Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated

Clark L Case

Taryl Jon Jasper

Robert C Kline

Michael A Bush

Robert A Brandt

John C Wilkinson

Paul R D'Mura

Andrew J Keizer

Gretchen Lee Krehbiel

William E Godsil

Gigi Dewey

Charles Martin Rischar

Roman Vitek

Radek Bartman

Eryn Amara Danielle Manela

Gretchen L Krehbiel

An industrial topology discovery system autonomously discovers and documents industrial automation system topologies using orchestrated discovery agents of various types. The topology discovery system can reside on a cloud platform or another high level network and deploy discovery agents on plant networks and devices within an industrial facility. These discovery agents can implement different strategies for discovering system information, and can include agents configured to monitor and report on communication traffic across respective types of networks, agents configured to probe respective device types for identity and configuration information, and other types of agents. Discovery services executed by the topology discovery system can collect device and network information obtained by the agents and use this information to document the topology of the automation system as well as to orchestrate the discovery behavior of the agents to extract further information about the system based on defined discovery rules.

Industrial automation system topology with point to point representation paths

Techniques to facilitate protection of control system content used in an industrial automation environment are disclosed herein. In at least one implementation, the control system content for use in the industrial automation environment is received, wherein the control system content comprises controller program code that directs an industrial controller to drive a machine system. Content protection instructions for the control system content are also received, wherein the content protection instructions comprise restrictions on execution of the control system content. An execution license that includes process-related constraints for the control system content is generated based on the content protection instructions. The execution license is applied to the control system content to generate protected content, wherein use of the control system content is granted subject to the process-related constraints of the execution license.

Industrial automation control system content protection

Techniques to facilitate protecting control programs used in an industrial automation environment are disclosed herein. In at least one implementation, control system content provided by a primary entity is received along with a primary security authority provided by the primary entity, wherein the primary security authority defines primary usage rights for the control system content granted to a secondary entity. A secondary security authority provided by the secondary entity is received, wherein the secondary security authority defines secondary usage rights for the control system content that further restrict the primary usage rights. A request is received from a user associated with the secondary entity to perform an action associated with the control system content, and the request is processed with the secondary security authority to determine if the user is authorized to perform the action associated with the control system content based on the secondary usage rights.

Secondary security authority

Techniques to facilitate temporary escalation of access privileges for a control program associated with a machine system in an industrial automation environment are disclosed. In at least one implementation, a request is received from a user for a temporary access level increase to utilize protected functions of the control program. An encrypted string is generated comprising a temporary password authorized to access the protected functions of the control program. The encrypted string is provided to the user, wherein the user provides the encrypted string to an administrator and the administrator authenticates the user for the temporary access level increase, decrypts the temporary password, and provides the temporary password to the user. A login request is received from the user with the temporary password, and the temporary access level increase is responsively granted to allow the user to utilize the protected functions of the control program.

One time use password for temporary privilege escalation in a role-based access control (RBAC) system

Techniques to facilitate controlling access to objects associated with an industrial automation environment are disclosed. In at least one implementation, a policy set associated with an object type is created, wherein the policy set defines one or more actions that are allowed for at least one user group to perform with respect to the object type. An object of the object type is identified for security configuration, and a selection of the policy set associated with the object type to apply to the object is received. In response to the selection of the policy set, security is configured for the object by applying the policy set associated with the object type to the object.

Custom security policies for multiple objects

According to various embodiments, an interdependency modeling method for controlling a batch process with an industrial automation system includes evaluating an input parameter expression residing in a level of a supervisory system of the industrial automation system to determine a value, transferring the value of the input parameter expression to a level of an equipment control system of the industrial automation system, transferring data from the level of the equipment control system to the level of the supervisory system, and evaluating an output parameter expression residing in the level of the supervisory system based on the data from the level of the equipment control system.

Systems and methods for modeling interdependencies in batch processes

A processing component that executes one or more industrial control procedures is provided. A procedure class component implements at least one instance of the industrial control procedures, where the instance is dynamically adapted to a parameter of equipment that operates the industrial control procedure.

Procedure classification for industrial automation

The subject invention relates to a system and methodology facilitating automated manufacturing processes in a regulated industrial controller environment. In one aspect, a system for automated industrial processing is provided. The system includes an interface component to facilitate processing of one or more electronic signature components and a verification component that operates with the interface components and the electronic signature components to validate requested or proposed process changes before actual system implementation of the process changes.

Preemptive change verification via electronic signatures in industrial automation systems

The subject invention relates to a system and methodology facilitating automated manufacturing processes in a regulated industrial controller environment, wherein operator commands are tied to one or more signature requirements before the requested commands take effect in a batch system. In one aspect, a system is provided for signature processing in an industrial control environment. The system includes a queuing component to hold a pending request for an action. A signature component then determines when an electronic signature is completed for the action, wherein a batch processor executes the action from the queuing component after the electronic signature is completed. A policy component can be provided to define one or more conditions for completing the electronic signature.

Systems and methods for queuing an action in industrial automation systems

The subject invention relates to a system and methodology facilitating automated manufacturing processes in a regulated industrial controller environment, wherein a centralized signature component generates signature events to remote locations and validates signatures required to satisfy such events. A system for distributed signature processing is provided. The system includes a signature component to determine when to generate one or more electronic signature events and to validate electronic signatures that have been received from various local or remote locations. An application layer distributes interface components to the locations in order to facilitate generation of the electronic signature events and validation of the electronic signatures.

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Phoenix, AZ, United States of America

Clark L Case