Industrial automation control code change management and multiple edit integration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12380348-B2
Application number	US-202318211935-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 20, 2023
Priority date	Sep 27, 2019
Publication date	Aug 5, 2025
Grant date	Aug 5, 2025

Abstract

A (GUI) for designing an industrial automation system includes a design window and a first accessory window. The GUI presents a library visualization representative of a plurality of objects within the first accessory window, each object is represented by an icon and corresponds to a respective industrial automation device. The GUI receives inputs indicative of a selection of one or more objects of the plurality of objects from the library, presents the one or more objects in the design window, determines that the one or more inputs do not comply with a set of industrial automation system rules comprising one or more relationships between a plurality of industrial automation devices, and displays a warning message that the one or more inputs do not comply with the set of industrial automation system rules.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
accessing a shared copy of an industrial automation project file;
creating a local copy of an industrial automation project file representative of the shared copy of the industrial automation project file on a storage component accessible by one or more processors;
receiving, via a graphical user interface (GUI), an input indicative of one or more modifications to the local copy of the industrial automation project file;
implementing the one or more modifications to the local copy of the industrial automation project file based on the input;
identifying one or more differences between the local copy of the industrial automation project file and the shared copy of the industrial automation project file, wherein the one or more differences are associated with the one or more modifications;
simultaneously presenting, via the GUI, a visual representation of the local copy of the industrial automation project file comprising a first plurality of graphical elements representative of characteristics of the local copy of the industrial automation project file, a visual representation of the shared copy of the industrial automation project file comprising a second plurality of graphical elements representative of characteristics of the shared copy of the industrial automation project file, and a visual representation of a merged industrial automation project file based on the one or more differences between the local copy of the industrial automation project file and the shared copy of the industrial automation project file, wherein the visual representation of the merged industrial automation project file comprises at least one graphical element from the first plurality of graphical elements and at least one graphical element from the second plurality of graphical elements; and
updating the shared copy of the industrial automation project file based on the one or more modifications, wherein the updated shared copy of the industrial automation project file, when executed by an industrial automation controller, causes one or more industrial automation components to perform an industrial automation process.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the shared copy of the industrial automation project file based on the one or more modifications comprises implementing all of the one or more modifications, or implementing at least one, but not all of the one or more modifications.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the merged industrial automation project file comprises one or more features of the local copy of the industrial automation project file and one or more features of the shared copy of the industrial automation project file.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the merged industrial automation project file comprises a first feature of the local copy of the industrial automation project file not found in the shared copy of the industrial automation project file and a second feature of the shared copy of the industrial automation project file not found in the local copy of the industrial automation project file.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising displaying a notification indicative of a number of users accessing the shared copy of the industrial automation project file.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the notification identifies one or more users accessing the shared copy of the industrial automation project file.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the GUI comprises a chat window for exchanging messages between the one or more users accessing the shared copy of the industrial automation project file.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the chat window is configured to associate a particular message with a particular respective modification to the shared copy of the industrial automation project file.

9. A non-transitory, tangible, computer-readable medium, comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
accessing a shared copy of an industrial automation project file;
creating a local copy of an industrial automation project file representative of the shared copy of the industrial automation project file on a storage component accessible by one or more processors;
receiving, via a graphical user interface (GUI), an input indicative of one or more modifications to the local copy of the industrial automation project file;
implementing the one or more modifications to the local copy of the industrial automation project file based on the input;
identifying one or more differences between the local copy of the industrial automation project file and the shared copy of the industrial automation project file, wherein the one or more differences are associated with the one or more modifications;
simultaneously presenting, via the GUI, a visual representation of the local copy of the industrial automation project file comprising a first plurality of graphical elements representative of characteristics of the local copy of the industrial automation project file, a visual representation of the shared copy of the industrial automation project file comprising a second plurality of graphical elements representative of characteristics of the shared copy of the industrial automation project file, and a visual representation of a merged industrial automation project file based on the one or more differences between the local copy of the industrial automation project file and the shared copy of the industrial automation project file, wherein the visual representation of the merged industrial automation project file comprises at least one graphical element from the first plurality of graphical elements and at least one graphical element from the second plurality of graphical elements; and
updating the shared copy of the industrial automation project file based on the one or more modifications, wherein the updated shared copy of the industrial automation project file, when executed by an industrial automation controller, causes one or more industrial automation components to perform an industrial automation process.

10. The non-transitory, tangible, computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein updating the shared copy of the industrial automation project file based on the one or more modifications comprises implementing all of the one or more modifications, or implementing at least one, but not all of the one or more modifications.

11. The non-transitory, tangible, computer readable medium of claim 9 , the operations comprising displaying a notification indicative of a number of users accessing the shared copy of the industrial automation project file.

12. The non-transitory, tangible, computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the notification identifies one or more users accessing the shared copy of the industrial automation project file.

13. The non-transitory, tangible, computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the GUI comprises a chat window for exchanging messages between the one or more users accessing the shared copy of the industrial automation project file.

14. The non-transitory, tangible, computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the chat window is configured to associate a particular message with a particular respective modification to the shared copy of the industrial automation project file.

15. A non-transitory, tangible, computer-readable medium, comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
creating a local copy of an industrial automation

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Stump Andrew R
• Carrara Anthony
• Como Christopher W
• Billi-Duran Sharon
• Ericsson Matthew R
• Josipovic Srdjan
• Srinivasan Eashwer
• Kalan Michael D

Classifications

• G06F30/17

  Mechanical parametric or variational design · CPC title

• G06F3/04847

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/04817

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title

• G06N20/00

  Machine learning · CPC title