An I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture and method for industrial control systems

Abstract

This invention relates to an I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture and method for an industrial control system. The architecture includes: an I / O communication network and multiple I / O nodes connected to the I / O communication network. Each I / O node includes an I / O module with multiple I / O channels, and each I / O node is configured with a node communication unit. Multiple controller entities are also connected to the I / O communication network. Each controller entity communicates with any I / O channel of any I / O node through the I / O communication network and the node communication unit, based on pre-generated controller-I / O node publish / receive information data. In this invention, all controllers and all I / O nodes are connected to the same communication network or bus. Any controller module can read and write to any channel of any I / O module, thereby achieving decoupling of channel-level I / O from the controller and supporting seamless collaboration between application functional units.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of industrial process automation technology, and in particular to an I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture and method for an industrial control system. Background Technology

[0002] In existing industrial control systems, whether DCS, PLC, or SIS, each I / O module and its I / O channels are typically associated with a controller.

[0003] When a large-scale industrial control system contains multiple controllers, each controller can only access its own associated I / O resources. To achieve cross-controller access, it is necessary to forward requests through the controller or access them indirectly through communication variables, making true shared communication of I / O resources difficult. Especially in scenarios with large-scale process control applications, complex control strategies, process coupling, long engineering implementation cycles, and frequent changes, the limitations of single controller capabilities and scale, increased communication load between controllers, and difficulties in application decoupling design further complicate shared communication. Summary of the Invention

[0004] (a) Technical problems to be solved

[0005] In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings and deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides an I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture and method for industrial control systems, which solves the technical problem that the prior art is unable to realize how the controller and I / O modules can communicate and interact to achieve arbitrary access or shared access at the channel level.

[0006] (II) Technical Solution

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the main technical solutions adopted by the present invention include:

[0008] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide an I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture for an industrial control system, including:

[0009] I / O communication network;

[0010] Multiple I / O nodes connected to an I / O communication network, each I / O node including an I / O module with multiple I / O channels, and each I / O node is configured with a node communication unit for parsing data communication protocols and processing data transmission and reception between different I / O channels of different I / O modules and different controller bodies.

[0011] Multiple controller entities connected to an I / O communication network, each controller entity can communicate and interact with any I / O channel in any I / O node through the I / O communication network and node communication unit based on pre-generated controller-I / O node publish / receive information data;

[0012] The controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data, which is generated by the configuration software in the industrial control system based on the I / O resource communication needs of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels of the I / O modules in the I / O node, or generated by the controller body based on the current application configuration, hardware configuration and deployment information of the controller body.

[0013] Optionally,

[0014] I / O communication networks can be any of the following: bus topology, star connection and ring network, wireless access network and cross-level network.

[0015] Multiple I / O nodes include: physical I / O nodes that meet preset standards and non-physical I / O nodes that do not meet preset standards. The I / O modules in the physical I / O nodes are traditional predefined I / O modules or complex secondary devices that include intelligent devices, PLCs, and heterogeneous communication modules. The node communication unit configured in the physical I / O nodes is an independent physical module. The I / O modules in the non-physical I / O nodes are intelligent instruments with a certain number of I / O channels. The node communication unit configured in the non-physical I / O nodes is a virtual functional module built into the controller body.

[0016] The controller body includes: one controller module or multiple controller modules that are redundant or have a voting relationship, and the different controller bodies are homogeneous or heterogeneous.

[0017] Optionally, each controller body is equipped with multiple control applications that implement different functions, and each control application is configured with input / output variables that have a communication relationship with the I / O channel.

[0018] Secondly, embodiments of the present invention provide an I / O resource sharing and interaction method for an industrial control system, applied to the architecture described above, including:

[0019] The configuration software in the industrial control system generates controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the I / O resource communication needs of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels of the I / O modules in the I / O nodes. Alternatively, the controller body generates controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and deployment information of the controller body.

[0020] Based on the generated controller-I / O node publish / receive information data, any controller entity can communicate and interact with any I / O channel in any I / O node through the I / O communication network and node communication unit;

[0021] The controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data, including: the identifier information of the controller body, the identifier information of the I / O node, the configuration compatibility or version identifier, the communication cycle, and a mapping table between the I / O tag identifier of the controller body and the I / O data identifier of the I / O node.

[0022] Optionally, the configuration software in the industrial control system generates controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the I / O resource communication needs of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels of the I / O modules in the I / O nodes; or, the controller body generates controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and deployment information of the controller body.

[0023] The configuration software, based on the I / O resource communication requirements of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels in the I / O modules of the I / O nodes, directly generates publish / receive communication configuration information for each controller body and sends it to the controller body as part of the controller body configuration. Correspondingly, the configuration software, based on the I / O resource communication requirements of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels in the I / O modules of the I / O nodes, generates publish / receive communication configuration information for each I / O node between the I / O node and the controller, and between the I / O node communication unit and the I / O module, and sends it to the I / O node communication unit as part of the I / O node configuration. That is, the controller-I / O node publish / receive information data includes the publish / receive communication configuration information generated for each controller body and the publish / receive communication configuration information generated for each I / O node; or,

[0024] The controller body parses the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and deployment information of the controller module to obtain basic information data including the association between the required tag variables and hardware I / O channels, the end-to-end communication path, and the communication cycle. Based on the basic information data, the controller and I / O nodes generate controller-I / O node publish / receive information data in real time operation.

[0025] Optionally, enabling any controller entity to communicate and interact with any I / O channel in any I / O node through the I / O communication network and node communication unit based on the generated controller-I / O node publish / receive information data includes:

[0026] During the data upload process, the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data to the corresponding I / O node, so that the I / O node can upload the real-time input data generated by the I / O node to the controller body through the node communication unit based on the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data;

[0027] During the data distribution process, the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data to the controller body, so that the controller body can distribute the real-time output data generated by the controller body to the I / O node based on the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data; each controller body is equipped with control applications that implement different functions.

[0028] Optionally, during the data upload process, the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data to the corresponding I / O node, so that the I / O node, based on the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data, uploads the real-time input data generated by the I / O node to the controller body through the node communication unit, including:

[0029] Based on the hardware configuration information, the I / O node maps the real-time input data generated by the I / O channels of the I / O modules within the node to the real-time data area inside the node communication unit; then, based on the information data published / received by the controller-I / O node, it controls the mapping data in the real-time data area inside the node communication unit to be uploaded to the corresponding controller body.

[0030] The communication methods used in uploading to the corresponding controller include master-slave communication, subscription communication, and publish / receive communication.

[0031] Optionally, during the data distribution process, the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data to the controller body, so that the controller body, based on the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data, distributes the real-time output data generated by the controller body to the I / O nodes, including:

[0032] The controller body performs data processing on the real-time input data generated by the uploaded I / O nodes, including range conversion and linear mapping, to obtain control application data;

[0033] The controller operates the deployed control application based on the application configuration information and control application data, generating real-time input data.

[0034] Real-time input data is mapped to the real-time data area inside the node communication unit. Then, based on the information data published / received by the controller-I / O node, the mapped data in the real-time data area inside the control node communication unit is sent to the corresponding I / O node.

[0035] Optionally, real-time input data generated by the same I / O node can be uploaded to multiple controller entities simultaneously to enable shared access to the same real-time input data by multiple controller entities.

[0036] Optionally, after the control application migrates from one controller body to another,

[0037] Regenerate controller-I / O node publish / receive information data;

[0038] By generating new communication connections based on the regenerated published / received information data, a seamless switch in real-time data communication can be achieved.

[0039] (III) Beneficial Effects

[0040] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: In this invention, all controller bodies and all I / O nodes are connected to the same communication network or bus, and their number and specifications can be flexibly configured. Any controller body can read and write to any channel of any I / O module. I / O modules do not need to be bound to specific controller modules, realizing the decoupling of channel-level I / O from the controller body, supporting seamless collaboration between application functional units, and thus achieving the sharing of I / O resources among multiple controllers. Attached Figure Description

[0041] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the composition of the I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture of the industrial control system proposed in this embodiment of the invention;

[0042] Figure 2 This invention illustrates the association between the application program and the I / O channels of the I / O module in different controller entities, as proposed in embodiments of the invention.

[0043] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating the I / O resource sharing and interaction method for an industrial control system proposed in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0044] Figure 4 This is a detailed flowchart illustrating step S1 of the I / O resource sharing and interaction method for an industrial control system proposed in this embodiment of the invention.

[0045] Figure 5 This is a detailed flowchart illustrating step S2 of the I / O resource sharing and interaction method for an industrial control system proposed in this embodiment of the invention.

[0046] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the specific process of step S21 of the I / O resource sharing and interaction method for an industrial control system proposed in this embodiment of the invention;

[0047] Figure 7This is a schematic diagram of the specific process of step S22 of the I / O resource sharing and interaction method for an industrial control system proposed in this embodiment of the invention;

[0048] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the real-time input data communication interaction mechanism between the node communication unit and the controller proposed in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0049] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the real-time output data communication interaction mechanism between the node communication unit and the controller proposed in an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0050] To better explain and facilitate understanding of the present invention, the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0051] Considering the large scale of the industrial control system architecture currently in widespread use, it is divided into multiple control domains based on process equipment, network layout, safety management, and plant deployment. Each control domain contains multiple control stations, and each control station contains a controller module (or a pair of controller modules to improve availability) and several local and remote I / O nodes.

[0052] like Figure 1 As shown in the embodiment of the present invention, an I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture for an industrial control system includes: an I / O communication network; multiple I / O nodes connected to the I / O communication network, each I / O node including an I / O module with multiple I / O channels, and each I / O node is configured with a node communication unit for parsing data communication protocols and processing data transmission and reception between different I / O channels of different I / O modules and different controller entities; multiple controller entities connected to the I / O communication network, wherein any controller entity communicates and interacts with any I / O channel in any I / O node through the I / O communication network and the node communication unit based on pre-generated controller-I / O node publish / receive information data; wherein the controller-I / O node publish / receive information data is generated by the configuration software in the industrial control system based on the I / O resource communication needs of the controller entity and the allocation of I / O channels of the I / O modules in the I / O nodes, or generated by the controller entity based on the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and deployment information of the controller entity.

[0053] In this invention, all controller bodies and all I / O nodes are connected to the same communication network or bus, and their number and specifications can be flexibly configured. Any controller body can read and write to any channel of any I / O module. I / O modules do not need to be bound to specific controller modules, realizing the decoupling of channel-level I / O from the controller body, supporting seamless collaboration between application functional units, and thus achieving the sharing of I / O resources among multiple controllers.

[0054] To better understand the above technical solutions, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present invention can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present invention can be understood more clearly and thoroughly, and that the scope of the present invention can be fully conveyed to those skilled in the art.

[0055] Furthermore, the I / O communication network can be any of the following: bus topology, star connection and ring network, wireless access network and cross-level network.

[0056] refer to Figure 1 It can be seen that 101 is the I / O communication network in the system, which enables communication and interaction between multiple controllers and multiple I / O nodes. It should be noted that this I / O communication network is not limited to any specific form; it can be a network with various topologies such as bus, star, and ring, or various wireless access networks. At the same time, this I / O communication network can also be a cross-level or cross-network actual end-to-end network formed through gateways or routers.

[0057] Furthermore, the multiple I / O nodes include: physical I / O nodes that meet preset standards and non-physical I / O nodes that do not meet preset standards. The I / O modules in the physical I / O nodes are traditional predefined I / O modules or secondary complex devices that include intelligent devices, PLCs, and heterogeneous communication modules. The node communication unit configured in the physical I / O nodes is an independent physical module. The I / O modules in the non-physical I / O nodes are intelligent instruments with a certain number of I / O channels. The node communication unit configured in the non-physical I / O nodes is a virtual functional module built into the controller body.

[0058] refer to Figure 1120a, 120b, 130, and 140 are all I / O nodes in the system. An I / O node is a collection of I / O resources consisting of a group of I / O modules (or fieldbus devices) in the system. In process control systems, I / O resources often take on various physical forms. Multiple I / O points are combined into an I / O module in the form of I / O channels, and multiple I / O modules are usually combined into a group of I / O nodes, which are connected to the I / O communication network 101 through an I / O node communication unit. Generally speaking, the physical locations of this group of I / Os are relatively close, which facilitates installation and commissioning. 120a, 120b, and 130 are physical I / O nodes. I / O modules 123 and 124 in 120a and the I / O modules in 120b are all general-purpose I / O modules with customizable channels. I / O modules 133 and 134 in 130 are either traditional predefined I / O modules or secondary complex devices (intelligent devices, PLCs, heterogeneous communication modules, etc.) 133. 121 and 131 are the node communication units for 120a and 130, respectively, responsible for communication between all I / O modules and the controller within their respective nodes. Preferably, but not limited to, they may also include complex functions such as configuration management, device management, and fault handling. 122 is the I / O communication network within node 120a, and 132 is the I / O communication network within node 130. The I / O node communication unit and the I / O module in the node are connected and communicate with each other through the node's intra-node I / O communication network. Similarly, the form of the intra-node I / O communication network is not limited here. The intra-node I / O communication networks of different I / O nodes can be the same or different.

[0059] In some networked control systems or fieldbus control systems, I / O modules, or even smart instruments with only a few channels, can be independently connected to the I / O communication network of system 101. In this case, multiple I / O resources do not constitute obvious physical node characteristics, but can form a logical I / O node through direct management by the controller. 140 illustrates one such configuration; it is a logical I / O node. The I / O communication network 142 within this node can be integrated with the system's I / O communication network 101. It can contain independent network integration point devices, such as 141, which can be merely an electrical characteristic matching unit or a transparent network communication device, enabling the controller and I / O modules to communicate directly end-to-end. Therefore, even if 141 exists, it does not belong to I / O node communication units like 121 or 131. In this case, the function of the I / O node communication unit can be undertaken by a controller entity within the system, such as 110c in the figure. Besides the controller functional unit 111, it also includes a virtual I / O node communication unit 112, which, in software form, takes over the I / O node communication unit function of node 140. The I / O communication network 142 within the node can be connected to various smart meters such as 144, or to independent I / O modules 143.

[0060] It should be noted that in actual control systems, the I / O nodes such as 120a / 120b, 130, and 140 can appear individually or be freely configured and presented on the same network, but this is only to illustrate the applicability of the present invention.

[0061] Furthermore, the controller entity includes: one controller module or multiple controller modules that are redundant or have a voting relationship, and different controller entities are homogeneous or heterogeneous. Figure 1 In this context, 110a, 110b, and 110c are all controller entities in an industrial control system. These controller entities can consist of one controller module or multiple controller modules that are redundant or have a voting relationship. Each controller entity performs independent application functions, and they can be homogeneous or heterogeneous.

[0062] Furthermore, each controller unit is equipped with multiple control applications that perform different functions, and each control application has input / output variables that are associated with the I / O channels.

[0063] refer to Figure 2210, 220, and 230 are control applications that implement different application functions. Each control application defines I / O-related input / output variables (or tag numbers), such as 211, 221, 222, and 231. These input / output variables are associated with the I / O channels 261a-n of the I / O module 260. The values ​​of the input variables originate from the input channels of the I / O module, and the values ​​of the output variables need to be sent to the output channels of the I / O module. 262 is the processor module of the I / O module, which can be redundantly configured. Different control applications can be executed in different controllers. For example, control applications 210 and 220 are executed in the controller body 240, and control application 230 is executed in the controller body 250. Because the input / output variables and I / O channels in different control applications have communication relationships, a specific communication relationship 270 is also formed between the I / O module 260 and the controller bodies 240 and 250. This relationship is determined after the control application configuration, I / O hardware configuration, and controller deployment configuration are determined. Therefore, after the application configuration and hardware configuration are completed, a complete relationship map of the control application, tag number, controller module, I / O node, I / O module and channel can be generated in the system deployment design phase, which serves as a deterministic basis for real-time input / output I / O data communication access during operation.

[0064] Furthermore, this invention also provides an I / O resource sharing and interaction method for industrial control systems, applied to the architecture described above, such as... Figure 3 As shown, it includes:

[0065] S1. The configuration software in the industrial control system generates controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the I / O resource communication needs of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels of the I / O modules in the I / O nodes. Alternatively, the controller body generates controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and deployment information of the controller body.

[0066] Furthermore, such as Figure 4 As shown, step S1 includes:

[0067] S11. Based on the I / O resource communication requirements of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels of the I / O modules in the I / O nodes, the configuration software directly generates publish / receive communication configuration information for each controller body and sends it to the controller body as part of the controller body configuration; correspondingly, based on the I / O resource communication requirements of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels of the I / O modules in the I / O nodes, the configuration software generates publish / receive communication configuration information between the I / O node and the controller, and between the I / O node communication unit and the I / O module, for each I / O node and sends it to the I / O node communication unit as part of the I / O node configuration. That is, the controller-I / O node publish / receive information data includes the publish / receive communication configuration information generated for each controller body and the publish / receive communication configuration information generated for each I / O node; or,

[0068] S12. The controller body parses the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and deployment information of the controller module body to obtain basic information data including the association between the required tag variables and hardware I / O channels, the end-to-end communication path, and the communication cycle. Based on the basic information data, the controller and I / O nodes generate controller-I / O node publish / receive information data in real time operation.

[0069] Furthermore, the generation of controller-I / O node publish / receive information data can be implemented in two ways: first, the configuration software generates the data uniformly for the controller and I / O nodes based on the system configuration and distributes it as a configuration; second, the controller generates the data based on the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and deployment information. Regardless of the method used, it falls within the scope of the method involved in this invention. Here, configuration refers to the configuration data of the control system, including the composition, parameters, and connection relationships of the hardware modules in the system (hardware configuration), the control program logic to be implemented in the system (application configuration), and data, etc. These are common terms in the field of industrial control systems.

[0070] S2. Based on the generated controller-I / O node publish / receive information data, any controller entity can communicate and interact with any I / O channel in any I / O node through the I / O communication network and node communication unit. The controller-I / O node publish / receive information data includes: the controller entity's identifier information, the I / O node's identifier information, configuration compatibility or version identifier, communication cycle, and a mapping table between the controller entity's I / O tag identifier and the I / O node's I / O data identifier.

[0071] Industrial control systems generate multiple sets of controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the I / O resource communication requirements of the control application and the allocation of I / O resources among nodes. Figure 7 The generated publish / receive information data includes: controller 310-I / O node 330, controller 310-I / O node 340, controller 320-I / O node 330, and controller 320-I / O node 340. Each generated publish / receive information data set includes at least: identifier information for the controller and I / O nodes, configuration compatibility or version identifiers, communication cycle, and a mapping table between controller I / O bit identifiers and I / O data identifiers for I / O node units. The mapping table between controller I / O bit identifiers and I / O data identifiers for I / O node units contains multiple items, reflecting the association between specific I / O bit numbers in the controller and hardware I / O resources in the I / O nodes, represented by identifiers in the communication protocol access space. The communication protocol access space identifier is part of the end-to-end application communication protocol between devices (or modules) in the system. Different applications located in different devices open a unified access space (or protocol address space) to each other. Cross-device data read and write access operations can be implemented in the communication protocol commands. The application protocol parsing layer inside the device is responsible for handling the mapping relationship between the protocol access space and the local device access space.

[0072] like Figure 5 As shown, step S2 includes:

[0073] S21. During the data upload process, the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data to the corresponding I / O node, so that the I / O node, based on the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data, uploads the real-time input data generated by the I / O node to the controller body through the node communication unit.

[0074] Furthermore, such as Figure 6 As shown, step S21 includes:

[0075] S211: Based on the pre-configured I / O hardware configuration information, the I / O node maps the real-time input data generated by the I / O channels of the I / O modules within the node to the real-time data area inside the node communication unit.

[0076] S212, the I / O node publishes / receives information data based on the controller-I / O node, and the mapped data in the internal real-time data area of ​​the control node communication unit is uploaded to the corresponding controller body; among which, the communication methods used in uploading to the corresponding controller body include master-slave communication, subscription communication and publish / receive communication.

[0077] S22. During the data distribution process, the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data to the controller body, so that the controller body distributes the real-time output data generated by the controller body to the I / O node based on the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data; wherein, each controller body is deployed with control applications that implement different functions.

[0078] Furthermore, such as Figure 7 As shown, step S22 includes:

[0079] S221. The controller body performs data processing on the real-time input data generated by the uploaded I / O nodes, including range conversion and linear mapping, to obtain control application data.

[0080] S222: The controller body runs the deployed control application based on the pre-configured application configuration results and control application data, and generates real-time input data.

[0081] S223. Map the real-time input data to the real-time data area inside the node communication unit, and then, based on the information data published / received by the controller-I / O node, control the mapping data in the real-time data area inside the node communication unit to be sent to the corresponding I / O node.

[0082] refer to Figure 8 The I / O node determines the communication publishing data packet to be published to each controller module based on the above-mentioned publish / receive information data, and the controller can determine how to process the communication publishing data packet from each I / O node communication unit based on the above-mentioned publish / receive information data.

[0083] Controller module 310 internally runs multiple control applications based on the application configuration results, requiring multiple application data such as 311-314 (typically I / O tag data, communication variables, etc.). Controller module 320 internally runs multiple control applications based on the application configuration results, requiring multiple application data such as 321-324. The control application data 311-314 and 321-324 originate from the processing of real-time I / O input data such as 351-355 and 361-363 (e.g., range conversion, linear mapping, etc.). The dependencies between them are shown in Figure 380. Meanwhile, I / O data resources such as 351-355 originate from I / O modules (332 or 333, etc.) in I / O node 330, and I / O data resources such as 361-363 originate from I / O modules (342 or 343, etc.) in I / O node 340.

[0084] 391 represents the data upload channel from I / O node communication unit 331 to controller 310, which can be further represented as a communication publish / receive information between them. This communication publish / receive information data fully expresses the mapping relationship in 380, for example, publishing variable 351 in 331 to variable 311 in 310. On one hand, the I / O node internally realizes data communication between the I / O module channel data within the node and the I / O node communication unit based on the I / O hardware configuration information, mapping each I / O module channel in the node to the real-time data area inside the I / O node communication unit. On the other hand, the I / O node communication unit further publishes the specific data content in its internal real-time data area to the corresponding different controllers based on the controller-I / O node publish / receive information data. Through this communication interaction mechanism, different controller modules can arbitrarily access any channel of the I / O module under different I / O nodes in the network, breaking the single access restriction of physical modules and physical nodes.

[0085] Node communication units 331 and 341 are responsible for parsing data communication protocols and processing data transmission and reception between different channels of different I / O modules and different controller modules, respectively. 391 and 392 represent the real-time data upload channels between I / O node communication unit 331 and controller modules 310 and 320, respectively, and 393 and 394 represent the real-time data upload channels between I / O node communication unit 341 and controller modules 310 and 320, respectively. The real-time data upload channels represented by 391 to 394 involved in this invention can employ various communication methods, such as master-slave communication, subscription communication, and publish / receive communication. For the sake of generality, the publish / receive communication method will be used as an example for specific explanation below.

[0086] Also refer to Figure 9 This invention provides a real-time output data communication and interaction mechanism between the I / O node communication unit and the controller. Its basic structure and content are similar to... Figure 7 Since the meanings are consistent, similar content will not be elaborated further here. The differences include: data variables 411-414 and 421-424 are I / O output bit numbers or communication output variables in the controller; 451-455 and 461-463 are real-time output data in the I / O nodes. 491 and 492 represent the real-time output data transmission channels between controller modules 410 and 420 and the I / O node communication unit 431, respectively; 493 and 494 represent the real-time output data transmission channels between controller modules 410 and 420 and the I / O node communication unit 441, respectively. Through this communication interaction mechanism, different controller modules can arbitrarily access any channel of the I / O modules under different I / O nodes in the network, breaking the single access restriction of physical modules and physical nodes.

[0087] Subsequently, real-time input data generated by the same I / O node can be simultaneously uploaded to multiple controller entities, enabling multiple controller entities to share access to the same real-time input data.

[0088] Regarding real-time data input, this architecture and communication interaction method can also enable the same I / O real-time data 5 to be published to multiple controllers, thereby enabling multiple controllers to share access to the same I / O data.

[0089] However, regarding the ability for multiple controllers to share access to the same I / O data, it should be noted that whether and how this function is implemented in a real system should be comprehensively considered in conjunction with system security design, system communication processing load, and other design considerations.

[0090] Furthermore, after the control application migrates from one controller entity to another, 0 regenerates the controller-I / O node publish / receive information data according to the process in step S1, based on the regeneration...

[0091] The newly generated published / received information data establishes new communication connection relationships, enabling seamless switching of real-time data communication.

[0092] Therefore, the solution of this invention also helps the system to achieve the same result as the I / O configuration configuration.

[0093] It supports migrating control applications from one controller entity to another, with no impact on normal system operation before and after the migration. This control application migration capability, on the one hand, helps...

[0094] The application's platform independence enables dynamic cross-platform deployment, and it also allows for load balancing across multiple controllers. Specific implementation methods can be easily derived from the communication architecture described herein. When the control application migrates from one controller module to another, the control...

[0095] The dependency relationship between the device application and I / O resources is reflected in the communication relationship between the new controller and the corresponding I / O node. By simply regenerating the controller-I / O node to publish / receive information data and creating a new communication connection relationship accordingly, a seamless switch of real-time data communication can be completed.

[0096] It's worth noting that, in principle, using the aforementioned architecture and method, it's also possible to write real-time output data from the same I / O source to different controllers. However, preferably, this is for applications requiring high reliability and security.

[0097] In situations where system security, especially error prevention, is a concern, it is generally implemented that the real-time output data for each I / O5 is written down in real time by a controller module.

[0098] In summary, this invention provides an I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture and method for industrial control systems. Based on the above description, this invention enables different controller modules to execute different application functions and arbitrarily access any channel of I / O modules under different I / O nodes in the network, breaking the single access limitation of physical modules and physical nodes and supporting seamless collaboration between application functional units. Furthermore, this invention does not introduce a new abstract model. Based on the communication topology of networked I / O and multiple controller entities, it proposes a specific method for how controllers and I / O modules communicate and interact to achieve arbitrary or shared access at the channel level. Simultaneously, this invention allows control applications to migrate from one controller entity to another without changing the I / O configuration configuration, with no impact on the system execution process before and after the migration.

[0099] Since the systems / devices described in the above embodiments of the present invention are systems / devices used to implement the methods of the above embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art can understand the specific structure and modifications of the systems / devices based on the methods described in the above embodiments of the present invention, and therefore will not be repeated here. All systems / devices used in the methods of the above embodiments of the present invention fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0100] Those skilled in the art will understand that embodiments of the present invention can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present invention can take the form of a completely hardware embodiment, a completely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention can take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0101] This invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, as well as combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions.

[0102] It should be noted that any reference numerals placed between parentheses in the claims should not be construed as limiting the claims. The word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of components or steps not listed in the claims. The word "a" or "an" preceding a component does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such components. The invention can be implemented by means of hardware comprising several different components and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In claims that enumerate several means, several of these means may be embodied by the same hardware. The use of the terms first, second, third, etc., is merely for convenience of expression and does not indicate any order. These terms can be understood as part of the component names.

[0103] Furthermore, it should be noted that in the description of this specification, the terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "embodiment," "example," "specific example," or "some examples," etc., refer to specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described in connection with that embodiment or example, which are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the illustrative expressions of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, without contradiction, those skilled in the art can combine and integrate the different embodiments or examples described in this specification, as well as the features of different embodiments or examples.

[0104] Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been described, those skilled in the art, upon learning the basic inventive concept, can make other changes and modifications to these embodiments. Therefore, the claims should be interpreted to include both the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications falling within the scope of the invention.

[0105] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to this invention without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, if these modifications and variations fall within the scope of the claims of this invention and their equivalents, then this invention should also include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. An I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture for an industrial control system, characterized in that, include: I / O communication network; Multiple I / O nodes connected to an I / O communication network, each I / O node including an I / O module with multiple I / O channels, and each I / O node is configured with a node communication unit for parsing data communication protocols and processing data transmission and reception between different I / O channels of different I / O modules and different controller bodies. Multiple I / O nodes include: physical I / O nodes that meet preset standards and non-physical I / O nodes that do not meet preset standards. The node communication unit configured for physical I / O nodes is an independent physical module, while the node communication unit configured for non-physical I / O nodes is a virtual functional module built into the controller body. Multiple controller entities connected to an I / O communication network, each controller entity can communicate and interact with any I / O channel in any I / O node through the I / O communication network and node communication unit based on pre-generated controller-I / O node published / received information data; the controller entity includes: a controller module or multiple controller modules in a redundant or voting relationship, and the different controller entities are heterogeneous; Real-time input data generated by the same I / O node is simultaneously uploaded to multiple controller entities to enable multiple controller entities to share access to the same real-time input data; Among them, the information data published / received by the controller-I / O node is generated by the configuration software in the industrial control system based on the I / O resource communication needs of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels of the I / O modules in the I / O node, or by the controller body based on the current application configuration, hardware configuration and deployment information of the controller body; During the data upload process, the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data to the corresponding I / O node, so that the I / O node, based on the controller-I / O node's published / received information data, uploads the real-time input data generated by the I / O node to the controller body through the node communication unit. This includes: the I / O node, based on the hardware configuration information, maps the real-time input data generated by the I / O channels of the I / O module within the node to the real-time data area inside the node communication unit; and then, based on the controller-I / O node's published / received information data, controls the upload of the mapped data in the real-time data area inside the node communication unit to the corresponding controller body. During the data distribution process, the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data to the controller body. This enables the controller body to distribute real-time output data generated by the controller body to the I / O nodes based on the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data. This includes: the controller body performing data processing on the uploaded real-time input data from the I / O nodes, including range conversion and linear mapping, to obtain control application data; the controller body running the deployed control application based on the application configuration information and control application data to generate real-time input data; mapping the real-time input data to the real-time data area within the node communication unit; and then, based on the controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data, distributing the mapped data in the real-time data area of ​​the control node communication unit to the corresponding I / O nodes.

2. The I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture of the industrial control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, I / O communication networks can be any of the following: bus topology, star connection and ring network, wireless access network and cross-level network. The I / O modules in physical I / O nodes are traditional predefined I / O modules or complex secondary devices that include intelligent devices, PLCs, and heterogeneous communication modules; the I / O modules in non-physical I / O nodes are intelligent instruments with a certain number of I / O channels.

3. The I / O resource sharing and interaction architecture of the industrial control system as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Each controller unit is equipped with multiple control applications that perform different functions, and each control application has input / output variables that are associated with the I / O channels.

4. A method for sharing and interacting I / O resources in an industrial control system, applied to the architecture described in any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, include: The configuration software in the industrial control system generates controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the I / O resource communication needs of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels of the I / O modules in the I / O nodes. Alternatively, the controller body generates controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and deployment information of the controller body. Based on the generated controller-I / O node publish / receive information data, any controller entity can communicate and interact with any I / O channel in any I / O node through the I / O communication network and node communication unit; The controller-I / O node publishes / receives information data, including: the identifier information of the controller body, the identifier information of the I / O node, the configuration compatibility or version identifier, the communication cycle, and a mapping table between the I / O tag identifier of the controller body and the I / O data identifier of the I / O node.

5. The I / O resource sharing and interaction method for an industrial control system as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The controller-I / O node publish / receive information data is generated by the configuration software in the industrial control system based on the I / O resource communication needs of the controller body and the I / O channel allocation of the I / O modules in the I / O nodes. Alternatively, the controller body can generate the controller-I / O node publish / receive information data based on the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and the deployment information of the controller body. This includes: The configuration software, based on the I / O resource communication requirements of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels in the I / O modules of the I / O nodes, directly generates publish / receive communication configuration information for each controller body and sends it to the controller body as part of the controller body configuration. Correspondingly, the configuration software, based on the I / O resource communication requirements of the controller body and the allocation of I / O channels in the I / O modules of the I / O nodes, generates publish / receive communication configuration information for each I / O node between the I / O node and the controller, and between the I / O node communication unit and the I / O module, and sends it to the I / O node communication unit as part of the I / O node configuration. That is, the controller-I / O node publish / receive information data includes the publish / receive communication configuration information generated for each controller body and the publish / receive communication configuration information generated for each I / O node; or, The controller body parses the current application configuration, hardware configuration, and deployment information of the controller module to obtain basic information data including the association between the required tag variables and hardware I / O channels, the end-to-end communication path, and the communication cycle. Based on the basic information data, the controller and I / O nodes generate controller-I / O node publish / receive information data in real time operation.

6. The I / O resource sharing and interaction method for an industrial control system as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The communication methods used to upload to the corresponding controller include master-slave communication, subscription communication, and publish / receive communication.

7. The I / O resource sharing and interaction method for an industrial control system as described in claim 4, characterized in that, After the control application migrates from one controller body to another... Regenerate controller-I / O node publish / receive information data; By generating new communication connections based on the regenerated published / received information data, a seamless switch in real-time data communication can be achieved.

Images