An industrial automation and control system is provided with a control unit and at least one electronic device. The system establishes a first data connection to an external maintenance unit. The control unit is connected to the electronic device. The electronic device establishes a second data connection to the external maintenance unit and receives or retrieves a proximity information from the external maintenance unit through the second data connection. The electronic device sends the proximity information to the control unit. The control unit grants access to the electronic device by the external maintenance unit through the first data connection to perform maintenance of the electronic device if the proximity information indicates that the external maintenance unit is within a predetermined range from the electronic device.

The present invention concerns a method for estimating a level of damage of an electric device. The method comprises the steps of: forming a histogram of operating cycles related to the electric device for which the level of damage estimation is performed, comparing the formed histogram to histograms of a collection of histograms or to combinations of histograms of the collection of histograms, each histogram of the collection of histogram being associated to a level of damage, in order to determine the histogram of the collection of histograms or the combination of histograms which is the closest from the formed histogram, determining an estimate of the level of damage of the electric device from the level of damage of the closest histogram or from the levels of damages of the histograms of the closest combination of histograms.

Recently, there is a desire to accurately share information concerning the presence or absence and content of a change in a setting parameter value. Provided is a change detection apparatus including a parameter acquiring section that acquires a value of at least one setting parameter of a field device, at predetermined time intervals; a change detecting section that detects whether the value of the setting parameter has been changed; and a change information output section that outputs change information, in response to a change in the value of the setting parameter having been detected.

A refrigeration device, a controller thereof, a user access terminal, a mobile terminal, a management terminal and a maintenance data management system. The controller for a refrigeration device includes: a controller input module configured to input and process maintenance data of an associated refrigeration device locally; a controller display module configured to display the maintenance data of the associated refrigeration device and a data processing interface; a controller storage module configured to store the maintenance data of the associated refrigeration device; and a controller data synchronization module configured to upload the maintenance data of the associated refrigeration device from the controller to a server periodically and/or in real time.

Provided is a remote support system with a higher level of safety. The remote support system includes a control device configured to control an industrial machine, a first information processing terminal connected to the control device, and one or more second information processing terminals capable of controlling the first information processing terminal. The control device is controllable from one or more second information processing terminals.

The present invention concerns a method for estimating a level of damage of an electric device. The method comprises the steps of: forming a histogram of operating cycles related to the electric device for which the level of damage estimation is performed, comparing the formed histogram to histograms of a collection of histograms or to combinations of histograms of the collection of histograms, each histogram of the collection of histogram being associated to a level of damage, in order to determine the histogram of the collection of histograms or the combination of histograms which is the closest from the formed histogram, determining an estimate of the level of damage of the electric device from the level of damage of the closest histogram or from the levels of damages of the histograms of the closest combination of histograms.

An industrial automation and control system is provided with a control unit and at least one electronic device. The system establishes a first data connection to an external maintenance unit. The control unit is connected to the electronic device. The electronic device establishes a second data connection to the external maintenance unit and receives or retrieves a proximity information from the external maintenance unit through the second data connection. The electronic device sends the proximity information to the control unit. The control unit grants access to the electronic device by the external maintenance unit through the first data connection to perform maintenance of the electronic device if the proximity information indicates that the external maintenance unit is within a predetermined range from the electronic device.

A device setting apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes a data transmission processor configured to automatically and collectively acquire information used in at least one another device setting apparatus as other-device information from an external storage and an other-device information storage storing the other-device information. The external storage is communicatively connectable to the device setting apparatus via a network.

A method for defining a probe configuration using an interactive probe configuration tool is provided. The probe configuration tool comprises a shaft icon displayed on the probe configuration tool, and a probe position indicator configured to display an orientation of at least one first probe icon relative to the shaft icon. The probe position indicator is further configured to modify the orientation of the at least one first probe icon based on input from a user. The probe configuration tool further comprises a probe type indicator configured to display a type of the at least one first probe icon, wherein the probe position indicator and the probe type indicator are simultaneously displayed on a presentation interface.

A system and method for a Graphic User Interface used as the human machine interface (HMI) for Industrial Automation (IA) systems. The system and method use a peer-to-peer session framework between a console with one or more physically connected displays within a control room environment and a companion device. One or more embodiments of the disclosure relate to control of a console, or first device, in a control room by means of a companion device, or second device, through a peer to peer session framework. The use of the second device may provide additional capabilities beyond the pre-purposed capability provided by a dedicated Operator keyboard of the console server.