Patent ID: 11966731
Assignee: ABB SCHWEIZ AG
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A method for real time updating of process software, comprising the steps:
executing, by a first execution engine, a first process application thereby controlling a process device, wherein the first execution engine is a first software container deployed in a deployment unit, wherein software containers of the deployment unit are deployed on a single physical host node;
receiving, by an update manager, an updated software, wherein the updated software comprises an updated process application, the updated process application being at least one of an updated version of the first process application, and an updated execution engine, the updated execution engine being an updated version of the first execution engine;
wherein the update manager is a second software container deployed in the deployment unit;
initializing, by the update manager, the updated software in a second execution engine, wherein the second execution engine is a third software container deployed in the deployment unit;
determining, by the update manager, an application state of the first process application;
instructing, by the update manager, a transfer of the application state from the first execution engine to the second execution engine via inter-process communication,
wherein instructing the transfer of the application state from the first execution engine to the second execution engine comprises:
pausing, by the update manager, the execution of the first process application;
instructing, by the update manager, the first execution engine to store the application state on the shared memory;
instructing, by the update manager, the second execution engine to load the application state from the shared memory; and
de-pausing, by the update manager, the execution of the first process application;

instructing, by the update manager, the second execution engine to execute the updated process application using the received application state; and
instructing, by the update manager, the first execution engine to stop writing output signals for the process device, and instructing the second execution engine to write the output signals for the process device.