System and Method for Similarity Search in Process Data

A method of comparing at least one search instruction with process data obtained from an industrial process comprising:

• converting the search instruction to a search parameter set of weightable search parameters;
• accessing a set of indexed process data obtained by indexing the process data;
• comparing the search parameter set with the indexed process data by calculating at least one distance between members of the search parameter set and corresponding members of the indexed process data to obtain a similarity value;
• and
• outputting at least one or more result based on the similarity value.

A non-transitory, tangible computer-readable storage medium comprising:

• a first set of instructions for converting entered search instructions to a search parameter set of weightable search parameters;
• a second set of instructions for obtaining indexed process data from a process database;
• and
• third set of instruction for comparing the search parameter set with the indexed process data by calculating at least one distance between members of the search parameter set and corresponding members of the indexed process data to obtain a similarity value;
• and
• a fourth set of instruction for outputting at least one or more result based on the similarity value.

A console for analyzing an industrial process, the terminal comprising:

• a display device having a plurality of selectable tag identifiers, a plurality of selectable event identifiers and a time selection graphic;
• an input device cooperating with the display device to allow the selection of one of more of the plurality of selectable tag identifiers, the selection of one or more of the plurality of selectable event identifiers and a selection of a time frame;
• a request transmitter for sending a request to the process data connection device for transmitting historical process data from the selected one or more of the plurality of tag identifiers, the selected one or more event identifiers and over the selected time frame to a data processing device as a search instruction;
• and
• a data receiver for receiving the output of the data processing device and displaying the output on the display device.