Process Simulation API Access for Dynamic Industrial Model Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing process simulation systems face inefficiencies in accessing and providing user interfaces, particularly in industrial environments, limiting dynamic external access and interaction with process simulation models.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus enabling dynamic external access to a process simulation service through API calls that define procedures for interacting with process simulation models, allowing for dynamic, duplex communication and user interface integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional asset models are used for process simulation, then the system structure is simple, but external access and user interface capabilities are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer (process simulation service with API endpoint) between external systems and the process simulation model. This intermediary enables dynamic external access through standardized API calls while maintaining the existing model structure, thus improving adaptability without fundamentally complicating the core system architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a universal API interface that can handle multiple types of interactions with the process simulation model (loading models, modifying parameters, querying results) through a single standardized communication endpoint. This multi-functional approach enhances external accessibility while presenting a unified interface to external systems.
2Ease of operation
If process simulation models are made accessible externally, then user interface capabilities are enhanced, but communication protocols and integration complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal API interface that consolidates multiple communication functions (model loading, parameter modification, result querying) into a single standardized endpoint. This approach enhances ease of operation by providing a unified access method while avoiding the need for multiple specialized communication protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables dynamic modification of model parameters through the API interface, allowing external systems to change simulation parameters without altering the underlying model structure. This parameter-based interaction simplifies the communication protocol compared to requiring structural modifications or custom integration for each parameter change.
3Adaptability or versatility
If dynamic API access is implemented, then interaction flexibility is improved, but system complexity and implementation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary process simulation service that handles all dynamic API interactions. This intermediary absorbs the implementation complexity of dynamic access control, parameter validation, and model state management, while presenting a simple, flexible interface to external systems. The intermediary pattern isolates complexity from both the core simulation engine and external clients.
Solution Approach 2:
The API interface is designed to be self-descriptive and self-managing, with the endpoint automatically handling authentication, parameter validation, and error management. This self-service approach reduces implementation complexity by eliminating the need for custom integration code for each interaction type, while maintaining high interaction flexibility through the standardized interface.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for enabling dynamic external access to a process simulation service are provided. For example, a computer-implemented method may include establishing, by a process simulation service, a communication endpoint to access one or more API calls that define one or more procedures corresponding to a process simulation model associated with one or more assets of an industrial environment, the one or more procedures determined based at least in part on the one or more assets; receiving, by the process simulation service and via the communication endpoint from an external control service, a request to initiate a particular API call of the one or more API calls, wherein the particular API call initiates an interaction with the process simulation model; and executing, by the process simulation service, the interaction with the process simulation model in response to the request.