Automation Object Inheritance for Integrated Industrial IDE Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems face inefficiencies due to the need for separate development environments for different aspects of automation, leading to piecemeal design and complex debugging efforts, which can result in improper integration and coordination of control, visualization, and other system components.
Innovation Solution
An integrated development environment (IDE) is provided that supports a common design environment and data model for designing, programming, and configuring multiple aspects of industrial automation systems, using automation objects as building blocks and propagating changes across instances to ensure consistency and updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If separate development environments are used for different aspects of automation, then each aspect can be developed independently, but integration complexity and debugging efforts increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate development environments (control programming, visualization design, device configuration) into a single integrated development environment. This unified IDE allows simultaneous access to all development aspects through a common interface, eliminating the need to switch between separate tools and automatically coordinating changes across different project elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated development environment provides universal functionality by incorporating multiple specialized tools within one system. The IDE can handle control program development, visualization design, device configuration, and debugging simultaneously, with a single interface that adapts to different development tasks through contextual menus and integrated toolbars.
2Adaptability or versatility
If separate development environments are used for different aspects of automation, then each tool can be specialized, but coordination and integration of components deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated development environment implements continuous feedback mechanisms that monitor changes across all project elements in real-time. When a modification is made in one area (e.g., control program), the system automatically detects dependencies and updates related components (e.g., visualization screens, device configurations) to maintain consistency and prevent integration errors.
Solution Approach 2:
While providing integrated access, the system maintains distinct functional areas for control programming, visualization design, and device configuration. Each area retains its specialized tools and interface elements, but they are organized within the unified IDE structure, allowing specialized functionality to coexist with integrated coordination.
3Adaptability or versatility
If piecemeal design approach is used, then flexibility in individual components is maintained, but overall system consistency and debugging efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated development environment performs preliminary actions by automatically generating and updating related project elements when changes are made. For example, modifying a control program automatically triggers updates to associated visualization screens and device configurations, preventing consistency errors before they affect the final system integration.
Data Source
AI summary
An industrial integrated development environment (IDE) provides a development framework for designing, programming, and configuring multiple aspects of an industrial automation system using a common design environment and data model. Projects creating using embodiments of the IDE system can be built on an object-based model rather than, or in addition to, a tag-based architecture. To this end, the IDE system can support the use of automation objects that serve as building blocks for this object-based development structure. To ensure consistency within and between projects, as well as to ensure that a given industrial project is dynamically updated to reflect changes to an industrial asset's attributes (e.g., control code, visualization definitions, testing scripts, analytic code, etc.), embodiments of the IDE system can use automation object inheritance features to propagate changes made to an automation object definition to all instances of the automation object used throughout a control project.