Granular Display of a Loading State of Web-Based Elements of a Control System for a Technical Plant

Abstract

A control system for a technical plant, particularly a process or manufacturing plant, includes an operator station server and an operator station client, wherein the operator station server transmits, for operation and monitoring, an image of the technical plant to the operator station client, the operator station client visually displays the image with a plurality of image elements to an operator of the technical plant and the control system includes a visualization service implemented on the operator station server for a first part and implemented on the operator station client for a second part, where the visualization service is configured to determine information about an accumulated transmission status of the plurality of image elements from the operation station server to the operator station client and to visually display them to the operator of the control system, and where the accumulated transmission status is a logical Boolean value.

Claims

1-8. (canceled)

9. A control system for a technical plant, comprising: an operator station server; and an operator station client, wherein the operator station server is configured to transmit, for operating and observation, a mimic diagram of the technical plant to the operator station client; wherein the plant mimic diagram comprises a plurality of diagram elements; wherein the operator station client is configured to visually display the plant mimic diagram with the plurality of diagram elements to an operator of the technical plant; wherein the control system includes a visualization service which is implemented on the operator station server for a first part and on the operator station client for a second part; wherein the visualization service is configured to ascertain information about an accumulated transmission status of the plurality of diagram elements from the operator station server to the operator station client and to visually display the ascertained information to the operator of the control system, wherein the accumulated transmission status representing a logical Boolean value.

10. The control system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the accumulated transmission status represents a number of transmission statuses with a specific logical Boolean value, in particular the logical Boolean value FALSE.

11. The control system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the specific logical Boolean value comprises a logical Boolean value of FALSE.

12. The control system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the transmission status of a diagram element is influenceable by interaction between the operator and the diagram element.

13. The control system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the control system is configured to store information in a memory about a period of time over which a diagram element of a plant mimic diagram has had a particular transmission status.

14. The control system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the diagram element includes content which is changeable during runtime of the technical plant.

15. The control system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the content comprises a trend indicator for measured values of the technical plant, a message sequence indicator for messages from the control system, a video image or a regulator optimization function.

16. The control system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the technical plant comprises a process or manufacturing plant.

17. The control system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the control system operates a technical plant comprising a process or manufacturing plant.

18. A method for visually displaying a mimic diagram of a technical plant by a control system including an operator station server and an operator station client, the plant mimic diagram comprising a plurality of diagram elements, the method comprising: a) transmitting a mimic diagram of the technical plant from the operator station server to the operator station client, the plant mimic diagram comprising the plurality of diagram elements; b) ascertaining information about an accumulated transmission status of the plurality of diagram elements from the operator station server to the operator station during transmission of the plant mimic diagram with the plurality of diagram elements; c) visually displaying the plant mimic diagram with the plurality of diagram elements to an operator of the control system by the operator station client; and d) visually displaying the information about the accumulated transmission status of the plurality of diagram elements from the operator station server to the operator station client together with the visual display of the plant mimic diagram with the plurality of diagram elements, the accumulated transmission status representing a logical Boolean value.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the ascertainment of the information about the transmission status of the diagram element is performed by a visualization service; and wherein a first part of the visualization service is implemented on the operator station server and a second part of the visualization service is implemented on the operator station client.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the technical plant comprises a process or manufacturing plant.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] The above-described properties, features and advantages of this invention and the manner in which they are achieved will become clearer and more plainly comprehensible in conjunction with the following description of an exemplary embodiment explained in more detail in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

[0042] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a control system in accordance with the invention;

[0043] FIG. 2 is an object model of a control system in accordance with the invention;

[0044] FIG. 3 is a first visual display of a plant mimic diagram by a control system in accordance with the invention;

[0045] FIG. 4 is a second visual display of a plant mimic diagram by a control system in accordance with the invention; and

[0046] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the method in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0047] FIG. 1 depicts part of a control system 1 in accordance with the invention of a technical plant configured as a process plant, i.e., as a process engineering plant. The control system 1 comprises an operator station server 2 and an operator station client 3.

[0048] The operator station server 2 and the operator station client 3 are connected to one another via a terminal bus 4 and optionally to further components of the control system 1 (not depicted), such as a process data archive.

[0049] For the purposes of operating and observation, a user or operator can access the operator station server 2 via the operator station client 3 over the terminal bus 4. The terminal bus 4 can, without being restricted thereto, be formed as an Industrial Ethernet, for example.

[0050] The operator station server 2 has a device interface 5 that is connected to a plant bus 6. The operator station server 2 can communicate with an automation device 7 and with further optional components of the process plant via this device interface 5. The plant bus 6 can, without being restricted thereto, be formed as an Industrial Ethernet, for example. The automation device 7 can be connected to any number of subsystems (not depicted).

[0051] An alarm signal service 8, a first part 9a of a plant mimic diagram service, a monitoring service 10 and a first part 11a of an operator service are implemented on the operator station server 2. The alarm signal service 8, the first part 9a of the plant mimic diagram service, the monitoring service 10 and the first part 11a of the operator service represent a first part 12a of a visualization service implemented on the operator station server 2. Furthermore, (in addition to further components/services (not depicted)), a process map 13 and a configuration database 14 are implemented on the operator station server 2.

[0052] The first part of the plant mimic diagram service 9a takes a plant mimic diagram 15 to be displayed from the configuration database 14. The plant mimic diagram 15 is transmitted from the first part of the plant mimic diagram service 9a to a second part 9b of the plant mimic diagram service that is implemented on the operator station client 3. Herein, the second part 9b of the plant mimic diagram service and a second part 11b of the operator service are components of a second part 12b of the visualization service that is implemented on the operator station client 3 and provides the information required for the visual display of the plant mimic diagram 15 (including rendering information).

[0053] (In addition to other diagram elements), the plant mimic diagram 15 comprises two diagram elements 16, 17, the content of which can be specified variably and can change dynamically. For example, the diagram elements 16, 17 can be trend indicators for a process measurement value, video data or alarm signal indicators.

[0054] The visualization service 12a, 12b is configured to ascertain a transmission status of the respective diagram element 16, 17. For this purpose, the first part 12a of the visualization service waits for confirmation from the second part 12b of the visualization service that the respective diagram element 16, 17 has been transmitted. From this bidirectional communication between the operator station server 2 and the operator station client 3, the visualization service 12a, 12b ascertains the respective transmission status and transfers it to the operator station client 3 that displays it visually to an operator of the control system 1.

[0055] In FIG. 1, the two diagram elements 16, 17 are depicted with a broken line (dashed) that intuitively notifies the transmission status to the operator (not yet fully transmitted or FALSE) of the respective diagram element 16, 17.

[0056] In cooperation with the monitoring service 10, the first part of the operator service 11a forms an accumulated transmission status, which in this case has the value 2. This means that two diagram elements 16, 17 do not have the transmission status fully transmitted or TRUE. This value 2 is visually presented to the operator by the second part 11b of the operator service in a lower right-hand region of the plant mimic diagram 15 (cf. also FIG. 3 and FIG. 4).

[0057] FIG. 2 depicts an object model 18 belonging to the control system 1. An automation project 19 has 1 to f plant mimic diagrams 20 (plant displays). A plant mimic diagram 20 is composed of 1 to m diagram elements 21 (screen items). One specialization of a diagram element 21 is a complex control element 22 (complex control). This complex control element 22 can in turn be a message sequence indicator 23, a trend indicator 24 or a webcam indicator 25.

[0058] The complex control element 22 has a transmission status attribute that indicates the transmission status of the complex control element 22 from the operator station server 2 to the operator station client 3. Upon commencement of a transmission of the plant mimic diagram 20 to the operator station client 3, the attribute has the value FALSE. Only when the respective specialization (message sequence indicator 23, and/or trend indicator 24) has updated and transmitted the content of the control element 22, do the specializations set the transmission status or the attribute to the value TRUE. This can, for example, mean that all historical diagnostic signals of the message sequence indicator 23 have been loaded into the operator station client 3 and visually displayed to the operator of the control system 1.

[0059] The transmission status can be reset to FALSE if a new transmission is necessary, for example, if the operator searches for historical entries in the history of the message sequence indicator 23.

[0060] The transmission status of the individual specializations of the complex control element 22 are ascertained by a monitoring service 26 (corresponding to the monitoring service 10 in FIG. 1) and made available to a visualization service 27. The visualization service 27 corresponds to the visualization service 9a, 9b in FIG. 1 and is implemented on the operator station server 2 for a first part and on the operator station client 3 for a second part. The visualization service 9a, 9b transmits the plant mimic diagram 20 or plant mimic diagrams 20 from the operator station server 2 to the operator station client 3. The transmission contains the diagram element or elements 21 with their transmission status.

[0061] An operator service 28 (corresponding to the operator service 11a, 11b) transmits an accumulated transmission status of the diagram elements 20 of the plant mimic diagram 20 to the operator station client 3. The accumulated transmission status was previously ascertained by the monitoring service 26 and transmitted to the visualization service 27 (to the first part implemented on the operator station server). The operator service 28 then retrieves the accumulated transmission status from the visualization service 27 and transmits it to the operator station client 3.

[0062] FIG. 3 is an enlarged depiction of the plant mimic diagram 15 in FIG. 1 without any further parts of the control system 1. It can be seen that the diagram elements 16, 17 are marked by an interrupted border as not fully transmitted/loaded. In addition, the display intensity of the diagram elements 16, 17 is reduced. The accumulated transmission status 29 is depicted in the bottom right-hand corner as additional information for the operator, which in this case has the value 2 since two diagram elements 16, 17 have not been transmitted fully.

[0063] FIG. 4 shows the plant mimic diagram 15 in FIG. 3, where all diagram elements 16, 17 have been fully transmitted to the operator station client 3, which is why the diagram elements 16, 17 are visually displayed in the normal way. The accumulated transmission status 29 is displayed by a (green) rectangle (without a numerical value or with the numerical value 0) that intuitively indicates to the operator that all diagram elements 16, 17 of the plant mimic diagram 15 have been fully transmitted from the operator station server 2 to the operator station client 3.

[0064] Overall, the disclosed embodiments of the invention can contribute to higher reliability and currency of the control system of the technical plant, especially when using a web-based control system.

[0065] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the method for visually displaying a mimic diagram 15, 20 of a technical plant by a control system 1 including an operator station server 2 and an operator station client 3, where the plant mimic diagram 15, 20 comprises a plurality of diagram elements 16, 17.

[0066] The method comprises a) transmitting a mimic diagram 15, 20 of the technical plant from the operator station server 2 to the operator station client 3, as indicated in step 510. In accordance with the invention, the plant mimic diagram 15, 20 comprises the plurality of diagram elements 16, 17.

[0067] Next, b) information about an accumulated transmission status of the plurality of diagram elements 16, 17 from the operator station server 2 to the operator station 3 is ascertained during transmission of the plant mimic diagram 15, 20 with the plurality of diagram elements 16, 1, as indicated in step 520.

[0068] Next, c) the plant mimic diagram 15, 20 with the plurality of diagram elements 16, 17 is visually displayed to an operator of the control system 1 by the operator station client 3, as indicated in step 530.

[0069] Next, d) the information about the accumulated transmission status of the plurality of diagram elements 16, 17 from the operator station server 2 to the operator station client 3 is visually displayed together with the visual display of the plant mimic diagram 15, 20 with the plurality of diagram elements 16, 17, as indicated in step 540. In accordance with the invention, accumulated transmission status represents a logical Boolean value.

[0070] Thus, while there have been shown, described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the methods described and the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.