Method and Apparatus for Proxy Execution and Computation with an Industrial Controller

A method of coordinating execution of an external processing device with an industrial controller, the method comprising the steps of:

• executing a plurality of control instructions on a processor of an industrial controller, wherein the plurality of control instructions access data from at least one data structure stored in memory of the industrial controller;
• executing at least one proxy instruction on the processor of the industrial controller, wherein:
• the at least one proxy instruction defines at least one function to be executed on an external processing device,
• the at least one proxy instruction defines shared data from the at least one data structure, and
• the shared data is accessed by at least one of the plurality of control instructions and is required for execution of the at least one proxy instruction;
• reading the shared data with an inter-processor interface executing on the industrial controller;
• transmitting the shared data to the external processing device with the inter-processor interface;
• and
• receiving at the inter-processor interface a response from the external processing device indicating a status of executing the at least one function defined by the at least one proxy instruction.

A processor module for an industrial controller configured to coordinate execution of an external processing device with the industrial controller, the processor module comprising:

• a memory operative to store a control program and at least one data structure;
• and
• a processor operative to execute the control program, wherein:
• the control program includes a plurality of control instructions and at least one proxy instruction,
• the at least one proxy instruction defines data from the at least one data structure required for execution of the corresponding proxy instruction,
• the at least one proxy instruction defines at least one function to be executed on an external processing device, and
• the processor is further operative to:
• read the data from the at least one data structure,
• transmit the data to the external processing device, and
• receive a response from the external processing device indicating a status of processing the at least one proxy instruction.