Industrial automation control system content protection

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• identifying content protection instructions for control system content, wherein the content protection instructions comprise restrictions on execution of the control system content and wherein the control system content comprises controller program code that controls machine system operations;
• generating, based at least on the content protection instructions, an execution license that includes at least one process-related constraint for the control system content, wherein the process-related constraint comprises at least one production limit;
• generating, by applying the execution license to the control system content, protected content;
• executing, in an industrial controller and in accordance with the execution license, an instance of the protected content;
• and
• producing, by a machine system, a number of products, wherein production of the number of products is limited based at least on the process-related constraint.

A system for protecting control system content comprising controller program code that controls a machine system operation in one or more industrial automation environments, the system 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 means for identifying content protection instructions for the control system content,
• wherein the content protection instructions comprise restrictions on execution of the control system content and wherein the control system content comprises controller program code that controls machine system operations;
• a means for generating, based at least on the content protection instructions, an execution license that includes at least one process-related constraint for the control system content, wherein the process-related constraint comprises at least one production limit;
• a means for generating, by applying the execution license to the control system content, protected content;
• and
• a means for producing, by one or more machine systems and based at least on execution of an instance of the protected content, a number of products, wherein production of the number of products is limited based at least on the process-related constraint.