Industrial programming development with an extensible integrated development environment (IDE) platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11048483-B2
Application number	US-201916580581-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2019
Priority date	Sep 24, 2019
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

An industrial integrated development environment (IDE) supports open or extensible application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable end users (e.g., plant asset owners, original equipment manufacturers (OEM), system integrators, etc.) to build upon the IDE's development platform to create custom views or to code custom functionality. This can include, for example, defining a control programming syntax supported by the industrial IDE, customizing a development environment view afforded by the IDE's interface, modifying or creating project editing functions, defining customized programming guardrails designed to guide compliance with in-house programming standards, or other such IDE customizations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for developing industrial applications, comprising:
a memory that stores executable components; and
a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the executable components, the executable components comprising:
a user interface component configured to render integrated development environment (IDE) interfaces and to receive, via interaction with the IDE interfaces, industrial design input that defines control design aspects of an industrial automation control project, wherein functionality of the IDE interfaces is controlled by an IDE editor;
a project generation component configured to generate system project data based on the industrial design input; and
an editor definition component configured to receive, via interaction with the user interface component, interface definition data that specifies a customization of an IDE interface, of the IDE interfaces, and to reconfigure the IDE editor to implement the customization of the IDE interface, wherein the customization of the IDE interface specified by the interface definition data comprises at least a definition of a form of programming feedback to be rendered by the IDE interface and a condition under which the form of programming feedback is to be rendered by the IDE interface.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the customization of the IDE interface specified by the interface definition data is further at least one of a control programming syntax supported by the IDE interface, an editing functionality supported by the IDE interface, a programming guardrail enforced by the IDE editor, a visual characteristic of the IDE interface, or an audio characteristic of the IDE interface.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system project data comprises at least one of an executable industrial control program, an industrial visualization application, industrial device configuration data configured to set a configuration parameter value of an industrial device, an engineering drawing, or a bill of materials.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the IDE editor supports instantiation of automation objects within an industrial control program that is part of the system project data, and wherein the automation objects represent respective industrial assets including at least one of an industrial process, a controller, a control program, a tag within the control program, a machine, a motor, a motor drive, a telemetry device, a tank, a valve, a pump, an industrial safety device, an industrial robot, or an actuator.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein an automation object, of the automation objects, has associated therewith at least one of an input, an output, an analytic routine, an alarm, a security feature, or a graphical representation of an associated industrial asset.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the form of programmatic feedback defined by the interface definition data is at least one of a program syntax highlighting, an error highlighting, a type-ahead suggestion, a recommendation to rewrite or reorganize a portion of control programming code, a recommendation to add a predefined code module to the control programming code, or a recommendation to add a predefined visualization to the system project data.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the IDE editor is configured to:
infer an industrial vertical to which the industrial automation control project relates based on an analysis of the industrial design input,
select a guardrail template, from a library of defined guardrail templates, corresponding to the industrial vertical, and
apply programmatic guardrails defined by the guardrail template to the industrial design input as the industrial design input is received, wherein the programmatic guardrails cause the user interface component to render programmatic feedback designed to guide conformity with a vertical-specific programming standard.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is implemented on a cloud platform, and the editor definition component is configured to manage independent customization of multiple instances of the IDE interface for respective multiple client devices.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is implemented on a cloud platform, and the system further comprises a proxy component configured to render specified subsets of the system project data accessible by a remote technical support entity.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a project deployment component configured to translate the system project data to at least two of an industrial control program, a visualization application, or a device configuration file, and to send the at least two of the industrial control program, the visualization application, or the device configuration file to respective industrial assets for execution.

11. A method for developing industrial applications, comprising:
rendering, by a system comprising a processor, integrated development environment (IDE) interfaces on a client device;
receiving, by the system via interaction with the IDE interfaces, industrial design input that defines control design aspects of an industrial control and monitoring project, wherein functionality of the IDE interfaces is controlled by an IDE editor;
generating, by the system, system project data based on the industrial design input;
receiving, by the system via interaction with one or more of the IDE interfaces, interface definition data that specifies a customization of an IDE interface of the IDE interfaces;
reconfiguring, by the system, the IDE editor to implement the customization of the IDE interface, wherein the customization of the IDE interface specified by the interface definition data comprises at least a definition of a form of programming feedback to be rendered by the IDE interface and a condition that causes the form of programming feedback to be rendered by the IDE interface; and
implementing, by the system based on the interface definition data, the customization of the IDE interface.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the receiving the interface definition data comprises receiving the interface definition data that further specifies, as another customization of the IDE interface, at least one of a control programming syntax supported by the IDE interface, an editing functionality supported by the IDE interface, a programming guardrail enforced by the IDE editor, a visual characteristic of the IDE interface, or an audio characteristic of the IDE interface.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the generating the system project data comprises at least one of an executable industrial control program, an industrial visualization application, industrial device configuration data configured to set a configuration parameter value of an industrial device, an engineering drawing, or a bill of materials.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the receiving the industrial design input comprises at least receiving an instruction to instantiate an automation object within an industrial control program that is part of the system project data, and wherein the automation object represents an industrial asset comprising at least one of an industrial process, a controller, a control program, a tag within the control program, a machine, a motor, a motor drive, a telemetry device, a tank, a valve, a pump, an industrial safety device, an industrial robot, or an actuator.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the form of programmatic feedback defined by the interface definition data is at least one of a program syntax highlighting, an error highlighting, a type-ahead suggestion, a recommendation to rewrite or reorga

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Dunn Ryan
• Staas Karl
• Stump Andrew
• Carrara Anthony
• Srinivasan Eashwer
• Como Christopher
• Billi-Duran Sharon

Classifications

• G06F8/33

  Intelligent editors · CPC title

• Y02P90/02

  Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] · CPC title

• G06F8/34 Primary

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title

• G06F8/20 Primary

  Software design · CPC title

• G05B19/05

  Programmable logic controllers, e.g. simulating logic interconnections of signals according to ladder diagrams or function charts · CPC title