Proxy Components for Legacy Industrial Automation Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems face challenges in interfacing components from different manufacturers and generations, leading to data interpretation issues and communication barriers, which hinder efficient operation and integration.
Innovation Solution
A system tool that identifies legacy components unable to communicate with newer components and recommends proxy-interface components to translate data formats, enabling seamless communication and data exchange, while also generating virtual data for components lacking communication capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If legacy components from different manufacturers and generations are integrated into an industrial automation system, then system versatility and component availability are improved, but communication compatibility and data interpretation accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a proxy component that acts as an intermediary between legacy components and the control system. This proxy translates data from proprietary formats of different manufacturers into a standardized format, enabling communication compatibility without requiring direct integration between disparate components and the control system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates virtual copies of legacy component data through proxy components. These proxies replicate the functionality and data output of physical legacy components, allowing the control system to interact with standardized data representations rather than dealing directly with incompatible proprietary formats.
2Adaptability or versatility
If proprietary data formats from different manufacturers are supported, then component compatibility is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The proxy component serves as an intermediary layer that handles all data translation complexity. Rather than implementing multiple proprietary format parsers throughout the system, the proxy centralizes translation functionality, converting various manufacturer-specific formats into a standardized intermediate format that the control system can process uniformly.
Solution Approach 2:
The proxy component is designed with universal functionality to handle data from multiple manufacturers and component types. A single proxy architecture can adapt to support different proprietary formats through configuration rather than requiring dedicated translation mechanisms for each manufacturer, reducing overall system complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If legacy components without communication capabilities are integrated, then system flexibility is improved, but data accessibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual data representations of legacy components that lack communication capabilities. The proxy component generates virtual copies of the data that would be produced by these legacy components, making the data accessible to the control system in a standardized format even though the physical components themselves cannot communicate digitally.
Solution Approach 2:
The proxy acts as an intermediary that bridges the gap between non-communicating legacy components and the digital control system. It captures or simulates the data output of legacy components and translates it into accessible digital formats, ensuring no data is lost due to communication capability limitations.
Data Source
AI summary
An industrial automation component may receive design information associated with an arrangement of one or more industrial automation components in an industrial automation system and identify a first portion of the industrial automation components in the industrial automation system that is unable to interface with a second portion of industrial automation components based on the design information. The industrial automation component may then generate a list of industrial automation components based on the first portion of the industrial automation components and the second portion of industrial automation components, wherein each of the list of industrial automation components is configured to translate a first set of data associated with the first portion of the industrial automation components to a second set of data configured to be at least partly interpretable by the second portion of industrial automation components.