Extensible manufacturing/process control information portal server

Abstract

A manufacturing/process control system information access provider architecture is disclosed. Manufacturing/process control system data provider flexibility is achieved through a user-configurable manufacturing/process control information portal server that comprises multiple selectable data provides (sources) and/or data types that a particular data provider accommodates. A user configures the portal server to deliver manufacturing/process control information associated with a controlled process environment, such as a food processing plant floor or an oil refinery reactor, to the user via a browser client over the Internet or a corporate intranet. Furthermore, an extensible architecture is provided that enables adding new components to the portal server. Such extensions include new data sources and new data types/handlers. The new architecture enables a user to select particular ones of the available data handlers and then their associated data sources thereby facilitating customizing the configuration of the portal server to the particular needs/interests of the user.

1 - 11 . (canceled)  
     
     
         12 . An industrial control system, comprising: 
 a plurality of components cooperating to provide industrial process control, the components including a process control component; and    a networked server including an interface that facilitates bi-directional communications between clients and at least one web service associated with at least one of the plurality of components.    
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one web service is associated with a data provider for one of the plurality of components.  
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the interface is an open standards Web Services Description Language (WSDL) that describes how to interact with the web service in order to provide clients access to at least one of the plurality of components of the industrial control system.  
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the WSDL describes an XML format for control system requests and responses.  
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to communicate with the interface, at least one of the plurality of components, and the web service.  
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising a discovery component to facilitate locating data sources associated with the plurality of components.  
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the web service is operated from the networked server.  
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the networked server is a portal server.  
     
     
         20 . A method for providing access to information, in a variety of forms, relating to the operation of an industrial controller environment, the method comprising the steps of: 
 configuring a web service for providing access to at least one component in an industrial control process;    defining an interface for communicating with the web service;    employing an XML-based protocol for communicating with the interface; and    interacting with the at least one component across a network to manage the industrial control process via the interface and the XML-based protocol.    
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising configuring the interface via a Web Service Description Language (WSDL) and employing Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) as the XML-based protocol.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the web service is associated with a portal server.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the web service is associated with a data handler for providing data access to the at least one component in the industrial control process.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the data access is bidirectional.