wherein each translation dictionary entry, referenced by one of the set of translation dictionary entry references, includes a set of one or more translation fields for storing text in at least the second language.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the set of text entries in the first language comprises a context definition.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the set of text entries in the first language comprises a maximum characters declaration.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising associating the plurality of application objects to particular physical computing device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing a view of the distribution of the plurality of application objects.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising deriving the at least one of the application objects from at least one template, and wherein the at least one template specifies containment of at least one other template.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising specifying a parent template from which the at least one other template inherits characteristics including subsequent changes to the parent template after specifying a child template.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one of the application objects further comprises a plurality of object attributes.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the object attributes comprise a name, an executable, a set of user-defined attributes, and a dictionary.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the object attributes correspond to primitives that are specific to the at least one of the application objects and contain business specific logic unique to the at least one of the application objects.

23. The method of claim 12, further comprising selecting a language setting at runtime.