Dynamic search engine for an industrial environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10713307-B2
Application number	US-201715672851-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2017
Priority date	Nov 7, 2014
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

A multi-platform industrial search system facilitates indexing and searching of plant-wide data residing on multiple different data platforms. The industrial search system automatically inventories industrial devices and other data sources located throughout a plant, and identifies available data items on each data source. The search system indexes the discovered data items in a federated data model that can subsequently be searched to locate data items or tags of interest. The federated data model records references to data items found on different types of data sources, including but not limited to industrial controller programs, human-machine interface applications, data historians, device documentation stores, inventory tracking systems, and other such data sources. The search system can also initiate automated searches of the federated data model in response to detected performance issues and deliver notifications and contextual information to plant personnel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for searching industrial data, comprising:
a memory that stores executable components; and
a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the components, the components comprising:
an indexing component configured to discover available data items distributed across multiple data sources of an industrial environment and to generate a federated data model that records respective locations of the data items, wherein the data items comprise at least data tags of one or more control programs stored on one or more industrial controllers;
a device interface component configured to render a graphical display on a client device associated with a first user, wherein the graphical display renders graphical icons of respective industrial assets that are part of the industrial environment;
a search component configured to, in response to selection of a graphical icon, of the graphical icons, via interaction with the graphical display, initiate a search of the federated data model using an industrial asset represented by the graphical icon as a search criterion; and
a notification component configured to, in response to the selection of the graphical icon,
generate a work order to investigate a performance issue relating to the industrial asset, wherein the performance issue is indicated by results of the search of the federated data model,
select a second user, from a set of available users, based on a relevance of the second user's experience relative to the industrial asset and the performance issue, and
send notification information to another client device associated with the second user, wherein the notification information defines the work order and contains the results of the search of the federated data model.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data tags are first data tags, and the available data items further comprise at least visualization references of second data tags displayed on one or more human-machine interface devices.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a monitoring component configured to track availabilities of the set of available users based on analysis of work schedule data for the set of available users, wherein the notification component is configured to select the second user for receipt of the notification information further based on the availabilities.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a monitoring component configured to track availabilities of the set of available users based on current status information for the set of available users, wherein the notification component is configured to select the second user for receipt of the notification information further based on the availabilities.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the monitoring component is further configured to generate at least a subset of the current status information based on at least one of availability information received from a client device associated one of the set of available users or work order data assigned to the one of the set of available users.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a monitoring component configured to track locations of the set of available users, wherein the notification component is configured to select the second user for receipt of the notification information based on the locations relative to a location of the industrial asset.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring component is further configured to estimate a time to complete the work order and to generate work order schedule data that defines a schedule of work orders to be completed based on the time to complete the work order.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein
the search component is configured to generate workflow data defining a sequence of steps to be performed to correct the performance issue, wherein the search component determines the sequence of steps based on a search of a knowledgebase; and
the device interface component is configured to render another graphical display on the other client device that renders the sequence of steps based on the workflow data.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the device interface component is configured to
render instances of the other graphical display on multiple client devices associated with respective users, and
in response to receipt, via interaction with one of the multiple client devices, of an indication that a step of the sequence of steps has been completed, update the instances of the graphical display on the multiple client devices to remove the step from the sequence of steps.

10. A method, comprising:
identifying, by a system comprising a processor, available data items located on multiple data sources, wherein the available data items comprise at least data tags referenced by one or more control programs stored on one or more industrial controllers;
generating, by the system, a federated data model that indexes respective locations of the data items;
rendering, by the system, a graphical display on a first client device associated with a first user, wherein the graphical display renders graphical icons of respective industrial assets; and
in response to selection of a graphical icon, of the graphical icons, via interaction with the graphical display:
initiating, by the system, a search of the federated data model using an industrial asset represented by the graphical icon as a search criterion;
identifying, by the system based on results of the search of the federated data model, an operational issue with the industrial asset;
generating, by the system, work order data defining a work order to investigate the operational issue with the industrial asset;
selecting, by the system, a second user from a set of defined users based on a relevance of the second user's experience relative to the industrial asset and the operational issue; and
sending, by the system, notification information to a second client device associated with the second user, wherein the notification information defines the work order and contains the results of the search of the federated data model.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising tracking, by the system, availabilities of the set of defined users based on analysis of work schedule data for the set of defined users,
wherein the selecting the second user comprises selecting the second user further based on the availabilities.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising tracking, by the system, availabilities of the set of defined users based on current status information for the set of defined users,
wherein the selecting the second user comprises selecting the second user further based on the availabilities.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising generating, by the system, at least a subset of the current status information based on at least one of availability information received from a client device associated one of the set of defined users or work order data assigned to the one of the set of defined users.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising tracking, by the system, locations of the set of defined users,
wherein the selecting the second user comprises selecting the second user for receipt of the notification information further based on the locations relative to a location of the industrial asset.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein
the graphical display is a first graphical display, and
the method further comprises:
in response to the determining that one or more values of the available data items satisfy a criterion defined by a monitoring rule indicative of the operational issue with the indu

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Bliss Ronald E
• Reichard Douglas J
• Sandler Scott N
• Pantaleano Michael J
• Cahalane Ryan
• Walter Jonathan D
• Korpela Jessica L

Classifications

• G06F16/951 Primary

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• H04L67/10 Primary

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• G06F16/25 Primary

  Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems · CPC title

• G05B2219/32234

  Maintenance planning · CPC title

• G06F16/2228

  Indexing structures · CPC title