Control apparatus of an automation system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10545967-B2
Application number	US-201415513272-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2014
Priority date	Sep 25, 2014
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

A control apparatus of an automation system, the control apparatus includes a database adapted to store time series data in a historian data source and adapted to store events derived from the time series data based on event detection rules in an event data source, wherein a semantic data or event query received by the control apparatus is mapped to a corresponding data source of the database to retrieve the queried data or event which are contextualized using an ontological context model of the automation system stored in the database and output by control apparatus in a semantic format is provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A control apparatus of an automation system,
the control apparatus comprising:
a database, connected to a processor of the control apparatus, adapted to store time series data in a historian data source and adapted to store events derived from the time series data based on event detection rules in an event data source,
the control apparatus being configured:
to gather continuously time series data from connected automation system components;
to derive events from the gathered time series data in every real-time control cycle of the automation system;
to store the time series data and the derived events in the corresponding data sources of the database;
to receive a semantic data or event query;
to map the received semantic data or event query to a corresponding data source of the database to retrieve the queried data or event;
to contextualize the received queried data or event using an ontological context model of the automation system stored in the database; and
to output the contextualized queried data or event in a semantic format.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control apparatus is a programmable logic controller (PLC) of the automation system.

3. The control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the programmable logic controller (PLC) comprises as the database, an integrated memory for at least one historian data source and at least one event data source.

4. The control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the integrated memory is adapted to store the ontological context model of the automation system and/or the event detection rules.

5. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the received generic semantic query is rewritten using the ontological context model of the automation system to provide an extended semantic query with specific context, wherein the extended semantic query is translated to the query language of the corresponding data source of the database or wherein the semantic query is directly translated to the query language of the corresponding data source of the database.

6. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the historian data source of the database is adapted to store time series data of a sensor device of the automation system, connected to the control apparatus.

7. The control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the stored time series data comprises data values each provided with a corresponding timestamp and a component identifier of the respective automation system component generating the time series data.

8. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control apparatus is adapted to gather continuously time series data from connected automation system components and to derive events from the gathered time series data in every real-time control cycle of the automation system and to write the time series data and the derived events in the corresponding data sources of the database.

9. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each event derived from the gathered time series data based on the event detection rules is represented by a specific message identifier and written in an event table forming an event data source.

10. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an automation system component providing time series data and/or event types are annotated in response to the received semantic query based on the ontological context model as representations of context instances of the ontological context model.

11. The control apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the semantic data or event query comprises a semantic identifier mapped to a specific data source location of a corresponding data source of the database.

12. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the semantic data or event query is received by the control apparatus from a server connected to the control apparatus and the queried contextualized data or event are returned by the control apparatus to the server in a semantic triple format.

13. The control apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the received semantic data or event query comprises a SPARQL query and the returned contextualized data or event comprises a semantic resource description framework (RDF) triple format.

14. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein during the real-time control cycle of the automation system, where a received data or event query is executed, the historian data sources and the event data sources of the database are blocked and the gathered time series data and/or derived events are stored temporarily in a buffer memory of the control apparatus.

15. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the ontological context model of the automation system represents components of the automation system including devices of the automation system, attributes of the components and relations between the components.

16. An automation system comprising at least one control apparatus according to claim 1 and at least one automation system component connected to the control apparatus supplying time series data to the control apparatus.

17. The automation system according to claim 16 , wherein the control apparatus is connected to an external server which sends semantic data or event queries to the control apparatus which is configured to execute the received data or event queries and to return the queried data or event to the external server in a semantic format.

18. The automation system according to claim 16 , wherein the automation system component comprises a sensor device of the automation system.

19. The automation system according to claim 17 , wherein the external server has access to the ontological context model of the automation system.

20. The automation system according to claim 19 , wherein the data sources stored in the database of the control apparatus are not contextualized data sources.

21. A method for retrieving semantically data or events from a control apparatus of an automation system performed by a processor of the control apparatus, comprising:
(a) gathering continuously time series data from connected automation system components;
(b) deriving events from the gathered time series data in every real-time control cycle of the automation system;
(c) writing the gathered time series data and the derived events in the corresponding data sources of a database of the control apparatus;
(d) receiving by the control apparatus a semantic data or event query;
(e) mapping the received semantic data or event query to a corresponding data source stored in a database of the control apparatus to retrieve the queried data or event;
(f) performing a contextualization of the queried data or event using an ontological context model of the automation system; and
(g) outputting by the control apparatus the contextualized data or event in a semantic format.

22. The method according to claim 21 , wherein the received semantic data or event query is rewritten using the ontological context model of the automation system to provide an extended semantic query with specific context, wherein the extended semantic query is translated to the query language of the corresponding data source of the database of the control apparatus or wherein the received semantic query is directly translated to the query language of the corresponding data source of the database of the control apparatus.

Assignees

• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Hubauer Thomas
• Lamparter Steffen
• Ringsquandl Martin
• Roshchin Mikhail

Classifications

• G06F16/24575 Primary

  using context · CPC title

• G06F16/285

  Clustering or classification · CPC title

• G05B19/054 Primary

  Input/output · CPC title

• G06F16/2457

  with adaptation to user needs · CPC title