Gateway Data Model Adapter for Context-Preserving Platform Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems face challenges in efficiently transmitting data between automation control and monitoring systems and networked devices, often lacking context which hinders effective data analysis and management.
Innovation Solution
A computing device within the industrial automation system collects and preserves data context using data models, converting datasets to match the data structure of external components, and transmitting this structured data to ensure coherent and contextual data transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If data is transmitted from industrial automation components to external platforms, then data communication capability is improved, but data context and structure are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an information gateway as an intermediary component between industrial automation components and external platforms. This gateway contains a data model that preserves data context and structure, acting as a mediator that translates data while maintaining its semantic meaning. The gateway receives data from automation components, stores it with contextual information in the data model, and then provides this contextualized data to external platforms, thus preventing information loss during transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-defining data models that capture data context and structure before data transmission occurs. The information gateway maintains a data model that organizes data with its contextual relationships in advance, so when data is requested, the context is already prepared and attached to the data values, ensuring context preservation during communication.
2Loss of information
If data context is preserved using data models, then data analysis effectiveness is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The information gateway serves multiple functions within a single component: it acts as a data receiver from automation components, maintains a data model for context preservation, processes data requests, and communicates with external platforms. By consolidating these functions in one universal gateway, the system avoids the complexity of separate components for each function while still preserving data context effectively.
3Productivity
If data is converted to match external component structures, then integration efficiency is improved, but data transformation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The data model within the information gateway acts as an intermediary representation that simplifies data transformation. Instead of directly transforming data between different automation component formats and external platform formats, the data model serves as an intermediate standardized structure. Data is first converted to the data model format, which preserves context, and then transformed to the external platform format, reducing overall transformation complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An adapter of a common gateway platform associated with an industrial automation system is described for communicating data acquired from various devices using a data model of the common gateway platform with external components using various data models. The computing device may determine a relationship between datasets of the native data model and datasets of an external component based on obtaining an application programming interface (API) and/or software development kit (SDK) of the external component. Accordingly, the adapter may enable the common gateway platform to interact with the external component by providing functionalities of the external component as native functions of the computing device. That is, the adapter may provide functions to connect, create, read, write, update, delete, run commands and queries, and disconnect from the external component using native commands and actions of the common gateway platform.