US 7,624,371 B2Granted

Extensible automation development environment

AssigneeInvensys Systems, Inc.

InventorsSandeep Shashikant Kulkarni, Guruprasad Ranganarasimhan

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Abstract

The present invention provides an extensible automation development environment. A full development environment in its own right, the environment, in addition to supporting its own native objects, allows the integration of foreign (or “custom”) automation objects. Custom commands and custom events are also integrated into the environment and are handled by the same framework that handles native commands and events. Tools provided by the environment are made to work with custom objects as well as with native objects. For example, a common editor expands to incorporate a custom editor that handles custom data fields. A common browser expands to seamlessly incorporate a custom browser that may operate on custom automation objects from a custom database. All software entities, native and custom, can be developed and monitored within a single framework. Users operate seamlessly across heterogeneous automation environments, even though custom entities in the environment conform to their own operating standards.

Claims14

Dependent claims

An extensible automation development system including a processor and configured with a physical computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for allowing a custom automation object to be integrated into the system, the computer-readable medium of the system comprising computer-executable instructions for providing:

a common browser configured for displaying, in a development environment, data from the automation development system;
a common object editor configured for editing, in the development environment, data in the automation development system;
a set of common commands to be performed, in the development environment, by objects in the automation development system;
for each of at least a subset of the common commands, an interface for performing the command;
a set of common events to be responded to, in the development environment, by objects in the automation development system;
for each of at least a subset of the common events, an interface for responding to the event;
an interface for adding a custom command to the automation development system, the custom command to be performed, in the development environment, by a custom automation object;
and
an interface for adding a custom event to the automation development system, the custom event to be responded to, in the development environment, by a custom automation object.

6 more elements

A method for browsing data in an extensible automation development system configured with a computer-readable medium having a memory and a processor and including computer-executable instructions for allowing a custom automation object to be integrated into the system, the method comprising:

using a common browser to display, in a development environment, data from the automation development system, the common browser comprising an interface for adding a custom browser;
using the interface to add a custom browser in the development environment;
using the custom browser to display, in the development environment, data from a custom automation object;
using a common object editor to edit, in the development environment, data in the automation development system;
performing, by objects in the development system, a set of common commands in the development environment;
wherein the interface performs at least a subset of commands;
responding, by objects in the automation development system, to a set of common events, wherein the interface responds to at least a subset of the events;
adding a custom command to the automation development system, wherein the interface adds the custom command;
performing, by a custom automation object, the custom command in the development environment;
adding a custom event to the automation development system, wherein the interface adds the custom event;
and
responding to the custom event in the development environment.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.