# US 12,013,769 B2 · Hot-standby redundancy control system, method, control apparatus, and computer readable storage medium > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,013,769 B2 - Document ID: US12013769B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/059,282 - Filed: 2018-05-31 - Published: 2021-07-15 - Granted: 2024-06-18 - Earliest claimed: 2018-05-31 - Assignees: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft - Applicants: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft - Inventors: Dong Li; Xiao Bo Yang; Tong Zhou Wang; Yao Lei Tang; Chuan Yu Zhang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12013769B2 ## CPC - G05B 19/4184: {characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system} - G06F 11/2028: {eliminating a faulty processor or activating a spare} - G06F 9/45558: {Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects} - G06F 13/20: for access to input/output bus - G05B 2219/34488: One computer, controller replaces other, backup computer - G06F 2009/45579: {I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage} - Y02P 90/02: Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] - G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS ## Abstract A hot-standby redundancy control system is disclosed. In an embodiment, the system includes multiple primary control apparatuses, each respectively running a process of the hot-standby redundancy control system; a backup control apparatus pool including at least one industrial personal computer (IPC), with multiple virtual control apparatuses being established on at least one IPC, and the multiple virtual control apparatuses established being in one-to-one correspondence with the multiple primary control apparatuses, and each respective multiple virtual control apparatus running a same process as a respective corresponding primary control apparatus; a control bus, to connect one or more of the t least one IPC in the multiple primary control apparatuses and the backup control apparatus pool; and a field bus, to connect one or more of the at least one IPC in the multiple primary control apparatuses and the backup control apparatus pool and multiple field apparatuses. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A hot-standby redundancy control system, comprising: multiple primary control apparatuses, each of the multiple primary control apparatuses configured to respectively run a process of the hot-standby redundancy control system; a backup control apparatus pool, the backup control apparatus pool including at least one industrial personal computer (IPC), the at least one IPC configured to establish multiple virtual control apparatuses, the multiple virtual control apparatuses established on the at least one IPC being in one-to-one correspondence with the multiple primary control apparatuses, and wherein each respective multiple virtual control apparatus is configured to run a same process as a respective corresponding primary control apparatus; a control bus connecting one or more of the multiple primary control apparatuses and the at least one IPC; and a field bus connecting the one or more of the multiple primary control apparatuses, the at least one IPC, and multiple field apparatuses. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The hot-standby redundancy control system of claim 1, wherein the control bus and the field bus are implemented by a standard bus based on industrial Ethernet technology. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The hot-standby redundancy control system of claim 2, wherein the at least one IPC comprises: a processor configured to cause the at least one IPC to run a general-purpose operating system configured to provide a configuration management program and an interface for managing the multiple virtual control apparatuses, and a virtual machine monitor configured to allocate hardware resources to the virtual control apparatuses. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The hot-standby redundancy control system of claim 3, wherein the processor is a multi-core processor having M cores, M being an integer greater than 1, and wherein the processor is configured to run the general-purpose operating system ie n-on one core of the multi-core processor, and run M−1 virtual machines on the remaining M−1 cores to establish M−1 virtual control apparatuses. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The hot-standby redundancy control system of claim 4, wherein a number of the one or more IPCs is based upon a number of processes running in the control system and a number of cores of the multi-core processor. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The hot-standby redundancy control system of claim 1, wherein the at least one IPC comprises: a processor configured to cause the at last one IPC to run the multiple virtual control apparatuses, a general-purpose operating system configured to provide a configuration management program and an interface for managing the multiple virtual control apparatuses, and a virtual machine monitor configured to allocate hardware resources to the virtual control apparatuses. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The hot-standby redundancy control system of claim 1, wherein the processor is a multi-core processor having M cores, M being an integer greater than 1, and wherein the processor is configured to run the general-purpose operating system on one core of the multi-core processor, and run M−1 virtual machines on the remaining M−1 cores to establish M−1 virtual control apparatuses. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The hot-standby redundancy control system of claim 7, wherein a number of the one or more IPCs is based upon a number of processes running in the control system and a number of cores of the multi-core processor. ### Claim 9 A control apparatus, comprising: a processor configured to cause the control apparatus to run multiple virtual control apparatuses in one-to-one correspondence with multiple primary control apparatuses, each respective virtual control apparatus, of the multiple virtual control apparatuses, running a same process as a corresponding respective primary control apparatus, of the multiple primary control apparatuses; run a general-purpose operating system configured to provide a configuration management program and an interface for managing the multiple virtual control apparatuses; and run a virtual machine configured to configure hardware resources for the multiple virtual control apparatuses. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The control apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor is a multi-core processor having M cores, M being an integer greater than 1, and wherein the processor is configured to run the general-purpose operating system on one core of the multi-core processor, and run M−1 virtual machines on the M−1 remaining cores of the multi-core processor, respectively, to establish M−1 virtual control apparatuses. ### Claim 11 A hot-standby redundancy method, applicable to an industrial personal computer (IPC) running at least one virtual control apparatus, the method comprising: periodically receiving, by each virtual control apparatus of multiple virtual control apparatuses via a control bus of a control system, a heartbeat signal from a corresponding primary control apparatus, wherein said multiple virtual control apparatuses are in respective one-to-one correspondence with multiple primary control apparatuses in the control system and wherein each respective virtual control apparatus runs a same process as a corresponding primary control apparatus; and outputting, in response to a respective virtual control apparatus having received no heartbeat signals from a corresponding primary control apparatus via said control bus within a given time, a self-outputted signal to a corresponding field apparatus in the control system via a field bus of the control system. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, further comprising: running a virtual machine monitor on hardware of the IPC; running a general-purpose operating system on the virtual machine monitor, the general-purpose operating system configured to provide a configuration management program and a configuration management interface; and running, via the configuration management interface, multiple virtual machines on the virtual machine monitor as the multiple virtual control apparatuses. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein a processor of the IPC is a multi-core processor having multiple cores, and wherein the multiple virtual machines are in one-to-one correspondence with multiple cores of the multi-core processor. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause an apparatus to implement the hot-standby redundancy method of claim 11. ### Claim 15 (depends on 6) A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause an apparatus to implement the hot-standby redundancy method of claim 6. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause an apparatus to implement the hot-standby redundancy method of claim 13.