A method of controlling an industrial process run in a plant includes sending field data from the process to a data acquisition module. The data acquisition module converts the field data into Internet protocol (IP) field data. The IP field data is provided to an IP broker having a memory that stores the IP field data arranged in a tree of topics. The IP broker has a stored publisher/subscriber pattern including a plurality of clients including a first client subscribed by a published message to the IP broker that includes at least a selected topic from the tree of topics. Upon receipt of an update of the IP field data including the selected topic, the IP broker publishes the updated IP field data according to the publisher/subscriber pattern over a permanently open IP connection that is received by at least the first client.

A system for providing help content to an industrial portable device includes a computer network within a plant with a help server. The industrial portable device includes a computer processor with a help application that provides help content regarding the use of the industrial portable device and/or other control applications on the industrial portable device. The help server can modify the help content in the help application, for example with help updates. The help application is separate and independent of the other control applications and can be modified independently of the other control applications. The industrial portable device may be a portable field device communicator and/or intrinsically safe.

A diagnostic apparatus includes: a receiver to receive, from a diagnosis target device, context information corresponding to a current operation on the target device and tool information regarding a tool being used for the current operation on the target device, the context information corresponding to the current operation being one of a plurality of items of context information that have been determined by respective types of a plurality of types of operation applicable to the target device; and circuitry to obtain detection information of a physical quantity varying with the current operation on the target device, and to determine a level of degradation of the tool being used, using the detection information and a model corresponding to a combination of the received context information and the received tool information, the model being specified from one or more models respectively corresponding to available combinations of context information and tool information using the received combination of context information and tool information.

A cloud gateway for coupling an industrial system to a cloud platform is provided. The cloud gateway collects data from one or more industrial controllers, meters, sensors, or other devices comprising an industrial automation system. The cloud gateway optionally performs additional transformations on the data to add context, summarize, filter, reformat, and/or encrypt the data. The cloud gateway then sends data to a cloud platform for use by one or more cloud-based applications or services. The cloud gateway can facilitate cloud-based data collection from both fixed-location and mobile industrial systems. The cloud gateway can also support store-and-forward logic, allowing industrial data to be temporarily stored in local storage in the event that communication between the cloud gateway and the cloud platform is disrupted.

A cloud-based remote monitoring system and method monitor one or more industrial devices of an industrial facility, including a local data historian located to monitor one or more parameters from the industrial devices, and store parameters in a local storage associated with the data historian, as well as a cloud agent located at the industrial facility to collect data indicative of a past and/or a present state of the industrial devices from the data historian local storage according a manifest specific to the industrial facility. The cloud agent sends the collected data to a remote cloud platform according to the manifest, and dynamically reconfigures the cloud agent without interrupting the collecting and the sending.

A cloud-based remote monitoring system and method monitor an industrial facility. The industrial facility includes one or more industrial devices. A cloud agent located at the industrial facility is configured to, by at least one processor, collect data indicative of a past and/or a present state of the industrial devices according a manifest specific to the industrial facility. The cloud agent is further configured to send the collected data to a remote cloud platform according to the manifest dynamically reconfigure the cloud agent without interrupting the collecting and the sending. The cloud platform processes the sent data to facilitate remote monitoring of the industrial devices.

A cloud-based operator interface system is provided that runs as a cloud service on a cloud platform. The cloud-based operator interface system collects industrial data from one or more industrial systems via respective cloud gateway devices. A set of predefined operator interface screens are stored on cloud storage associated with the operator interface system, and delivered to authorized Internet-capable client devices upon request. The industrial data received from the cloud gateways can be delivered to the client devices from the cloud platform via the operator interface screens. Additional cloud-side services can correlate and analyzes the industrial data on the cloud platform to facilitate additional reporting, alarming, and notification features.

A method for automatically processing log files of different types of an automation system, said method determining a message part of a data set of the log file. All contents of the respective data sets of the log files are concatenated. The data sets of all the log files are summarized in a summary file. The data sets of all the log files are chronologically sorted in the summary file. The data sets are compressed in the summary file. The compressed data sets in the summary file are coded. The compressed data sets are assigned to groups with associated group codes. The group code of the assigned group is decoded. The decoded group code is output as the alphanumeric message part of the log file. The alphanumeric message part of the log file is stored in a memory.

An information processing apparatus that displays operation statuses of one or more substrate processing apparatuses. The information processing apparatus includes: an acquisition unit that acquires history information of a plurality of apparatus states to which the plurality of substrate processing apparatuses have transitioned; and a display control unit that displays time zones during which the substrate processing apparatuses were in the plurality of apparatus states, in chronological order, based on the acquired history information such that each of the apparatus states is identifiable.

A system and method for collecting real time manufacturing data from a factory having multiple machines therein using internet-of-things (IoT) connectivity, comprising: at least one gateway comprising at least one server, the at least one gateway receiving data from the multiple machines; at least one machine communications module (MCM) that applies to the received data at least factory, enterprise, and analytics applications, and which outputs command and control information from the applications to the at least one gateway to directly control operations of the multiple machines; wherein the gateway provides security isolation on the machine side of the gateway, and encryption, authentication, and authorization security on the MCM side of the gateway; and wherein the applications process and normalize data from at least a plurality of types and generations of the multiple machines.