Disclosed are a method, device and/or system of a model-driven engineering of efficient industrial automation process and business process modeling with BPMN using native computation of XML schemas and objects. In one embodiment, it models a business/industrial automation process using BPMN. It creates an XML schema associated with a business object class in BPMN using XSD and natively computes the XML schema and/or an XML object using a processor and a memory. It generates an XML-transport map and dynamically creates a user interface for the XML schema. It creates the XML object with associated data resource based on the XML schema. It associates the XML object with a business object/industrial automation object. It customizes and/or processes the XML object using the user interface associated with the XML schema according to the characteristics of the business/industrial automation object.

A maintenance support system include includes: a first storage unit which stores first specification information indicating a specification of a process control system which performs control of an industrial process implemented in a plant; an actual condition information extraction unit configured to extract actual condition information indicating an actual condition for the process control system; and a first comparison unit configured to output first information indicating a result of comparing the first specification information stored in the first storage unit with the actual condition information extracted by the extraction unit.

Modern industrial processes demand flexibility in terms of how data flows are structured in an automation pyramid. Instead of only upward and downward flows, the data should be accessible directly at each level of the pyramid. A gateway for facilitating an integration of process equipment within an industrial environment supporting an open industry standard is provided. Integration of field devices having characteristics, capabilities, and/or requirements that are expressed by a description language for industrial process equipment such as EDDL, into a contemporary communication environment enabling a direct data access, is supported. The communication environment is operated based on a semantically enriched and graph-based data information model such as provided by OPC UA.

A machine can be accessed and controlled with the help of an interface device. The customizable interface device contains device elements that define features relating to the external representation and internal functionality of the interface device, as linked to one or more machines. An operator can use a configuration station to implement single or reoccurring queries that interact with the interface device and corresponding machines. In particular, the queries target the configuration of device elements in the interface device. The process can include temporarily unloading unused features from active memory and mirroring property changes initialized by a source. An emulator can assist in the configuration process by providing a preliminary software representation of the interface device hardware. A user can develop, test, and reconfigure functions on the emulator before loading the finalized platform to the interface device.

The present disclosure provides a host computer, and a control system and method of a machine. The host computer includes a control unit, a service configuration unit, and a functional flow unit. The control unit is configured to control a lower level computer to execute items of a functional flow of the machine. The service configuration unit is configured with action instruction information used to execute the functional flow of the machine and configured to interact with the control unit. The functional flow unit stores items of the functional flow of the machine edited by a user and is configured to interact with the control unit. A technical solution of the host computer and the control system and method of the machine may realize an editable function of the functional flow of the machine to improve flexibility, convenience, and a degree of automation of addition/modification of the functional flow.

The present disclosure provides a host computer, and a control system and method of a machine. The host computer includes a control unit, a service configuration unit, and a functional flow unit. The control unit is configured to control a lower level computer to execute items of a functional flow of the machine. The service configuration unit is configured with action instruction information used to execute the functional flow of the machine and configured to interact with the control unit. The functional flow unit stores items of the functional flow of the machine edited by a user and is configured to interact with the control unit. A technical solution of the host computer and the control system and method of the machine may realize an editable function of the functional flow of the machine to improve flexibility, convenience, and a degree of automation of addition/modification of the functional flow. As such, manpower and time cost may be saved.

A system and method of connecting remotely located machine tools over the Internet. An agent-adapter architecture is used to transform the machine tools into IoT devices in a connected group that communicates with each other for exchanging their status information and executing operations remotely over the Internet.

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing an icon for display by a user interface from an automation device that the icon depicts. Specifically, present embodiments are directed to methods and systems capable of detecting, with processing circuitry of an automation device, a shell program on a workstation via an automation control network. Further, embodiments are capable of providing icon configuration data to the shell program from the automation device, wherein the configuration data controls characteristics of an icon representative of the automation device for display in a visualization of the workstation.

Disclosed are a method, device and/or system of a model-driven engineering of efficient industrial automation process and business process modeling with BPMN using native computation of XML schemas and objects. In one embodiment, it models a business/industrial automation process using BPMN. It creates an XML schema associated with a business object class in BPMN using XSD and natively computes the XML schema and/or an XML object using a processor and a memory. It generates an XML-transport map and dynamically creates a user interface for the XML schema. It creates the XML object with associated data resource based on the XML schema. It associates the XML object with a business object/industrial automation object. It customizes and/or processes the XML object using the user interface associated with the XML schema according to the characteristics of the business/industrial automation object.

Modern industrial processes demand flexibility in terms of how data flows are structured in an automation pyramid. Instead of only upward and downward flows, the data should be accessible directly at each level of the pyramid. A gateway for facilitating an integration of process equipment within an industrial environment supporting an open industry standard is provided. Field devices having characteristics, capabilities and/or requirements that are expressed by a description language for industrial process equipment such as EDDL are integrated into a contemporary communication environment enabling a direct data access. The communication environment is operated based on a semantically enriched and graph-based data information model such as provided by OPC UA.