Operator panel with applications for operating production systems

A method for operating an operator panel having one or more applications for operating at least one production system, including:

• storing configuration data in a configuration data memory of the operator panel, the configuration data being provided for the configuration of the one or more applications for the operator panel;
• accessing configuration data stored in the configuration data memory of the operator panel;
• synchronizing the configuration data via a communications interface of the operator panel with remote configuration data that are stored in a configuration data memory of a remotely disposed operator panel, the remote configuration data being provided for configuring one or more applications of the remotely disposed operator panel;
• during synchronizing of the configuration data with the remote configuration data,
• identifying differences between the configuration data and the remote configuration data based, at least in part, on a comparison between the configuration data and the remote configuration data;
• updating and storing at least one of the configuration data or the remote configuration data based, at least in part, on the identified differences, resulting in stored configuration data;
• and,
• enabling that synchronization of configuration data for configuring the one or more applications includes transmitting from the operator panel locally changed configuration data to the remotely disposed operator panel and receiving in the operator panel remotely changed configuration data from the remotely disposed operator panel;
• and,
• receiving, from at least one application of the operator panel, a read request for stored configuration data, accessing stored configuration data in order to read stored configuration data according to the read request, and delivering read configuration data to the at least one application of the operator panel for configuring the at least one application.

A computer program product including a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with stored computer code, which product is set up to control one or a plurality of processors of an operator panel having one or more applications for operating at least one production system such that:

• configuration data are stored in a configuration data memory of the operator panel, the configuration data being provided for configuring the one or more applications of the operator panel;
• configuration data stored in the configuration data memory of the operator panel are accessed and the configuration data are synchronized with remote configuration data that are stored in a configuration data memory of a remotely disposed operator panel via a communications interface of the operator panel, the remote configuration data being provided for configuring one or more applications of the remotely disposed operator panel, and
• during synchronization of the configuration data with the remote configuration data,
• differences between the configuration data and the remote configuration data are identified based, at least in part, on a comparison between the configuration data and the remote configuration data;
• at least one of the configuration data or the remote configuration data are updated and stored based, at least in part, on the identified differences, resulting in stored configuration data;
• and,
• enable that synchronization of configuration data for configuring the one or more applications includes transmitting from the operator panel locally changed configuration data to the remotely disposed operator panel and receiving in the operator panel remotely changed configuration data from the remotely disposed operator panel;
• and,
• a read request for stored configuration data is received by at least one application of the operator panel, stored configuration data are accessed in order to read the stored configuration data according to the read request, and read configuration data are delivered to the at least one application of the operator panel for configuring the at least one application.