Patent ID: 11868970
Assignee: ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: IT methods for management (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 12:
13. A method for managing device lifecycles within an industrial automation environment comprising a plurality of industrial machines, each machine comprising one or more industrial devices, the method comprising:
receiving, from a user through a communication interface, configuration data and a request for lifecycle management data including a pre-determined time interval to repeat the request specified by the user, wherein the configuration data is produced by aggregating scanned data obtained via a server or gateway based on a scanning configuration that defines a method for scanning a plurality of industrial devices comprising instructions specifying which industrial machines and industrial devices are to be scanned, the configuration data comprising a configuration of one or more machines within the industrial automation environment and a configuration of one or more industrial devices within each of the one or more machines, the configuration data further comprising a product name, a product number, a firmware revision number, and a serial number for each industrial device;
determining lifecycle management data, including a lifecycle phase for at least one of the plurality of industrial devices, for each of the plurality of industrial devices within the industrial automation environment, based on the configuration data, wherein the lifecycle phase is one of active, active mature, discontinued, and end of life;
determining identities of replacement devices for one or more of the industrial devices that are in a discontinued lifecycle phase, by processing the configuration data and the lifecycle management data in a computing system within a product compatibility and download center;
transferring the lifecycle management data and the identities of replacement devices to a server through the communication interface;
generating, on a user interface, a graphical representation of the lifecycle phase of each industrial machine and one or more industrial devices within the industrial machine, and a textual representation of the replacement information for one or more industrial devices that are in the discontinued lifecycle phase;
generating, on the user interface, in response to a displayed lifecycle phase of discontinued for a given industrial device, a graphical representation of the replacement information comprising a migration to a different industrial device and lifecycle data for the different industrial device; and
managing the migration to the different industrial devise by replacing the given industrial devise with the different industrial device.