Validation of configuration settings in an industrial process
AssigneeRockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
InventorsDale Edward Reed, Mark K. Carmou, N. Andrew Weatherhead
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An automation control system can be efficiently developed and maintained as a hierarchical arrangement of configured components that pass process control parameters received from a control component and return reports back to the control component. In particular, control components compare a current configuration to a validated, saved configuration in order to report a configuration status as to whether a process can be conducted as validated. Yet, changes to the configuration of the automation control system that do not affect a validated portion do not preclude continued validated processing.
Claims20
A system that determines configuration changes in a validated system, comprising:
- an industrial control module that controls an industrial process, the industrial process comprising at least a validated portion, further comprising:
- a processor,
- a computer readable storage medium operationally coupled to the processor and storing computer executable instructions, the computer executable instructions, if executed by the processor, implement components comprising:
- a control component comprising generic operations to control the industrial process utilizing the processor, the control component further comprising a current configuration data structure representing a current configuration of the industrial process and a validated saved configuration data structure defining a validated configuration of the industrial process;
- an interface component that modifies the current configuration of the industrial process;
- and
- a reporting component that compares the current configuration data structure against the validated saved configuration data structure and provides a notification of a detected difference indicative of an unvalidated component within the validated portion of the industrial process;
- and
- wherein the computer readable storage medium retains the current configuration data structure and the validated saved configuration data structure.
A computer-implemented method for determining configuration changes in a validated system, comprising:
- controlling an industrial process comprising at least a validated portion comprising a set of components having a validated configuration;
- employing a processor executing computer-executable instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium to implement the following acts:
- storing on a controller the validated configuration for the set of components;
- monitoring the industrial process by the controller;
- determining, at the controller, if a change has been made to a current configuration of the set of components in comparison with the validated configuration;
- and
- generating an automatic notification if a change is detected between the current configuration and the validated configuration indicative of an unvalidated component within the validated portion.
A system for determining configuration changes in a validated system comprising at least a validated portion, comprising:
- an industrial controller, further comprising;
- a processor;
- a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions, if executed by the processor, implement the following:
- means for monitoring, by the processor, one or more module components within the validated system;
- means for determining, by the processor, if a change has been made to a configuration applied to the module components;
- means for determining whether the change affects the validated portion of the validated system;
- and
- means for generating an automatic notification if the means for determining determines that the change affects the validated portion of the validated system.
A computer-readable storage medium having a data structure stored thereon, comprising:
- a module component comprising generic operations to control an industrial process, the module component further comprising a current configuration data structure representing a current configuration of the industrial process and a stored validated configuration data structure defining a validated configuration of the industrial process;
- an interface that modifies the current configuration data structure;
- and
- a reporting component provides a notification of a detected difference between the current configuration data structure and the stored validated configuration data structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.