Control system and method

Abstract

A control system and method includes a controller operations system and a controller having hierarchically organized controller data. The controller operations system is configured for requesting first level controller data from a controller and receiving first level controller data from the controller, and requesting second level controller data from the controller in response to the received first level controller data, the requested second level controller data being associated with a particular received first level controller data. The controller is configured for receiving the request for first level controller data, transmitting first level controller data in response to the received request, receiving the request for second level controller data, and transmitting second level controller data in response to receiving the requesting for second level controller data.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic discovery power control system according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of operating a control system having a controller and an operations system for automatically discovering controller information organized in a hierarchical manner according to another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a sequence of procedures in an operational control system and method for accessing data in a controller according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a sequence of procedures in an operational control system and method for accessing information relating to the display of received controller data according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a computer system that may be used to implement a method and apparatus embodying some aspects of one exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A method of operating a controller system having an operations module and a controller with a processor, a memory, and hierarchically organized controller data, the method comprising: requesting first level controller data from the controller;transmitting the first level controller data from the controller in response to the requesting of first level controller data;receiving the first level controller data at the operations module;requesting second level controller data from the controller in response to receiving the first level controller data, wherein the requested second level controller data is associated with a particular received first level controller data; andtransmitting second level controller data from the controller in response to the requesting of the second level controller data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first level controller data includes classes of controller data available from the controller.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the second level controller data includes the instances of each class of controller data within the controller.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the classes of first level controller data include a class selected from the list of analog input class, program class, PID class, and product diagnostic class.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the hierarchically organized controller data includes controller display data.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first level display data includes pages available for displaying controller data.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the second level controller data is selected from the group consisting of menus, instances and elements.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising displaying at the operations module the hierarchical organized controller displays as a function of the received first and second level controller data.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first level controller data defines, at least in part, a configuration of the controller.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first level controller data is metadata.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first level controller data includes pages of controller displays supported by the controller.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the second level controller data includes menus associated with one or more of the controller display pages.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an input from a user or process, wherein requesting the second level controller data is in response to the receiving of the input.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the second level controller data at the operations module;requesting third level controller data from the controller in response to receiving the second level controller data, wherein the requested third level controller data is associated with a particular received first level controller data and a particular second level controller data; andtransmitting third level controller data from the controller in response to the requesting of the third level controller data.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving an input from a user or process, wherein requesting the third level controller data is in response to the receiving of the input.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the third level controller data includes a member associated with a particular class and instance of the hierarchically organized controller data.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising: receiving the third level controller data at the operations module;requesting fourth level controller data from the controller in response to receiving the third level controller data, wherein the requested fourth level controller data is associated with a particular received first level controller data, a particular second level controller data and a particular third level controller data; andtransmitting fourth level controller data from the controller in response to the requesting of the fourth level controller data.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving the fourth level controller data from the controller.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the fourth level controller data includes an attribute associated with a particular class, instance, and member of the hierarchically organized controller data.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving an input from a user or process, wherein requesting the fourth level controller data is in response to the receiving of the input.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the hierarchically organized controller data includes one or more controller data selected from the group consisting of data classes, data instances, data members and data attributes.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein requesting the first level controller data and requesting the second level controller data are each formatted using a discovery request over a data communication link.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the requesting the first level controller data from the controller is periodic.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicatively coupling the controller to the operations module, wherein requesting the controller to provide controller data is a function of receiving a signal from the controller indicating the communicative coupling.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising transmitting a controller identification following the communicative coupling, wherein requesting the controller to provide controller data is upon receipt of the identification by the operations module.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising scanning a communication link for a communicative coupling of a controller, wherein requesting is a function of the scanning.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein the operations module is selected from the group consisting of a remote user interface, a local user interface, a data logger, a database, a diagnostic system, a maintenance system, a personal computer, an administration system, a second controller and a processing system.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring the controller with a thin client adapted for the requesting of the first and second level controller data.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring the controller data within the controller as hierarchically organized data and equipping the controller with an interface adapted for receiving the first and second level controller data requests from the operations module and transmitting the first and second level controller data requests.

30. A controller having a processor, memory, and a communication interface for communicating over a communication link, comprising: hierarchically organized controller data including first level controller data and second level controller data, wherein the second level controller data is associated with the first level controller data, andwherein the processor, the memory, and the communication interface are configured for receiving a request for first level controller data, transmitting first level controller data in response to the received request, receiving a request- for second level controller data, and transmitting second level controller data in response to receiving the request for second level controller data.

31. The controller of claim 30 wherein the first level controller data includes classes of controller data available from the controller and the second level controller data includes the instances of each class of controller data.

32. The controller of claim 31 wherein the classes of first level controller data include a class selected from the list of analog input class, program class, PID class, and product diagnostic class.

33. The controller of claim 30 wherein the hierarchically organized controller data includes controller display data.

34. The controller of claim 33 wherein the first level display data includes pages available for displaying controller data and wherein the second level controller data is selected from the group consisting of menus, instances and elements.

35. The controller of claim 30 wherein the first level controller data defines, at least in part, a configuration of the controller.

36. The controller of claim 30 wherein the first level controller data is metadata.

37. The controller of claim 30 wherein the first level controller data includes pages of controller displays supported by the controller, and wherein the second level controller data includes menus associated with one or more of the controller display pages.

38. The controller of claim 30 wherein the processor, the memory, and the communication interface are configured for receiving a request for third level data, and transmitting third level controller data in response to receiving the request for the third level controller data, wherein the transmitted third level controller data is associated with a particular first level controller data and a particular second level controller data.

39. The controller of claim 38 wherein the third level controller data includes a member associated with a particular class and instance of the hierarchically organized controller data.

40. The controller of claim 38 wherein the processor, the memory, and the communication interface are configured for receiving a request for fourth level controller data and transmitting fourth level controller data in response to receiving the request for fourth level controller data, wherein the transmitted fourth level controller data is associated with a particular received first level controller data, a particular second level controller data and a particular third level controller data.

41. The controller of claim 40 wherein the fourth level controller data includes an attribute associated with a particular class, instance, and member of the hierarchically organized controller data.

42. The controller of claim 30 wherein the hierarchically organized controller data includes one or more controller data selected from the group consisting of data classes, data instances, data members and data attributes.

43. The controller of claim 30, further comprising a power control mechanism for selectively providing power to a controlled device.

44. The controller of claim 43 wherein the power control mechanism is selected from the group consisting of a switch, a transistor, an actuator, a contactor, a mechanical relay, an optical relay, and a solid state relay.

45. The controller of claim 38 wherein the processor, the memory, and the communication interface are configured for automatically transmitting a controller identification following a coupling of the controller to the communication link.

46. A power controller operations system having a processor, a communication interface for communicating over a communication link, and memory, comprising: a controller data discovery module configured for discovering hierarchically organized controller data from a controller communicatively coupled to the communication link;wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for requesting first level controller data from the controller and receiving first level controller data, and requesting second level controller data from the controller in response to the received first level controller data, the requested second level controller data being associated with a particular received first level controller data.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein controller data discovery module includes computer executable instructions defining a thin client configured for discovering the hierarchically organized controller data.

48. The system of claim 46 wherein the first level controller data includes classes of controller data available from the controller and second level controller data includes instances of each class of controller data within the controller.

49. The system of claim 48 wherein the classes of first level controller data include a class selected from the list of analog input class, program class, PID class, and product diagnostic class.

50. The system of claim 46 wherein the hierarchically organized controller data includes controller display data.

51. The system of claim 50 wherein the first level display data includes pages available for displaying controller data and wherein the second level controller data is selected from the group consisting of menus, instances and elements.

52. The system of claim 50, further comprising a display wherein the system is configured for displaying on the display the controller display data as a function of the received first and second level controller data.

53. The system of claim 46, further comprising a user input mechanism for receiving an input from a user, wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for requesting at least one of the first level and second level controller data in response to receiving the user input.

54. The system of claim 46, further comprising an application program defined by computer executable instructions, wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for requesting at least one of the first level and second level controller data in response to receiving an instruction from the application program for the controller data.

55. The system of claim 46 wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for receiving the second level controller data, requesting third level controller data from the controller in response to receiving the second level controller data, wherein the requested third level controller data is associated with a particular received first level controller data and a particular second level controller data.

56. The system of claim 55, further comprising a user input mechanism for receiving an input from a user, wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for requesting the third level controller data in response to receiving the user input.

57. The system of claim 55, further comprising an application program defined by computer executable instructions, wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for requesting the third level controller data in response to receiving an instruction from the application program for the third level controller data.

58. The system of claim 55 wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for receiving the third level controller data, and requesting fourth level controller data from the controller in response to receiving the third level controller data, wherein the requested fourth level controller data is associated with a particular received first level controller data, a particular second level controller data and a particular third level controller data.

59. The system of claim 58 wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for receiving the fourth level controller data from the controller.

60. The system of claim 58 wherein the fourth level controller data includes an attribute associated with a particular class, instance, and member of the hierarchically organized controller data.

61. The system of claim 58, further comprising a user input mechanism for receiving an input from a user, wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for requesting the fourth level controller data in response to receiving the user input.

62. The system of claim 55, further comprising an application program defined by computer executable instructions, wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for requesting the fourth level controller data in response to receiving an instruction from the application program for the fourth level controller data.

63. The system of claim 46 wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for requesting the first level controller data and the second level controller data utilizing a common discovery request.

64. The system of claim 46, further comprising a system clock, wherein the requesting the first level controller data from the controller is periodic and determined as a function of the clock.

65. The system of claim 46 wherein the controller is configured for receiving a controller identification over the communication link and initiating at least one of the requests for controller data as a function of the received controller identification.

66. The system of claim 46 wherein the system is selected from the group consisting of a remote user interface, a local user interface, a data logger, a database, a diagnostic system, a maintenance system, a personal computer, an administration system, a second controller and a processing system.

67. A control system comprising: a controller operations system having a processor, a communication interface for communicating over a communication link, a memory, and a controller data discovery module configured for discovering hierarchically organized controller data from an associated controller, wherein the processor, communication interface, and memory are configured for requesting first level controller data from a controller and receiving first level controller data from the controller, and requesting second level controller data from the controller in response to the received first level controller data, the requested second level controller data being associated with a particular received first level controller data; anda controller having a processor, a memory including hierarchically organized controller data, a communication interface for communicating over the communication link, wherein the processor, the memory, and the communication interface are configured for receiving the request for first level controller data, transmitting first level controller data in response to the received request, receiving the request for second level controller data, and transmitting second level controller data in response to receiving the requesting for second level controller data.

68. The system of claim 67 wherein the controller operations system is selected from the group consisting of a remote user interface, a local user interface, a data logger, a database, a diagnostic system, a maintenance system, a personal computer, an administration system, a second controller and a processing system.

69. A power control system comprising: a power controller operations system configured for requesting first level controller data from a controller and receiving first level controller data from the controller, and requesting second level controller data from the controller in response to the received first level controller data, the requested second level controller data being associated with a particular received first level controller data; anda power controller having hierarchically organized controller data, the controller configured for receiving the request for first level controller data, transmitting first level controller data in response to the received request, receiving the request for second level controller data, and transmitting second level controller data in response to receiving the requesting for second level controller data.

70. The system of claim 69 wherein the power controller operations system is selected from the group consisting of a remote user interface, a local user interface, a data logger, a database, a diagnostic system, a maintenance system, a personal computer, an administration system, a second controller and a processing system.