Granted Patent B1

US 9,170,579 · App. 13/753,908 · Granted Oct 27, 2015

Abstract

Claims (65)

1. A method for monitoring and controlling a plurality of industrial energy devices, wherein the method is performed by a system having a server and an interface device coupled to the industrial energy devices, the method comprising:

sending configuration data from the server to the interface device, wherein:

the configuration data includes a port definition for each port on the interface device coupled to an industrial energy device and a device definition for each industrial energy device coupled to the interface device; and

each device definition specifies a unique ID and network address for one of the industrial energy devices, memory registers at which data is to be read from and written to on the industrial energy device, and one or more variable definitions that reference data at specific memory registers on the industrial energy device;

reading the configuration data received at the interface device;

dynamically configuring one or more ports on the interface device in accordance with the port definitions in order to enable the interface device to read output data from and write control data to the industrial energy devices coupled to the interface device;

dynamically allocating memory on the interface device for the defined variables in the device definitions;

periodically reading output data at each industrial energy device coupled to the interface module, wherein the output data is read from memory registers on the industrial energy device specified in the device definition for the industrial energy device;

determining values for the defined variables in the configuration data using the read output data;

monitoring the plurality of industrial energy devices on the server by receiving values from the interface device for one or more of the defined variables in the configuration data; and

controlling one of the industrial energy devices by sending a write request to the interface device with a value for one of the defined variables in the device definition for the industrial energy device; and

in response to receiving the write request at the interface device, retrieving the variable definition for the variable in the write request, identifying the memory register on the applicable industrial energy device referenced in the definition, and writing the value in the write request to said memory register on the applicable industrial energy device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the output data includes a plurality of data items and wherein determining the values of the variables comprises:

for each data item in the output data, determining if there is a variable definition in the configuration data that references the data item and, in response to identifying a variable definition that references the data item, determining a value for the defined variable using the data item.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating the configuration data at the interface device in response to a change in the industrial energy devices coupled to the interface device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein updating the configuration data comprises deleting configuration data for an industrial energy device disconnected from the interface device and adding configuration data for a new industrial energy device connected to the interface device.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising dynamically reconfiguring ports and reallocating memory as required by updates to the configuration data.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one variable definition includes a scale and determining a value of said variable includes obtaining a data point in the output data and scaling the data point as specified in the definition for the variable.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one variable definition includes a condition statement and determining the value of said variable includes evaluating whether the condition statement is true or false.

8. A system for monitoring and controlling a plurality of industrial energy devices, the system comprising:

a server; and

an interface device in communication with the server and operatively coupled to the plurality of industrial energy devices to read data from and write data to the industrial energy devices, wherein the interface device has a dynamically configurable runtime operation for processing output data from the industrial equipment devices, wherein the runtime operation is dictated by configuration data that is received from the server and updated by the server as needed, wherein the configuration data includes a port definition for each port on the interface device coupled to an industrial energy device and a device definition for each industrial energy device coupled to the interface device, wherein each device definition specifies a unique ID and network address for one of the industrial energy devices, memory registers at which data is to be read and written to on the industrial energy device, and one or more variable definitions that reference data at specific memory registers on the industrial energy device, and wherein, in response to receiving configuration data from the server, the interface device performs the following:

dynamically configuring one or more ports on the interface device in accordance with the port definitions in order to enable the interface device to read output data from and write control data to the industrial energy devices coupled to the interface device;

dynamically allocating memory on the interface device for the defined variables in the device definitions;

periodically reading output data at each industrial energy device coupled to the interface module, wherein the output data is read from memory registers on the industrial energy device specified in the device definition for the industrial energy device; and

determining values for the defined variables in the configuration data using the read output data; and

wherein the server monitors the plurality of industrial energy devices by receiving values from the interface device for one or more of the defined variables in the configuration data, and controls one of the industrial energy devices by sending a write request to the interface device with a value for one of the defined variables in the device definition for the industrial energy device.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the interface device is configured to dynamically reconfigure ports and reallocate memory as required by updates to the configuration data.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein at least one variable definition includes a scale and determining a value of said variable includes obtaining a data point in the output data and scaling the data point as specified in the definition for the variable.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein at least one variable definition includes a condition statement and determining the value of said variable includes evaluating whether the condition statement is true or false.

12. A method for monitoring and controlling a plurality of industrial energy devices in a system having a server and an interface device coupled to the industrial energy devices, the method performed by the interface device and comprising:

obtaining configuration data from the server, wherein:

the configuration data includes a port definition for each port on the interface device coupled to an industrial energy device and a device definition for each industrial energy device coupled to the interface device; and

each device definition specifies a unique ID and network address for one of the industrial energy devices, memory registers at which data is to be read from and written to on the industrial energy device, and one or more variable definitions that reference data at specific memory registers on the industrial energy device;

reading the configuration data;

dynamically configuring one or more ports in accordance with the port definitions in order to enable the interface device to read output data from and write control data to the industrial energy devices coupled to the interface device;

dynamically allocating memory for the defined variables in the device definitions;

periodically reading output data at each industrial energy device coupled to the interface module, wherein the output data is read from memory registers on the industrial energy device specified in the device definition for the industrial energy device;

determining values for the defined variables in the configuration data using the read output data;

sending the server data pertaining to the industrial energy devices by sending the server values for the defined variables; and

in response to receiving a request from the server to write a variable value to an industrial energy device, retrieving the variable definition for the variable in the write request, identifying the memory register on the applicable industrial energy device referenced in the definition, and writing the value in the write request to said memory register on the applicable industrial energy device.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the output data includes a plurality of data items and wherein determining the values of the variables comprises:

for each data item in the output data, determining if there is a variable definition in the configuration data that references the data item and, in response to identifying a variable definition that references the data item, determining a value for the defined variable using the data item.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

obtaining updated configuration data at the interface device in response to a change in the industrial energy devices coupled to the interface device.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising dynamically reconfiguring ports and reallocating memory as required by updates to the configuration data.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein at least one variable definition includes a scale and determining a value of said variable includes obtaining a data point in the output data and scaling the data point as specified in the definition for the variable.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein at least one variable definition includes a condition statement and determining the value of said variable includes evaluating whether the condition statement is true or false.

18. A computer program embodied on one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediums and comprising code that when executed by a computer system, enables the computer system to perform the following method for monitoring and controlling a plurality of industrial energy devices in a system having a server and an interface device coupled to the industrial energy devices, the method comprising:

sending configuration data from the server to the interface device, wherein:

the configuration data includes a port definition for each port on the interface device coupled to an industrial energy device and a device definition for each industrial energy device coupled to the interface device; and

each device definition specifies a unique ID and network address for one of the industrial energy devices, memory registers at which data is to be read from and written to on the industrial energy device, and one or more variable definitions that reference data at specific memory registers on the industrial energy device;

reading the configuration data received at the interface device;

dynamically configuring one or more ports on the interface device in accordance with the port definitions in order to enable the interface device to read output data from and write control data to the industrial energy devices coupled to the interface device;

dynamically allocating memory on the interface device for the defined variables in the device definitions;

periodically reading output data at each industrial energy device coupled to the interface module, wherein the output data is read from memory registers on the industrial energy device specified in the device definition for the industrial energy device;

determining values for the defined variables in the configuration data using the read output data;

monitoring the plurality of industrial energy devices on the server by receiving values from the interface device for one or more of the defined variables in the configuration data; and

controlling one of the industrial energy devices by sending a write request to the interface device with a value for one of the defined variables in the device definition for the industrial energy device; and

in response to receiving the write request at the interface device, retrieving the variable definition for the variable in the write request, identifying the memory register on the applicable industrial energy device referenced in the definition, and writing the value in the write request to said memory register on the applicable industrial energy device.

19. The computer program of claim 18 , wherein the output data includes a plurality of data items and wherein determining the values of the variables comprises:

for each data item in the output data, determining if there is a variable definition in the configuration data that references the data item and, in response to identifying a variable definition that references the data item, determining a value for the defined variable using the data item.

20. The computer program of claim 18 , further comprising:

updating the configuration data at the interface device in response to a change in the industrial energy devices coupled to the interface device.

Assignments (11)