Edge Device Catalog Sync for Current Industrial Attribute Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation environments face challenges with managing vast and outdated repositories of device and system attributes, which are impractical to provide comprehensively and require frequent updates, leading to inefficiencies and incomplete information.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an edge server that performs device discovery and updates a local catalog from a cloud-based global catalog, ensuring relevant data is stored locally and periodically checks for updates, while also handling queries and providing data access through natural language processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If all potentially useful device files are pre-loaded to devices or applications, then complete information is available, but the amount of content is enormous and impractical to provide
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the device information into two parts: a comprehensive global catalog stored in the cloud and a local catalog stored on-premises. The local catalog contains only the subset of device files relevant to the specific industrial automation environment, while the global catalog maintains the complete repository. This segmentation allows complete information to be available when needed without requiring all files to be pre-loaded locally.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the necessary device files from the global catalog and stores them locally in the local catalog. The edge server performs device discovery, determines which devices are present in the industrial automation environment, and retrieves only the relevant device files from the global catalog. This extraction principle reduces the quantity of locally stored information while maintaining access to complete information when needed.
2Ease of operation
If comprehensive device catalogs are maintained locally, then information is readily accessible, but the information becomes outdated and incomplete with the passage of time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the edge server periodically checks the global catalog for updates to device files and automatically updates the local catalog when changes are detected. This continuous feedback loop ensures that the local catalog remains current with the global catalog while maintaining fast local access to device information. The server compares the local catalog with the global catalog and retrieves only the updated files, maintaining both accessibility and reliability.
3Quantity of substance
If a local catalog is maintained with minimal data, then storage space is optimized, but queries about industrial devices cannot be fully responded to
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic local catalog that adapts its content based on the specific industrial automation environment. The edge server performs device discovery to identify which devices are present and dynamically determines which device files are relevant to that environment. The local catalog is dynamically updated to include only the necessary files for the local devices, optimizing storage while ensuring all needed information is available. The system dynamically balances between minimizing local storage and maintaining complete information for local devices.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are disclosed for performing a local update from a global catalog of device and system attributes. In certain embodiments, a system may comprise an edge server of an industrial automation environment, configured to update a local catalog from a cloud-based global catalog. The edge server may perform a device discovery operation to identify an industrial device connected to a local network on premises with the edge server, access the global catalog to obtain data about the industrial device, store the data about the industrial device to the local catalog, and respond to a query about the industrial device based on the data about the industrial device from the local catalog.