Method and apparatus for file synchronization based on qualifying trigger actions in industrial control applications

A method for synchronizing computer files of an industrial control system including a first computing device, a second computing device, and an industrial controller, comprising:

• transferring, from the industrial controller in response to a qualifying trigger action, a set of controller files to the second computing device, the set of transferred controller files including established files with a transfer timestamp indicating a time of a latest established qualifying trigger action and unestablished files;
• classifying, with the second computing device, a subset of files from the established files that are ready for synchronization in response to a user classification of the established file and a subset of files that are not ready for synchronizations;
• classifying, with the second computing device, approved synchronization files and not approved synchronization files from the subset of files using a set of synchronization rules;
• and
• transferring target files to the first computing device from a portion of the set of approved synchronization files of the second computing device based on a set of governing rules used by the first computing device,
• wherein the portion of the approved synchronization files include at least one file from the industrial controller for which the latest established qualifying trigger action is a change in timestamp that indicates the at least one file from the industrial controller is an overwrite of a newer timestamped file version in the first computing device, and the set of governing rules permit overwrite by comparing timestamps.

A method for synchronizing computer files of an industrial control system including a first computing device, a second computing device, and an industrial controller, comprising:

• detecting, with the second computing device, a qualified trigger event;
• classifying, with the second computing device, a set of established files and a set of unestablished files from the industrial controller in response to detecting the qualified trigger event, wherein the set of established files include a timestamp indicating a time of a latest established qualifying trigger action;
• classifying, with the second computing device, a subset of files from the set of established files that are ready for synchronization in response to a user classification of the set of established files and a subset of files that are not ready for synchronization;
• classifying, with the second computing device, approved synchronization files and not approved synchronization files from the subset of files based on a set of synchronization rules;
• and
• synchronizing the first computing device and the second computing device by transferring target files to the first computing device identified by the first computing device from a portion of the approved synchronization files of the second computing device based on a set of governing rules used by the first computing device,
• wherein the target files include at least one file from the industrial controller for which the latest established qualifying trigger action is a change in timestamp that indicates the at least one file from the industrial controller is an overwrite of a newer timestamped file version in the first computing device, and the set of governing rules permit overwrite by comparing timestamps.