Rich contextualization of automation data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11175643-B2
Application number	US-201515749640-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2015
Priority date	Aug 11, 2015
Publication date	Nov 16, 2021
Grant date	Nov 16, 2021

Abstract

A method of operating an intelligent programmable logic controller (PLC) as part of a production process within an automation system includes the intelligent PLC receiving automation system data and a semantic context model comprising a plurality of ontologies providing formal specifications of conceptual entities associated with the automation system. The intelligent PLC creates one or more semantic annotations for the automation system data using the semantic context model. These semantic annotations are stored along with the automation system data in a non-volatile storage medium included in the intelligent PLC.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system comprising:
a context model manager computer configured to generate a semantic context model representative of an automation system, the context model manager computer comprising:
a model import component configured to import automation system knowledge from an automation engineering system and an automation runtime system, wherein the automation system knowledge from the automation engineering system is imported from an automation engineering tool, and wherein the automation system knowledge is provided in a plurality of distinct context models;
a management services component configured to:
identify conceptual entities associated with the automation system based on the automation system knowledge, and
generate the semantic context model comprising a plurality of ontologies providing formal specifications of the conceptual entities associated with the automation system, by formally and semantically aligning the plurality of distinct context models to yield the semantic context model, and automatically translating the plurality of distinct context models into a common semantic language; and

a model export component configured to deploy the semantic context model to one or more intelligent programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in the automation system.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ontologies comprises an asset ontology comprising plant topology information associated with the automation system.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ontologies comprises a process ontology comprising information associated with resource flow through the production process.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ontologies comprises a product ontology comprising information associated with a product produced by the production process.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ontologies comprises an event ontology comprising information associated with events related to operation of the automation system.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the event ontology comprises information related to scheduled downtime of one or more components of the automation system.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ontologies comprises a control logic ontology comprising information associated with program logic executed by control layer devices within the automation system.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ontologies comprises an environmental ontology providing a formal specification of entities producing environmental data, wherein the entities comprise one or more environmental data sources external to the automation system.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein one or more environmental data sources external to the automation system comprise one or more remote web servers.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the context model manager computer further comprises:
a model editor component configured to receive one or more user modifications to the semantic context model;
wherein, the management services component is configured to modify the semantic context model based on the one or more user modifications.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the model editor component is configured to:
present a graphical user interface configured to:
display the semantic context model, and
receive the one or more user modifications to the semantic context model.

12. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an intelligent programmable logic controller comprising:
one or more processors configured to execute according to a scan cycle;
a volatile computer-readable storage medium comprising a process image area storing automation system data;
a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium; and
a plurality of controller components executed by the one or more processors according to the scan cycle, the plurality of controller components comprising:
a data connector component with a deployment interface configured to receive the semantic context model,
a contextualization component configured to create one or more semantic annotations for the automation system data using the semantic context model, and
a historian component configured to store, in a non-volatile storage medium included in the intelligent programmable logic controller, the one or more semantic annotations and the automation system data.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of controller components further comprises:
a data analytics component configured to apply one or more analytical models to the one or more semantic annotations and the automation system data to determine contextual information associated with automation events.

Assignees

• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Lamparter Steffen
• Grimm Stephan
• Wang Lingyun
• Rosca Justinian
• Lo George

Classifications

• G05B19/05 Primary

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

• Y02P90/80

  Management or planning · CPC title

• G05B2219/13144

  GUI graphical user interface, icon, function bloc editor, OI operator interface · CPC title

• Y02P90/02

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

• G05B2219/13111

  Expert system · CPC title