Location-Based Operating of Devices in an Industrial Plant

A computer-implemented method for operating a plurality of devices in an industrial plant, comprising:

• obtaining at least a location of a to-be-controlled device within the industrial plant;
• obtaining locations of other devices in a vicinity of the to-be-controlled device;
• determining, based at least in part on a ruleset with rules that are dependent at least on the locations of the other devices, at least one action that may be performed by the to-be-controlled device;
• and
• causing the to-be-controlled device to perform the at least one action,
• wherein the ruleset further comprises at least one rule that is dependent on whether the location of the to-be-controlled device is within a predetermined zone in the industrial plant, and wherein the predetermined zone is defined independently from the ruleset and referenced directly or by type/class of zone from at least one rule in the ruleset.

A computer-implemented method for operating a plurality of devices in an industrial plant, comprising:

• obtaining at least a location of a to-be-controlled device within the industrial plant;
• obtaining locations of other devices in a vicinity of the to-be-controlled device;
• determining, based at least in part on a ruleset with rules that are dependent at least on the locations of the other devices, at least one action that may be performed by the to-be-controlled device;
• and
• causing the to-be-controlled device to perform the at least one action,
• wherein at least one of the other devices in the industrial plant publishes at least its location, and/or the to-be-controlled device obtains at least one location of another device, according to a publish-subscribe model.

A computer-implemented method for operating a plurality of devices in an industrial plant, comprising:

• obtaining at least a location of a to-be-controlled device within the industrial plant;
• obtaining locations of other devices in a vicinity of the to-be-controlled device;
• determining, based at least in part on a ruleset with rules that are dependent at least on the locations of the other devices, at least one action that may be performed by the to-be-controlled device;
• and
• causing the to-be-controlled device to perform the at least one action,
• wherein multiple actions to be performed by multiple to-be-controlled devices are determined by a central control entity, and at least one to-be-controlled device applies an additional ruleset at least to:
• filter to-be-performed actions received from the central control entity;
• and/or
• determine a to-be-performed action when communication with the central control entity is unavailable.

A non-transitory computer storage medium containing executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to execute a computer-implemented method for operating a plurality of devices in an industrial plant, the computer-implemented method comprising:

• obtaining at least a location of a to-be-controlled device within the industrial plant;
• obtaining locations of other devices in a vicinity of the to-be-controlled device;
• determining, based at least in part on a ruleset with rules that are dependent at least on the locations of the other devices, at least one action that may be performed by the to-be-controlled device;
• and
• causing the to-be-controlled device to perform the at least one action,
• wherein the ruleset further comprises at least one rule that is dependent on whether the location of the to-be-controlled device is within a predetermined zone in the industrial plant, and wherein the predetermined zone is defined independently from the ruleset and referenced directly or by type/class of zone from at least one rule in the ruleset.