Industrial information identification and retrieval system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11860964-B2
Application number	US-202016923110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2020
Priority date	Jul 9, 2019
Publication date	Jan 2, 2024
Grant date	Jan 2, 2024

Abstract

An industrial information identification and retrieval system includes: a crawler; a search engine; a result processor; and a web user interface “web UL” The crawler identifies devices and their associated Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture “OPC UA” servers within a network as identified OPC UA servers. The crawler browses the identified OPC UA servers and extracts and stores data items in a database as extracted data items. The search engine searches the extracted data items and provides search results to the result processor. The result processor determines a score for each search result. The web UI presents the search results according to the scores.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An industrial information identification and retrieval system, comprising:
a crawler configured to:
identify devices and their associated Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture “OPC UA” servers within a network as identified OPC UA servers, the network comprising boundaries set based on network segments, plant hierarchy, or specific sites;
create a plant index by searching the network and scanning the identified OPC UA servers; and
browse the identified OPC UA servers and extract and store data items in an external database as extracted data items,
wherein the data items comprise one or more of: image data and image data for specific devices; and
wherein the data items comprise device parameter values or output values;

a search engine configured to:
search the extracted data items and provide search results to the result processor;
interpret references; and
determine a number of times each search result was previously selected by different users, a plurality of similarity metrics for each search result, and a plurality of measures of variability for parameter values or output values for devices, wherein the plurality of measures of variability is based on frequency of changes to the parameter value or output value;

a result processor configured to determine a score for each search result by utilization of the number of times each search result was previously selected by different users, the plurality of similarity metrics, and the plurality of measures of variability for parameter values or output values for devices, wherein the plurality of measures of variability is utilized to increase the score of the each search results, where the parameter value or output value changes at a higher frequency than other node values; and
a web user interface “web UI” configured to present the search results according to the scores.

2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a query processor,
wherein the query processor is configured to provide domain knowledge to the system, and
wherein provision of the search results by the search engine comprises utilization of the domain knowledge.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the web UI is configured to provide the query processor with at least one search query, and
wherein the query processor is configured to modify the at least one search query to generate the domain knowledge, the modification comprising replacing a keyword in the at least one search query with a domain specific key word and/or adding a keyword to the at least one search query.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the at least one search query is input by a user.

5. The system according to claim 3 , wherein modification of the at least one search query comprises utilization of at least one modification or replacement rule.

6. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one modification or replacement rule is pre-set or user defined.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the search engine is configured to determine a number of times each search result was previously selected by different users, and
wherein determination of the score for each search result comprises utilization of the number of times each search result was previously selected by different users.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the search engine is configured to determine a plurality of similarity metrics for each search result, and
wherein determination of the score for each search result comprises utilization of the plurality of similarity metrics.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the data items comprise device parameter values or output values,
wherein the search engine is configured to determine a plurality of measures of variability for parameter values or output values for devices, and
wherein determination of the score for each search result comprises utilization of the plurality of measures of variability for parameter values or output values for devices.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the result processor is configured to rank the search results according to the score for each score result.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the data items further comprise devices within a specific geographical area.

12. An industrial internet of things search method, comprising:
a) identifying, using a crawler, devices and their associated Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture “OPC UA” servers within a network as identified OPC UA servers, the network comprising boundaries set based on network segments, plant hierarchy, or specific sites;
b) creating, using the crawler, a plant index by searching the network and scanning the identified OPC US servers;
c) browsing, using the crawler, the identified OPC UA servers and extracting and storing data items in an external database as extracted data items,
wherein the data items comprise one or more of: image data and image data for specific devices; and
wherein the data items comprise device parameter values or output values;

e) searching, using a search engine, the extracted data items and determining search results;
interpret references; and
wherein the search engine is configured to determine a number of times each search result was previously selected by different users, a plurality of similarity metrics for each search result, and a plurality of measures of variability for parameter values or output values for devices, wherein the plurality of measures of variability is based on frequency of changes to the parameter value or output value;

f) determining, using a result processor, a score for each search result by utilization of the number of times each search result was previously selected by different users, the plurality of similarity metrics, and the plurality of measures of variability for parameter values or output values for devices, wherein the plurality of measures of variability is utilized to increase the score of the each search results, where the parameter value or output value changes at a higher frequency than other node values; and
g) presenting, using a web user interface the search results according to the scores.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:
d) providing domain knowledge to the system,
wherein step d) comprises utilizing the domain knowledge.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein step d) comprises providing at least one search query and modifying the at least one search query to generate the domain knowledge, the modifying comprising replacing a keyword in the at least one search query with a domain specific key word and/or adding a keyword to the at least one search query.

15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein step f) comprises ranking the search results according to the score for each score result.

16. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the data items further comprise devices within a specific geographical area.

Assignees

• Abb Schweiz Ag

Inventors

• Burger Andreas
• Koziolek Heiko
• Gruener Sten
• Schmitt Johannes
• Dix Marcel

Classifications

• G06F16/9538 Primary

  Presentation of query results · CPC title

• G06F16/951 Primary

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• G06F16/25 Primary

  Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems · CPC title

• G06F16/9532

  Query formulation · CPC title

• G06F16/9535

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title