System and methodology providing open interface and distributed processing in an industrial controller environment

A method to facilitate open and distributed control in an industrial controller environment, comprising:

• configuring at least one component in an industrial control process as a web service;
• defining an open interface standard to communicate with the web service;
• employing an XML-based protocol to communicate with the interface;
• and
• interacting with the at least one component across a network to manage the industrial control process via the interface and the protocol.

A system to facilitate open and distributed control in an industrial controller system, comprising:

• means for adapting a plurality of industrial control components to at least one web service;
• means for defining an open communications standard;
• means for interfacing to the at least one web service via the open communications standard;
• means for communicating with the at least one web service via a scripting technology;
• and
• means for interacting with the plurality of components across a network to provide a virtual controller operating platform.

A web-enabled control system, comprising:

• a processing station to interact with a network;
• a downloadable control file to direct network operations of the processing station;
• a plurality of controller service components, the controller service components including at least one of a processing component, a logic component, an Input/Output (I/O) component, and a status component, the controller service components are industrial control system components configured as web services, the control file initiates operations of at least one of the controller service components via the network;
• at least one XML-based protocol that specifies an open standard for interaction via the network;
• and
• an interface that employs the at least one XML-based protocol to communicate between the controller service components and the processing station to facilitate control interactions between the controller service components.