Control system and method therefor

A control system for controlling processing operations for processing individual articles, said control system comprising:

• a plurality of controllers adapted to control operations associated with a processing system, each of said controllers being configured to communicate with at least another one of the plurality of controllers;
• software agents provided in one or more of the plurality of controllers, each of said software agents representing a component within the control system and being executable with any one or more of said controllers;
• and
• a protocol adapted to allow each of said software agents to communicate messages with other of said plurality of software agents, such that the software agents can be implemented on any of said plurality of controllers without substantial reconfiguration.

A distributed control system for controlling the processing of one or more articles, said control system comprising:

• a coordinator controller;
• a coordinator agent for monitoring processing of each article of manufacture and for coordinating the processing of each article of manufacture;
• one or more process stations, including one or more process station controllers networked with said coordinator controller;
• a process station agent associated with each of said one or more process station controllers and adapted to communicate with said coordinator agent, each process station agent adapted to initiate processing of articles of manufacture associated with a branch processing station;
• one or more process modules associated with each of the one or more process stations;
• a process module agent associated each process module for performing a designated process on articles of manufacture, said process module agent controlling the process operation of the associated process module, wherein said coordinator agent coordinates the control operation and tracks each article through process operations;
• and
• a protocol adapted to allow the coordinator agent, process station agent, and process module agent to communicate messages.

A method of controlling the processing of articles, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of control agents adapted to control a processing operation and including a coordinator control agent and a process control agent;
• transmitting request messages from the coordinator control agent to each of the process control agents, said message including information on a process operation and a designated article;
• performing an intended process operation responsive to the request messages;
• and
• generating a work report message when the designated operation is complete.

A method of controlling a continuous process of discrete articles of manufacture on a processing system, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of software agents representing components within a control system;
• generating process work requests requesting execution of a process operation for each article of manufacture;
• discretely tracking each article throughout the processing operation;
• and
• logging the history of each article manufactured.

A method of configuring a process control system to perform process operations on individual articles, said method comprising the steps of:

• downloading a plurality of control agents to one or more controllers, each of said plurality of control agents being adapted to control a processing operation and including a coordinator control agent and a process control agent;
• configuring each of said one or more controllers so that said software agents communicate messages therebetween;
• providing data communication via the software such that the software is substantially independent of hardware and operating system configurations;
• and
• performing a process operation by generating process work requests to control a continuous process of discrete articles of manufacturing.

A distributed control system for controlling a manufacturing system having a trunk and at least one branch processing station, wherein said control system comprises:

• a coordinating controller for monitoring processing of each article of manufacture on said manufacturing system and for coordinating the processing of each article of manufacture;
• a process station controller networked with said coordinating controller and associated with each branch processing station for initiating the processes performed thereon for each article of manufacture;
• and
• a process module controller associated with each individual process module on each branch processing station and networked with said process station controller, said process module coordinator controlling the processing operation of said associated process module, wherein said control coordinator coordinates processing operation of each article of manufacture, said processing controller initiates control operations, and said process module coordinator performs individual control operations associated with each process module.