Connectivity to an industrial information hub

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11415969-B2
Application number	US-202017026784-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2020
Priority date	Sep 21, 2020
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

An industrial information hub (IDH) serves as a single industrial ecosystem platform where multiple participants can deliver repeatable and standardized services relevant to their core competencies. The IIH system is centered around the development of an ecosystem that creates and delivers value to users—including industrial enterprises, OEMs, system integrators, vendors, etc.—through the aggregation of digital content and domain expertise. The IIH system serves as a trusted information broker between the ecosystem and the OT environments of plant facilities, and provides a platform for connecting assets, contextualizing asset data and providing secure access to the ecosystem. Additionally, the IIH system provides tools and support to OEMs and other subject matter experts, allowing those experts to enable their digital assets for use in the ecosystem. The IIH system reduces the cost and risks for digital modeling of industrial assets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for providing industrial information services, 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 device interface component configured to communicatively connect, via a cloud platform, to a gateway device deployed at an industrial facility, wherein the gateway device collects industrial data generated by industrial assets;
a modeling component configured to, in response to receipt of credential data from the gateway device that identifies an industrial asset of the industrial assets, retrieve an asset model of the industrial asset from a vendor repository of asset models and deploy the asset model from the cloud platform to the gateway device, wherein
the asset model defines at least data items to be collected from the industrial asset and functional correlations between the data items, and
the device interface component receives, from the gateway device, contextualized data comprising the industrial data and contextual metadata added to the industrial data by the gateway device based on the functional correlations defined by the asset model, and
the contextual metadata added to a first item of the industrial data by the gateway device comprises a value of a second item of the industrial data having a relationship with the first item of the industrial data as defined by the functional correlations;

an analytics component configured to apply analytics to the contextualized data; and
a user interface component configured to render, on a client device, results of the analytics via a unified presentation of the industrial assets generated based on the contextualized data.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the asset models define at least one of visual representations of their corresponding industrial assets, functional specification data for their corresponding industrial assets, or simulation properties of their corresponding industrial assets.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the device interface component is configured to permit communication of the contextualized data from the gateway device to the cloud platform in response to the receipt of the credential data.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the contextual metadata at least one of defines a correlation between two or more items of the industrial data, identifies machines from which the industrial data was generated, or applies a synchronized timestamp to the industrial data.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the device interface component is configured to send control signals to the industrial assets via the gateway device based on results of the analytics.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface component is configured to render the unified presentation as a virtual reality presentation of the virtualized plant or as an augmented reality presentation.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a simulation component configured to execute a simulation on the virtualized plant, wherein the device interface component is configured to deliver control signals to the industrial assets via the gateway device based on results of the simulation.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the repository of asset models comprise at least one asset model registered with the cloud platform by a vendor of an industrial asset represented by the at least one asset model.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the analytics component is configured to manage division of an analytic task between the analytics component and the gateway device.

10. A method for providing industrial information services, comprising:
communicatively connecting, by a system comprising a processor that executes on a cloud platform, to a gateway device deployed at an industrial facility, wherein the gateway device collects industrial data generated by industrial assets;
in response to receiving credential data from the gateway device that identifies an industrial asset of the industrial assets:
retrieving, by the system from a repository of asset models, an asset model representing the industrial asset, the asset model defining at least data items to be collected from the industrial asset and functional correlations between the data items; and
provisioning the asset model from the cloud platform to the gateway device;

receiving, by the system from the gateway device, contextualized data comprising the industrial data and contextual metadata added to the industrial data by the gateway device based on the functional correlations defined by the asset model, wherein the contextual metadata added to a first item of the industrial data comprises a value of a second item of the industrial data having a relationship with the first item of the industrial data as defined by the functional correlations;
analyzing, by the system, the contextualized data; and
rendering, by the system, results of the analytics via a unified presentation of the industrial assets generated based on the contextualized data.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the asset models define at least one of visual representations for their corresponding industrial assets, functional specification data for their corresponding industrial assets, or simulation properties of their corresponding industrial assets.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the communicatively connecting comprises permitting communication of the contextualized data from the gateway device to the cloud platform in response to the receiving of the credential data.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the contextual metadata at least one of defines a correlation between two or more items of the industrial data, identifies machines from which the industrial data was generated, or applies a synchronized timestamp to the industrial data.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising sending, by the system, control signals to the industrial assets via the gateway device based on results of the analyzing.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising rendering, by the system, the unified presentation as at least one of a virtual reality presentation of the virtualized plant model or an augmented reality presentation.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising dividing, by the system, an analytic task between the system and the gateway device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system executing on a cloud platform and comprising a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
communicatively connecting to a gateway device deployed at an industrial facility, wherein the gateway device collects industrial data generated by industrial assets;
in response to receiving credential data from the gateway device that identifies an industrial asset of the industrial assets:
retrieving, from a repository of asset models, an asset model representing the industrial asset, the asset model defining at least data items to be collected from the industrial asset and functional correlations between the data items; and
provisioning the asset model from the cloud platform to the gateway device;

receiving, from the gateway device, contextualized data comprising the industrial data and contextual metadata added to the industrial data by the gateway device based on the functional correlations defined by the asset model, wherein the contextual metadata added to a first item of the industrial data comprises a value of a second item of the industrial data having a rel

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Miller Scott A
• Reynolds Nathan
• Como Christopher Wayne
• Sandler Nathaniel S
• Dunn Ryan P
• Mccleave Jr Bruce T
• Reissner Kyle
• Briant Stephen C

Classifications

• G05B19/4185 Primary

  characterised by the network communication · CPC title

• H04L67/12 Primary

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• G05B19/41855

  by local area network [LAN], network structure · CPC title

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• G06Q10/0637

  Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals · CPC title