US20060064503A1 - Data routing systems and methods - Google Patents

Data routing systems and methods Download PDF

Info

Publication number
US20060064503A1
US20060064503A1 US10/844,025 US84402504A US2006064503A1 US 20060064503 A1 US20060064503 A1 US 20060064503A1 US 84402504 A US84402504 A US 84402504A US 2006064503 A1 US2006064503 A1 US 2006064503A1
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
data
component
destinations
xmc
recited
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US10/844,025
Inventor
David Brown
Jay Clark
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Roy G Biv Corp
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority to US10/844,025 priority Critical patent/US20060064503A1/en
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Assigned to ROY-G-BIV CORPORATION reassignment ROY-G-BIV CORPORATION ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: BROWN, DAVID W., CLARK, JAY S.
Priority to EP04809804A priority patent/EP1678589B1/en
Priority to PCT/US2004/031613 priority patent/WO2005031542A2/en
Publication of US20060064503A1 publication Critical patent/US20060064503A1/en
Priority to US11/505,056 priority patent/US20070022194A1/en
Priority to HK07100164.3A priority patent/HK1093626A1/en
Priority to US12/494,163 priority patent/US8102869B2/en
Priority to US12/557,722 priority patent/US8027349B2/en
Priority to US13/232,877 priority patent/US20120065747A1/en
Priority to US14/298,567 priority patent/US9588510B2/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01Protocols
    • H04L67/12Protocols specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01Protocols
    • H04L67/02Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to computer systems for collecting data from one or more disparate data sources and distributing the collected data to one or more disparate data destinations.
  • the present invention is used in the context of collecting and distributing data.
  • the present application uses the term “routing” to refer to the process of both collecting data from data origins and distributing data to data destinations.
  • the terms “data” and “data items” are used herein to refer to numeric, binary, or string data generated in an analog or digital format. Data is typically generated by machines, devices, or the like forming part of a larger working environment.
  • the term “machine” as used herein refers to a physical asset used to perform a predetermined task.
  • device is typically applied to a machine with a relatively small footprint.
  • the data origin or origins thus may be formed by any machine or device (mobile or not) that stores data and which is either directly controlled by humans through a user interface or automatically controlled via a computer based system.
  • the present invention is of particular significance in the context of a working environment defined by a motion control system, and that application of the present invention will be described in detail below.
  • the present invention may have broader application to other working environments, however, and the scope of the present invention should be determined by the claims appended hereto and not the following detailed description.
  • a motion control system typically comprises a plurality of motion control machines or devices each programmed to perform an individual task.
  • the motion control system is configured to coordinate the individual tasks so that the motion control system itself performs a combined task.
  • Each motion control machine or device comprises a controller that generates and/or stores data indicative of the state of the machine or device at a particular point in time. Typically, some or all of this data changes because the state of the machine changes as the machine performs its individual task.
  • the data generated and/or stored by the motion control machines and/or devices of a motion control system can be used to optimize the performance of one or more of the individual machines as well as the entire motion control system.
  • the data destinations where the data is sent can thus take any one or more of a number of forms, including a database system, a plant floor process management system, software used to optimize overall production flow, other software systems, and/or another data routing system as described herein.
  • the collection and distribution of the data associated with individual motion control machines is, however, complicated by several factors. The sheer volume of data can overwhelm the ability of the data destination to store and/or process the data collected.
  • the data origins and data destination may employ different, unique, or proprietary hardware and software systems that utilize different data acquisition commands, data formats, and data transmission protocols.
  • the present invention may be embodied as a data routing system or method for collecting data from at least one data origin and distributing data to at least one data destination.
  • the data routing system comprises a data input module and a data output module.
  • the data input module operatively connected to the at least one data origin.
  • the data input module is configured to collect data from the at least one data origin.
  • the data output module operatively connected to the data input module and to the at least one data destination.
  • the data collection component is configured to distribute the data collected by the data input module to the at least one data destination.
  • FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic block diagram of a data routing system of a first embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 2 is a somewhat schematic block diagram of a data routing system of a second embodiment of the present invention, where the data routing system has been optimized for use with a motion control system;
  • FIGS. 3-8 are scenario maps depicting the interaction of one or more components of the data routing system of FIG. 2 in different operational scenarios
  • FIGS. 9-19 are examples of user interface configurations that may be used by the example data routing system of FIG. 2 ;
  • FIGS. 20 and 21 are highly schematic block diagrams depicting alternate relationships of data inputs, data outputs, and decision logic that may be used by the example data routing systems of FIGS. 1 and 2 .
  • the data routing system 20 is used to route data or data items collected from data origins 22 to one or more data destinations 24 .
  • data and data items will be used herein to refer to numeric, binary, or string data values collected in an analog or digital format from a data origin 22 .
  • data types that represent data or data items as defined herein include ADDRESS, ARRAY, BIT, BYTE, WORD, DWORD, LONG, REAL, DOUBLE, FLOAT, BINARY BLOB, STRUCTURE, STRING, and ASCII STRING.
  • the data origins 22 are machines, devices, or the like forming part of a larger working environment.
  • the working environment is not a part of the present invention and thus will not be described herein beyond what is necessary for a complete understanding of the invention.
  • the terms “machine” as used herein refers to a physical asset used to perform a predetermined task.
  • the term “device” is typically applied to a machine with a relatively small footprint.
  • machines as defined herein include a CNC mill used to shape metal, a pick-n-place machine used to position parts on a circuit board, a robotic machine used to perform surgery, a medical data input device (i.e. blood glucose meter, asthma meter, etc), a gaming device, a robotic toy, an animatronics figure, a robotic machine used to deliver goods to a warehouse or to people, an automobile, a truck or farm vehicle, a boat or ship, an airplane, a jet, a helicopter, a spacecraft, and/or a hardware or software-based control system within a personal computer or even just a personal computer or hand-held computer itself.
  • the data origin or origins thus may be formed by any machine or device (mobile or not) that stores data and which is either directly controlled by humans through a user interface or automatically controlled via a computer based system.
  • the data collected by the data routing system 20 is delivered to one or more data destinations 24 .
  • the data destinations 24 can take on many forms and serve many functions, but a primary function of the data destinations 24 is to use the data collected from the machines in the working environment to optimize operation of the individual machines and the overall working environment.
  • the example data routing system 20 is a software system that comprises a data input module group 30 , an optional data cache module group 32 , and a data output module group 34 .
  • module refers to a binary block of computer logic that contains functions, objects, components, ActiveX components, .NET source, HTML, XML and/or other computer code that can be executed in real-time or in script form.
  • a module include an executable EXE, a dynamic link library DLL, an OLE component or set of components housed within a DLL or EXE, an ActiveX Control, an HTML or XML based Control, a VB script source file, a Java Serverlet, Java Control, Java Object, NET Package, etc.
  • the data input module group 30 , data cache module group 32 , and data output module group 34 typically run on a processor forming part of a computer system, but may be configured to operate across several discrete processors forming part of one or more computer systems.
  • the data routing system 20 operates basically as follows.
  • the data input module group 30 communicates with one or more data origins 22 to obtain data indicative of a state or condition of the machine or device forming each of the data origins 22 .
  • the data cache module group 32 temporarily or persistently stores the data collected by the data input module group 30 .
  • the data output module group 34 determines the conditions under which data collected by the data input module group 30 stored in the data cache module group 32 is sent to one or more of the data destinations 24 .
  • the data output module group 34 optionally also determines the format in which data is sent to the data destination 24 and/or the method of transporting the data to the data destination 24 .
  • the example data input module group 30 comprises a data collection component 40 and one or more data source components 42 .
  • component refers to a logical organization of computer commands designed to perform an operation or set of operations. Examples of components include OLE components, ActiveX controls, HTML or XML based controls, HTML or XML based objects, .NET objects, C++ objects, C function set, Visual Basic objects, and the like. A component may operate on a single processor or may be distributed across a plurality of processors.
  • the data collection component 40 associates all of the data collected with the data origins 22 from which the data was collected.
  • the data collection component 40 may be connected directly to one or more of the data origins 22 or may be connected to one or more of the data origins 22 through the data source components 42 as shown. If the data collection component 40 is connected directly to a data origin 22 , the data collection component 40 and the data origin 22 must be pre-configured to work with each other, and the data collection component 40 is considered data origin independent, whereas the data source component 42 is considered data origin dependent. However, if the data collection component 40 communicates directly with a data origin 22 , it then becomes data origin dependent.
  • one or more data source components 42 are provided to allow the data collection component 40 to operate in a data origin independent manner.
  • the example data source components 42 are each associated with one or more of the data origins 22 .
  • the data source components 42 collect data from a particular data origin 22 or class of data origins 22 and pass this data to the data collection component 40 in a predetermined format.
  • the data source components 42 may run entirely on the same processor or processors as the data routing system 20 , entirely on a processor or processors associated with the data origin 22 , or on processors associated with both the data routing system 20 and the data origin 22 .
  • the use of the data source components 42 is preferred to isolate the data collection component 40 from the operational details of each of the data origins 22 .
  • the data input module group 30 may collect data from the data origins 22 by one or more of a number of methods.
  • the data source components 42 and/or data collection component 40 may read register values on the machine or device, read shared memory provided by the machine or device, send commands to the machine or device for which a data response is given containing the data requested, read variables provided by the machine or device, read and write to variables in a sequence necessary to produce data values, query data using a proprietary or standard data protocol, call a function provided by the machine or device, build and send a command based on a protocol used to communicate with the machine or device for which a data response is provided by the machine or device from which the data is extracted, and/or the like.
  • the optional data cache module group 32 comprises a data store component 50 and at least one data cache 52 .
  • the data collection component 40 passes data to the data store component 50 ; the data store component 50 stores this data in one or more of the data caches 52 .
  • the data caches 52 may be temporary or volatile memory devices such as RAM or may be permanent or persistent memory such as a hard drive or database system.
  • the data store component 50 further retrieves data from the appropriate data cache 52 as necessary. If the data cache module 32 is not used, data collected by the data collection component 40 is passed directly to the data output module group 34 in real time.
  • the data output module 34 comprises a data output component 60 .
  • the data output component 60 may receive data directly from the data collection component 40 .
  • the data output component 60 may direct the data store component 50 to read data stored in one or more of the data caches 52 and transfer the stored data to the data output component 60 .
  • the data output module group 34 further comprises one or more data transport components 62 .
  • Each of the data transport components 62 defines or is associated with a method or system of transporting data from the data output component 60 to one or more of the data destinations 24 .
  • the data output component 60 selects an appropriate one of the data transport components 62 for each data element based on the data destination 24 to which the data element is to be sent.
  • the data output module group 34 further comprises a data formatter component 64 .
  • the data formatter component 64 contains logic, templates, or the like for arranging data elements in a format appropriate for one or more of the data destinations 24 .
  • the data formatter component 64 allows the data destinations 24 to be implemented in a machine or device independent manner by obviating the need for the data destinations 24 to process data elements in the format generated by the data origins 22 .
  • the data output module group 34 further optionally comprises an inference engine component 66 . If used, the inference engine component 66 helps the data output component 60 to determine the data destination or destinations 24 where each data element is set. The inference engine component 66 may further assist the data output component 60 to make the determination of which data is to be output (if any) and/or which data transport component 62 to use and/or whether the data formatter component 64 is to be used.
  • the data routing system 20 of the present invention thus collects data from one or more data origins 22 and routes this data to one or more data destinations 24 .
  • the use of the data routing system 20 allows the data destination or destinations 24 to operate independent of the implementation details of the data origin or origins 22 .
  • the data routing system 20 can be configured to be independent of the data destination through the use of the data transport components 62 , and data formatter components 64 .
  • FIGS. 2-21 of the drawing depicted therein is a data routing system 120 of the present invention.
  • the example data routing system 120 operates in the same basic manner as the data routing system 20 described above but is optimized to operate in a working environment defined by a motion control system.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates that the data routing system 120 is a collection of modules or components used to collect machine data from the data origins 122 and then send some or all of the data collected to the data destinations 124 .
  • the data destinations 124 may be either a local data destination (for later replication to a remote data destination) or a remote site (either a remote data routing system or third party data destination).
  • the example motion system 122 as defined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,897, but other motion systems may be used instead or in addition. As will be described in further detail below, the motion system 122 defines or is associated with one or more application programming interfaces. The motion system 122 is not per se part of the present invention and will not be described herein beyond what is necessary for a complete understanding of the present invention.
  • the data destinations 124 may use the data delivered by the data routing system 20 for a variety of purposes.
  • a primary function of the data destinations 124 is to optimize and/or monitor the operation of the machines and/or devices forming the motion control system that the motion services 122 or other software used by the data sources 142 communicate with.
  • the data destinations 124 can thus take any one or more of a number of forms, including a database system, a plant floor process management system, software used to optimize overall production flow, or other software systems, and/or another data routing system as described herein.
  • the example data routing system 120 is connected to the data destination 124 through a network 126 .
  • the network 126 is a combination of hardware and software architectures that forms a link between two or more computer systems. Examples of network architectures include a packet based network, a streaming based network, broadcast based network, or peer-to-peer based network. Examples of networks that may be used as the network 126 include a TCP/IP network, the Internet, an Intranet, a wireless network using WiFi, a wireless network using radio waves and/or other light based signals, and the like.
  • the software components making up the example data routing system 120 may be organized into three module groups: a data input. module group 130 , a data cache module group 132 , and a data output module group 134 .
  • the data input module group 130 , data cache module group 132 , and data output module group 134 typically run on a processor forming part of a computer system, but may be configured to operate across several discrete processors forming part of one or more computer systems connected by a computer network.
  • the data input module group 130 comprises a data collection component 140 and a plurality of data source components 142 a and 142 b .
  • the data cache module group 132 comprises a data store component 150 and one or more data cache components 152 .
  • the data output module group 134 comprises a data output component 160 , one or more data transport components 162 , a data formatter component 164 , and an inference engine component 166 .
  • the data collection component 140 is responsible for collecting data from the machine asset and routing all data collected to the data cache module group 132 .
  • the data collection component 140 is responsible for managing one or more data source components 142 for which data is collected and route the data collected to the data cache module group 132 .
  • the data source components 142 a and 142 b communicate with the motion system 122 .
  • Each data source communicates with the motion system using whatever means are available including to the use of application programming interfaces (API) 170 a , 170 b , and 170 c associated with the motion system 122 , using (API) provided by a motion system vendor, or using network or other communication protocols.
  • API application programming interfaces
  • the example data source component 142 a is configured to receive data from the API's 170 a and 170 b
  • the example data source component 142 b is configured to receive data from the API 170 c.
  • the example data collection component 40 manages one or more data source components 142 and is responsible for routing the data collected to the data store component 150 of the data cache module 132 .
  • each data collection component 140 may communicate directly to the motion system 122 without the need for an intermediary data source component 142 .
  • the use of the data source component 142 allows for code reuse as the data collection component 140 may then implement all common functionality, thus making each data source component 142 extremely thin and easy to build and maintain.
  • the use of each data source components 142 allows the data collection component 150 itself to be independent of each data origin with which each data source component 142 communicates to collect data.
  • Each data source component 142 is responsible for mapping the data collected from the data source (i.e. XMC API, XMC CNC API, OPC Server, or proprietary data source) into the format expected by the data collection component 140 and ultimately the data store component 150 .
  • the main goal of the data source components 142 is to provide a consistent interface to the data origin 122 , thereby freeing the client from the details of the data origin 122 and allowing all data source components 142 to act and operate in the same manner from the perspective of the data collection component 140 .
  • the data cache module group 132 caches the data received so that it may later be analyzed or otherwise processed.
  • the data store component 150 manages one or more data caches 152 and is responsible for storing all data received and giving access to all data stored.
  • each data store component 150 could cache all data received directly without the need for an intermediary data cache 152 .
  • the use of the data cache or caches 152 allows for code reuse and also allows the data store component 150 to remain independent of any caching technologies used by each data cache component 152 .
  • the data store component 150 may then implement all common functionality, thus making each data cache module 132 also extremely thin and easy to build and maintain.
  • primary data cache and “secondary data cache” may be used to refer to one or more of the data caches 152 depending upon whether certain features of the data cache module 132 are implemented and/or used as will be discussed in detail below.
  • the suffix “a” is used in FIG. 2B to designate a primary data cache, and the suffix “b” is used to designate a secondary data cache.
  • Each data cache 152 stores data in a data target 172 such as a database on a hard drive, RAM memory, or another persistent or volatile storage medium.
  • the main purpose of the data caches 152 is to provide a consistent interface to the data storage medium used so that the caches 152 appear to be the same to the user, thus freeing the client of any details handling various caching mechanisms.
  • the data output module group 134 is responsible for sending the data collected by the data input module group 30 and/or stored by the data cache module group 32 to the data destination 122 .
  • the data output component 160 manages the other components forming the data output module 34 , namely, the data transport components 162 , the data formatter component 164 , and the inference engine component 166 .
  • the data output component 160 is responsible for sending data to one or more data destinations 124 .
  • the data destination may be an enterprise data management system, an artificial intelligence system, a plant floor process management system, software used to optimize overall production flow, another data routing system such as the systems 20 and 120 described herein, and/or other software systems used to optimize and/or monitor how the overall factory operates based on how each machine making up the factory runs.
  • the inference engine component 166 is responsible for mapping the data elements received from the data input module group 130 or data cache module group 132 through the data output component 160 to the data destinations 124 to which the data elements are to be sent.
  • the data transport component 162 defines which data elements are to be sent to which data destination 124 .
  • the inference engine component 166 also optionally provides a set of rules and/or other criteria that are used to determine whether or not each output defined by the data transport component 162 should ‘fire’.
  • the inference engine component 166 may use one or more of the following logic systems: artificial intelligence systems, fuzzy logic algorithms, neural network pattern matching, genetic algorithms, expert system logic, and/or other computer based decision-making and/or pattern matching based systems, to determine when a given set of one or more data elements should be sent out.
  • an identity transform may be used which causes all data inputs received to be sent out as matching data outputs.
  • the data formatter component 164 is used to format all or portions of the data set to be transported to the data destinations 124 .
  • the data formatter component 164 may be used to format data output by the inference engine component 166 into a certain XML schema or other proprietary data format.
  • the data transport component 162 is responsible for sending the data to the ultimate data destination 124 , including an enterprise database, an enterprise software system, or even another data routing system such as the data routing system 120 .
  • a data manager 180 that allows the user to manage operation of the data routing system 120 .
  • the data manager 180 controls access to property pages exposed or generated by user-interface components associated with the components 140 , 150 , 160 , 162 , 164 , and 166 .
  • Property pages may also be exposed or generated by user interface components associated with the components 142 and 152 .
  • the example data routing system 120 comprises data collector property pages 182 , data store property pages 184 , data output property pages 190 , data transport property pages 192 , data formatter property pages 194 , and inference engine property pages 196 .
  • the property pages 182 , 184 , 190 , 192 , 194 , and 196 allow the user to initialize, configure, and control the components 140 , 150 , 160 , 162 , 164 , and 166 , respectively.
  • the property pages 182 , 184 , 190 , 192 , 194 , and 196 also refer to the user-interface components associated with these property pages.
  • the property pages 182 , 184 , 190 , 192 , 194 , and 196 and other interface elements are separated from the components 140 , 150 , 160 , 162 , 164 , and 166 in the system 120 to optimize the overall system flexibility and facilitate evolution toward new and future user interface technologies such as HTML based web user interface, SOAP/XML based interfaces, Microsoft .NET based interfaces, etc.
  • the components 140 , 150 , 160 , 162 , 164 , and 166 could directly expose property pages and other user-interface elements.
  • the system Before using the data routing system 120 , the system must first be initialized. During initialization, all components are started and configured with their initial settings. Initializing the system involves configuring the data routing system 120 so that it knows what data to collect, where to collect it from, how to process the data collected and where to send the processed data. Once initialized, the system is ready to begin collecting, storing and processing machine and/or device data.
  • the initialization process includes to levels.
  • the overall data routing system 120 must be configured by connecting one or more data collection components 140 data and one or more data output components 160 to the data store component 150 . Once connected, the components making up each of the data input module 130 , data output module 134 , and data cache module 132 groups must next be configured.
  • the process of initializing the data routing system 120 will now be described with reference to FIG. 3 Initially, the data manager 180 is run to configure the overall system 120 .
  • the data manager 180 of the data routing system 120 next uses the data store property pages 184 paired with the data store component 150 .
  • the data store property pages 184 query the data store component 150 for all entries in the data output module group 134 category (or optionally queries for each entry directly using the OLE Component Categories) and displays each entry visually in the property page 184 .
  • the list of active data output components 160 associated with the selected data output module or systems 134 is sent back to the data store component 150 so that it may use the active components.
  • the data store component 150 could optionally query a separate ‘configuration’ component used to select the active data output modules 134 to use later when processing data to be output. Additionally, the activation of each active component 160 may optionally be activated programmatically instead of by the user.
  • the data store component 150 creates an instance of each activated data output component 160 so that the data store component 150 can send data update events to each upon receiving new cache data.
  • the data store property pages 184 query the data input module group 130 for a list of supported data collection components 140 .
  • the data store component 150 may query the data collection components 140 of the data input module group 130 and display each these data collection components 140 visually so that the user can activate all components 140 that are appropriate for collecting data.
  • the active list of one or more data collection components 140 is sent to the data store component 150 .
  • the data store component 150 could query a separate ‘configuration’ component used to select the active data output modules 134 to use later when processing data to be output.
  • the activation of each component may optionally be activated programmatically instead of by the user.
  • the data store component 150 creates an instance of each active data collection component 140 .
  • the main configuration task for the data collection component 140 is that of selecting the data source components 142 (and the data items supplied by each) from which data is to be collected. The process of configuring the components used by the systems 140 , 150 , and 160 will now be described with reference to FIG. 4 .
  • the data manager 180 is used to configure the data collection component 140 .
  • the data collector property pages 182 are used to configure the data collection component 140 .
  • all configuration may be done programmatically by another software module.
  • Each of the data collector property pages 182 queries the Data Source OLE Category of components to see what data source components 142 are available.
  • the data collection component 140 may be queried for the list of all data source components 142 available.
  • a visual list of available data source components 142 is next constructed, thus allowing the user to select which data source component or components 142 to use when collecting data.
  • the data collection component 140 could directly talk to the data source components 142 ; however such direct communication would reduce code reuse as the data collection component 140 allows each data source component 142 to be very thin, making these components 142 easy to build and maintain.
  • a list of active data source components 142 is passed to the data collection component 140 , which then creates an instance of each selected component.
  • each data source component 142 may use an associated property page (not shown) that allows the user to visually (or software to programmatically) configure and select the data inputs from which data is to be collected by each data source component 142 .
  • Each data collector component 140 may also define a set of data inputs that the user may configure and select; however this it not optimal as the data source components 142 allow each data collector component 140 to remain independent of how each data origin actually works; i.e. the data items they provide and how the data for each data item is actually collected.
  • the following steps take place when configuring the data cache module group 132 , which includes the data store component 150 thereof.
  • Configuring the data store component 150 requires the selecting of the data cache 152 to use.
  • caching data there are three main methods that may be employed: (1) cache all data to memory only; (2) cache all data to a persistent storage such as a database, or (3) a mixture where data is initially cached to memory and then ‘rolled-over’ into the persistent store at certain intervals or after a specified amount of data has been collected. All three models are utilized by the data cache module group 132 of the data routing system 120 , where only one method is necessary to build a picture of the overall state of the data origin at a given moment in time.
  • the data manager 180 of the data routing system 120 is used to configure the data store component 150 and associated components using the embedded data store property page 184 .
  • the data store component 150 can be configured to implement all user aspects that it needed to edit and otherwise allow the user interact with the data and configuration managed by the component.
  • separating the user interface from the component in a parallel component has several advantages that allow for easily adopting future user-interface based technologies such as HTML, Windows .NET, and thin client. For these reasons the user interface has optionally been separated from the main logic making up the data store component 150 . As generally described above, this same design organization is used throughout the entire system 120 by all components having an associated property page.
  • the data store property page 184 component queries the data store component 150 for the list of data cache components 152 that are available and displays the list visually.
  • the list of available components 152 may optionally be provided programmatically by a separate component used for configuration.
  • the data store property page 184 may directly query the Cache Category of components in the OLE Component Category.
  • the user visually selects the specific data cache components 152 to use and the specific caching strategy to employ (single caching or roll-over where data from one cache is rolled over to another cache based on certain criteria such as an interval of time, or a data cache data threshold being met).
  • the selected data cache components 152 and strategy selected by the user are transferred to the data store component 150 which then stores the settings.
  • Each data output component 160 and associated components act as a data output ‘pipeline’ where data follows a set of steps that determines what data will be output, what format that data will be output in, and where the data will be sent. Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawing, depicted therein are the steps that take place when configuring the data output component 160 and its related components.
  • the data manager 180 is used to configure the various aspects of the data output component 160 and its associated components.
  • the data output property page 190 parallel component acquires the list of inference engine components 166 , data formatter components 164 , and data transport components 162 that are available. Once the list of data transport, data formatter, and inference engine components 162 , 164 , and 166 is acquired, a visual display of the list is created on the data output property page 190 so that the user can select one or more of the components 162 , 164 , and 166 from the list as appropriate for their application.
  • the data output property page 190 may either query the data output component 160 or directly query the OLE Category for each of the data transport component 162 , data formatter component 164 , and inference engine component 166 . If the data output component 160 is queried for the list of available components in each category, the data output component 160 in turn may then internally query a pre-configured list or the OLE components falling into each respective OLE Category for the data transport component 162 , data formatter component 164 , and inference engine component 166 .
  • the list of components to activate is sent to the data output component 160 , which stores the component information as its active components and then creates an instance of each component.
  • each data transport component 162 is queried for its list of supported outputs.
  • the list of supported data outputs is then passed to the inference engine component or components 166 selected.
  • the data output component 160 queries the data store component 150 for its list of supported data items, usually stored in the data cache components 152 and previously selected when configuring the data collection component 140 .
  • the list of supported input data items is then passed to the inference engine component or components 166 selected.
  • the user may optionally configure rules or other criteria used to determine when each output is ‘fired’ based on the input data received.
  • rules or other criteria used to determine when each output is ‘fired’ based on the input data received.
  • one or more of a set of Fuzzy Logic rules, a previously trained Neural Network pattern, a Genetic Algorithm fitness, Expert System logic, or other custom logic may be used to determine when certain outputs are sent through the data output pipeline to the data destination.
  • the data formatter component or components 164 may also be configured to output data in data formats supported by each data destination 124 .
  • a data formatter component 164 may be used to output data items received in a certain proprietary schema.
  • the data formatter component 164 would need to be configured so that it would know how to match the data items received to the proprietary schema. This step in the configuration process would allow the user, or another software program, to make this configuration.
  • the data transport component or components 162 would need to be configured so that they could properly send data received to the end data targets that it supported.
  • a data transport component 162 configured to use TCP/IP may need to have target TCP/IP addresses configured or TCP/IP ports configured telling the component 42 where to send the data.
  • FIGS. 7A and 7B depict the interactions that take place when collecting data.
  • each data source component 142 either polls for data or receives previously configured events from its data origination. For example, when using the motion system 124 or an OPC server as the data origin, events may be received telling the data source component 142 that new data is available.
  • the data source component 142 Upon receiving a data update event, the data source component 142 fires an event to its respective parent data collection component 140 .
  • the data collection component 140 Upon receiving its event, the data collection component 140 then fires an event to the data store component 150 .
  • the data store component 150 Upon receiving each data update event, the data store component 150 uses the active caching component or components 152 to store the data.
  • the data cache module 132 may employ a roll-over strategy in which data received is passed to one or more data cache modules 132 after a certain criteria is met such as in interval of time passing or a data caching threshold being met.
  • the data store component 150 After caching the data, the data store component 150 fires a data update event to any data output component or components 160 connected to the data store system 132 .
  • the data output component 160 may optionally query the data store component 150 for more data if needed to gain a full description of the current state of the machines forming the motion system 122 .
  • All data input information is then passed to the inference engine component 166 for processing.
  • the inference engine component 166 runs its preconfigured rule set against the data set received and produces the output (if any) that is eligible to be sent to the data destinations 124 .
  • the inference engine component 166 employs a dynamic model of the data, its internal model may alter itself based on the input data received. For example, an inference engine component 166 that uses a neural network may ‘learn’ from the data by changing the neural network's weights based on the data input values received.
  • the output data received from the inference engine component 166 is then sent to the data formatter component 164 .
  • the data formatter component 164 transforms the data received into the supported output data format and passes the new output data back to the data output component 160 .
  • the formatted data is then passed to the data transport component or components 162 to be transported or sent to the data destinations 124 .
  • a data formatter component 164 is not used, the raw data format output from the inference engine component 166 is used and passed directly to any active data transport component 162 .
  • the active data transport component or components 162 Upon receiving the output data, the active data transport component or components 162 send the data to their respective data destinations 124 .
  • a TCP/IP transport would packetize the data into TCP/IP packets and send the data stream to a preconfigured TCP/IP address/port.
  • a wireless transport may broadcast the data out on a pre-configured frequency.
  • the data manager 180 presents to the user a main window 220 ( FIG. 9 ) that is used to access the data property pages 182 , 184 , 190 , 192 , 194 , and 196 used to configure all settings of the data collection component 140 , data store component 150 , and data output component 160 forming up the system 120 .
  • the example main window 220 presented by the data manager 180 to configure each of the main components 140 , 150 , and 160 is shown in FIG. 9 .
  • the main page 220 of the data manager 180 acts as a control panel that allows the user to configure and monitor how data flows from each data source 122 to the eventual data destination 124 .
  • a “Configure” button 222 allows the user to configure the overall system 120 by building up the overall data transfer pipeline. This option is only available when running the application as an Administrator on the system.
  • a “Start” button 224 starts monitoring the data source components 142 and feeds the data received through the system 220 .
  • a “Stop” button 226 stops monitoring the data source components 142 and shuts down the entire monitoring process.
  • a “Monitoring” icon 230 visually displays whether or not monitoring is currently enabled.
  • a “Close” button 232 closes the monitoring application window but does not close the application. Since the application runs as a system tray application, you must exit the application by right clicking on the system tray icon.
  • a “Status” window 234 visually shows the overall configuration and status of the system including all nodes making up the data input module 130 , data store system 132 , and data output module 134 .
  • a configuration dialog window 240 that is associated with the data manager 180 .
  • the configuration dialog window allows a user to build the overall data routing system 120 .
  • the user interface elements making up the configuration dialog window 240 are as follows.
  • An “Add Data Collector . . . ” button 24 displays a dialog containing a list of all data collection components 140 available to the system. Once selected, the selected data collection components 140 are added to the system 120 . The data collection components 140 are connected to the data store component 150 so that data events are sent to the data store component 150 each time data items are received by each of the data collection components 140 from their respective various data source components 142 .
  • An “Add Data Output . . . ” button 244 displays a dialog containing a list of all data output modules 134 available to the system. Once selected, the data output modules 134 are added to the system. Each data output module 134 manages a data pipeline that may involve inference rules or other decision-making technology that tell when to fire each data output.
  • a “Delete” button 246 removes a module from the list of components making up the overall data routing system 120 .
  • a “Load” button 250 loads the components of a previously saved data routing system 120 from a persistent storage medium such as a file or database.
  • a “Save” button 252 saves the current data routing system 120 to a persistent storage medium such as a file or database.
  • a “Close” button 254 closes the configuration dialog.
  • a “Node” control 260 contains the current modules making up the data routing system 120 , including data collection components 140 , data store components 150 , and data output components 160 .
  • An “About” property page 262 displays information about the currently selected module in the node list.
  • a “Settings” property page 264 displays a property page corresponding to the currently selected node in the node list.
  • the property page allows the user to configure the settings specific to the node selected.
  • interface elements Examples of interface elements that may be used to implement the property pages 182 , 184 , 190 , 192 , 194 , and 196 , as well as other related property pages, will now be described with reference to FIGS. 11-18 .
  • the “Delete”, “Load”, “Save”, and “Close” interface elements depicted in FIGS. 11-18 apply to the “Node” Control on the left part of each figure (not shown) and will not be described in detail below.
  • the data collector property page 182 allows a user to configure the components, such as the data collection components 140 and/or data source components 142 , of the data input module group 130 .
  • a “Data Sources” list box 270 contains a list of all data source components 142 available to the system.
  • the list of available data source components 142 is acquired by either directly enumerating the Data Source OLE Category of components or by querying the data collection component 140 for all data source components 142 that it ‘knows’ about.
  • a “Select” button 272 adds the currently selected item in the list of data source components 142 to the currently selected data output module 134 in the main node list.
  • a “Target Scan Rate” edit field 274 allows the user to input a global scan rate that applies to all data source components 142 that may be controlled using a global scan rate.
  • a data source property page 280 is depicted in FIG. 12 .
  • the data source property page 280 allows the user to select the data items made available by each data source component 142 . The selected data items are then fed into the data store component 150 and eventually on into the selected inference engine component 166 . The following user-interface elements make up the data source property page 280 .
  • a “Data Items” list box 282 contains a list of all data items made available by each data source component 142 . The user must enable the data items that they want to monitor in their system. The list of available data items is acquired by browsing a particular data source component 142 .
  • a “Scan Rate” edit box 284 allows the user to enter the scan rate to use for this specific data source (which may be different from the global scan rate). If no scan rate is entered, the default global scan rate is used when appropriate.
  • a data store property page 290 depicted in FIG. 13 is used to configure the data store component 150 by selecting and configuring the data cache or caches 152 used and the specific caching strategies for each.
  • the following user-interface elements make up the data store property page 290 .
  • a “Data Caches” list box 292 contains a list of all data caches 152 available to the system 120 .
  • the list of available data caches 152 may be acquired either by directly enumerating the data cache OLE Category of components or by querying the data store component 150 for a list of active data caches 152 .
  • a “Select” button 294 adds the currently selected item in the “Data Caches” list box 290 to the currently selected data store component 150 in the master node list.
  • FIG. 14 depicted therein is a data cache property page 320 that allows the user to configure the specific caching strategy to be used by each data cache 152 .
  • the following user interface elements make up the data cache property page 320 .
  • An “Enable data roll-over” check-box 322 allows the user to enable/disable data roll-over.
  • data placed in a particular data cache 152 can roll-over into another, or secondary, data cache 152 upon meeting certain criteria specified by other of the user-interface elements forming the data cache property page 320 .
  • An “After reaching cache data threshold of” radio button 224 determines that roll-over occurs when a certain number of bytes are cached in the primary data cache, assuming that data cache roll-over is also enabled by check box 322 .
  • a caching threshold data field 324 a allows the user to specify the data cache threshold. After reaching the roll-over threshold level, all data currently in the primary data cache 152 a is copied to the secondary data cache 152 b.
  • An “After time interval of” radio button 326 when selected determines that roll-over occurs at specifically set time intervals, again assuming that data cache roll-over is enabled by check box 322 .
  • a time interval data field 326 a allows the user to specify the duration of the time interval. Upon the expiration of each time interval all data in the primary data cache 152 a is automatically copied over to the secondary data cache 152 b and then removed from the primary cache 152 a.
  • a “Roll-over to” list-box 328 contains a list of data caches that can be used as secondary caches 152 b .
  • the primary cache 152 a rolls data over to the secondary cache 152 b selected by pressing a “Select” button 328 a.
  • the data output property page 190 is used to configure the data output module 134 by selecting the data transport components 162 , data formatter component 164 , and inference engine component 166 that are to make up the data output pipeline.
  • the following user-interface elements make up the data output property page 190 .
  • An “Interface Engines” list-box 330 contains a list of all inference engine component or components 166 that are available to the system 120 .
  • a first “Select” button 330 a allows one or more of the inference engine components 166 to be selected.
  • each inference engine component 166 is responsible for mapping input values to output values and determining when each data element should actually be sent to the data destination 124 .
  • a “Data Formatters” list-box 332 contains a list of all data formatter components 164 that are available to the system 120 .
  • a second “Select” button 332a allows one or more of the data formatter components 164 to be selected.
  • Each data formatter component 164 is responsible for transforming data input into another data format that is output as output data.
  • a “Data Transports” list-box 334 contains a list of all data transport components 162 that are available to the system 120 .
  • a third “Select” button 334a allows one or more of the data transport components 162 to be selected.
  • Each data transport component 162 is responsible for sending the data received to the ultimate data destination 124 , such as an enterprise database, analysis system, another data routing system, or the like.
  • the inference engine property page 196 will now be described in further detail with reference to FIG. 16 .
  • the inference engine property page 196 is used to configure the settings defining how the inference engine component 166 actually works.
  • the inference engine component 166 maps inputs received to expected outputs defined by the data transport component 162 .
  • the inference engine component 166 optionally uses decision logic to determine whether or not each output should fire (i.e. be sent on to one or more data transport component 162 ) based on the inputs received.
  • the user interface elements making up the inference engine property page 196 are as follows.
  • An “Input Data Items” list-box 340 contains a list of all data inputs received from the data input module 130 via the data store component 150 .
  • An “Output Data Items” list-box 342 contains a list of all data outputs received from the data output module 134 via the data transport component 162 .
  • a “Rule Map” list-box 344 contains a list of rules that define how to map the received data inputs to the outputs.
  • the user drags items from the Input Data Items list box 340 into the inputs making up the rule-map as listed in the Rule Map list box 344 .
  • the rule-map associated with each of the items in the Input Data Items list box 344 defines when to fire output to each defined output.
  • An example data formatter property page 194 is depicted in FIG. 17 .
  • the data formatter property page 194 allows the user to configure how the final data output is actually formatted.
  • the example property page 194 depicted in FIG. 17 illustrate how to map data outputs into an XML schema.
  • the following user interface elements make up the data formatter property page 194 .
  • An “XML Schema Map” 350 control contains an editable XML Schema that allows a user to drag an output data item into different portions of the schema essentially ‘linking’ the data item to that portion of the XML schema.
  • the final XML data file is built by using the XML schema and then placing data from each output data item into the slots where they are linked into the XML schema.
  • An “Output Data Items List” list-box 352 contains a list of all data outputs available as defined by the data output module 134 via the data transport component or components 162 .
  • FIG. 18 Depicted in FIG. 18 is an example of a data transport property page 192 .
  • the data transport property page 192 allows the user to configure the specific settings of each data transport component 162 used to communicate with the data destination or destinations 124 .
  • the example property page 192 depicted in FIG. 18 is an example property page for a data transport component 162 that communicates across a TCP/IP based (wire-based or wireless) network.
  • the data transport property page employs the following user interface elements.
  • a “Target TCP/IP Address” 360 edit field allows the user to enter the target TCP/IP address of the machine or machines forming destinations where data is to be sent.
  • a “Target TCP/IP Port” edit field 362 allows the user to specify a set of one or more TCP/IP ports to use on the target TCP/IP address.
  • a “Use UDB Broadcasting” radio button 364 directs the transport to broadcast the output data using the UDP broadcasting protocol and ignore the target TCP/IP address as data will be sent to all machines forming data destinations 124 on the network 126 .
  • a “Use Peer-to-Peer Messaging” radio button 366 directs the transport to use a peer-to-peer messaging protocol such as the one used with Windows Instant Messenger, where data is sent immediately to the target machine forming the data destination 124 and may optionally be displayed in an Instant Messenger viewing application such as Windows Messenger.
  • a “Use Data Streaming” radio button 368 directs the transport to use a data streaming technology where the data outputs are streamed to the target(s) in a manner similar to that of a streaming music or video source.
  • the data outputs may also be interleaved into an existing music, video, or other data streaming data source.
  • a “Use Virtual Private Networking Tunneling” radio button 370 directs the transport to use a tunneling technology, where the data packets making up the output data are embedded within another packet type, optionally encrypted and secured, and then sent to the target over another protocol such as HTTP, or in this case the PPTP or L2TP protocol.
  • SOAP or XML messaging is another manner of tunneling where the data is placed within a SOAP or XML ‘envelope’ and then sent over to the output target using the SOAP or other XML messaging protocol.
  • a “Use SMTP E-Mail Format” radio button 372 directs the transport to package the output data sets into an e-mail format and sends it to the target. Further configuration may be required to actually setup a specific e-mail address for the recipient.
  • a “Use SNMP Format” radio button 374 directs the transport to use the SNMP transport to communicate with the output target.
  • An “Enable Data Encryption” check-box 380 enables data encryption such that the data is encrypted before transmission.
  • a “Use Kerberos Security” check-box 382 enables Kerberos security.
  • a “Use 128 bit Encryption” check-box 384 enables 128-bit encryption for the output data packets.
  • An “Enable Transmission Timeout” check-box 386 enables transmission time-out on each communication with the target.
  • the sender When enabled, the sender only waits for an amount of time specified in a data field 386 a for a response from the data destination 124 , after which response data received from the target is ignored.
  • the example data routing system 120 is a modular system made up of a set of components as generally described above.
  • each component is based on a component technology, such as OLE/COM technology defined by Microsoft Corporation.
  • each component uses a separate ‘parallel’ ActiveX component to implement all user interface aspects of the main component, also as generally described above.
  • Each ActiveX component may be implemented either within the main component module or separately in its own module. Bundling each object within one module is not required as they may be located at any location (i.e. across a network, and so forth), but doing so may optimize all communication between modules. How and where components are implemented is more of a logistical decision because, once components are built and deployed to the field, it is difficult to update a single component if all components are implemented within a single DLL or EXE module.
  • FIG. 19 illustrates that the components forming the data routing system conform to a single interface identified as the IXMCDirect interface.
  • OLE Categories are used to determine how many components fall into a certain group of components. Components used by the example data routing system 120 fall into the following categories:
  • Data Input Components typically, this category includes a single data collector component, but multiple data input components may be used in a large distributed environment.
  • Data Source Components Many data source components are often used at the same time.
  • Data Output Components Many data output components are often used at the same time, with each data output component defining at least part of a data output pipeline.
  • Inference Components One or more inference engine components are used by each data output component.
  • Data Formatter Components One or more data formatter component components are typically used by each data output module.
  • Data Transport Components One or more data transport components are typically used by each data output module.
  • the IXMCDirect interface depicted in FIG. 19 is used for most communications between components of the data routing system 120 .
  • the IXMCDirect interface is made up of the following functions, which are specified in standard OLE/COM IDL format.
  • a GetProperty method is used to query a specific property from the component implementing the interface.
  • a SetProperty method is used to set a specific property from the component implementing the interface.
  • An InvokeMethod method is used to invoke a specific action on the component implementing the interface.
  • An action can cause an event to occur, carry out a certain operation, query a value, and/or set a value within the component implementing the method.
  • the IXMCDirect::GetProperty method is used to query the property corresponding to the property name ‘pszPropName’. Each component defines the properties that it supports.
  • the following table summarizes the GetProperty method implemented by the example IXMCDirect interface: Syntax HRESULT GetProperty( LPCTSTR pszPropName, LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData, DWORD dwCount ); Parameters LPCTSTR pszPropName - string name of the property to query. LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData - array of XMC_PARAM_DATA types that specify each parameter corresponding to the property.
  • a certain property may be made up of a number of elements - in this case an array of XMC_PARAM_DATA items is returned, one for each element making up the property. In most cases a property is made up of a single element, thus a single element array is passed to this method.
  • XMC_PARAM_DATA type see below.
  • DWORD dwCount number of XMC_PARAM_DATA elements in the rgData array. Return Value HRESULT - NOERROR on success, or error code on failure.
  • the IXMCDirect::SetProperty method is used to set a property in the component corresponding to the ‘pszPropName’ property. For the set of properties supported by the component, see the specific component description.
  • the following table summarizes the SetProperty method implemented by the example IXMCDirect interface: Syntax HRESULT SetProperty( LPCTSTR pszPropName, LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData, DWORD dwCount ); Parameters LPCTSTR pszPropName - string name of the property to set.
  • LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData array of XMC_PARAM_DATA types that specify each parameter corresponding to the property.
  • a certain property may be made up of a number of elements - in this case an array of XMC_PARAM_DATA items is returned, one for each element making up the property. In most cases a property is made up of a single element, thus a single element array is passed to this method.
  • XMC_PARAM_DATA type see below.
  • DWORD dwCount number of XMC_PARAM_DATA elements in the rgData array. Return Value HRESULT - NOERROR on success, or error code on failure.
  • the IXMCDirect::InvokeMethod method is used to call a specific method implemented by the component. For more information on the methods supported, see the description of the specific component.
  • the following table summarizes the InvokeMethod method implemented by the example IXMCDirect interface: Syntax HRESULT InvokeMethod( DWORD dwMethodIdx, LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData, DWORD dwCount ); Parameters DWORD dwMethodIdx - number corresponding to the specific method to invoke. For more information on the method indexes available, see the set of namespaces defined for the component.
  • LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData [optional] - array of XMC_PARAM_DATA types that specify each parameter for the method called. For more information on the XMC_PARAM_DATA type, see below. NOTE: if no parameters exist for the method called, a value of NULL must be passed in. DWORD dwCount [optional] - number of XMC_PARAM_DATA elements in the rgData array. NOTE: if no parameters exist for the method called, a value of 0 (zero) must be passed in for this parameter. LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData [optional] - namespace associated with the instance of the custom extension module added. Return Value HRESULT - NOERROR on success, or error code on failure.
  • the XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT general method returns the number of data items in the browse set supported by the component and is described in the following table.
  • the XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS general method returns the number of data items in the browse set supported by the component and is described in the following table: Index 8021 Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, maximum number of elements to collect. Data Out rgData[0] - (number) number of elements collected, total number of elements will equal (rgData[0] * 2 + 1). rgData[1] - (string) name of the first browse element. rgData[2] - (number) adt of the first browse element. rgData[1 + n * 2] - (string) name of the n'th browse element. rgData[2 + n * 2] - (number) adt of the n'th browse element.
  • the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT general method is used to connect one server to another so that they may interact with one another and is described in the following table: Index 8000 Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, type of component.
  • the type of component is a value that is server specific. For component type information, see the description for this method under each server's description.
  • rgData[1] - (string) LPTSTR component class id as an ASCII string. Data Out None.
  • the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT general method is used to disconnect one server from another so that they stop interacting with one another and is described in the following table: Index 8001 Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, type of component.
  • the type of component is a value that is server specific. For component type information, see the description for this method under each server's description.
  • rgData[1] - (string) LPTSTR component class id as an ASCII string. Data Out None.
  • the XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS general method is called by a client to process data where a data set is input, processed in some way by the server, and then the resulting data is returned as output.
  • the XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS method is described in the following table: Index 8063 Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, number of data items input. rgData[1 + n * 2] - (string) LPCTSTR, name of the data item input. rgData[2 + n * 2] - (number or string), value of the data item. Data Out rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, number of data items output. rgData[1 + n * 2] - (string) LPCTSTR, name of the data item output. rgData[2 + n * 2] - (number) value of the data item.
  • the XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE general method is used to configure what type of data is returned when processing a given data item. For example in the server may be configured to return the minimal amount of data on each read (i.e. just the data item value), or the server may be requested to return more substantial data.
  • the XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE method is described in the following table: Index 8062 Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, flag describing the type of data to be returned when processing data. The following flags are supported: XMC_DE_READ_DATA_FLAG_TIMESTAMP - requests that the time stamp recorded when processing the data is returned. NOTE: by default, the data item value is always returned. Data Out None.
  • the XMC_DE_DATA_READ general method is called by a client application to poll for data from the server and is defined in the following table: Index 8061 Data In rgData[0] - (string) LPCTSTR, name of the data item to read. Data Out rgData[0] - (number or string), data item value. rgData[1] - (OPTIONAL number) DWORD, data item time-stamp as a system time value. NOTE: Since the last items are optional, only those items specified when configuring the data to receive are actually sent.
  • the XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE general method is used to configure what type of data is returned when reading a given data item.
  • the server may be configured to return the minimal amount of data on each read (i.e. just the data item value) or the server may be requested to return more substantial data.
  • the following table defines the XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE method: Index 8060 Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, flag describing the type of data to In be returned on each read.
  • the following flags are supported: XMC_DE_READ_DATA_FLAG_TIMESTAMP - requests that the time stamp recorded when reading the data is returned. NOTE: by default, the data item value is always returned. Data None. Out
  • the XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE general method is used to write data to a server and is described in the following table: Index 8064 Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, number of data items. rgData[1 + n * 2] - (string) LPCTSTR, name of the data item. rgData[2 + n * 2] - (number or string), value of the data item. Data Out None.
  • the XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE general method enables/disables a previously subscribed data item in the subscription list maintained by the server. Only enabled subscriptions actually fire.
  • the XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE method is defined in the following table: Index 2892 Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, cookie (unique identifier) In associated with the subscription. This value is returned to the client when calling the subscription XMCAPI above. NOTE: using a cookie value of zero (0) will enable/disable ALL items subscribed to the server.
  • rgData[1] - (number) BOOL TRUE to enable the subscription(s), FALSE to disable the subscription(s). Only enabled subscriptions actually fire events. Data None. Out
  • This XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA general method is called by the server (and implemented by the client) when each subscribed event fires and is described in the following table: Index 8045 Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, subscription cookie corresponding In to the subscribed data item. rgData[1] - (number or string), data item value. rgData[2] - (OPTIONAL number) DWORD, data item time-stamp as a system time value. rgData[3] - (OPTIONAL string) LPSTR, data item ASCII text name. rgData[4] - (OPTIONAL number) DWORD, data item unique cookie.
  • the XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE general method is used to configure what type of data is returned on each event that is fired. For example in the server may be configured to send the minimal amount of data on each event (i.e. subscription cookie and data item value), or the server may be requested to return more substantial data.
  • the XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE method is defined in the following table: Index 8044 Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, flag describing the type of data to In be returned on each event. The following flags are supported: XMC_DE_EVENT_DATA_FLAG_TIMESTAMP - requests that the time stamp recorded when reading the data is returned.
  • XMC_DE_EVENT_DATA_FLAG_NAME requests that the data items ASCII text name be returned.
  • XMC_DE_EVENT_DATA_FLAG_DATA_COOKIE requests that the unique data item cookie corresponding to the read made for the data item be returned. NOTE: by default, the subscription cookie and data item value are always returned. Data None. Out
  • the XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE general method subscribes to a given data item activating the event interface when the subscription criteria are met for the data item. All subscribing components use the IXMCDirect interface to receive events received from the server for which they are subscribed.
  • the XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE method is described in the following table: Index 2890 Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, flags describing the initial state of In the subscription. The following flags are supported: XMC_DE_EVENT_FLAG_ENABLED - subscription is immediately enabled upon subscription. XMC_DE_EVENT_FLAG_DISABLED - subscription is disabled upon making the subscription.
  • rgData[1] - (number) DWORD number of subscription criteria rules.
  • the XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE general method removes a previously subscribed data item from the subscription list maintained by the Index 2891 Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, cookie (unique identifier) associated with the subscription. This value is returned to the client when calling the subscription XMCAPI above. NOTE: using a cookie value of zero (0) will unsubscribe ALL items subscribed to the server. Data Out None.
  • the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW general method is used to initialize any hardware systems associated with the component and is defined in the following table: Index 500 Data In None. Data Out None.
  • the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW general method is used to shutdown any hardware systems associated with the component and is defined by the following table: Index 501 Data None. In Data None. Out
  • the data collection component 140 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table: Not Method Implemented Implemented XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_READ x XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT x XMC
  • the following component types are valid for the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT method as implemented by the data collection component 140 ; the XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDSRC, which specifies a data source component 142 .
  • XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT method as implemented by the data collection component 140 ;
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDSRC which specifies an data source component 142 .
  • the data source component 142 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table: Not Im- Im- ple- ple- ment- ment- Method ed ed XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_READ x XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x XMC_DE
  • the data store component 150 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table: Not Im- Im- ple- ple- ment- ment- Method ed ed XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_READ x XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x XMC_DE_
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDCACHE which specifies a data cache 152 ;
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDC which specifies a data collection component 140 that is connected with events
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDO which specifies a data transport component 162 that is connected with events.
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDCACHE which specifies a data cache 152 ;
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDC which specifies a data collection component 140 that is connected with events
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDO which specifies an XMC data output module 134 that is connected with events.
  • the data store component 150 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table: Not Im- Im- ple- ple- ment- ment- Method ed ed XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_READ x XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x XMC_DE_
  • the data output component 160 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table: Not Im- Im- ple- ple- ment- ment- Method ed ed XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_READ x XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x XMC_DE_
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCINFERENCE which specifies an inference engine component 166 ;
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDFORMAT which specifies a data formatter component 164 ;
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDTRANSPORT which specifies a data transport component 162 .
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCINFERENCE which specifies an inference engine component 166 .
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDFORMAT which specifies an data formatter component 164 .
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDTRANSPORT which specifies an data transport component 162 .
  • the inference engine component 166 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table: Not Im- Im- ple- ple- ment- ment- Method ed ed XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_READ x XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x XMC_
  • the data formatter component 164 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table: Not Im- Im- ple- ple- ment- ment- Method ed ed XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_READ x XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x XMC_
  • the data transport component 162 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table: Not Im- Im- ple- ple- ment- ment- Method ed ed XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_READ x XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x XMC_DE
  • All methods exposed by each component in the example data routing system 120 use a standard parameter set to describe data used to set and query properties as well as to invoke methods.
  • the standard parameters are in the following format:
  • Each element in the rgData array corresponds to a parameter, with the first element in the array corresponding to the first parameter.
  • the XMC_PARAM_DATA structure can contain either a numerical or a string value and is defined as follows: typedef struct tagXMC_PARAM_DATA ⁇ LNG_PARAM_DATATYPE adt; union ⁇ double df; LPTSTR psz; ⁇ ; ⁇ XMC_PARAM_DATA;
  • the ‘adf’ member of the XMC_PARAM_DATA structure describes the data contained within the XMC_PARAM_DATA structure.
  • the values are described below: LNG_PARAM_DATATYPE Description LNG_ADT_NUMBER Use this value when passing a numerical value via the ‘adt’ member of the XMC_PARAM_DATA structure.
  • LNG_ADT_STAT_STRING Use this value when passing a static string value via the ‘psz’ member of the XMC_PARAM_DATA structure. Static strings do not need to be freed from memory.
  • LNG_ADT_MEM_STRING Use this value when passing a string value via the ‘psz’ member of the XMC_PARAM_DATA structure.
  • LNG_ADT_MEM_STRING denotes that the string must be freed from memory during cleanup.
  • LNG_ADT_NOP This value is used to ignore items within the XMC_PARAM_DATA array. When specifies, this parameter is not used.
  • any non-zero value is considered TRUE, whereas a zero value is considered FALSE.
  • the data routing system 120 is designed to collect data from one or more data origins 122 , perform some decision logic on the data collected, and then send the data to one or more data destinations 124 based on the outcome of the decision logic run on the data inputs.
  • data inputs may be data items describing the current state of a machine tool, automobile or other machine as shown in FIG. 20 .
  • the decision logic would then use these data inputs to determine the overall health or efficiency of the machine.
  • Data outputs would be used to describe the machine's health or efficiency.
  • This model thus operates as a data ‘router’, where data is routed from one or more input to one or more output based on the decision logic run on the inputs.
  • this model is used to ‘cook-down’ a wide array of data inputs that are very detailed in nature, to a more general set of data outputs that describe the overall performance, state or behavior of the machine.
  • this overall model can easily run in the reverse where the data input and output roles are reversed.
  • the inputs are general in nature and then decision logic is used to determine the specific detailed outputs necessary to carry out a given behavior or action or to enter a given state.
  • a general input to a machine tool may be something like ‘mill a pocket’ at a certain point.
  • the decision logic in turn would then figure out all of the necessary tools, feedrate, spindlerate and moves necessary to create the pocket on the part. Once determined, the decision logic would ‘output’ the values as a set of detailed output values such as the specific feedrate, the specific spindlerate and the move profile to use. Each output would then be sent directly to the machine controller hardware that actually ran the servo algorithms to move the tool and cut the part.
  • general inputs may be used to direct the path for which a car, airplane, ship or other mobile machine moved to a given destination.
  • a general set of instructions would make up the inputs such as follow road ‘x’ to intersection ‘y’, turn left at intersection ‘y’, drive to house ‘b’.
  • the decision logic in this example would then be used to determine how to drive along road ‘x’ (making sure to track the right hand side of the road by following the yellow or white lines painted on the road), decision logic would determine when the intersection sought had been reached, how to negotiate the turn and drive to house ‘b’.
  • the decision logic system would more than likely require additional, more detailed input from sensor systems.
  • Each output could then take a more detailed form such as the speed that the car or other mobile should drive, and the steering adjustments needed to track and follow the desired path on the selected road.

Abstract

A data routing system for collecting data from at least one data origin and distributing data to at least one data destination. The data routing system comprises a data input module and a data output module. The data input module operatively connected to the at least one data origin. The data input module is configured to collect data from the at least one data origin. The data output module operatively connected to the data input module and to the at least one data destination. The data collection component is configured to distribute the data collected by the data input module to the at least one data destination.

Description

    RELATED APPLICATIONS
  • This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/506,104, filed Sep. 25, 2003, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
  • FIELD OF INVENTION
  • The present invention relates to computer systems for collecting data from one or more disparate data sources and distributing the collected data to one or more disparate data destinations.
  • BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
  • The present invention is used in the context of collecting and distributing data. The present application uses the term “routing” to refer to the process of both collecting data from data origins and distributing data to data destinations. The terms “data” and “data items” are used herein to refer to numeric, binary, or string data generated in an analog or digital format. Data is typically generated by machines, devices, or the like forming part of a larger working environment. The term “machine” as used herein refers to a physical asset used to perform a predetermined task. The term “device” is typically applied to a machine with a relatively small footprint.
  • The data origin or origins thus may be formed by any machine or device (mobile or not) that stores data and which is either directly controlled by humans through a user interface or automatically controlled via a computer based system. However, the present invention is of particular significance in the context of a working environment defined by a motion control system, and that application of the present invention will be described in detail below. The present invention may have broader application to other working environments, however, and the scope of the present invention should be determined by the claims appended hereto and not the following detailed description.
  • A motion control system typically comprises a plurality of motion control machines or devices each programmed to perform an individual task. The motion control system is configured to coordinate the individual tasks so that the motion control system itself performs a combined task.
  • Each motion control machine or device comprises a controller that generates and/or stores data indicative of the state of the machine or device at a particular point in time. Typically, some or all of this data changes because the state of the machine changes as the machine performs its individual task.
  • The data generated and/or stored by the motion control machines and/or devices of a motion control system can be used to optimize the performance of one or more of the individual machines as well as the entire motion control system. The data destinations where the data is sent can thus take any one or more of a number of forms, including a database system, a plant floor process management system, software used to optimize overall production flow, other software systems, and/or another data routing system as described herein.
  • The collection and distribution of the data associated with individual motion control machines is, however, complicated by several factors. The sheer volume of data can overwhelm the ability of the data destination to store and/or process the data collected. In addition, the data origins and data destination may employ different, unique, or proprietary hardware and software systems that utilize different data acquisition commands, data formats, and data transmission protocols.
  • The need thus exists for data routing systems and methods that simplify the collection of data from diverse data origins and the subsequent distribution of data to diverse data destinations.
  • SUMMARY OF INVENTION
  • The present invention may be embodied as a data routing system or method for collecting data from at least one data origin and distributing data to at least one data destination. The data routing system comprises a data input module and a data output module. The data input module operatively connected to the at least one data origin. The data input module is configured to collect data from the at least one data origin. The data output module operatively connected to the data input module and to the at least one data destination. The data collection component is configured to distribute the data collected by the data input module to the at least one data destination.
  • DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
  • FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic block diagram of a data routing system of a first embodiment of the present invention;
  • FIG. 2 is a somewhat schematic block diagram of a data routing system of a second embodiment of the present invention, where the data routing system has been optimized for use with a motion control system;
  • FIGS. 3-8 are scenario maps depicting the interaction of one or more components of the data routing system of FIG. 2 in different operational scenarios;
  • FIGS. 9-19 are examples of user interface configurations that may be used by the example data routing system of FIG. 2;
  • FIGS. 20 and 21 are highly schematic block diagrams depicting alternate relationships of data inputs, data outputs, and decision logic that may be used by the example data routing systems of FIGS. 1 and 2.
  • DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
  • Referring initially to FIG. 1 of the drawing, depicted therein is a data routing system 20 constructed in accordance with, and embodying, the principles of the present invention. The data routing system 20 is used to route data or data items collected from data origins 22 to one or more data destinations 24.
  • As described above, the terms “data” and “data items” will be used herein to refer to numeric, binary, or string data values collected in an analog or digital format from a data origin 22. Examples of data types that represent data or data items as defined herein include ADDRESS, ARRAY, BIT, BYTE, WORD, DWORD, LONG, REAL, DOUBLE, FLOAT, BINARY BLOB, STRUCTURE, STRING, and ASCII STRING.
  • The data origins 22 are machines, devices, or the like forming part of a larger working environment. The working environment is not a part of the present invention and thus will not be described herein beyond what is necessary for a complete understanding of the invention. The terms “machine” as used herein refers to a physical asset used to perform a predetermined task. The term “device” is typically applied to a machine with a relatively small footprint.
  • Examples of machines as defined herein include a CNC mill used to shape metal, a pick-n-place machine used to position parts on a circuit board, a robotic machine used to perform surgery, a medical data input device (i.e. blood glucose meter, asthma meter, etc), a gaming device, a robotic toy, an animatronics figure, a robotic machine used to deliver goods to a warehouse or to people, an automobile, a truck or farm vehicle, a boat or ship, an airplane, a jet, a helicopter, a spacecraft, and/or a hardware or software-based control system within a personal computer or even just a personal computer or hand-held computer itself. The data origin or origins thus may be formed by any machine or device (mobile or not) that stores data and which is either directly controlled by humans through a user interface or automatically controlled via a computer based system.
  • As shown in FIG. 1, the data collected by the data routing system 20 is delivered to one or more data destinations 24. The data destinations 24 can take on many forms and serve many functions, but a primary function of the data destinations 24 is to use the data collected from the machines in the working environment to optimize operation of the individual machines and the overall working environment.
  • The example data routing system 20 is a software system that comprises a data input module group 30, an optional data cache module group 32, and a data output module group 34. The term “module” as used herein refers to a binary block of computer logic that contains functions, objects, components, ActiveX components, .NET source, HTML, XML and/or other computer code that can be executed in real-time or in script form. Several examples of a module include an executable EXE, a dynamic link library DLL, an OLE component or set of components housed within a DLL or EXE, an ActiveX Control, an HTML or XML based Control, a VB script source file, a Java Serverlet, Java Control, Java Object, NET Package, etc.
  • The data input module group 30, data cache module group 32, and data output module group 34 typically run on a processor forming part of a computer system, but may be configured to operate across several discrete processors forming part of one or more computer systems.
  • The data routing system 20 operates basically as follows. The data input module group 30 communicates with one or more data origins 22 to obtain data indicative of a state or condition of the machine or device forming each of the data origins 22. If used, the data cache module group 32 temporarily or persistently stores the data collected by the data input module group 30. The data output module group 34 determines the conditions under which data collected by the data input module group 30 stored in the data cache module group 32 is sent to one or more of the data destinations 24. The data output module group 34 optionally also determines the format in which data is sent to the data destination 24 and/or the method of transporting the data to the data destination 24.
  • The example data input module group 30 comprises a data collection component 40 and one or more data source components 42. The term “component” as used herein refers to a logical organization of computer commands designed to perform an operation or set of operations. Examples of components include OLE components, ActiveX controls, HTML or XML based controls, HTML or XML based objects, .NET objects, C++ objects, C function set, Visual Basic objects, and the like. A component may operate on a single processor or may be distributed across a plurality of processors.
  • The data collection component 40 associates all of the data collected with the data origins 22 from which the data was collected. The data collection component 40 may be connected directly to one or more of the data origins 22 or may be connected to one or more of the data origins 22 through the data source components 42 as shown. If the data collection component 40 is connected directly to a data origin 22, the data collection component 40 and the data origin 22 must be pre-configured to work with each other, and the data collection component 40 is considered data origin independent, whereas the data source component 42 is considered data origin dependent. However, if the data collection component 40 communicates directly with a data origin 22, it then becomes data origin dependent.
  • Preferably, however, one or more data source components 42 are provided to allow the data collection component 40 to operate in a data origin independent manner. In this case, the example data source components 42 are each associated with one or more of the data origins 22. The data source components 42 collect data from a particular data origin 22 or class of data origins 22 and pass this data to the data collection component 40 in a predetermined format. The data source components 42 may run entirely on the same processor or processors as the data routing system 20, entirely on a processor or processors associated with the data origin 22, or on processors associated with both the data routing system 20 and the data origin 22. Although optional, the use of the data source components 42 is preferred to isolate the data collection component 40 from the operational details of each of the data origins 22.
  • The data input module group 30 may collect data from the data origins 22 by one or more of a number of methods. For example, the data source components 42 and/or data collection component 40 may read register values on the machine or device, read shared memory provided by the machine or device, send commands to the machine or device for which a data response is given containing the data requested, read variables provided by the machine or device, read and write to variables in a sequence necessary to produce data values, query data using a proprietary or standard data protocol, call a function provided by the machine or device, build and send a command based on a protocol used to communicate with the machine or device for which a data response is provided by the machine or device from which the data is extracted, and/or the like.
  • The optional data cache module group 32 comprises a data store component 50 and at least one data cache 52. The data collection component 40 passes data to the data store component 50; the data store component 50 stores this data in one or more of the data caches 52. The data caches 52 may be temporary or volatile memory devices such as RAM or may be permanent or persistent memory such as a hard drive or database system. The data store component 50 further retrieves data from the appropriate data cache 52 as necessary. If the data cache module 32 is not used, data collected by the data collection component 40 is passed directly to the data output module group 34 in real time.
  • The data output module 34 comprises a data output component 60. As mentioned, the data output component 60 may receive data directly from the data collection component 40. However, if the data cache module 32 is used, the data output component 60 may direct the data store component 50 to read data stored in one or more of the data caches 52 and transfer the stored data to the data output component 60.
  • The data output module group 34 further comprises one or more data transport components 62. Each of the data transport components 62 defines or is associated with a method or system of transporting data from the data output component 60 to one or more of the data destinations 24. The data output component 60 selects an appropriate one of the data transport components 62 for each data element based on the data destination 24 to which the data element is to be sent.
  • Optionally, the data output module group 34 further comprises a data formatter component 64. The data formatter component 64 contains logic, templates, or the like for arranging data elements in a format appropriate for one or more of the data destinations 24. The data formatter component 64 allows the data destinations 24 to be implemented in a machine or device independent manner by obviating the need for the data destinations 24 to process data elements in the format generated by the data origins 22.
  • The data output module group 34 further optionally comprises an inference engine component 66. If used, the inference engine component 66 helps the data output component 60 to determine the data destination or destinations 24 where each data element is set. The inference engine component 66 may further assist the data output component 60 to make the determination of which data is to be output (if any) and/or which data transport component 62 to use and/or whether the data formatter component 64 is to be used.
  • The data routing system 20 of the present invention thus collects data from one or more data origins 22 and routes this data to one or more data destinations 24. The use of the data routing system 20 allows the data destination or destinations 24 to operate independent of the implementation details of the data origin or origins 22. In addition, the data routing system 20 can be configured to be independent of the data destination through the use of the data transport components 62, and data formatter components 64.
  • Turning now to FIGS. 2-21 of the drawing, depicted therein is a data routing system 120 of the present invention. The example data routing system 120 operates in the same basic manner as the data routing system 20 described above but is optimized to operate in a working environment defined by a motion control system.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates that the data routing system 120 is a collection of modules or components used to collect machine data from the data origins 122 and then send some or all of the data collected to the data destinations 124. The data destinations 124 may be either a local data destination (for later replication to a remote data destination) or a remote site (either a remote data routing system or third party data destination).
  • The example motion system 122 as defined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,897, but other motion systems may be used instead or in addition. As will be described in further detail below, the motion system 122 defines or is associated with one or more application programming interfaces. The motion system 122 is not per se part of the present invention and will not be described herein beyond what is necessary for a complete understanding of the present invention.
  • The data destinations 124 may use the data delivered by the data routing system 20 for a variety of purposes. A primary function of the data destinations 124 is to optimize and/or monitor the operation of the machines and/or devices forming the motion control system that the motion services 122 or other software used by the data sources 142 communicate with. The data destinations 124 can thus take any one or more of a number of forms, including a database system, a plant floor process management system, software used to optimize overall production flow, or other software systems, and/or another data routing system as described herein.
  • The example data routing system 120 is connected to the data destination 124 through a network 126. The network 126 is a combination of hardware and software architectures that forms a link between two or more computer systems. Examples of network architectures include a packet based network, a streaming based network, broadcast based network, or peer-to-peer based network. Examples of networks that may be used as the network 126 include a TCP/IP network, the Internet, an Intranet, a wireless network using WiFi, a wireless network using radio waves and/or other light based signals, and the like.
  • The software components making up the example data routing system 120 may be organized into three module groups: a data input. module group 130, a data cache module group 132, and a data output module group 134. The data input module group 130, data cache module group 132, and data output module group 134 typically run on a processor forming part of a computer system, but may be configured to operate across several discrete processors forming part of one or more computer systems connected by a computer network.
  • The data input module group 130 comprises a data collection component 140 and a plurality of data source components 142 a and 142 b. The data cache module group 132 comprises a data store component 150 and one or more data cache components 152. The data output module group 134 comprises a data output component 160, one or more data transport components 162, a data formatter component 164, and an inference engine component 166.
  • The data collection component 140 is responsible for collecting data from the machine asset and routing all data collected to the data cache module group 132. The data collection component 140 is responsible for managing one or more data source components 142 for which data is collected and route the data collected to the data cache module group 132.
  • The data source components 142 a and 142 b communicate with the motion system 122. Each data source communicates with the motion system using whatever means are available including to the use of application programming interfaces (API) 170 a, 170 b, and 170 c associated with the motion system 122, using (API) provided by a motion system vendor, or using network or other communication protocols. The example data source component 142 a is configured to receive data from the API's 170 a and 170 b, while the example data source component 142 b is configured to receive data from the API 170 c.
  • The example data collection component 40 manages one or more data source components 142 and is responsible for routing the data collected to the data store component 150 of the data cache module 132. Optionally, each data collection component 140 may communicate directly to the motion system 122 without the need for an intermediary data source component 142. However, the use of the data source component 142 allows for code reuse as the data collection component 140 may then implement all common functionality, thus making each data source component 142 extremely thin and easy to build and maintain. In addition, the use of each data source components 142 allows the data collection component 150 itself to be independent of each data origin with which each data source component 142 communicates to collect data.
  • Each data source component 142 is responsible for mapping the data collected from the data source (i.e. XMC API, XMC CNC API, OPC Server, or proprietary data source) into the format expected by the data collection component 140 and ultimately the data store component 150. The main goal of the data source components 142 is to provide a consistent interface to the data origin 122, thereby freeing the client from the details of the data origin 122 and allowing all data source components 142 to act and operate in the same manner from the perspective of the data collection component 140.
  • The data cache module group 132 caches the data received so that it may later be analyzed or otherwise processed. In particular, the data store component 150 manages one or more data caches 152 and is responsible for storing all data received and giving access to all data stored. Optionally, each data store component 150 could cache all data received directly without the need for an intermediary data cache 152. However, the use of the data cache or caches 152 allows for code reuse and also allows the data store component 150 to remain independent of any caching technologies used by each data cache component 152. The data store component 150 may then implement all common functionality, thus making each data cache module 132 also extremely thin and easy to build and maintain.
  • The terms “primary data cache” and “secondary data cache” may be used to refer to one or more of the data caches 152 depending upon whether certain features of the data cache module 132 are implemented and/or used as will be discussed in detail below. The suffix “a” is used in FIG. 2B to designate a primary data cache, and the suffix “b” is used to designate a secondary data cache.
  • Each data cache 152 stores data in a data target 172 such as a database on a hard drive, RAM memory, or another persistent or volatile storage medium. The main purpose of the data caches 152 is to provide a consistent interface to the data storage medium used so that the caches 152 appear to be the same to the user, thus freeing the client of any details handling various caching mechanisms.
  • The data output module group 134 is responsible for sending the data collected by the data input module group 30 and/or stored by the data cache module group 32 to the data destination 122. The data output component 160 manages the other components forming the data output module 34, namely, the data transport components 162, the data formatter component 164, and the inference engine component 166.
  • More specifically, the data output component 160 is responsible for sending data to one or more data destinations 124. As generally described above, the data destination may be an enterprise data management system, an artificial intelligence system, a plant floor process management system, software used to optimize overall production flow, another data routing system such as the systems 20 and 120 described herein, and/or other software systems used to optimize and/or monitor how the overall factory operates based on how each machine making up the factory runs.
  • The inference engine component 166 is responsible for mapping the data elements received from the data input module group 130 or data cache module group 132 through the data output component 160 to the data destinations 124 to which the data elements are to be sent. The data transport component 162 defines which data elements are to be sent to which data destination 124. When performing this mapping, the inference engine component 166 also optionally provides a set of rules and/or other criteria that are used to determine whether or not each output defined by the data transport component 162 should ‘fire’. For example, the inference engine component 166 may use one or more of the following logic systems: artificial intelligence systems, fuzzy logic algorithms, neural network pattern matching, genetic algorithms, expert system logic, and/or other computer based decision-making and/or pattern matching based systems, to determine when a given set of one or more data elements should be sent out. In the simplest case, an identity transform may be used which causes all data inputs received to be sent out as matching data outputs.
  • The data formatter component 164 is used to format all or portions of the data set to be transported to the data destinations 124. For example the data formatter component 164 may be used to format data output by the inference engine component 166 into a certain XML schema or other proprietary data format.
  • The data transport component 162 is responsible for sending the data to the ultimate data destination 124, including an enterprise database, an enterprise software system, or even another data routing system such as the data routing system 120.
  • Referring still to FIG. 2, also depicted therein is a data manager 180 that allows the user to manage operation of the data routing system 120. The data manager 180 controls access to property pages exposed or generated by user-interface components associated with the components 140, 150, 160, 162, 164, and 166. Property pages may also be exposed or generated by user interface components associated with the components 142 and 152. In particular, the example data routing system 120 comprises data collector property pages 182, data store property pages 184, data output property pages 190, data transport property pages 192, data formatter property pages 194, and inference engine property pages 196. As will be described in further detail below, the property pages 182,184,190, 192, 194, and 196 allow the user to initialize, configure, and control the components 140, 150,160, 162,164, and 166, respectively.
  • In the following discussion and in the drawings, the property pages 182, 184, 190, 192, 194, and 196 also refer to the user-interface components associated with these property pages. The property pages 182, 184, 190, 192, 194, and 196 and other interface elements are separated from the components 140, 150, 160, 162, 164, and 166 in the system 120 to optimize the overall system flexibility and facilitate evolution toward new and future user interface technologies such as HTML based web user interface, SOAP/XML based interfaces, Microsoft .NET based interfaces, etc. Optionally, however, the components 140, 150, 160, 162, 164, and 166 could directly expose property pages and other user-interface elements.
  • Referring now to FIGS. 3-8, the interactions of the components and property pages forming the data input module group 130, data cache module group 132, and data output module group 134 will now be described in further detail in the various scenarios required to implement the functions of the example data routing system 120.
  • Before using the data routing system 120, the system must first be initialized. During initialization, all components are started and configured with their initial settings. Initializing the system involves configuring the data routing system 120 so that it knows what data to collect, where to collect it from, how to process the data collected and where to send the processed data. Once initialized, the system is ready to begin collecting, storing and processing machine and/or device data.
  • The initialization process includes to levels. First, the overall data routing system 120 must be configured by connecting one or more data collection components 140 data and one or more data output components 160 to the data store component 150. Once connected, the components making up each of the data input module 130, data output module 134, and data cache module 132 groups must next be configured.
  • The process of initializing the data routing system 120 will now be described with reference to FIG. 3 Initially, the data manager 180 is run to configure the overall system 120.
  • The data manager 180 of the data routing system 120 next uses the data store property pages 184 paired with the data store component 150. The data store property pages 184 query the data store component 150 for all entries in the data output module group 134 category (or optionally queries for each entry directly using the OLE Component Categories) and displays each entry visually in the property page 184.
  • Next, after the user selects which data output module or systems 134 to activate, the list of active data output components 160 associated with the selected data output module or systems 134 is sent back to the data store component 150 so that it may use the active components. The data store component 150 could optionally query a separate ‘configuration’ component used to select the active data output modules 134 to use later when processing data to be output. Additionally, the activation of each active component 160 may optionally be activated programmatically instead of by the user.
  • During its initialization, the data store component 150 creates an instance of each activated data output component 160 so that the data store component 150 can send data update events to each upon receiving new cache data.
  • Similar to the configuration of the data output module group 134, the data store property pages 184 query the data input module group 130 for a list of supported data collection components 140. Optionally, the data store component 150 may query the data collection components 140 of the data input module group 130 and display each these data collection components 140 visually so that the user can activate all components 140 that are appropriate for collecting data.
  • Once selected visually by the user, the active list of one or more data collection components 140 is sent to the data store component 150. Optionally, the data store component 150 could query a separate ‘configuration’ component used to select the active data output modules 134 to use later when processing data to be output. Additionally, the activation of each component may optionally be activated programmatically instead of by the user.
  • During initialization, the data store component 150 creates an instance of each active data collection component 140.
  • Once the main components data store component 150, data collection component 140, and data output component 160 of the data output module 134 are configured, the user (or configuration program) must configure the components used by each of the systems 140, 150, and 160. The main configuration task for the data collection component 140 is that of selecting the data source components 142 (and the data items supplied by each) from which data is to be collected. The process of configuring the components used by the systems 140, 150, and 160 will now be described with reference to FIG. 4.
  • The following steps take place when configuring the data collection component 140 and related components.
  • First, the data manager 180 is used to configure the data collection component 140.
  • Second, the data collector property pages 182 are used to configure the data collection component 140. Optionally, all configuration may be done programmatically by another software module.
  • Each of the data collector property pages 182 queries the Data Source OLE Category of components to see what data source components 142 are available. Optionally, the data collection component 140 may be queried for the list of all data source components 142 available.
  • A visual list of available data source components 142 is next constructed, thus allowing the user to select which data source component or components 142 to use when collecting data. Optionally, the data collection component 140 could directly talk to the data source components 142; however such direct communication would reduce code reuse as the data collection component 140 allows each data source component 142 to be very thin, making these components 142 easy to build and maintain.
  • Finally, after the user selects the data source components 142 to use, a list of active data source components 142 is passed to the data collection component 140, which then creates an instance of each selected component.
  • Optionally, each data source component 142 may use an associated property page (not shown) that allows the user to visually (or software to programmatically) configure and select the data inputs from which data is to be collected by each data source component 142. Each data collector component 140 may also define a set of data inputs that the user may configure and select; however this it not optimal as the data source components 142 allow each data collector component 140 to remain independent of how each data origin actually works; i.e. the data items they provide and how the data for each data item is actually collected.
  • Referring now to FIG. 5, the following steps take place when configuring the data cache module group 132, which includes the data store component 150 thereof. Configuring the data store component 150 requires the selecting of the data cache 152 to use. When caching data there are three main methods that may be employed: (1) cache all data to memory only; (2) cache all data to a persistent storage such as a database, or (3) a mixture where data is initially cached to memory and then ‘rolled-over’ into the persistent store at certain intervals or after a specified amount of data has been collected. All three models are utilized by the data cache module group 132 of the data routing system 120, where only one method is necessary to build a picture of the overall state of the data origin at a given moment in time.
  • In a first step shown in FIG. 5, the data manager 180 of the data routing system 120 is used to configure the data store component 150 and associated components using the embedded data store property page 184. As described above, the data store component 150 can be configured to implement all user aspects that it needed to edit and otherwise allow the user interact with the data and configuration managed by the component. However, separating the user interface from the component in a parallel component has several advantages that allow for easily adopting future user-interface based technologies such as HTML, Windows .NET, and thin client. For these reasons the user interface has optionally been separated from the main logic making up the data store component 150. As generally described above, this same design organization is used throughout the entire system 120 by all components having an associated property page.
  • The data store property page 184 component queries the data store component 150 for the list of data cache components 152 that are available and displays the list visually. The list of available components 152 may optionally be provided programmatically by a separate component used for configuration. As an additional option, the data store property page 184 may directly query the Cache Category of components in the OLE Component Category.
  • From the data store property page 184, the user visually selects the specific data cache components 152 to use and the specific caching strategy to employ (single caching or roll-over where data from one cache is rolled over to another cache based on certain criteria such as an interval of time, or a data cache data threshold being met). The selected data cache components 152 and strategy selected by the user are transferred to the data store component 150 which then stores the settings.
  • Each data output component 160 and associated components act as a data output ‘pipeline’ where data follows a set of steps that determines what data will be output, what format that data will be output in, and where the data will be sent. Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawing, depicted therein are the steps that take place when configuring the data output component 160 and its related components.
  • First, the data manager 180 is used to configure the various aspects of the data output component 160 and its associated components.
  • When configuring the data output component 160, the data output property page 190 parallel component acquires the list of inference engine components 166, data formatter components 164, and data transport components 162 that are available. Once the list of data transport, data formatter, and inference engine components 162, 164, and 166 is acquired, a visual display of the list is created on the data output property page 190 so that the user can select one or more of the components 162, 164, and 166 from the list as appropriate for their application.
  • To obtain this list of components, the data output property page 190 may either query the data output component 160 or directly query the OLE Category for each of the data transport component 162, data formatter component 164, and inference engine component 166. If the data output component 160 is queried for the list of available components in each category, the data output component 160 in turn may then internally query a pre-configured list or the OLE components falling into each respective OLE Category for the data transport component 162, data formatter component 164, and inference engine component 166.
  • After the user selects one or more data transport components 162, one or more data formatter components 164, and one or more inference engine components 166, the list of components to activate is sent to the data output component 160, which stores the component information as its active components and then creates an instance of each component.
  • Next, each data transport component 162 is queried for its list of supported outputs. The list of supported data outputs is then passed to the inference engine component or components 166 selected.
  • Next, the data output component 160 queries the data store component 150 for its list of supported data items, usually stored in the data cache components 152 and previously selected when configuring the data collection component 140. The list of supported input data items is then passed to the inference engine component or components 166 selected.
  • When the inference engine component or components 166 have both the inputs and outputs available, the user may optionally configure rules or other criteria used to determine when each output is ‘fired’ based on the input data received. As examples, one or more of a set of Fuzzy Logic rules, a previously trained Neural Network pattern, a Genetic Algorithm fitness, Expert System logic, or other custom logic may be used to determine when certain outputs are sent through the data output pipeline to the data destination.
  • In addition, the data formatter component or components 164 may also be configured to output data in data formats supported by each data destination 124. For example, a data formatter component 164 may be used to output data items received in a certain proprietary schema. However, the data formatter component 164 would need to be configured so that it would know how to match the data items received to the proprietary schema. This step in the configuration process would allow the user, or another software program, to make this configuration.
  • And finally, the data transport component or components 162 would need to be configured so that they could properly send data received to the end data targets that it supported. For example, a data transport component 162 configured to use TCP/IP may need to have target TCP/IP addresses configured or TCP/IP ports configured telling the component 42 where to send the data.
  • Once initialized, the data routing system 120 is ready to start collecting data and storing all data collected as previously configured. FIGS. 7A and 7B depict the interactions that take place when collecting data.
  • First each data source component 142 either polls for data or receives previously configured events from its data origination. For example, when using the motion system 124 or an OPC server as the data origin, events may be received telling the data source component 142 that new data is available.
  • Upon receiving a data update event, the data source component 142 fires an event to its respective parent data collection component 140.
  • Upon receiving its event, the data collection component 140 then fires an event to the data store component 150.
  • Upon receiving each data update event, the data store component 150 uses the active caching component or components 152 to store the data. Optionally, the data cache module 132 may employ a roll-over strategy in which data received is passed to one or more data cache modules 132 after a certain criteria is met such as in interval of time passing or a data caching threshold being met.
  • After caching the data, the data store component 150 fires a data update event to any data output component or components 160 connected to the data store system 132.
  • Upon receiving the data update event, the data output component 160 may optionally query the data store component 150 for more data if needed to gain a full description of the current state of the machines forming the motion system 122.
  • All data input information is then passed to the inference engine component 166 for processing. Upon receiving the data, the inference engine component 166 runs its preconfigured rule set against the data set received and produces the output (if any) that is eligible to be sent to the data destinations 124. If the inference engine component 166 employs a dynamic model of the data, its internal model may alter itself based on the input data received. For example, an inference engine component 166 that uses a neural network may ‘learn’ from the data by changing the neural network's weights based on the data input values received.
  • If data is eligible to be output, and a data formafter component 164 is used, the output data received from the inference engine component 166 is then sent to the data formatter component 164. Upon receiving the data, the data formatter component 164 transforms the data received into the supported output data format and passes the new output data back to the data output component 160.
  • The formatted data is then passed to the data transport component or components 162 to be transported or sent to the data destinations 124. If a data formatter component 164 is not used, the raw data format output from the inference engine component 166 is used and passed directly to any active data transport component 162. Upon receiving the output data, the active data transport component or components 162 send the data to their respective data destinations 124. For example, a TCP/IP transport would packetize the data into TCP/IP packets and send the data stream to a preconfigured TCP/IP address/port. Alternatively, a wireless transport may broadcast the data out on a pre-configured frequency.
  • Referring now to FIG. 8 of the drawing, depicted therein is a relationship among the interface windows and dialogs that form the property pages used to configure the example data routing system 120. The data manager 180 presents to the user a main window 220 (FIG. 9) that is used to access the data property pages 182, 184, 190, 192, 194, and 196 used to configure all settings of the data collection component 140, data store component 150, and data output component 160 forming up the system 120.
  • The example main window 220 presented by the data manager 180 to configure each of the main components 140, 150, and 160 is shown in FIG. 9. In particular, the main page 220 of the data manager 180 acts as a control panel that allows the user to configure and monitor how data flows from each data source 122 to the eventual data destination 124.
  • Each of the user interface elements of the main page 220 on the data manager 180 will now be described with reference to FIG. 7.
  • A “Configure” button 222 allows the user to configure the overall system 120 by building up the overall data transfer pipeline. This option is only available when running the application as an Administrator on the system.
  • A “Start” button 224 starts monitoring the data source components 142 and feeds the data received through the system 220.
  • A “Stop” button 226 stops monitoring the data source components 142 and shuts down the entire monitoring process.
  • A “Monitoring” icon 230 visually displays whether or not monitoring is currently enabled.
  • A “Close” button 232 closes the monitoring application window but does not close the application. Since the application runs as a system tray application, you must exit the application by right clicking on the system tray icon.
  • A “Status” window 234 visually shows the overall configuration and status of the system including all nodes making up the data input module 130, data store system 132, and data output module 134.
  • The following sections describe how to build and configure the overall system 120 using examples of the various property pages 182, 184, 190, 192, 194, and 196.
  • Referring initially to FIG. 10, depicted therein is a configuration dialog window 240 that is associated with the data manager 180. The configuration dialog window allows a user to build the overall data routing system 120. The user interface elements making up the configuration dialog window 240 are as follows.
  • An “Add Data Collector . . . ” button 24 displays a dialog containing a list of all data collection components 140 available to the system. Once selected, the selected data collection components 140 are added to the system 120. The data collection components 140 are connected to the data store component 150 so that data events are sent to the data store component 150 each time data items are received by each of the data collection components 140 from their respective various data source components 142.
  • An “Add Data Output . . . ” button 244 displays a dialog containing a list of all data output modules 134 available to the system. Once selected, the data output modules 134 are added to the system. Each data output module 134 manages a data pipeline that may involve inference rules or other decision-making technology that tell when to fire each data output.
  • A “Delete” button 246 removes a module from the list of components making up the overall data routing system 120.
  • A “Load” button 250 loads the components of a previously saved data routing system 120 from a persistent storage medium such as a file or database.
  • A “Save” button 252 saves the current data routing system 120 to a persistent storage medium such as a file or database.
  • A “Close” button 254 closes the configuration dialog.
  • A “Node” control 260 contains the current modules making up the data routing system 120, including data collection components 140, data store components 150, and data output components 160.
  • An “About” property page 262 displays information about the currently selected module in the node list.
  • A “Settings” property page 264 displays a property page corresponding to the currently selected node in the node list. The property page allows the user to configure the settings specific to the node selected.
  • Examples of interface elements that may be used to implement the property pages 182, 184, 190, 192, 194, and 196, as well as other related property pages, will now be described with reference to FIGS. 11-18. The “Delete”, “Load”, “Save”, and “Close” interface elements depicted in FIGS. 11-18 apply to the “Node” Control on the left part of each figure (not shown) and will not be described in detail below.
  • An example of the data collector property page 182 is depicted in FIG. 11 of the drawing. The data collector property page 182 allows a user to configure the components, such as the data collection components 140 and/or data source components 142, of the data input module group 130.
  • A “Data Sources” list box 270 contains a list of all data source components 142 available to the system. The list of available data source components 142 is acquired by either directly enumerating the Data Source OLE Category of components or by querying the data collection component 140 for all data source components 142 that it ‘knows’ about.
  • A “Select” button 272 adds the currently selected item in the list of data source components 142 to the currently selected data output module 134 in the main node list.
  • A “Target Scan Rate” edit field 274 allows the user to input a global scan rate that applies to all data source components 142 that may be controlled using a global scan rate.
  • A data source property page 280 is depicted in FIG. 12. The data source property page 280 allows the user to select the data items made available by each data source component 142. The selected data items are then fed into the data store component 150 and eventually on into the selected inference engine component 166. The following user-interface elements make up the data source property page 280.
  • A “Data Items” list box 282 contains a list of all data items made available by each data source component 142. The user must enable the data items that they want to monitor in their system. The list of available data items is acquired by browsing a particular data source component 142.
  • A “Scan Rate” edit box 284 allows the user to enter the scan rate to use for this specific data source (which may be different from the global scan rate). If no scan rate is entered, the default global scan rate is used when appropriate.
  • A data store property page 290 depicted in FIG. 13 is used to configure the data store component 150 by selecting and configuring the data cache or caches 152 used and the specific caching strategies for each. The following user-interface elements make up the data store property page 290.
  • A “Data Caches” list box 292 contains a list of all data caches 152 available to the system 120. The list of available data caches 152 may be acquired either by directly enumerating the data cache OLE Category of components or by querying the data store component 150 for a list of active data caches 152.
  • A “Select” button 294 adds the currently selected item in the “Data Caches” list box 290 to the currently selected data store component 150 in the master node list.
  • Referring now to FIG. 14, depicted therein is a data cache property page 320 that allows the user to configure the specific caching strategy to be used by each data cache 152. The following user interface elements make up the data cache property page 320.
  • An “Enable data roll-over” check-box 322 allows the user to enable/disable data roll-over. When enabled, data placed in a particular data cache 152 can roll-over into another, or secondary, data cache 152 upon meeting certain criteria specified by other of the user-interface elements forming the data cache property page 320.
  • An “After reaching cache data threshold of” radio button 224, if selected, determines that roll-over occurs when a certain number of bytes are cached in the primary data cache, assuming that data cache roll-over is also enabled by check box 322. A caching threshold data field 324 a allows the user to specify the data cache threshold. After reaching the roll-over threshold level, all data currently in the primary data cache 152 a is copied to the secondary data cache 152 b.
  • An “After time interval of” radio button 326, when selected determines that roll-over occurs at specifically set time intervals, again assuming that data cache roll-over is enabled by check box 322. A time interval data field 326 a allows the user to specify the duration of the time interval. Upon the expiration of each time interval all data in the primary data cache 152 a is automatically copied over to the secondary data cache 152 b and then removed from the primary cache 152 a.
  • A “Roll-over to” list-box 328 contains a list of data caches that can be used as secondary caches 152 b. The primary cache 152 a rolls data over to the secondary cache 152 b selected by pressing a “Select” button 328 a.
  • Referring now to FIG. 15, the data output property page 190 is depicted therein in further detail. The data output property page 190 is used to configure the data output module 134 by selecting the data transport components 162, data formatter component 164, and inference engine component 166 that are to make up the data output pipeline. The following user-interface elements make up the data output property page 190.
  • An “Interface Engines” list-box 330 contains a list of all inference engine component or components 166 that are available to the system 120. A first “Select” button 330a allows one or more of the inference engine components 166 to be selected. As generally described above, each inference engine component 166 is responsible for mapping input values to output values and determining when each data element should actually be sent to the data destination 124.
  • A “Data Formatters” list-box 332 contains a list of all data formatter components 164 that are available to the system 120. A second “Select” button 332a allows one or more of the data formatter components 164 to be selected. Each data formatter component 164 is responsible for transforming data input into another data format that is output as output data.
  • A “Data Transports” list-box 334 contains a list of all data transport components 162 that are available to the system 120. A third “Select” button 334a allows one or more of the data transport components 162 to be selected. Each data transport component 162 is responsible for sending the data received to the ultimate data destination 124, such as an enterprise database, analysis system, another data routing system, or the like.
  • The inference engine property page 196 will now be described in further detail with reference to FIG. 16. The inference engine property page 196 is used to configure the settings defining how the inference engine component 166 actually works. The inference engine component 166 maps inputs received to expected outputs defined by the data transport component 162. When mapping inputs to outputs, the inference engine component 166 optionally uses decision logic to determine whether or not each output should fire (i.e. be sent on to one or more data transport component 162) based on the inputs received. The user interface elements making up the inference engine property page 196 are as follows.
  • An “Input Data Items” list-box 340 contains a list of all data inputs received from the data input module 130 via the data store component 150. An “Output Data Items” list-box 342 contains a list of all data outputs received from the data output module 134 via the data transport component 162. A “Rule Map” list-box 344 contains a list of rules that define how to map the received data inputs to the outputs.
  • In this sample inference engine component 166, the user drags items from the Input Data Items list box 340 into the inputs making up the rule-map as listed in the Rule Map list box 344. The rule-map associated with each of the items in the Input Data Items list box 344 defines when to fire output to each defined output.
  • An example data formatter property page 194 is depicted in FIG. 17. The data formatter property page 194 allows the user to configure how the final data output is actually formatted. For example, the example property page 194 depicted in FIG. 17 illustrate how to map data outputs into an XML schema. The following user interface elements make up the data formatter property page 194.
  • An “XML Schema Map” 350 control contains an editable XML Schema that allows a user to drag an output data item into different portions of the schema essentially ‘linking’ the data item to that portion of the XML schema. When linked, the final XML data file is built by using the XML schema and then placing data from each output data item into the slots where they are linked into the XML schema.
  • An “Output Data Items List” list-box 352 contains a list of all data outputs available as defined by the data output module 134 via the data transport component or components 162.
  • Depicted in FIG. 18 is an example of a data transport property page 192. The data transport property page 192 allows the user to configure the specific settings of each data transport component 162 used to communicate with the data destination or destinations 124. The example property page 192 depicted in FIG. 18 is an example property page for a data transport component 162 that communicates across a TCP/IP based (wire-based or wireless) network. The data transport property page employs the following user interface elements.
  • A “Target TCP/IP Address” 360 edit field allows the user to enter the target TCP/IP address of the machine or machines forming destinations where data is to be sent.
  • A “Target TCP/IP Port” edit field 362 allows the user to specify a set of one or more TCP/IP ports to use on the target TCP/IP address.
  • A “Use UDB Broadcasting” radio button 364 directs the transport to broadcast the output data using the UDP broadcasting protocol and ignore the target TCP/IP address as data will be sent to all machines forming data destinations 124 on the network 126.
  • A “Use Peer-to-Peer Messaging” radio button 366 directs the transport to use a peer-to-peer messaging protocol such as the one used with Windows Instant Messenger, where data is sent immediately to the target machine forming the data destination 124 and may optionally be displayed in an Instant Messenger viewing application such as Windows Messenger.
  • A “Use Data Streaming” radio button 368 directs the transport to use a data streaming technology where the data outputs are streamed to the target(s) in a manner similar to that of a streaming music or video source. Optionally, the data outputs may also be interleaved into an existing music, video, or other data streaming data source.
  • A “Use Virtual Private Networking Tunneling” radio button 370 directs the transport to use a tunneling technology, where the data packets making up the output data are embedded within another packet type, optionally encrypted and secured, and then sent to the target over another protocol such as HTTP, or in this case the PPTP or L2TP protocol. SOAP or XML messaging is another manner of tunneling where the data is placed within a SOAP or XML ‘envelope’ and then sent over to the output target using the SOAP or other XML messaging protocol.
  • A “Use SMTP E-Mail Format” radio button 372 directs the transport to package the output data sets into an e-mail format and sends it to the target. Further configuration may be required to actually setup a specific e-mail address for the recipient.
  • A “Use SNMP Format” radio button 374 directs the transport to use the SNMP transport to communicate with the output target.
  • An “Enable Data Encryption” check-box 380 enables data encryption such that the data is encrypted before transmission. A “Use Kerberos Security” check-box 382 enables Kerberos security. A “Use 128 bit Encryption” check-box 384 enables 128-bit encryption for the output data packets.
  • An “Enable Transmission Timeout” check-box 386 enables transmission time-out on each communication with the target. When enabled, the sender only waits for an amount of time specified in a data field 386 a for a response from the data destination 124, after which response data received from the target is ignored.
  • The example data routing system 120 is a modular system made up of a set of components as generally described above. In this case, each component is based on a component technology, such as OLE/COM technology defined by Microsoft Corporation.
  • Optionally, each component uses a separate ‘parallel’ ActiveX component to implement all user interface aspects of the main component, also as generally described above. Each ActiveX component may be implemented either within the main component module or separately in its own module. Bundling each object within one module is not required as they may be located at any location (i.e. across a network, and so forth), but doing so may optimize all communication between modules. How and where components are implemented is more of a logistical decision because, once components are built and deployed to the field, it is difficult to update a single component if all components are implemented within a single DLL or EXE module.
  • FIG. 19 illustrates that the components forming the data routing system conform to a single interface identified as the IXMCDirect interface. OLE Categories are used to determine how many components fall into a certain group of components. Components used by the example data routing system 120 fall into the following categories:
  • Data Input Components—Typically, this category includes a single data collector component, but multiple data input components may be used in a large distributed environment.
  • Data Source Components—Many data source components are often used at the same time.
  • Data Output Components—Many data output components are often used at the same time, with each data output component defining at least part of a data output pipeline.
  • Inference Components—One or more inference engine components are used by each data output component.
  • Data Formatter Components—One or more data formatter component components are typically used by each data output module.
  • Data Transport Components—One or more data transport components are typically used by each data output module.
  • The IXMCDirect interface depicted in FIG. 19 is used for most communications between components of the data routing system 120. The IXMCDirect interface is made up of the following functions, which are specified in standard OLE/COM IDL format.
  • A GetProperty method is used to query a specific property from the component implementing the interface.
  • A SetProperty method is used to set a specific property from the component implementing the interface.
  • An InvokeMethod method is used to invoke a specific action on the component implementing the interface. An action can cause an event to occur, carry out a certain operation, query a value, and/or set a value within the component implementing the method.
  • More detailed descriptions of each of the methods implemented by objects implementing the example IXMCDirect interface are described below.
  • The IXMCDirect::GetProperty method is used to query the property corresponding to the property name ‘pszPropName’. Each component defines the properties that it supports. The following table summarizes the GetProperty method implemented by the example IXMCDirect interface:
    Syntax HRESULT GetProperty( LPCTSTR pszPropName,
    LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData,
    DWORD dwCount );
    Parameters LPCTSTR pszPropName - string name of the property to query.
    LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData - array of XMC_PARAM_DATA
    types that specify each parameter corresponding to the property.
    For example, a certain property may be made up of a number of
    elements - in this case an array of XMC_PARAM_DATA items is
    returned, one for each element making up the property. In most
    cases a property is made up of a single element, thus a single
    element array is passed to this method. For more information on
    the XMC_PARAM_DATA type, see below.
    DWORD dwCount - number of XMC_PARAM_DATA elements in the rgData array.
    Return Value HRESULT - NOERROR on success, or error code on failure.
  • The IXMCDirect::SetProperty method is used to set a property in the component corresponding to the ‘pszPropName’ property. For the set of properties supported by the component, see the specific component description. The following table summarizes the SetProperty method implemented by the example IXMCDirect interface:
    Syntax HRESULT SetProperty( LPCTSTR pszPropName,
    LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData,
    DWORD dwCount );
    Parameters LPCTSTR pszPropName - string name of the property to set.
    LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData - array of XMC_PARAM_DATA
    types that specify each parameter corresponding to the
    property. For example, a certain property may be made up of a
    number of elements - in this case an array of
    XMC_PARAM_DATA items is returned, one for each element
    making up the property. In most cases a property is made up
    of a single element, thus a single element array is passed to
    this method. For more information on the
    XMC_PARAM_DATA type, see below.
    DWORD dwCount - number of XMC_PARAM_DATA elements in the rgData
    array.
    Return Value HRESULT - NOERROR on success, or error code on failure.
  • The IXMCDirect::InvokeMethod method is used to call a specific method implemented by the component. For more information on the methods supported, see the description of the specific component. The following table summarizes the InvokeMethod method implemented by the example IXMCDirect interface:
    Syntax HRESULT InvokeMethod( DWORD dwMethodIdx,
    LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData,
    DWORD dwCount );
    Parameters DWORD dwMethodIdx - number corresponding to the specific
    method to invoke. For more information on the method indexes
    available, see the set of namespaces defined for the component.
    LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData [optional] - array of
    XMC_PARAM_DATA types that specify each parameter for the
    method called. For more information on the XMC_PARAM_DATA
    type, see below.
    NOTE: if no parameters exist for the method called, a value of
    NULL must be passed in.
    DWORD dwCount [optional] - number of XMC_PARAM_DATA
    elements in the rgData array.
    NOTE: if no parameters exist for the method called, a value of 0
    (zero) must be passed in for this parameter.
    LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData [optional] - namespace associated with the
    instance of the custom extension module added.
    Return Value HRESULT - NOERROR on success, or error code on failure.
  • This methods supported by each component making up the system 120 will now be described. Initially, the general methods supported by the majority of the components forming the system 120 will be first be described; the methods supported by each individual component will then be discussed.
  • The XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT general method returns the number of data items in the browse set supported by the component and is described in the following table.
    Index 8020
    Data In None
    Data Out rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, number of browse elements.
  • The XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS general method returns the number of data items in the browse set supported by the component and is described in the following table:
    Index 8021
    Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, maximum number of
    elements to collect.
    Data Out rgData[0] - (number) number of elements collected, total
    number of elements will equal (rgData[0] * 2 + 1).
    rgData[1] - (string) name of the first browse element.
    rgData[2] - (number) adt of the first browse element.
    rgData[1 + n * 2] - (string) name of the n'th browse element.
    rgData[2 + n * 2] - (number) adt of the n'th browse element.
  • The XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT general method is used to connect one server to another so that they may interact with one another and is described in the following table:
    Index 8000
    Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, type of component. The type
    of component is a value that is server specific. For
    component type information, see the description for this
    method under each server's description.
    rgData[1] - (string) LPTSTR, component class id as an ASCII
    string.
    Data Out None.
  • The XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT general method is used to disconnect one server from another so that they stop interacting with one another and is described in the following table:
    Index 8001
    Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, type of component. The type
    of component is a value that is server specific. For
    component type information, see the description for this
    method under each server's description.
    rgData[1] - (string) LPTSTR, component class id as an ASCII
    string.
    Data Out None.
  • The XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS general method is called by a client to process data where a data set is input, processed in some way by the server, and then the resulting data is returned as output. The XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS method is described in the following table:
    Index 8063
    Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, number of data
    items input.
    rgData[1 + n * 2] - (string) LPCTSTR, name of the data
    item input.
    rgData[2 + n * 2] - (number or string), value of the data item.
    Data Out rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, number of data items output.
    rgData[1 + n * 2] - (string) LPCTSTR, name of the data item
    output.
    rgData[2 + n * 2] - (number) value of the data item.
  • The XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE general method is used to configure what type of data is returned when processing a given data item. For example in the server may be configured to return the minimal amount of data on each read (i.e. just the data item value), or the server may be requested to return more substantial data. The XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE method is described in the following table:
    Index 8062
    Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, flag describing the type of
    data to be returned when processing data. The following
    flags are supported:
    XMC_DE_READ_DATA_FLAG_TIMESTAMP -
    requests that the time stamp recorded when processing the
    data is returned.
    NOTE: by default, the data item value is always returned.
    Data Out None.
  • The XMC_DE_DATA_READ general method is called by a client application to poll for data from the server and is defined in the following table:
    Index 8061
    Data In rgData[0] - (string) LPCTSTR, name of the data item to read.
    Data Out rgData[0] - (number or string), data item value.
    rgData[1] - (OPTIONAL number) DWORD, data item
    time-stamp as a system time value.
    NOTE: Since the last items are optional, only those items
    specified when configuring the data to receive are
    actually sent.
  • The XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE general method is used to configure what type of data is returned when reading a given data item. For example, the server may be configured to return the minimal amount of data on each read (i.e. just the data item value) or the server may be requested to return more substantial data. The following table defines the XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE method:
    Index 8060
    Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, flag describing the type of data to
    In be returned on each read. The following flags are supported:
    XMC_DE_READ_DATA_FLAG_TIMESTAMP - requests
    that the time stamp recorded when reading the data is returned.
    NOTE: by default, the data item value is always returned.
    Data None.
    Out
  • The XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE general method is used to write data to a server and is described in the following table:
    Index 8064
    Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, number of data items.
    rgData[1 + n * 2] - (string) LPCTSTR, name of the data item.
    rgData[2 + n * 2] - (number or string), value of the data item.
    Data Out None.
  • The XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE general method enables/disables a previously subscribed data item in the subscription list maintained by the server. Only enabled subscriptions actually fire. The XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE method is defined in the following table:
    Index 2892
    Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, cookie (unique identifier)
    In associated with the subscription. This value is returned to the
    client when calling the subscription XMCAPI above.
    NOTE: using a cookie value of zero (0) will enable/disable ALL
    items subscribed to the server.
    rgData[1] - (number) BOOL, TRUE to enable the subscription(s),
    FALSE to disable the subscription(s). Only enabled subscriptions
    actually fire events.
    Data None.
    Out
  • This XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA general method is called by the server (and implemented by the client) when each subscribed event fires and is described in the following table:
    Index 8045
    Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, subscription cookie corresponding
    In to the subscribed data item.
    rgData[1] - (number or string), data item value.
    rgData[2] - (OPTIONAL number) DWORD, data item time-stamp
    as a system time value.
    rgData[3] - (OPTIONAL string) LPSTR, data item ASCII text
    name.
    rgData[4] - (OPTIONAL number) DWORD, data item unique
    cookie.
    NOTE: Since the last three items are optional, only those items
    specified when configuring the data to receive are actually sent. If,
    for example, one or more data items are NOT requested, then the
    items are returned in slots shifted up toward rgData[1]. For
    example if only the data item name is requested in addition to the
    default data items, the data returned would look like the following:
    rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, subscription cookie.
    rgData[1] - (number or string), data item value.
    rgData[2] - (string) LPSTR, data item name.
    Data None.
    Out
  • The XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE general method is used to configure what type of data is returned on each event that is fired. For example in the server may be configured to send the minimal amount of data on each event (i.e. subscription cookie and data item value), or the server may be requested to return more substantial data. The XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE method is defined in the following table:
    Index 8044
    Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, flag describing the type of data to
    In be returned on each event. The following flags are supported:
    XMC_DE_EVENT_DATA_FLAG_TIMESTAMP - requests
    that the time stamp recorded when reading the data is returned.
    XMC_DE_EVENT_DATA_FLAG_NAME - requests that
    the data items ASCII text name be returned.
    XMC_DE_EVENT_DATA_FLAG_DATA_COOKIE -
    requests that the unique data item cookie corresponding to the
    read made for the data item be returned.
    NOTE: by default, the subscription cookie and data item value are
    always returned.
    Data None.
    Out
  • The XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE general method subscribes to a given data item activating the event interface when the subscription criteria are met for the data item. All subscribing components use the IXMCDirect interface to receive events received from the server for which they are subscribed. The XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE method is described in the following table:
    Index 2890
    Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, flags describing the initial state of
    In the subscription. The following flags are supported:
    XMC_DE_EVENT_FLAG_ENABLED - subscription is
    immediately enabled upon subscription.
    XMC_DE_EVENT_FLAG_DISABLED - subscription is
    disabled upon making the subscription. The Enable function must
    be called to enable the subscription.
    rgData[1] - (number) DWORD, number of subscription criteria
    rules.
    rgData[2 + (2 * n)] - (number) DWORD, event condition type
    where the following types are supported:
    XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_DATA_CHANGE - any
    data changes in the data type above will trigger the event.
    XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_DATA_EQUAL
    XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_DATA_LESSTHAN
    XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_DATA_GREATERTHAN
    XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_DATA_AND
    XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_DATA_OR
    Each of the conditions above are used in a combined manner.
    Where the logical condition (=, <, >) are applied for each type
    respectively.
    For example, in an array that contains the following items:
    rgData[2] = 4 (4 condition values)
    rgData[3] = XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_EQUAL
    rgData[4] = 3.0
    rgData[5] = XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_LESSTHAN
    rgData[6] = 3.0
    rgData[7] = XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_OR
    rgData[8] = 1.0
    rgData[9] =
    XMC_CNC_EVENTCONDITION_GREATHERTHAN
    rgData[10] = 5.0
    the array would be evaluated using the following logic:
    If (DATA <= 3.0 OR DATA >5.0) then Trigger Event
    rgData[3 + (2 * n)] - (number) double, the value for the condition.
    See above.
    Data rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, cookie (unique identifier)
    Out representing the subscription.
  • The XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE general method removes a previously subscribed data item from the subscription list maintained by the
    Index 2891
    Data In rgData[0] - (number) DWORD, cookie (unique identifier)
    associated with the subscription. This value is returned to the
    client when calling the subscription XMCAPI above.
    NOTE: using a cookie value of zero (0) will unsubscribe ALL
    items subscribed to the server.
    Data Out None.
  • The XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW general method is used to initialize any hardware systems associated with the component and is defined in the following table:
    Index 500
    Data In None.
    Data Out None.
  • The XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW general method is used to shutdown any hardware systems associated with the component and is defined by the following table:
    Index 501
    Data None.
    In
    Data None.
    Out
  • The following discussion will define which of the general methods implemented are implemented by particular components of the system 120.
  • The data collection component 140 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table:
    Not
    Method Implemented Implemented
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW x
  • The following special notes apply to some of the general methods implemented by the data collection component 140.
  • The following component types are valid for the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT method as implemented by the data collection component 140; the XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDSRC, which specifies a data source component 142.
  • The following component types are valid for the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT method as implemented by the data collection component 140; XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDSRC, which specifies an data source component 142.
  • The data source component 142 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table:
    Not
    Im- Im-
    ple- ple-
    ment- ment-
    Method ed ed
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW x
  • There are no special notes for the methods implemented by the data source components 142.
  • The data store component 150 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table:
    Not
    Im- Im-
    ple- ple-
    ment- ment-
    Method ed ed
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW x
  • The following special notes apply to each of the general methods implemented by the data store component 150.
  • The following component types are valid for the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT method on the data store component 150:
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDCACHE, which specifies a data cache 152;
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDC, which specifies a data collection component 140 that is connected with events; and
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDO, which specifies a data transport component 162 that is connected with events.
  • The following component types are valid for the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT method as implemented by the data store component 150:
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDCACHE, which specifies a data cache 152;
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDC, which specifies a data collection component 140 that is connected with events; and
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDO, which specifies an XMC data output module 134 that is connected with events.
  • The data store component 150 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table:
    Not
    Im- Im-
    ple- ple-
    ment- ment-
    Method ed ed
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW x
  • There are no special notes for the methods implemented by the data store component 150.
  • The data output component 160 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table:
    Not
    Im- Im-
    ple- ple-
    ment- ment-
    Method ed ed
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW x
  • The following special notes methods apply to the general methods as implemented by the data output component 160.
  • The following component types are valid for the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT as implemented by the data output component 160:
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCINFERENCE, which specifies an inference engine component 166;
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDFORMAT, which specifies a data formatter component 164; and
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDTRANSPORT, which specifies a data transport component 162.
  • The following component types are valid for the XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT as implemented by the data output component 160:
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCINFERENCE, which specifies an inference engine component 166.
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDFORMAT, which specifies an data formatter component 164.
  • XMC_DE_CMPNT_TYPE_XMCDTRANSPORT, which specifies an data transport component 162.
  • The inference engine component 166 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table:
    Not
    Im- Im-
    ple- ple-
    ment- ment-
    Method ed ed
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW x
  • There are no special notes for the methods implemented by the inference engine component 166.
  • The data formatter component 164 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table:
    Not
    Im- Im-
    ple- ple-
    ment- ment-
    Method ed ed
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW x
  • There are no special notes for the methods implemented by the data formatter component 164.
  • The data transport component 162 implements the general methods described above as indicated in the following table:
    Not
    Im- Im-
    ple- ple-
    ment- ment-
    Method ed ed
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_COUNT x
    XMC_DE_BROWSE_GET_ITEMS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS x
    XMC_DE_DATA_PROCESS_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ x
    XMC_DE_DATA_READ_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_DATA_WRITE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_ENABLE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_RECEIVE_DATA_CONFIGURE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_EVENT_UNSUBSCRIBE x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_CONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_DISCONNECT_CMPNT x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_INITIALIZEHW x
    XMC_DE_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWNHW x
  • There are no special notes for the methods implemented by the data transport component 162.
  • All methods exposed by each component in the example data routing system 120 use a standard parameter set to describe data used to set and query properties as well as to invoke methods. The standard parameters are in the following format:
  • pObj->InvokeMethod(LPXMC_PARAM_DATA rgData, DWORD dwcount);
  • Each element in the rgData array corresponds to a parameter, with the first element in the array corresponding to the first parameter.
  • The XMC_PARAM_DATA structure can contain either a numerical or a string value and is defined as follows:
    typedef struct tagXMC_PARAM_DATA
    {
     LNG_PARAM_DATATYPE adt;
     union
     {
      double df;
      LPTSTR psz;
     };
    }XMC_PARAM_DATA;
  • The ‘adf’ member of the XMC_PARAM_DATA structure describes the data contained within the XMC_PARAM_DATA structure. The values are described below:
    LNG_PARAM_DATATYPE Description
    LNG_ADT_NUMBER Use this value when passing a numerical value via
    the ‘adt’ member of the XMC_PARAM_DATA
    structure.
    LNG_ADT_STAT_STRING Use this value when passing a static string value via
    the ‘psz’ member of the XMC_PARAM_DATA
    structure. Static strings do not need to be freed from
    memory.
    LNG_ADT_MEM_STRING Use this value when passing a string value via the
    ‘psz’ member of the XMC_PARAM_DATA structure.
    LNG_ADT_MEM_STRING denotes that the string
    must be freed from memory during cleanup.
    LNG_ADT_NOP This value is used to ignore items within the
    XMC_PARAM_DATA array. When specifies, this
    parameter is not used.
  • When querying and setting boolean TRUE/FALSE values, any non-zero value is considered TRUE, whereas a zero value is considered FALSE.
  • As described herein, the data routing system 120 is designed to collect data from one or more data origins 122, perform some decision logic on the data collected, and then send the data to one or more data destinations 124 based on the outcome of the decision logic run on the data inputs.
  • For example, data inputs may be data items describing the current state of a machine tool, automobile or other machine as shown in FIG. 20. The decision logic would then use these data inputs to determine the overall health or efficiency of the machine. Data outputs would be used to describe the machine's health or efficiency. This model thus operates as a data ‘router’, where data is routed from one or more input to one or more output based on the decision logic run on the inputs. Typically this model is used to ‘cook-down’ a wide array of data inputs that are very detailed in nature, to a more general set of data outputs that describe the overall performance, state or behavior of the machine.
  • However, this overall model can easily run in the reverse where the data input and output roles are reversed. In such an example, as generally shown in FIG. 21 the inputs are general in nature and then decision logic is used to determine the specific detailed outputs necessary to carry out a given behavior or action or to enter a given state.
  • For example using the latter model, a general input to a machine tool may be something like ‘mill a pocket’ at a certain point. The decision logic in turn would then figure out all of the necessary tools, feedrate, spindlerate and moves necessary to create the pocket on the part. Once determined, the decision logic would ‘output’ the values as a set of detailed output values such as the specific feedrate, the specific spindlerate and the move profile to use. Each output would then be sent directly to the machine controller hardware that actually ran the servo algorithms to move the tool and cut the part.
  • In another example, general inputs may be used to direct the path for which a car, airplane, ship or other mobile machine moved to a given destination. For example, a general set of instructions would make up the inputs such as follow road ‘x’ to intersection ‘y’, turn left at intersection ‘y’, drive to house ‘b’. The decision logic in this example would then be used to determine how to drive along road ‘x’ (making sure to track the right hand side of the road by following the yellow or white lines painted on the road), decision logic would determine when the intersection sought had been reached, how to negotiate the turn and drive to house ‘b’. When making each of these decisions the decision logic system would more than likely require additional, more detailed input from sensor systems. Each output could then take a more detailed form such as the speed that the car or other mobile should drive, and the steering adjustments needed to track and follow the desired path on the selected road.
  • One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that he present invention may be embodied in forms other than those described above. The scope of the invention should be determined by the following claims and not the foregoing detailed description of the example embodiments.

Claims (22)

1. A data routing system for collecting data from at least one data origin and distributing data to at least one data destination, comprising:
a data input module operatively connected to the at least one data origin, where the data input module is configured to collect data from the at least one data origin; and
a data output module operatively connected to the data input module and to the at least one data destination, where the data collection component is configured to distribute the data collected by the data input module to the at least one data destination.
2. A data routing system as recited in claim 1, in which:
the data collected by the data input module is distributed to a plurality of data destinations; and
the data output module comprises decision logic that determines how data collected by the data input module is distributed to the plurality of data destinations.
3. A data routing system as recited in claim 2, in which the decision logic determines:
what data is distributed to which of the plurality of data destinations;
the format of the data to be distributed to each of the plurality of data destinations; and
the method of transporting data to each of the plurality of data destinations.
4. A data routing system as recited in claim 1, in which the data output module comprises:
an inference engine component for determining how data is distributed to the at least one data destination; and
a data output component for receiving data from the data input module and distributing the data to the at least one data destination based on the determination made by the inference engine.
5. A data routing system as recited in claim 2, in which the data output module comprises:
an inference engine component for determining how data is distributed to the plurality of data destinations; and
a data output component for receiving data from the data input module and distributing the data to the plurality of data destinations based on the determination made by the inference engine.
6. A data routing system as recited in claim 5, in which the inference engine maps data to one or more of the data destinations based on logic rules.
7. A data routing system as recited in claim 6, in which the logic rules determine:
what data is distributed to which of the plurality of data destinations;
the format of the data to be distributed to each of the plurality of data destinations; and
the method of transporting data to each of the plurality of data destinations.
8. A data routing system as recited in claim 5, in which the inference engine component comprises at least one computer logic system selected from the group of computer logic systems consisting of artificial intelligence systems, fuzzy logic algorithm systems, neural network pattern matching systems, genetic algorithm systems, expert logic systems, and pattern matching systems.
9. A data routing system as recited in claim 5, in which the data output module further comprises at least one data transport component for transporting data to at least one of the data destinations.
10. A data routing system as recited in claim 5, in which the data output module further comprises at least one data formafter component for formatting data distributed to at least one of the data destinations.
11. A data routing system as recited in claim 1, in which the data input module comprises:
at least one data source component associated with at least one data origin; and
a data collection component for controlling the at least one data source to collected data from the at least one data origin associated therewith.
12. A data routing system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a data cache module for storing data collected by the data input module, where data stored by the data cache module is accessible by the output data module.
13. A data routing system as recited in claim 1, in which the data cache module comprises:
at least one data cache component associated with a data storage system; and
a data store component for receiving data from the data input module, storing the data in the data storage system associated with the at least one data cache component, retrieving data from the data storage system associated with the at least one data cache component, and delivering data to the data output module.
14. A data routing system as recited in claim 2, in which decision logic further determines how data requests generated by the data destinations are distributed to the plurality of data origins.
15. A method of routing data collected from a plurality of data origins to a plurality of data destinations, comprising the steps of:
collecting data from the plurality of data origins;
determining how the collected data is to be distributed to the plurality of data destinations based on decision logic; and
distributing the collected data to the plurality of data destinations.
16. A data routing method as recited in claim 15, in which the decision logic determines:
what data is distributed to which of the plurality of data destinations;
the format of the data to be distributed to each of the plurality of data destinations; and
the method of transporting data to each of the plurality of data destinations.
17. A data routing method as recited in claim 15, in which the decision logic maps collected data to one or more of the data destinations based on logic rules.
18. A data routing method as recited in claim 15, further comprising the step of transporting the collected data to at least one of the data destinations based on the decision logic.
19. A data routing method as recited in claim 15, further comprising the step of formatting the collected data as appropriate for at least one of the data destinations based on the decision logic.
20. A data routing method as recited in claim 15, further comprising the steps of:
providing at least one data source component associated with at least one data origin; and
controlling the at least one data source to collect data from the at least one data origin associated therewith.
21. A data routing method as recited in claim 15, further comprising the step of storing collected data before the collected data is distributed to the plurality of data destinations.
22. A data routing system for collecting data from a plurality of data origins and distributing data to a plurality of data destinations, comprising:
a data input module operatively connected to the at least one data origin, where the data input module comprises
at least one data source component associated with at least one data origin, and
a data collection component for controlling the at least one data source to collected data from the at least one data origin associated therewith;
a data cache module for storing data collected by the data input module, where the data cache module comprises
at least one data cache component associated with a data storage system, and
a data store component for receiving data from the data input module, storing the data in the data storage system associated with the at least one data cache component, retrieving data from the data storage system associated with the at least one data cache component, and delivering data to the data output module; and
a data output module operatively connected to the data input module and to the at least one data destination, where data output module comprises
an inference engine component for determining how data is distributed to the at least one data destination, and
a data output component for receiving data from the data input module and distributing the data to the at least one data destination based on the determination made by the inference engine,
at least one data transport component for controlling the transportation of data to at least one of the data destinations,
at least one data formatter component for formatting data distributed to at least one of the data destinations.
US10/844,025 2003-09-25 2004-05-12 Data routing systems and methods Abandoned US20060064503A1 (en)

Priority Applications (9)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US10/844,025 US20060064503A1 (en) 2003-09-25 2004-05-12 Data routing systems and methods
EP04809804A EP1678589B1 (en) 2003-09-25 2004-09-24 Data routing systems and methods
PCT/US2004/031613 WO2005031542A2 (en) 2003-09-25 2004-09-24 Data routing systems and methods
US11/505,056 US20070022194A1 (en) 2003-09-25 2006-08-15 Database event driven motion systems
HK07100164.3A HK1093626A1 (en) 2003-09-25 2007-01-05 Data routing systems and methods
US12/494,163 US8102869B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2009-06-29 Data routing systems and methods
US12/557,722 US8027349B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2009-09-11 Database event driven motion systems
US13/232,877 US20120065747A1 (en) 2003-09-25 2011-09-14 Database Event Driven Motion Systems
US14/298,567 US9588510B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2014-06-06 Database event driven motion systems

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US50610403P 2003-09-25 2003-09-25
US10/844,025 US20060064503A1 (en) 2003-09-25 2004-05-12 Data routing systems and methods

Related Child Applications (3)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US11/505,056 Continuation-In-Part US20070022194A1 (en) 2003-09-25 2006-08-15 Database event driven motion systems
US58323306A Continuation-In-Part 2003-09-25 2006-10-18
US12/494,163 Continuation US8102869B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2009-06-29 Data routing systems and methods

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20060064503A1 true US20060064503A1 (en) 2006-03-23

Family

ID=34396292

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US10/844,025 Abandoned US20060064503A1 (en) 2003-09-25 2004-05-12 Data routing systems and methods
US12/494,163 Expired - Fee Related US8102869B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2009-06-29 Data routing systems and methods

Family Applications After (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US12/494,163 Expired - Fee Related US8102869B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2009-06-29 Data routing systems and methods

Country Status (4)

Country Link
US (2) US20060064503A1 (en)
EP (1) EP1678589B1 (en)
HK (1) HK1093626A1 (en)
WO (1) WO2005031542A2 (en)

Cited By (17)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20050114444A1 (en) * 1997-10-07 2005-05-26 Brown Stephen J. Remote generation and distribution of command programs for programmable devices
US20060073002A1 (en) * 2004-08-09 2006-04-06 Daifuku Co., Ltd. Article transport apparatus and article transport method
US20080088605A1 (en) * 2005-03-18 2008-04-17 Searete Llc, A Limited Liability Corporation Decoding digital information included in a hand-formed expression
US20080307075A1 (en) * 2007-06-07 2008-12-11 Hitachi, Ltd. Sensor-net system and sensor node
US20090052349A1 (en) * 2006-04-12 2009-02-26 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Node device, recording medium where storage control program is recorded, and information storing method
US20090157199A1 (en) * 1995-05-30 2009-06-18 Brown David W Motion Control Systems
US20090210373A1 (en) * 2008-02-20 2009-08-20 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. System architecture and process for seamless adaptation to context aware behavior models
US7904194B2 (en) 2001-02-09 2011-03-08 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Event management systems and methods for motion control systems
US20110169832A1 (en) * 2010-01-11 2011-07-14 Roy-G-Biv Corporation 3D Motion Interface Systems and Methods
US20110185371A1 (en) * 1995-05-30 2011-07-28 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Systems and Methods for Communicating With Motion Control Systems and Devices
US8027349B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2011-09-27 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Database event driven motion systems
US8102869B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2012-01-24 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Data routing systems and methods
US8271105B2 (en) 1995-05-30 2012-09-18 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems
US20190312932A1 (en) * 2011-04-27 2019-10-10 Commvault Systems, Inc. System and method for client policy assignment in a data storage system
US20200213116A1 (en) * 2017-06-19 2020-07-02 Silverfort Ltd. Actively Monitoring Encrypted Traffic by Inspecting Logs
US10764319B2 (en) * 2017-10-05 2020-09-01 Honeywell International Inc. Intelligent automated security vulnerability detection and analysis for industrial internet of things (IIOT) devices
US11177958B2 (en) 2016-09-13 2021-11-16 Silverfort Ltd. Protection of authentication tokens

Families Citing this family (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20100131078A1 (en) * 1999-10-27 2010-05-27 Brown David W Event driven motion systems
WO2002054184A2 (en) 2001-01-04 2002-07-11 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Systems and methods for transmitting motion control data
DE10221772A1 (en) * 2002-05-15 2003-11-27 Flowtec Ag Field bus unit is used to provide input from a range of sensors and has a built in digital signal processing capacity with a facility for being programmable
US7555540B2 (en) 2003-06-25 2009-06-30 Microsoft Corporation Media foundation media processor
US7827554B2 (en) * 2005-06-20 2010-11-02 Microsoft Corporation Multi-thread multimedia processing
CN102959753B (en) 2010-06-24 2017-10-31 巴斯夫欧洲公司 With improving ON/OFF electric current than the organic field effect tube that is moved with controllable threshold
WO2012014786A1 (en) * 2010-07-30 2012-02-02 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. Semicondcutor device and manufacturing method thereof
WO2013099031A1 (en) * 2011-12-28 2013-07-04 株式会社安川電機 Engineering tool
TWI483115B (en) * 2012-04-12 2015-05-01 Acer Inc Data routing system and method for daisy-chained apparatuses
US8825664B2 (en) 2012-08-17 2014-09-02 Splunk Inc. Indexing preview
JP6538771B2 (en) * 2017-07-26 2019-07-03 ファナック株式会社 Numerical control device and control method of numerical control device
CN111427903B (en) * 2020-03-27 2023-04-21 四川虹美智能科技有限公司 Log information acquisition method and device

Citations (94)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4159417A (en) * 1977-10-28 1979-06-26 Rubincam David P Electronic book
US4199814A (en) * 1977-10-12 1980-04-22 Digitcom, Inc. Computer numerical control machine tool
US4494060A (en) * 1983-03-02 1985-01-15 Anorad Corporation Axis controller for robotic actuator
US4515011A (en) * 1983-05-06 1985-05-07 Baker Oil Tools, Inc. Torque transmitting and indicating device for well drilling apparatus
US4750888A (en) * 1983-12-15 1988-06-14 Giravions Dorand Method and device for training in the operation of moving vehicles
US4800521A (en) * 1982-09-21 1989-01-24 Xerox Corporation Task control manager
US4809335A (en) * 1985-10-24 1989-02-28 Rumsey Daniel S Speech unit for dolls and other toys
US4815011A (en) * 1986-01-25 1989-03-21 Fanuc Ltd. Robot control apparatus
US4829419A (en) * 1970-12-28 1989-05-09 Hyatt Gilbert P Microcomputer control of machines
US4840602A (en) * 1987-02-06 1989-06-20 Coleco Industries, Inc. Talking doll responsive to external signal
US4897835A (en) * 1985-11-27 1990-01-30 At&E Corporation High capacity protocol with multistation capability
US4901218A (en) * 1987-08-12 1990-02-13 Renishaw Controls Limited Communications adaptor for automated factory system
US4912650A (en) * 1986-07-10 1990-03-27 Fanuc Ltd. Off-line control execution method
US4923428A (en) * 1988-05-05 1990-05-08 Cal R & D, Inc. Interactive talking toy
US4937737A (en) * 1985-06-17 1990-06-26 International Business Machines Corporation Process transparent multi storage mode data transfer and buffer control
US4987537A (en) * 1987-05-31 1991-01-22 Nec Corporation Computer capable of accessing a memory by supplying an address having a length shorter than that of a required address for the memory
US5005135A (en) * 1989-03-22 1991-04-02 Cincinnati Milacron, Inc. Dynamic correction of servo following errors in a computer-numerically controlled system and fixed cycle utilizing same
US5005134A (en) * 1987-04-30 1991-04-02 Fanuc Ltd. Numerical control apparatus with simultaneous function execution
US5014208A (en) * 1989-01-23 1991-05-07 Siemens Corporate Research, Inc. Workcell controller employing entity-server model for physical objects and logical abstractions
US5020021A (en) * 1985-01-14 1991-05-28 Hitachi, Ltd. System for automatic language translation using several dictionary storage areas and a noun table
US5095445A (en) * 1987-03-20 1992-03-10 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Data communication system capable of communicating on-line with communication terminal equipment of a plurality of types
US5120065A (en) * 1991-02-08 1992-06-09 Hasbro, Incorporated Electronic talking board game
US5126932A (en) * 1988-06-17 1992-06-30 Siemens Corporate Research, Inc. Method and apparatus for executing a program in a heterogeneous multiple computer system
US5287199A (en) * 1992-02-27 1994-02-15 At&T Bell Laboratories Facsimile message processing and routing system
US5382026A (en) * 1991-09-23 1995-01-17 Hughes Aircraft Company Multiple participant moving vehicle shooting gallery
US5390330A (en) * 1993-02-11 1995-02-14 Talati; Kirit K. Control system and method for direct execution of software application information models without code generation
US5390304A (en) * 1990-09-28 1995-02-14 Texas Instruments, Incorporated Method and apparatus for processing block instructions in a data processor
US5392382A (en) * 1992-12-01 1995-02-21 Schoppers; Marcel J. Automated plan synthesizer and plan execution method
US5392207A (en) * 1993-08-20 1995-02-21 Allen-Bradley Company, Inc. Programmable motion controller with graphical programming aid
US5400345A (en) * 1992-03-06 1995-03-21 Pitney Bowes Inc. Communications system to boundary-scan logic interface
US5402518A (en) * 1992-07-22 1995-03-28 Pcvoice, Inc. Sound storage and sound retrieval system having peripheral with hand operable switches
US5405152A (en) * 1993-06-08 1995-04-11 The Walt Disney Company Method and apparatus for an interactive video game with physical feedback
US5412757A (en) * 1990-11-28 1995-05-02 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Fuzzy control system
US5413355A (en) * 1993-12-17 1995-05-09 Gonzalez; Carlos Electronic educational game with responsive animation
US5485620A (en) * 1994-02-25 1996-01-16 Automation System And Products, Inc. Integrated control system for industrial automation applications
US5491813A (en) * 1990-02-12 1996-02-13 International Business Machines Corporation Display subsystem architecture for binding device independent drivers together into a bound driver for controlling a particular display device
US5493281A (en) * 1992-09-23 1996-02-20 The Walt Disney Company Method and apparatus for remote synchronization of audio, lighting, animation and special effects
US5511147A (en) * 1994-01-12 1996-04-23 Uti Corporation Graphical interface for robot
US5596994A (en) * 1993-08-30 1997-01-28 Bro; William L. Automated and interactive behavioral and medical guidance system
US5600373A (en) * 1994-01-14 1997-02-04 Houston Advanced Research Center Method and apparatus for video image compression and decompression using boundary-spline-wavelets
US5604843A (en) * 1992-12-23 1997-02-18 Microsoft Corporation Method and system for interfacing with a computer output device
US5607336A (en) * 1992-12-08 1997-03-04 Steven Lebensfeld Subject specific, word/phrase selectable message delivering doll or action figure
US5608894A (en) * 1994-03-18 1997-03-04 Fujitsu Limited Execution control system
US5613117A (en) * 1991-02-27 1997-03-18 Digital Equipment Corporation Optimizing compiler using templates corresponding to portions of an intermediate language graph to determine an order of evaluation and to allocate lifetimes to temporary names for variables
US5617528A (en) * 1994-02-04 1997-04-01 Datacard Corporation Method and apparatus for interactively creating a card which includes video and cardholder information
US5623582A (en) * 1994-07-14 1997-04-22 Immersion Human Interface Corporation Computer interface or control input device for laparoscopic surgical instrument and other elongated mechanical objects
US5625821A (en) * 1991-08-12 1997-04-29 International Business Machines Corporation Asynchronous or synchronous operation of event signaller by event management services in a computer system
US5707289A (en) * 1994-10-21 1998-01-13 Pioneer Electronic Corporation Video game system having terminal identification data
US5724074A (en) * 1995-02-06 1998-03-03 Microsoft Corporation Method and system for graphically programming mobile toys
US5733131A (en) * 1994-07-29 1998-03-31 Seiko Communications Holding N.V. Education and entertainment device with dynamic configuration and operation
US5734373A (en) * 1993-07-16 1998-03-31 Immersion Human Interface Corporation Method and apparatus for controlling force feedback interface systems utilizing a host computer
US5737523A (en) * 1996-03-04 1998-04-07 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Methods and apparatus for providing dynamic network file system client authentication
US5739811A (en) * 1993-07-16 1998-04-14 Immersion Human Interface Corporation Method and apparatus for controlling human-computer interface systems providing force feedback
US5746602A (en) * 1996-02-27 1998-05-05 Kikinis; Dan PC peripheral interactive doll
US5754855A (en) * 1994-04-21 1998-05-19 International Business Machines Corporation System and method for managing control flow of computer programs executing in a computer system
US5752880A (en) * 1995-11-20 1998-05-19 Creator Ltd. Interactive doll
US5855483A (en) * 1994-11-21 1999-01-05 Compaq Computer Corp. Interactive play with a computer
US5867385A (en) * 1995-05-30 1999-02-02 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems
US5873765A (en) * 1997-01-07 1999-02-23 Mattel, Inc. Toy having data downloading station
US5889670A (en) * 1991-10-24 1999-03-30 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for tactilely responsive user interface
US5890963A (en) * 1996-09-30 1999-04-06 Yen; Wei System and method for maintaining continuous and progressive game play in a computer network
US5907831A (en) * 1997-04-04 1999-05-25 Lotvin; Mikhail Computer apparatus and methods supporting different categories of users
US5907704A (en) * 1995-04-03 1999-05-25 Quark, Inc. Hierarchical encapsulation of instantiated objects in a multimedia authoring system including internet accessible objects
US6012961A (en) * 1997-05-14 2000-01-11 Design Lab, Llc Electronic toy including a reprogrammable data storage device
US6020876A (en) * 1997-04-14 2000-02-01 Immersion Corporation Force feedback interface with selective disturbance filter
US6028593A (en) * 1995-12-01 2000-02-22 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for providing simulated physical interactions within computer generated environments
US6031973A (en) * 1996-07-05 2000-02-29 Seiko Epson Corporation Robot and its controller method
US6038493A (en) * 1996-09-26 2000-03-14 Interval Research Corporation Affect-based robot communication methods and systems
US6038603A (en) * 1997-03-25 2000-03-14 Oracle Corporation Processing customized uniform resource locators
US6046727A (en) * 1993-07-16 2000-04-04 Immersion Corporation Three dimensional position sensing interface with force output
US6057828A (en) * 1993-07-16 2000-05-02 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for providing force sensations in virtual environments in accordance with host software
US6061004A (en) * 1995-11-26 2000-05-09 Immersion Corporation Providing force feedback using an interface device including an indexing function
US6070010A (en) * 1997-07-25 2000-05-30 International Business Machines Corporation System and method of local data alignment for stack memory
US6169540B1 (en) * 1995-12-01 2001-01-02 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for designing force sensations in force feedback applications
US6173316B1 (en) * 1998-04-08 2001-01-09 Geoworks Corporation Wireless communication device with markup language based man-machine interface
US6191774B1 (en) * 1995-11-17 2001-02-20 Immersion Corporation Mouse interface for providing force feedback
US6209037B1 (en) * 1995-05-30 2001-03-27 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems using communication map to facilitating communication with motion control hardware
US6216173B1 (en) * 1998-02-03 2001-04-10 Redbox Technologies Limited Method and apparatus for content processing and routing
US6219032B1 (en) * 1995-12-01 2001-04-17 Immersion Corporation Method for providing force feedback to a user of an interface device based on interactions of a controlled cursor with graphical elements in a graphical user interface
US6232891B1 (en) * 1996-11-26 2001-05-15 Immersion Corporation Force feedback interface device having isometric functionality
US6233545B1 (en) * 1997-05-01 2001-05-15 William E. Datig Universal machine translator of arbitrary languages utilizing epistemic moments
US6343349B1 (en) * 1997-11-14 2002-01-29 Immersion Corporation Memory caching for force feedback effects
US6353850B1 (en) * 1995-12-13 2002-03-05 Immersion Corporation Force feedback provided in web pages
US6374255B1 (en) * 1996-05-21 2002-04-16 Immersion Corporation Haptic authoring
US6519594B1 (en) * 1998-11-14 2003-02-11 Sony Electronics, Inc. Computer-implemented sharing of java classes for increased memory efficiency and communication method
US6519646B1 (en) * 1998-09-01 2003-02-11 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Method and apparatus for encoding content characteristics
US6523171B1 (en) * 1998-12-29 2003-02-18 International Business Machines Corporation Enhanced source code translator from procedural programming language (PPL) to an object oriented programming language (OOPL)
US6528963B1 (en) * 2000-12-13 2003-03-04 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Robot and method for controlling motor speed of the robot
US6542925B2 (en) * 1995-05-30 2003-04-01 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Generation and distribution of motion commands over a distributed network
US6546436B1 (en) * 1999-03-30 2003-04-08 Moshe Fainmesser System and interface for controlling programmable toys
US6571141B1 (en) * 1995-05-30 2003-05-27 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Application programs for motion control devices including access limitations
US6678713B1 (en) * 1998-04-29 2004-01-13 Xerox Corporation Machine control using a schedulerlock construct
US6892145B2 (en) * 2002-02-25 2005-05-10 General Electric Company Method and system for conditionally triggered system data capture
US7216179B2 (en) * 2000-08-16 2007-05-08 Semandex Networks Inc. High-performance addressing and routing of data packets with semantically descriptive labels in a computer network

Family Cites Families (250)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4531182A (en) 1969-11-24 1985-07-23 Hyatt Gilbert P Machine control system operating from remote commands
US4078195A (en) 1976-01-13 1978-03-07 Macotech Corporation Adaptive control system for numerically controlled machine tools
US4422150A (en) 1980-05-23 1983-12-20 The Boeing Company Machine tool controller and part inspection monitor
US4418381A (en) 1981-01-23 1983-11-29 Bristol Babcock Inc. Single loop control system
US4444061A (en) 1982-03-26 1984-04-24 Camtech Inc. Force and torque sensor for machine tools
US4688195A (en) 1983-01-28 1987-08-18 Texas Instruments Incorporated Natural-language interface generating system
US4563906A (en) 1983-11-23 1986-01-14 Camtech, Inc. Load measurement apparatus including miniature instrumented hydrostatic cell
NL8400186A (en) 1984-01-20 1985-08-16 Philips Nv PROCESSOR SYSTEM CONTAINING A NUMBER OF STATIONS CONNECTED BY A COMMUNICATION NETWORK AND STATION FOR USE IN SUCH A PROCESSOR SYSTEM.
US4713808A (en) 1985-11-27 1987-12-15 A T & E Corporation Watch pager system and communication protocol
US4767334A (en) 1985-11-19 1988-08-30 Thorne Hugh C Educational and recreational toy vehicle
US4782444A (en) 1985-12-17 1988-11-01 International Business Machine Corporation Compilation using two-colored pebbling register allocation method such that spill code amount is invariant with basic block's textual ordering
US4937759A (en) 1986-02-18 1990-06-26 Robotics Research Corporation Industrial robot with controller
US4843566A (en) 1986-03-07 1989-06-27 Hewlett-Packard Company Robot motion control system
US4853877A (en) 1986-04-21 1989-08-01 Hewlett-Packard Company Apparatus and method for efficient plotting
US4829219A (en) 1986-11-20 1989-05-09 Unimation Inc. Multiaxis robot having improved motion control through variable acceleration/deceleration profiling
US4868474A (en) 1986-11-20 1989-09-19 Westinghouse Electric Corp. Multiprocessor position/velocity servo control for multiaxis digital robot control system
EP0275826A1 (en) 1986-12-16 1988-07-27 Ciba-Geigy Ag Control system for a sample preparation system
US4846693A (en) 1987-01-08 1989-07-11 Smith Engineering Video based instructional and entertainment system using animated figure
US4857030A (en) 1987-02-06 1989-08-15 Coleco Industries, Inc. Conversing dolls
CA1338909C (en) 1987-03-05 1997-02-11 Curtis M. Brubaker Radio control toy
US4716458A (en) 1987-03-06 1987-12-29 Heitzman Edward F Driver-vehicle behavior display apparatus
US4852047A (en) 1987-04-14 1989-07-25 Universal Automation Inc. Continuous flow chart, improved data format and debugging system for programming and operation of machines
US4855725A (en) 1987-11-24 1989-08-08 Fernandez Emilio A Microprocessor based simulated book
US5025385A (en) 1988-04-15 1991-06-18 Froyd Stanley G Multiple axis motion control system
FR2633414B1 (en) 1988-06-27 1993-07-09 Bull Sa COMPUTER SYSTEM WITH CENTRAL INTERCONNECTION
US4887966A (en) 1988-06-30 1989-12-19 Gellerman Floyd R Flight simulation control apparatus
US5309351A (en) 1988-10-27 1994-05-03 Texas Instruments Incorporated Communications, information, maintenance diagnostic and training system
US5230049A (en) 1988-11-29 1993-07-20 International Business Machines Corporation Program source code translator
US5119318A (en) 1989-04-17 1992-06-02 Del Partners L.P. Expert control system for real time management of automated factory equipment
US5058034A (en) 1989-06-12 1991-10-15 Westinghouse Electric Corp. Digital neural network with discrete point rule space
JP2982010B2 (en) 1989-06-23 1999-11-22 三菱電機株式会社 Numerical control method and device
JP2784811B2 (en) 1989-08-25 1998-08-06 ソニー株式会社 Image creation device
US5247650A (en) 1989-08-30 1993-09-21 Industrial Technology Institute System for combining originally software incompatible control, kinematic, and discrete event simulation systems into a single integrated simulation system
US5175817A (en) 1989-11-20 1992-12-29 Digital Equipment Corporation Data representation protocol for communications between different networks
GB9007661D0 (en) 1990-04-04 1990-05-30 Ace Coin Equip Amusement apparatus
US5168441A (en) 1990-05-30 1992-12-01 Allen-Bradley Company, Inc. Methods for set up and programming of machine and process controllers
US5175856A (en) 1990-06-11 1992-12-29 Supercomputer Systems Limited Partnership Computer with integrated hierarchical representation (ihr) of program wherein ihr file is available for debugging and optimizing during target execution
US5162986A (en) 1990-10-19 1992-11-10 Allen-Bradley Company, Inc. Remote downloading and uploading of motion control program information to and from a motion control I/O module in a programmable controller
US5222193A (en) 1990-12-26 1993-06-22 Intel Corporation Training system for neural networks and the like
US5175684A (en) 1990-12-31 1992-12-29 Trans-Link International Corp. Automatic text translation and routing system
EP0495147A1 (en) * 1991-01-18 1992-07-22 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Method for path correction in numerical controlled machines
WO1992015068A1 (en) 1991-02-15 1992-09-03 Incontrol, Inc. Computer control system for generating geometric designs
IL100989A (en) 1991-02-27 1995-10-31 Digital Equipment Corp Analyzing inductive expressions in a multilanguage optimizing compiler
IL100987A (en) 1991-02-27 1995-10-31 Digital Equipment Corp Method and apparatus for compiling code
US5659753A (en) 1991-02-27 1997-08-19 Digital Equipment Corporation Interface for symbol table construction in a multilanguage optimizing compiler
US5291416A (en) * 1991-03-08 1994-03-01 Software Algoritms Incorporated Event feedback for numerically controlled machine tool and network implementation thereof
FR2675282B1 (en) 1991-04-12 1995-01-20 Info Telecom METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MATERIALIZING A VIRTUAL INTERACTION BETWEEN AN OBJECT AND AN INFORMATION MEDIUM.
US5231693A (en) 1991-05-09 1993-07-27 The United States Of America As Represented By The Administrator, National Aeronautics And Space Administration Telerobot control system
US5417210A (en) 1992-05-27 1995-05-23 International Business Machines Corporation System and method for augmentation of endoscopic surgery
US5485545A (en) * 1991-06-20 1996-01-16 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Control method using neural networks and a voltage/reactive-power controller for a power system using the control method
DE69222580T2 (en) 1991-07-15 1998-04-16 Hitachi Ltd Image encoder decoder and teleconferencing terminal
EP0546682A3 (en) 1991-12-12 1993-12-08 Ibm Parent class shadowing
US6400996B1 (en) 1999-02-01 2002-06-04 Steven M. Hoffberg Adaptive pattern recognition based control system and method
US5329381A (en) 1992-02-20 1994-07-12 Payne John H Automatic engraving method and apparatus
US5917840A (en) 1992-03-13 1999-06-29 Foxboro Company Protection against communications crosstalk in a factory process control system
CA2087503A1 (en) 1992-04-13 1993-10-14 Lester Wayne Dunaway Multimodal remote control device having electrically alterable keypad designations
US5368484A (en) 1992-05-22 1994-11-29 Atari Games Corp. Vehicle simulator with realistic operating feedback
US5366376A (en) * 1992-05-22 1994-11-22 Atari Games Corporation Driver training system and method with performance data feedback
US5541640A (en) 1992-06-23 1996-07-30 Larson; Craig R. Videophone for simultaneous audio and video communication via a standard telephone line
JP2862441B2 (en) * 1992-07-09 1999-03-03 キヤノン株式会社 Output control device and method
ATE166160T1 (en) 1992-07-17 1998-05-15 Rxs Schrumpftech Garnituren ARRANGEMENT FOR PLACING SPLICE CASSETTES FOR OPTICAL FIBERS WITHIN A CABLE SLEEVE
JP2597802B2 (en) 1992-08-04 1997-04-09 インターナショナル・ビジネス・マシーンズ・コーポレイション Method for controlling an image capture device, image capture device and user interface
JPH08501166A (en) 1992-09-04 1996-02-06 キャタピラー インコーポレイテッド Comprehensive authoring and translation system
US5574897A (en) * 1992-09-30 1996-11-12 International Business Machines Corporation System managed logging of objects to speed recovery processing
JPH08503144A (en) 1992-10-19 1996-04-09 スコット ジャニ,ジェフリー Device for operating and talking by controlling video and wireless
US5541838A (en) 1992-10-26 1996-07-30 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Translation machine having capability of registering idioms
WO1994010645A1 (en) 1992-10-28 1994-05-11 Intellution, Inc. A dynamic graphical system configuration utility
US5629594A (en) 1992-12-02 1997-05-13 Cybernet Systems Corporation Force feedback system
US5389865A (en) 1992-12-02 1995-02-14 Cybernet Systems Corporation Method and system for providing a tactile virtual reality and manipulator defining an interface device therefor
US6131097A (en) 1992-12-02 2000-10-10 Immersion Corporation Haptic authoring
JP2799126B2 (en) * 1993-03-26 1998-09-17 株式会社ナムコ Video game device and game input device
US5666161A (en) 1993-04-26 1997-09-09 Hitachi, Ltd. Method and apparatus for creating less amount of compressd image data from compressed still image data and system for transmitting compressed image data through transmission line
JPH06344279A (en) * 1993-06-07 1994-12-20 Hitachi Ltd Remote operation device and method
US5731804A (en) 1995-01-18 1998-03-24 Immersion Human Interface Corp. Method and apparatus for providing high bandwidth, low noise mechanical I/O for computer systems
US5566278A (en) 1993-08-24 1996-10-15 Taligent, Inc. Object oriented printing system
US5453933A (en) 1993-09-08 1995-09-26 Hurco Companies, Inc. CNC control system
US5566346A (en) 1993-12-21 1996-10-15 Taligent, Inc. System for constructing hardware device interface software systems independent of operating systems including capability of installing and removing interrupt handlers
EP0661885A1 (en) 1993-12-28 1995-07-05 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Image processing method and apparatus for converting between data coded in different formats
US5438529A (en) 1994-01-26 1995-08-01 Immersion Human Interface Corporation Percussion input device for personal computer systems
DE69523906T2 (en) * 1994-03-23 2002-04-04 Yaskawa Denki Kitakyushu Kk MACHINE CONTROL
GB2289186A (en) 1994-04-05 1995-11-08 Ibm Collaborative working method and system
US5465215A (en) 1994-07-07 1995-11-07 Cincinnati Milacron Inc. Numerical control method and apparatus
US5821920A (en) 1994-07-14 1998-10-13 Immersion Human Interface Corporation Control input device for interfacing an elongated flexible object with a computer system
US5692195A (en) 1994-08-31 1997-11-25 International Business Machines Corporation Parent class shadowing
WO1996007139A1 (en) 1994-09-01 1996-03-07 Mcalpine Gary L A multi-port memory system including read and write buffer interfaces
US5881213A (en) 1994-10-05 1999-03-09 Microsoft Corporation Deferred printing
US5831606A (en) 1994-12-13 1998-11-03 Microsoft Corporation Shell extensions for an operating system
US5802365A (en) 1995-05-05 1998-09-01 Apple Computer, Inc. Dynamic device matching using driver candidate lists
GB2300991B (en) 1995-05-15 1997-11-05 Andrew Macgregor Ritchie Serving signals to browsing clients
JP3091135B2 (en) 1995-05-26 2000-09-25 株式会社バンダイ Game equipment
US6941543B1 (en) 1995-05-30 2005-09-06 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control system and method
US7024666B1 (en) 2002-01-28 2006-04-04 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems and methods
US7139843B1 (en) 1995-05-30 2006-11-21 Roy-G-Biv Corporation System and methods for generating and communicating motion data through a distributed network
US7035697B1 (en) 1995-05-30 2006-04-25 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Access control systems and methods for motion control
US20060206219A1 (en) 1995-05-30 2006-09-14 Brown David W Motion control systems and methods
US7137107B1 (en) 2003-04-29 2006-11-14 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems and methods
US6859671B1 (en) 1995-05-30 2005-02-22 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Application programs for motion control devices including access limitations
CA2586401C (en) 1995-05-30 2010-07-13 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems
US5691898A (en) 1995-09-27 1997-11-25 Immersion Human Interface Corp. Safe and low cost computer peripherals with force feedback for consumer applications
US6166723A (en) 1995-11-17 2000-12-26 Immersion Corporation Mouse interface device providing force feedback
US5752976A (en) 1995-06-23 1998-05-19 Medtronic, Inc. World wide patient location and data telemetry system for implantable medical devices
TW273519B (en) 1995-09-12 1996-04-01 Konami Co Ltd Driving game machine
US5959613A (en) 1995-12-01 1999-09-28 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for shaping force signals for a force feedback device
US5801946A (en) 1995-10-19 1998-09-01 Kawasaki Motors Mfg. Co. Assembly prompting system
US5800268A (en) 1995-10-20 1998-09-01 Molnick; Melvin Method of participating in a live casino game from a remote location
US5636994A (en) 1995-11-09 1997-06-10 Tong; Vincent M. K. Interactive computer controlled doll
US5956484A (en) 1995-12-13 1999-09-21 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for providing force feedback over a computer network
US6078308A (en) 1995-12-13 2000-06-20 Immersion Corporation Graphical click surfaces for force feedback applications to provide user selection using cursor interaction with a trigger position within a boundary of a graphical object
US6300936B1 (en) 1997-11-14 2001-10-09 Immersion Corporation Force feedback system including multi-tasking graphical host environment and interface device
JP3120963B2 (en) 1995-12-14 2000-12-25 株式会社日立製作所 Method for transferring messages and system for transferring messages
US6305011B1 (en) 1996-01-16 2001-10-16 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Tip technology and its application to sparcompiler pascal
US5805785A (en) 1996-02-27 1998-09-08 International Business Machines Corporation Method for monitoring and recovery of subsystems in a distributed/clustered system
US6553410B2 (en) 1996-02-27 2003-04-22 Inpro Licensing Sarl Tailoring data and transmission protocol for efficient interactive data transactions over wide-area networks
US5764155A (en) 1996-04-03 1998-06-09 General Electric Company Dynamic data exchange server
US5846132A (en) 1996-04-10 1998-12-08 William W. Junkin Trust Interactive system allowing simulated or real time participation in a league
US5828575A (en) 1996-05-06 1998-10-27 Amadasoft America, Inc. Apparatus and method for managing and distributing design and manufacturing information throughout a sheet metal production facility
US5822207A (en) 1996-05-06 1998-10-13 Amadasoft America, Inc. Apparatus and method for integrating intelligent manufacturing system with expert sheet metal planning and bending system
US5666264A (en) 1996-05-13 1997-09-09 Nematron Corporation Industrial computer workstation
US5805442A (en) 1996-05-30 1998-09-08 Control Technology Corporation Distributed interface architecture for programmable industrial control systems
US5921780A (en) 1996-06-28 1999-07-13 Myers; Nicole J. Racecar simulator and driver training system and method
US6125385A (en) 1996-08-01 2000-09-26 Immersion Corporation Force feedback implementation in web pages
US5920476A (en) 1996-11-21 1999-07-06 Hennessey; John M. Computer controlled movement of stage effects and stage installation employing same
US6128006A (en) 1998-03-26 2000-10-03 Immersion Corporation Force feedback mouse wheel and other control wheels
US6139177A (en) 1996-12-03 2000-10-31 Hewlett Packard Company Device access and control using embedded web access functionality
US6523119B2 (en) 1996-12-04 2003-02-18 Rainbow Technologies, Inc. Software protection device and method
US5848415A (en) 1996-12-18 1998-12-08 Unisys Corporation Selective multiple protocol transport and dynamic format conversion in a multi-user network
US6080063A (en) 1997-01-06 2000-06-27 Khosla; Vinod Simulated real time game play with live event
US5977951A (en) 1997-02-04 1999-11-02 Microsoft Corporation System and method for substituting an animated character when a remote control physical character is unavailable
US5942869A (en) 1997-02-13 1999-08-24 Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Mobile robot control device
US6192354B1 (en) 1997-03-21 2001-02-20 International Business Machines Corporation Apparatus and method for optimizing the performance of computer tasks using multiple intelligent agents having varied degrees of domain knowledge
US5960085A (en) 1997-04-14 1999-09-28 De La Huerga; Carlos Security badge for automated access control and secure data gathering
CA2225060A1 (en) 1997-04-09 1998-10-09 Peter Suilun Fong Interactive talking dolls
US6285351B1 (en) 1997-04-25 2001-09-04 Immersion Corporation Designing force sensations for computer applications including sounds
US6292170B1 (en) 1997-04-25 2001-09-18 Immersion Corporation Designing compound force sensations for computer applications
US6065365A (en) 1997-05-08 2000-05-23 Case Corporation Control lever assembly
CA2205797C (en) 1997-05-22 2001-04-24 Andrew Wilfred Macleod A system for local context spilling for graph colouring register allocators
WO1998059283A2 (en) 1997-06-25 1998-12-30 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Improved home network, browser based, command and control
US6088690A (en) 1997-06-27 2000-07-11 Microsoft Method and apparatus for adaptively solving sequential problems in a target system utilizing evolutionary computation techniques
JP3167963B2 (en) * 1997-07-07 2001-05-21 コナミ株式会社 Manual operation device and game device
US6317871B1 (en) 1997-07-18 2001-11-13 Compaq Computer Corporation System for ensuring the accuracy of file structures in a source-to-source computer program translator
US6425118B1 (en) 1997-07-18 2002-07-23 Compaq Computer Corporation System for automatically generating tests to ensure binary compatibility between software components produced by a source-to-source computer language translator
JP3352611B2 (en) 1997-07-24 2002-12-03 株式会社日立製作所 Switching router
GB2327786B (en) 1997-07-31 2002-04-03 Ibm Method and apparatus for strategic compilation of source programs into two or more target languages
US6463404B1 (en) 1997-08-08 2002-10-08 British Telecommunications Public Limited Company Translation
US6252579B1 (en) 1997-08-23 2001-06-26 Immersion Corporation Interface device and method for providing enhanced cursor control with force feedback
US6292174B1 (en) 1997-08-23 2001-09-18 Immersion Corporation Enhanced cursor control using limited-workspace force feedback devices
IL121642A0 (en) 1997-08-27 1998-02-08 Creator Ltd Interactive talking toy
US5924013A (en) 1997-09-03 1999-07-13 Guido; Mary M. Method and apparatus for transmitting motion picture cinematic information for viewing in movie theaters and ordering method therefor
US5984499A (en) 1997-09-12 1999-11-16 Manufacturing Data Systems, Inc. Method and apparatus for a numerical control system for processing multiple job streams
US6078968A (en) 1997-10-03 2000-06-20 Vicom Systems, Inc. Platform-independent communications protocol supporting communications between a processor and subsystem controller based on identifying information
US20010032278A1 (en) 1997-10-07 2001-10-18 Brown Stephen J. Remote generation and distribution of command programs for programmable devices
KR100250977B1 (en) 1997-10-16 2000-04-15 이계철 High speed packet switch controller using neural chip and exchanger using the controller
US5991528A (en) 1997-11-05 1999-11-23 Reliance Electric Industrial Company Expert manufacturing system
US6243078B1 (en) 1998-06-23 2001-06-05 Immersion Corporation Pointing device with forced feedback button
GB2319100B (en) 1997-11-15 1998-09-16 Ibm Hardware simulator for a transaction processing system
US6055579A (en) * 1997-11-17 2000-04-25 Silicon Graphics, Inc. Distributed control and synchronization of multiple data processors using flexible command queues
US6101425A (en) 1997-11-26 2000-08-08 Allen-Bradley Company, Llc Multiple connection networked man-machine interfaces for computer numerical controls
US6144895A (en) 1997-11-26 2000-11-07 Allen-Bradley Company, Llc System and method for networking a computer numerical control with a workstation
JP3437426B2 (en) 1997-11-28 2003-08-18 パイオニア株式会社 Information recording medium, information reproducing apparatus and information reproducing method
US6470377B1 (en) 1997-12-19 2002-10-22 Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc. Networked file operations for computer numerical controls
US6133867A (en) 1998-01-02 2000-10-17 Eberwine; David Brent Integrated air traffic management and collision avoidance system
US6078747A (en) 1998-01-05 2000-06-20 Jewitt; James W. Application program interface to physical devices
US6083104A (en) 1998-01-16 2000-07-04 Silverlit Toys (U.S.A.), Inc. Programmable toy with an independent game cartridge
US6292712B1 (en) 1998-01-29 2001-09-18 Northrop Grumman Corporation Computer interface system for a robotic system
US6304091B1 (en) 1998-02-10 2001-10-16 Immersion Corporation Absolute position sensing by phase shift detection using a variable capacitor
US6247994B1 (en) 1998-02-11 2001-06-19 Rokenbok Toy Company System and method for communicating with and controlling toy accessories
US6208640B1 (en) * 1998-02-27 2001-03-27 David Spell Predictive bandwidth allocation method and apparatus
US6560592B1 (en) 1998-03-19 2003-05-06 Micro Data Base Systems, Inc. Multi-model computer database storage system with integrated rule engine
US6201996B1 (en) * 1998-05-29 2001-03-13 Control Technology Corporationa Object-oriented programmable industrial controller with distributed interface architecture
DE69940161D1 (en) 1998-06-18 2009-02-05 Kline & Walker L L C AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR MONITORING EQUIPPED OPTIONS AND MACHINES WORLDWIDE
US6615091B1 (en) 1998-06-26 2003-09-02 Eveready Battery Company, Inc. Control system and method therefor
JP4257553B2 (en) 1998-07-07 2009-04-22 株式会社安川電機 Motion controller program creation and execution method
US6242880B1 (en) 1998-09-08 2001-06-05 Cimplus, Inc. Tolerance based motion control system
US6147647A (en) 1998-09-09 2000-11-14 Qualcomm Incorporated Circularly polarized dielectric resonator antenna
US6366293B1 (en) * 1998-09-29 2002-04-02 Rockwell Software Inc. Method and apparatus for manipulating and displaying graphical objects in a computer display device
US6559860B1 (en) 1998-09-29 2003-05-06 Rockwell Software Inc. Method and apparatus for joining and manipulating graphical objects in a graphical user interface
US6473824B1 (en) 1998-10-14 2002-10-29 International Business Machines Corporation Dynamic association of input/output device with application programs
US6216083B1 (en) 1998-10-22 2001-04-10 Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. System for intelligent control of an engine based on soft computing
JP3788697B2 (en) * 1998-11-18 2006-06-21 富士通株式会社 Message control unit
US6345212B1 (en) * 1998-11-20 2002-02-05 Manufacturing Data Systems, Inc. Automatic variable linkage mechanism for integrating third party software components
JP3980205B2 (en) 1998-12-17 2007-09-26 コニカミノルタホールディングス株式会社 Work robot
US6535861B1 (en) 1998-12-22 2003-03-18 Accenture Properties (2) B.V. Goal based educational system with support for dynamic characteristics tuning using a spread sheet object
US6782374B2 (en) 1998-12-22 2004-08-24 Accenture Global Services Gmbh System, method and article of manufacturing for a runtime program analysis tool for a simulation engine
US6665688B1 (en) 1998-12-23 2003-12-16 Cray Inc. Method and system for automatically regenerating data on-demand
JP3424631B2 (en) 1999-01-13 2003-07-07 ソニー株式会社 Robot apparatus and software updating method
US6850806B2 (en) * 1999-04-16 2005-02-01 Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. Method and apparatus for determining calibration options in a motion control system
US6944584B1 (en) 1999-04-16 2005-09-13 Brooks Automation, Inc. System and method for control and simulation
JP2000311008A (en) 1999-04-28 2000-11-07 Yaskawa Electric Corp Programming method for motion controller
US6374195B1 (en) * 1999-06-29 2002-04-16 Daimlerchrysler Corporation System for monitoring and tracking tool and tool performance
US6290565B1 (en) 1999-07-21 2001-09-18 Nearlife, Inc. Interactive game apparatus with game play controlled by user-modifiable toy
US6606665B2 (en) 1999-09-27 2003-08-12 Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc. Multiple connection architecture for communication with a computer numerical control resident in a workstation and other networked computer numerical controls
US6401005B1 (en) 1999-09-27 2002-06-04 Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc. Programmable synchronous and asynchronous block execution for a computer numerical control
US6704717B1 (en) 1999-09-29 2004-03-09 Ncr Corporation Analytic algorithm for enhanced back-propagation neural network processing
US6778949B2 (en) 1999-10-18 2004-08-17 Sony Corporation Method and system to analyze, transfer and generate language expressions using compiled instructions to manipulate linguistic structures
AU1235201A (en) 1999-10-27 2001-05-08 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Systems and methods for generating and communicating motion data through a distributed network
US6879862B2 (en) 2000-02-28 2005-04-12 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Selection and control of motion data
US6885898B1 (en) 2001-05-18 2005-04-26 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Event driven motion systems
US6560513B2 (en) 1999-11-19 2003-05-06 Fanuc Robotics North America Robotic system with teach pendant
US6518980B1 (en) * 1999-11-19 2003-02-11 Fanuc Robotics North America, Inc. Method and system for allowing a programmable controller to communicate with a remote computer
US6662361B1 (en) 2000-01-14 2003-12-09 International Business Machines Corporation Method, system, program, and data structures for transforming an instruction in a first bit architecture to an instruction in a second bit architecture
US7065538B2 (en) * 2000-02-11 2006-06-20 Quest Software, Inc. System and method for reconciling transactions between a replication system and a recovered database
US20020045956A1 (en) * 2000-02-18 2002-04-18 Kapitan Brian A. Network distributed motion control system
GB0006292D0 (en) 2000-03-15 2000-05-03 Pathfinder Tech Resources Ltd Telephone call dialling
US20010037492A1 (en) 2000-03-16 2001-11-01 Holzmann Gerard J. Method and apparatus for automatically extracting verification models
JP2001282786A (en) 2000-03-27 2001-10-12 Internatl Business Mach Corp <Ibm> System and method for machine translation and storage medium with program for executing the same method stored thereon
JP3333773B2 (en) 2000-04-14 2002-10-15 コナミ株式会社 GAME DEVICE, GAME DEVICE CONTROL METHOD, AND INFORMATION STORAGE MEDIUM
US6292714B1 (en) 2000-05-12 2001-09-18 Fujitsu Limited Robot cooperation device, and robot cooperation program storage medium
US8302072B2 (en) 2000-06-05 2012-10-30 National Instruments Corporation System and method for programmatically generating a graphical program based on a sequence of motion control, machine vision, and data acquisition (DAQ) operations
JP2001353678A (en) 2000-06-12 2001-12-25 Sony Corp Authoring system and method and storage medium
US7000191B2 (en) 2000-08-07 2006-02-14 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Flowchart programming for industrial controllers, in particular motion controllers
US7366769B2 (en) * 2000-10-02 2008-04-29 Schlumberger Technology Corporation System, method and computer program product for a universal communication connector
JP2002127059A (en) 2000-10-20 2002-05-08 Sony Corp Action control device and method, pet robot and control method, robot control system and recording medium
KR20020032786A (en) 2000-10-27 2002-05-04 이채홍 Method and system for servicing of an on-line data recovery
US6439956B1 (en) 2000-11-13 2002-08-27 Interact Accessories, Inc. RC car device
US20020177453A1 (en) 2000-11-15 2002-11-28 Ming-Feng Chen Mobile device server
DE10058524A1 (en) * 2000-11-24 2002-06-13 Siemens Ag System and method for the parallel transmission of real-time-critical and non-real-time-critical data via switchable data networks, in particular Ethernet
US6442451B1 (en) 2000-12-28 2002-08-27 Robotic Workspace Technologies, Inc. Versatile robot control system
WO2002054184A2 (en) 2001-01-04 2002-07-11 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Systems and methods for transmitting motion control data
US6658325B2 (en) 2001-01-16 2003-12-02 Stephen Eliot Zweig Mobile robotic with web server and digital radio links
US7137891B2 (en) 2001-01-31 2006-11-21 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Game playing system with assignable attack icons
US7031798B2 (en) 2001-02-09 2006-04-18 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Event management systems and methods for the distribution of motion control commands
US6491566B2 (en) 2001-03-26 2002-12-10 Intel Corporation Sets of toy robots adapted to act in concert, software and methods of playing with the same
US6907029B2 (en) 2001-03-29 2005-06-14 Tord Brabrand Remote control system
US6859747B2 (en) * 2001-04-26 2005-02-22 Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. Method and apparatus for self-calibrating a motion control system
US6865499B2 (en) * 2001-04-26 2005-03-08 Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. Method and apparatus for tuning compensation parameters in a motion control system associated with a mechanical member
US20020165708A1 (en) 2001-05-03 2002-11-07 International Business Machines Corporation Method and system for translating human language text
US6904057B2 (en) * 2001-05-04 2005-06-07 Slt Logic Llc Method and apparatus for providing multi-protocol, multi-stage, real-time frame classification
US6652378B2 (en) 2001-06-01 2003-11-25 Igt Gaming machines and systems offering simultaneous play of multiple games and methods of gaming
US7734459B2 (en) * 2001-06-01 2010-06-08 Microsoft Corporation Automatic extraction of transfer mappings from bilingual corpora
US6845276B2 (en) * 2001-06-29 2005-01-18 Electro Scientific Industries Multiple axis modular controller and method of operating same
US6922826B2 (en) 2001-07-03 2005-07-26 International Business Machines Corporation Debugger impact reduction through breakpoint motion
US7149691B2 (en) * 2001-07-27 2006-12-12 Siemens Corporate Research, Inc. System and method for remotely experiencing a virtual environment
US7165005B2 (en) * 2001-08-14 2007-01-16 National Instruments Corporation Measurement module interface protocol database and registration system
US7367028B2 (en) * 2001-08-14 2008-04-29 National Instruments Corporation Graphically deploying programs on devices in a system
JP3975703B2 (en) * 2001-08-16 2007-09-12 日本電気株式会社 Preferential execution control method, apparatus and program for information processing system
US20030069998A1 (en) 2001-08-31 2003-04-10 Brown David W. Motion services protocol accessible through uniform resource locator (URL)
AU2002334708A1 (en) 2001-10-01 2003-04-14 Kline And Walker, Llc Pfn/trac system faa upgrades for accountable remote and robotics control
US7210145B2 (en) * 2001-10-15 2007-04-24 Edss, Inc. Technology for integrated computation and communication; TICC
JP2005515903A (en) 2001-11-28 2005-06-02 エヴォリューション ロボティクス インコーポレイテッド Abstraction and aggregation within the hardware abstraction layer of robot sensors and actuators
US6684157B2 (en) * 2001-12-06 2004-01-27 Yazaki North America, Inc. Method and system for interfacing a global positioning system, other navigational equipment and wireless networks with a digital data network
US7209874B2 (en) 2002-02-25 2007-04-24 Zoran Corporation Emulator-enabled network connectivity to a device
CN1476963A (en) 2002-06-17 2004-02-25 ������������ʽ���� Distributed control system and method
US7089313B2 (en) * 2002-07-25 2006-08-08 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Protocol independent communication system for mobile devices
US6925357B2 (en) 2002-07-25 2005-08-02 Intouch Health, Inc. Medical tele-robotic system
JP3801545B2 (en) * 2002-08-02 2006-07-26 松下電器産業株式会社 COMPILER PROGRAM, COMPILER DEVICE, AND COMPILING METHOD
US7558320B2 (en) * 2003-06-13 2009-07-07 Microsoft Corporation Quality control in frame interpolation with motion analysis
US8027349B2 (en) * 2003-09-25 2011-09-27 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Database event driven motion systems
US20060064503A1 (en) 2003-09-25 2006-03-23 Brown David W Data routing systems and methods
US20070022194A1 (en) 2003-09-25 2007-01-25 Brown David W Database event driven motion systems
WO2005048086A2 (en) 2003-11-17 2005-05-26 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Command processing systems and methods

Patent Citations (100)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4829419A (en) * 1970-12-28 1989-05-09 Hyatt Gilbert P Microcomputer control of machines
US4199814A (en) * 1977-10-12 1980-04-22 Digitcom, Inc. Computer numerical control machine tool
US4159417A (en) * 1977-10-28 1979-06-26 Rubincam David P Electronic book
US4800521A (en) * 1982-09-21 1989-01-24 Xerox Corporation Task control manager
US4494060A (en) * 1983-03-02 1985-01-15 Anorad Corporation Axis controller for robotic actuator
US4515011A (en) * 1983-05-06 1985-05-07 Baker Oil Tools, Inc. Torque transmitting and indicating device for well drilling apparatus
US4750888A (en) * 1983-12-15 1988-06-14 Giravions Dorand Method and device for training in the operation of moving vehicles
US5020021A (en) * 1985-01-14 1991-05-28 Hitachi, Ltd. System for automatic language translation using several dictionary storage areas and a noun table
US4937737A (en) * 1985-06-17 1990-06-26 International Business Machines Corporation Process transparent multi storage mode data transfer and buffer control
US4809335A (en) * 1985-10-24 1989-02-28 Rumsey Daniel S Speech unit for dolls and other toys
US4897835A (en) * 1985-11-27 1990-01-30 At&E Corporation High capacity protocol with multistation capability
US4815011A (en) * 1986-01-25 1989-03-21 Fanuc Ltd. Robot control apparatus
US4912650A (en) * 1986-07-10 1990-03-27 Fanuc Ltd. Off-line control execution method
US4840602A (en) * 1987-02-06 1989-06-20 Coleco Industries, Inc. Talking doll responsive to external signal
US5095445A (en) * 1987-03-20 1992-03-10 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Data communication system capable of communicating on-line with communication terminal equipment of a plurality of types
US5005134A (en) * 1987-04-30 1991-04-02 Fanuc Ltd. Numerical control apparatus with simultaneous function execution
US4987537A (en) * 1987-05-31 1991-01-22 Nec Corporation Computer capable of accessing a memory by supplying an address having a length shorter than that of a required address for the memory
US4901218A (en) * 1987-08-12 1990-02-13 Renishaw Controls Limited Communications adaptor for automated factory system
US4923428A (en) * 1988-05-05 1990-05-08 Cal R & D, Inc. Interactive talking toy
US5126932A (en) * 1988-06-17 1992-06-30 Siemens Corporate Research, Inc. Method and apparatus for executing a program in a heterogeneous multiple computer system
US5126932B1 (en) * 1988-06-17 1996-09-24 Siemens Corp Res Inc Method and apparatus for executing a program in a heterogeneous multiple computer system
US5014208A (en) * 1989-01-23 1991-05-07 Siemens Corporate Research, Inc. Workcell controller employing entity-server model for physical objects and logical abstractions
US5005135A (en) * 1989-03-22 1991-04-02 Cincinnati Milacron, Inc. Dynamic correction of servo following errors in a computer-numerically controlled system and fixed cycle utilizing same
US5491813A (en) * 1990-02-12 1996-02-13 International Business Machines Corporation Display subsystem architecture for binding device independent drivers together into a bound driver for controlling a particular display device
US5390304A (en) * 1990-09-28 1995-02-14 Texas Instruments, Incorporated Method and apparatus for processing block instructions in a data processor
US5412757A (en) * 1990-11-28 1995-05-02 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Fuzzy control system
US5120065A (en) * 1991-02-08 1992-06-09 Hasbro, Incorporated Electronic talking board game
US5613117A (en) * 1991-02-27 1997-03-18 Digital Equipment Corporation Optimizing compiler using templates corresponding to portions of an intermediate language graph to determine an order of evaluation and to allocate lifetimes to temporary names for variables
US5625821A (en) * 1991-08-12 1997-04-29 International Business Machines Corporation Asynchronous or synchronous operation of event signaller by event management services in a computer system
US5382026A (en) * 1991-09-23 1995-01-17 Hughes Aircraft Company Multiple participant moving vehicle shooting gallery
US5889672A (en) * 1991-10-24 1999-03-30 Immersion Corporation Tactiley responsive user interface device and method therefor
US6195592B1 (en) * 1991-10-24 2001-02-27 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for providing tactile sensations using an interface device
US5889670A (en) * 1991-10-24 1999-03-30 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for tactilely responsive user interface
US5287199A (en) * 1992-02-27 1994-02-15 At&T Bell Laboratories Facsimile message processing and routing system
US5400345A (en) * 1992-03-06 1995-03-21 Pitney Bowes Inc. Communications system to boundary-scan logic interface
US5402518A (en) * 1992-07-22 1995-03-28 Pcvoice, Inc. Sound storage and sound retrieval system having peripheral with hand operable switches
US5493281A (en) * 1992-09-23 1996-02-20 The Walt Disney Company Method and apparatus for remote synchronization of audio, lighting, animation and special effects
US5392382A (en) * 1992-12-01 1995-02-21 Schoppers; Marcel J. Automated plan synthesizer and plan execution method
US5607336A (en) * 1992-12-08 1997-03-04 Steven Lebensfeld Subject specific, word/phrase selectable message delivering doll or action figure
US5604843A (en) * 1992-12-23 1997-02-18 Microsoft Corporation Method and system for interfacing with a computer output device
US5390330A (en) * 1993-02-11 1995-02-14 Talati; Kirit K. Control system and method for direct execution of software application information models without code generation
US5405152A (en) * 1993-06-08 1995-04-11 The Walt Disney Company Method and apparatus for an interactive video game with physical feedback
US5739811A (en) * 1993-07-16 1998-04-14 Immersion Human Interface Corporation Method and apparatus for controlling human-computer interface systems providing force feedback
US6366273B1 (en) * 1993-07-16 2002-04-02 Immersion Corp. Force feedback cursor control interface
US6046727A (en) * 1993-07-16 2000-04-04 Immersion Corporation Three dimensional position sensing interface with force output
US6057828A (en) * 1993-07-16 2000-05-02 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for providing force sensations in virtual environments in accordance with host software
US5734373A (en) * 1993-07-16 1998-03-31 Immersion Human Interface Corporation Method and apparatus for controlling force feedback interface systems utilizing a host computer
US6219033B1 (en) * 1993-07-16 2001-04-17 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for controlling force feedback interface systems utilizing a host computer
US5392207A (en) * 1993-08-20 1995-02-21 Allen-Bradley Company, Inc. Programmable motion controller with graphical programming aid
US5596994A (en) * 1993-08-30 1997-01-28 Bro; William L. Automated and interactive behavioral and medical guidance system
US5413355A (en) * 1993-12-17 1995-05-09 Gonzalez; Carlos Electronic educational game with responsive animation
US5511147A (en) * 1994-01-12 1996-04-23 Uti Corporation Graphical interface for robot
US5600373A (en) * 1994-01-14 1997-02-04 Houston Advanced Research Center Method and apparatus for video image compression and decompression using boundary-spline-wavelets
US5617528A (en) * 1994-02-04 1997-04-01 Datacard Corporation Method and apparatus for interactively creating a card which includes video and cardholder information
US5485620A (en) * 1994-02-25 1996-01-16 Automation System And Products, Inc. Integrated control system for industrial automation applications
US5608894A (en) * 1994-03-18 1997-03-04 Fujitsu Limited Execution control system
US5754855A (en) * 1994-04-21 1998-05-19 International Business Machines Corporation System and method for managing control flow of computer programs executing in a computer system
US5623582A (en) * 1994-07-14 1997-04-22 Immersion Human Interface Corporation Computer interface or control input device for laparoscopic surgical instrument and other elongated mechanical objects
US5733131A (en) * 1994-07-29 1998-03-31 Seiko Communications Holding N.V. Education and entertainment device with dynamic configuration and operation
US5707289A (en) * 1994-10-21 1998-01-13 Pioneer Electronic Corporation Video game system having terminal identification data
US5855483A (en) * 1994-11-21 1999-01-05 Compaq Computer Corp. Interactive play with a computer
US5724074A (en) * 1995-02-06 1998-03-03 Microsoft Corporation Method and system for graphically programming mobile toys
US5907704A (en) * 1995-04-03 1999-05-25 Quark, Inc. Hierarchical encapsulation of instantiated objects in a multimedia authoring system including internet accessible objects
US5867385A (en) * 1995-05-30 1999-02-02 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems
US6571141B1 (en) * 1995-05-30 2003-05-27 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Application programs for motion control devices including access limitations
US6542925B2 (en) * 1995-05-30 2003-04-01 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Generation and distribution of motion commands over a distributed network
US6209037B1 (en) * 1995-05-30 2001-03-27 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems using communication map to facilitating communication with motion control hardware
US6191774B1 (en) * 1995-11-17 2001-02-20 Immersion Corporation Mouse interface for providing force feedback
US5752880A (en) * 1995-11-20 1998-05-19 Creator Ltd. Interactive doll
US6061004A (en) * 1995-11-26 2000-05-09 Immersion Corporation Providing force feedback using an interface device including an indexing function
US6219032B1 (en) * 1995-12-01 2001-04-17 Immersion Corporation Method for providing force feedback to a user of an interface device based on interactions of a controlled cursor with graphical elements in a graphical user interface
US6028593A (en) * 1995-12-01 2000-02-22 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for providing simulated physical interactions within computer generated environments
US6366272B1 (en) * 1995-12-01 2002-04-02 Immersion Corporation Providing interactions between simulated objects using force feedback
US6169540B1 (en) * 1995-12-01 2001-01-02 Immersion Corporation Method and apparatus for designing force sensations in force feedback applications
US6353850B1 (en) * 1995-12-13 2002-03-05 Immersion Corporation Force feedback provided in web pages
US5746602A (en) * 1996-02-27 1998-05-05 Kikinis; Dan PC peripheral interactive doll
US5737523A (en) * 1996-03-04 1998-04-07 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Methods and apparatus for providing dynamic network file system client authentication
US6374255B1 (en) * 1996-05-21 2002-04-16 Immersion Corporation Haptic authoring
US6031973A (en) * 1996-07-05 2000-02-29 Seiko Epson Corporation Robot and its controller method
US6038493A (en) * 1996-09-26 2000-03-14 Interval Research Corporation Affect-based robot communication methods and systems
US5890963A (en) * 1996-09-30 1999-04-06 Yen; Wei System and method for maintaining continuous and progressive game play in a computer network
US6232891B1 (en) * 1996-11-26 2001-05-15 Immersion Corporation Force feedback interface device having isometric functionality
US5873765A (en) * 1997-01-07 1999-02-23 Mattel, Inc. Toy having data downloading station
US6038603A (en) * 1997-03-25 2000-03-14 Oracle Corporation Processing customized uniform resource locators
US5907831A (en) * 1997-04-04 1999-05-25 Lotvin; Mikhail Computer apparatus and methods supporting different categories of users
US6020876A (en) * 1997-04-14 2000-02-01 Immersion Corporation Force feedback interface with selective disturbance filter
US6233545B1 (en) * 1997-05-01 2001-05-15 William E. Datig Universal machine translator of arbitrary languages utilizing epistemic moments
US6012961A (en) * 1997-05-14 2000-01-11 Design Lab, Llc Electronic toy including a reprogrammable data storage device
US6070010A (en) * 1997-07-25 2000-05-30 International Business Machines Corporation System and method of local data alignment for stack memory
US6343349B1 (en) * 1997-11-14 2002-01-29 Immersion Corporation Memory caching for force feedback effects
US6216173B1 (en) * 1998-02-03 2001-04-10 Redbox Technologies Limited Method and apparatus for content processing and routing
US6173316B1 (en) * 1998-04-08 2001-01-09 Geoworks Corporation Wireless communication device with markup language based man-machine interface
US6678713B1 (en) * 1998-04-29 2004-01-13 Xerox Corporation Machine control using a schedulerlock construct
US6519646B1 (en) * 1998-09-01 2003-02-11 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Method and apparatus for encoding content characteristics
US6519594B1 (en) * 1998-11-14 2003-02-11 Sony Electronics, Inc. Computer-implemented sharing of java classes for increased memory efficiency and communication method
US6523171B1 (en) * 1998-12-29 2003-02-18 International Business Machines Corporation Enhanced source code translator from procedural programming language (PPL) to an object oriented programming language (OOPL)
US6546436B1 (en) * 1999-03-30 2003-04-08 Moshe Fainmesser System and interface for controlling programmable toys
US7216179B2 (en) * 2000-08-16 2007-05-08 Semandex Networks Inc. High-performance addressing and routing of data packets with semantically descriptive labels in a computer network
US6528963B1 (en) * 2000-12-13 2003-03-04 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Robot and method for controlling motor speed of the robot
US6892145B2 (en) * 2002-02-25 2005-05-10 General Electric Company Method and system for conditionally triggered system data capture

Cited By (28)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8073557B2 (en) 1995-05-30 2011-12-06 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems
US20110185371A1 (en) * 1995-05-30 2011-07-28 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Systems and Methods for Communicating With Motion Control Systems and Devices
US8271105B2 (en) 1995-05-30 2012-09-18 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Motion control systems
US20090157199A1 (en) * 1995-05-30 2009-06-18 Brown David W Motion Control Systems
US7853645B2 (en) 1997-10-07 2010-12-14 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Remote generation and distribution of command programs for programmable devices
US20090157807A1 (en) * 1997-10-07 2009-06-18 Brown Stephen J System and/or method for generating a script relating to a medical task involving motion with a device
US20050114444A1 (en) * 1997-10-07 2005-05-26 Brown Stephen J. Remote generation and distribution of command programs for programmable devices
US7904194B2 (en) 2001-02-09 2011-03-08 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Event management systems and methods for motion control systems
US8102869B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2012-01-24 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Data routing systems and methods
US8027349B2 (en) 2003-09-25 2011-09-27 Roy-G-Biv Corporation Database event driven motion systems
US7853371B2 (en) * 2004-08-09 2010-12-14 Daifuku Co., Ltd. Article transport apparatus and article transport method
US20060073002A1 (en) * 2004-08-09 2006-04-06 Daifuku Co., Ltd. Article transport apparatus and article transport method
US20080088605A1 (en) * 2005-03-18 2008-04-17 Searete Llc, A Limited Liability Corporation Decoding digital information included in a hand-formed expression
US20090052349A1 (en) * 2006-04-12 2009-02-26 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Node device, recording medium where storage control program is recorded, and information storing method
US8654678B2 (en) * 2006-04-12 2014-02-18 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Node device, recording medium where storage control program is recorded, and information storing method
US8438249B2 (en) * 2007-06-07 2013-05-07 Hitachi, Ltd. Sensor-Net system and sensor node
US20080307075A1 (en) * 2007-06-07 2008-12-11 Hitachi, Ltd. Sensor-net system and sensor node
US20090210373A1 (en) * 2008-02-20 2009-08-20 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. System architecture and process for seamless adaptation to context aware behavior models
US7962435B2 (en) 2008-02-20 2011-06-14 Panasonic Corporation System architecture and process for seamless adaptation to context aware behavior models
US20110169832A1 (en) * 2010-01-11 2011-07-14 Roy-G-Biv Corporation 3D Motion Interface Systems and Methods
US20190312932A1 (en) * 2011-04-27 2019-10-10 Commvault Systems, Inc. System and method for client policy assignment in a data storage system
US10757191B2 (en) * 2011-04-27 2020-08-25 Commvault Systems, Inc. System and method for client policy assignment in a data storage system
US11108864B2 (en) * 2011-04-27 2021-08-31 Commvault Systems, Inc. System and method for client policy assignment in a data storage system
US11546426B2 (en) 2011-04-27 2023-01-03 Commvault Systems, Inc. System and method for client policy assignment in a data storage system
US11177958B2 (en) 2016-09-13 2021-11-16 Silverfort Ltd. Protection of authentication tokens
US20200213116A1 (en) * 2017-06-19 2020-07-02 Silverfort Ltd. Actively Monitoring Encrypted Traffic by Inspecting Logs
US11792008B2 (en) * 2017-06-19 2023-10-17 Silverfort Ltd. Actively monitoring encrypted traffic by inspecting logs
US10764319B2 (en) * 2017-10-05 2020-09-01 Honeywell International Inc. Intelligent automated security vulnerability detection and analysis for industrial internet of things (IIOT) devices

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US20100005192A1 (en) 2010-01-07
WO2005031542A2 (en) 2005-04-07
EP1678589A4 (en) 2010-10-06
WO2005031542A3 (en) 2006-06-29
HK1093626A1 (en) 2007-03-02
US8102869B2 (en) 2012-01-24
EP1678589A2 (en) 2006-07-12
EP1678589B1 (en) 2013-03-13

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US8102869B2 (en) Data routing systems and methods
US9588510B2 (en) Database event driven motion systems
US20070022194A1 (en) Database event driven motion systems
Lehman et al. Hitting the distributed computing sweet spot with TSpaces
US7904194B2 (en) Event management systems and methods for motion control systems
US8127035B1 (en) Distributed message engines and systems
DE69935443T2 (en) A method and apparatus for pushing information from a host computer system to a mobile data communications device
CN104049575B (en) It is collected in Process Control System and delivers data to big data machine
US7516244B2 (en) Systems and methods for providing server operations in a work machine
US20040006589A1 (en) System and method for managing distributed computer processes
US20030051074A1 (en) Internet object based interface for industrial controller
US20180165139A1 (en) Event stream processing cluster manager
JP2002517829A (en) Method and system for performing client callbacks through a firewall within or between enterprises
CA2657792A1 (en) System and method for providing remote access to events from a database access system
EP1010055A1 (en) System for integrating an on-line service community with a foreign service
EP2526487A1 (en) Connecting module for connecting at least one sensor, actuator, or effector to a service-oriented-architecture network
US20050132104A1 (en) Command processing systems and methods
DE60029332T2 (en) METHOD FOR SHIFTING INFORMATION BETWEEN A COMPUTER SYSTEM AND A MOBILE DATA COMMUNICATION DEVICE
US11665050B2 (en) Model driven configuration management for microservices
US20070032989A1 (en) Managing information collected in real-time or near real-time, such as sensor information used in the testing and measurement of environments and systems
Chen et al. Supporting adaptive ubiquitous applications with the SOLAR system
Matteucci Publish/subscribe middleware for robotics: requirements and state of the art
US7092948B1 (en) Method and system of integrating information from multiple sources
Andres et al. ROSoClingo: A ROS package for ASP-based robot control
Almeida et al. Connecting Sensors and Robots through the Internet by Integration Microsoft Robotics Studio and Embedded Wen Services

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: ROY-G-BIV CORPORATION, WASHINGTON

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:BROWN, DAVID W.;CLARK, JAY S.;REEL/FRAME:015770/0969

Effective date: 20040812

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION