Synchronizing information model changes between hierarchical systems of smart factories

A method for synchronizing information model changes between hierarchical systems of smart factories, comprising:

• maintaining a node-wise timestamp variable syncAck for a time of acknowledgment of a synchronization performed by a parent Open Platform Communications United Architecture (OPC UA) server, the synchronization being between a first aggregated information model instance stored in the parent OPC UA server and a second aggregated information model instance stored in a lower level OPC UA server, the synchronization related to a node subject to modification;
• annotating the node with a node-wise timestamp in response to a modification to the node, wherein the modification includes one of a node addition, a node update, or a node deletion;
• pushing the node subject to modification in the second aggregated information model to a queue as a serialized node set format having annotation extensions that include synchronization-relevant data;
• synchronizing the first aggregated information model with the second aggregated information model by updating the nodes with the synchronization-relevant data;
• and sharing namespace array information related to the node ID.

A system for synchronizing information model changes between hierarchical systems of a smart factory, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory having modules with instructions stored thereon executable by the processor, the modules comprising:
• a model generator configured to instantiate objects for an aggregated information model for each of a plurality of subsystems in the smart factory, the aggregated information model in accordance with objects defined by an Open Platform Communications United Architecture (OPC UA) standardized model;
• a synchronization engine configured to:
• maintain a global timestamp variable for a last successful synchronization performed by a parent OPC UA server, the synchronization being between a first aggregated information model instance stored in the parent OPC UA server and a second aggregated information model instance stored in a lower level OPC UA server;
• for each node in the second aggregated information model, annotating the node with a node-wise timestamp in response to a modification to the node, wherein the modification includes one of a node addition, a node update, or a node deletion;
• push all nodes subject to modification in the second aggregated information model to a priority queue as a serialized node set format having annotation extensions that include synchronization-relevant data;
• synchronize the first aggregated information model with the second aggregated information model by updating the nodes with the synchronization-relevant data.