Patent Publication Number: US-2022224698-A1

Title: Generating image data representative of industrial automation system configurations

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure generally relates to generating image data related to an industrial automation system configuration and, more particularly, to monitoring these industrial configurations using image data to convey information related to the configuration of industrial equipment. 
     This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art. 
     An industrial automation system may include a number of individual systems connected to an automation controller, which facilitates the automation of a number of different manufacturing processes. Each individual system may have distinct firmware relating to an individual manufacturing process and associated manufacturing processes. However, an operator of the respective system may not have full knowledge of each individual system and how each system connects to form the complete industrial automation system. Additionally, the operator may find it challenging to connect an industrial automation system to access or use various system configuration discovery tools and/or resources. As such, improved systems and methods of presenting a configuration of the industrial automation system to operators in an easily discernable manner through the generation of image data are desirable. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
     A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. It should be understood that these aspects are presented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and that these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may not be set forth below. 
     In one embodiment, a system may include an electronic display and a control system with a processor. The processor may receive a request to generate image data representative of configuration data associated with an industrial automation system. The processor may then retrieve the configuration data from storage components of industrial automation devices that are part of the industrial automation system. The processor may then encode the configuration data into the image data and display the image data on the electronic display. 
     In another embodiment, a method may include generating, via a processor, the image data representative of the configuration data associated with the industrial automation system and displaying the image data via the electronic display. The method may then include detecting a change in the configuration data, retrieving updated configuration data from the storage components associated with the industrial automation devices, and encoding the updated configuration data into a new set of image data. The method may then include displaying the new set of image data via the electronic display. 
     In a further embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may include instructions that cause a processor to receive image data representative of the configuration data associated with the industrial automation system and geotag data associated with the image data from a computing device. The processor may then decode the image data to generate the configuration data associated with the industrial automation system and storing the configuration data and the geotag data within a database. The processor may then determine recommendations of updates and replacement products based on the configuration data, the geotag data, and additional configuration data related to the configuration data stored in the database. The processor may then transmit the recommendations and replacement products to the computing device. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
       These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will become better understood when the following detail description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an example industrial automation system employed by a food manufacturer, in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a diagrammatical representation of local control system that may produce image data representative of a configuration of connected industrial automation equipment system, in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates example components that may be part of the local control system for the industrial automation system of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a flow chat of a method for generating image data based on configuration data, in accordance with an embodiment; and 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a flow chat of a method for receiving, decoding, and storing the generated image data, in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below. In an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers&#39; specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure. 
     When introducing elements of various embodiment of the present disclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of these elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. 
     As discussed above, an industrial automation system may include industrial automation equipment that may be connected to control system or device to automate manufacturing processes. Industrial automation systems may be used in various contexts, such as a manufacturing plant, a resource extraction system, a hydrocarbon extraction site, a chemical refinery facility, an industrial plant, a power generation system, a mining system, a brewery, a food processing plant, or the like. These industrial automation systems encompass a wide variety of different individual systems that each contribute to the manufacturing process as a whole. As a result of this arrangement, operators may find issues with not knowing which individual systems are part of the industrial automation system, if the individual systems are updated, or where the individual systems are placed within the industrial automation system. 
     To remedy this, a control/monitoring system may collect data regarding a configuration (e.g., components, arrangements, network data) and generate image data representative of the configuration. As used herein, “image data” is intended to describe a medium of encoded data for transmission, such as a QR Code®. To accomplish this, the control system may collect relevant information from the industrial automation system pertaining to the operation, maintenance, and history of each individual system or component of the industrial automation system. Additionally, the control system may reference an input/output (I/O) tree, which may represent connections between each individual system of the industrial automation system. In some embodiments, the configuration information related to the industrial automation system may be stored in a storage component locally accessible to the control system. 
     After the control system has collected or retrieved the information (e.g., networking, firmware version) relating to the components of the industrial automation system, the control system may generate image data (e.g., a QR Code®) that includes or encodes data related to the configuration of the industrial automation system. The control system may then display the image data via an electronic display, a Human Machine Interface (HMI), Graphical User Interface (GUI), or the like. A computing device (e.g., smart phone, tablet computer) may scan the image data and convert the image data into a component list that details the configuration of the respective industrial automation system. In some embodiments, the computing device may display the image data to be scanned by an accompanying computing device. The image data may be transmitted to a secure receiving component that is dedicated to limited communications with the control system or the computing device that acquired or scanned the image data. As such, the receiving component may limit opportunities for other devices to access data stored in the control system or the computing device via other networks. In addition to transmitting the image data, the computing device may transmit location (e.g., geotag) information associated with the industrial automation system. After receiving the image data and the location information, the receiving component may process the image data and update a cloud-based computing system to store information related to the configuration of the respective industrial automation system. 
     In some embodiments, the cloud-based computing system may receive multiple sets of image data representative of the industrial automation system at different times. The cloud-based computing system may decode the image data to determine the configuration data of the industrial automation system and update the configuration data stored in a memory or storage (e.g., database) accessible to the cloud-based computing system based on any new changes. The cloud-based computing system may then store the configuration data and corresponding location data in the database. After storing the data in the database, the cloud-based computing system may then analyze the configuration data, compare the new entry to a historical database of configuration information for similar equipment, and identify recommendations and/or upgrades for the equipment. These recommendations may consist of identifying firmware updates for individual systems that make up part of the industrial automation system and new products or components that may be available for purchase to complement or improve the existing configuration. Additionally, the cloud-based computing system may transmit these recommendations to a computing device, such that the operator may become aware of the recommendations. Additional details with regard to acquiring, sending, and analyzing configuration data for the industrial automation system will be discussed below with reference to  FIGS. 1-5 . 
     By way of introduction,  FIG. 1  illustrates an example industrial automation system  10  employed by a food manufacturer. It should be noted that although the example industrial automation system  10  of  FIG. 1  is directed at a food manufacturer, the present embodiments described herein may be employed within any suitable industry, such as automotive, mining, hydrocarbon production, manufacturing, and the like. The following brief description of the example industrial automation system  10  employed by the food manufacturer is provided herein to help facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of how the embodiments described herein may be applied to industrial devices to significantly improve the operations of the respective industrial automation system based on the current configuration of the equipment in the industrial automation system. As such, the embodiments described herein should not be limited to be applied to the example depicted in  FIG. 1 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , the example industrial automation system  10  for a food manufacturer may include silos  12  and tanks  14 . The silos  12  and the tanks  14  may store different types of raw material, such as grains, salt, yeast, sweeteners, flavoring agents, coloring agents, vitamins, minerals and preservatives. In some embodiments, sensors  16  may be positioned within or around the silos  12 , the tanks  14 , or other suitable locations within the industrial automation system  10  to measure certain properties, such as temperature, mass, volume, pressure, humidity, and the like. 
     The raw materials be provided to a mixer  18 , which may mix the raw materials together according to a specified ratio. The mixer  18  and other machines in the industrial automation system  10  may employ certain industrial automation devices  20  to control the operations of the mixer  18  and other machines. The industrial automation devices  20  may include controllers, input/output (I/O) modules, motor control centers, motors, human machine interfaces (HMIs), operator interfaces, contactors, starters, sensors  16 , actuators, conveyors, drives, relays, protection devices, switchgear, compressors, sensor, actuator, firewall, network switches (e.g., Ethernet switches, modular-managed, fixed-managed, service-router, industrial, unmanaged, etc.) and the like. 
     The mixer  18  may provide a mixed compound to a depositor  22 , which may deposit a certain amount of the mixed compound onto conveyor  24 . The depositor  22  may deposit the mixed compound on the conveyor  24  according to a shape and amount that may be specified to a control system for the depositor  22 . The conveyor  24  may be any suitable conveyor system that transports items to various types of machinery across the industrial automation system  10 . For example, the conveyor  24  may transport deposited material from the depositor  22  to an oven  26 , which may bake the deposited material. The baked material may be transported to a cooling tunnel  28  to cool the baked material, such that the cooled material may be transported to a tray loader  30  via the conveyor  24 . The tray loader  30  may include machinery that receives a certain amount of the cooled material for packaging. By way of example, the tray loader  30  may receive 25 ounces of the cooled material, which may correspond to an amount of cereal provided in a cereal box. 
     A tray wrapper  32  may receive a collected amount of cooled material from the tray loader  30  into a bag, which may be sealed. The tray wrapper  32  may receive the collected amount of cooled material in a bag and seal the bag using appropriate machinery. The conveyor  24  may transport the bagged material to case packer  34 , which may package the bagged material into a box. The boxes may be transported to a palletizer  36 , which may stack a certain number of boxes on a pallet that may be lifted using a forklift or the like. The stacked boxes may then be transported to a shrink wrapper  38 , which may wrap the stacked boxes with shrink-wrap to keep the stacked boxes together while on the pallet. The shrink-wrapped boxes may then be transported to storage or the like via a forklift or other suitable transport vehicle. 
     To perform the operations of each of the devices in the example industrial automation system  10 , the industrial automation devices  20  may be used to provide power to the machinery used to perform certain tasks, provide protection to the machinery from electrical surges, prevent injuries from occurring with human operators in the industrial automation system  10 , monitor the operations of the respective device, communicate data regarding the respective device to a supervisory control system  40 , and the like. In some embodiments, each industrial automation device  20  or a group of industrial automation devices  20  may be controlled using a local control system  42 . The local control system  42  may include receive data regarding the operation of the respective industrial automation device  20 , other industrial automation devices  20 , user inputs, and other suitable inputs to control the operations of the respective industrial automation device(s)  20 . 
     The local control system  42  may have access to configuration data associated with the connected industrial automation devices  20 . That is, the local control system  42  may include memory or a storage component that stores information concerning the configuration of each industrial automation device  20  connected to it. In some embodiments, the information or configuration data may be populated or input by an operator at the time the respective industrial automation device  20  is installed. Additionally, the local control system  42  may query the connected industrial automation device  20  to retrieve configuration data, such as model number, serial number, firmware revision, assembly profile, and the like. In some embodiments, the supervisory control system  40  may collect configuration data from multiple local control systems  40  and store the information in a suitable memory or storage component. 
     By way of example,  FIG. 2  illustrates a diagrammatical representation of a local control system  42  that may be employed in any suitable industrial automation system  10 , in accordance with embodiments presented herein. In  FIG. 2 , the local control system  42  is illustrated as including a human machine interface (HMI)  52  and a processor  54  or automation controller adapted to interface with devices that may monitor and control various types of industrial equipment  56 . By way of example, the industrial automation equipment  56  may include the mixer  18 , the depositor  22 , the conveyor  24 , the oven  26 , and any other suitable piece of machinery described in  FIG. 1  or that may be employed in any suitable industrial environment. 
     It should be noted that HMI  52  and the processor  54 , in accordance with embodiments of the present techniques, may generate and encode image data representative of the configuration of industrial automation system to display on the HMI  52 . Indeed, various image data mediums may be utilized, such as a QR Code®, for capturing the configuration of the industrial automation equipment system. Such mediums may allow for effective and quick image data encoding and transmission. 
     As discussed above, the industrial automation equipment  56  may take many forms and include devices for accomplishing many different and varied purposes. For example, the industrial automation equipment  56  may include machinery used to perform various operations in a compressor station, an oil refinery, a batch operation for making food items, a mechanized assembly line, and so forth. Accordingly, the industrial automation equipment  56  may include a variety of operational components, such as electric motors, valves, actuators, temperature elements, pressure sensors, or a myriad of machinery or devices used for manufacturing, processing, material handling, and other applications. 
     Additionally, the industrial automation equipment  56  may include various types of equipment that may be used to perform the various operations that may be part of an industrial application. For instance, the industrial automation equipment  56  may include electrical equipment, hydraulic equipment, compressed air equipment, steam equipment, mechanical tools, protective equipment, refrigeration equipment, power lines, hydraulic lines, steam lines, and the like. Some example types of equipment may include mixers, machine conveyors, tanks, skids, specialized original equipment manufacturer machines, and the like. In addition to the equipment described above, the industrial automation equipment  56  may be made up of certain automation devices  20 , which may include controllers, input/output (I/O) modules, motor control centers, motors, human machine interfaces (HMIs), operator interfaces, contactors, starters, sensors  16 , actuators, drives, relays, protection devices, switchgear, compressors, firewall, network switches (e.g., Ethernet switches, modular-managed, fixed-managed, service-router, industrial, unmanaged, etc.) and the like. 
     In certain embodiments, one or more properties of the industrial automation equipment  56  may be monitored and controlled by certain equipment for regulating control variables used to operate the industrial automation equipment  56 . For example, the sensors  16  and actuators  60  may monitor various properties of the industrial automation equipment  56  and may adjust operations of the industrial automation equipment  56 , respectively. 
     In some cases, the industrial automation equipment  56  may be associated with devices used by other equipment. For instance, scanners, gauges, valves, flow meters, and the like may be disposed on industrial automation equipment  56 . Here, the industrial automation equipment  56  may receive data from the associated devices and use the data to perform their respective operations more efficiently. For example, the processor  54  of a motor drive may receive data regarding a temperature of a connected motor and may adjust operations of the motor drive based on the data. 
     In certain embodiments, the industrial automation equipment  56  may include a communication component that enables the industrial equipment  56  to communicate data between each other and other devices. The communication component may include a network interface that may enable the industrial automation equipment  56  to communicate via various protocols such as Ethernet/IP®, ControlNet®, DeviceNet®, or any other industrial communication network protocol. Alternatively, the communication component may enable the industrial automation equipment  56  to communicate via various wired or wireless communication protocols, such as Wi-Fi, mobile telecommunications technology (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE), Bluetooth®, near-field communications technology, and the like. 
     The sensors  16  may be any number of devices adapted to provide information regarding process conditions. The actuators  60  may include any number of devices adapted to perform a mechanical action in response to a signal from an automation controller  54 . The sensors  16  and actuators  60  may be utilized to operate the industrial automation equipment  56 . Indeed, they may be utilized within process loops that are monitored and controlled by the automation controller  54  and/or the HMI  52 . Such a process loop may be activated based on process inputs (e.g., input from a sensor  16 ) or direct operator input received through the HMI  52 . As illustrated, the sensors  16  and actuators  60  are in communication with the processor  54 . Further, the sensors  16  and actuators  60  may be assigned a particular address to receive power or coordinate communication to the processor  54 . 
     Input/output (I/O) modules  62  may be added or removed from the local control system  42  via expansion slots, bays, or other suitable mechanisms. In certain embodiments, the I/O modules  62  may be included to add functionality to the processor  54 , or to accommodate additional process features. For instance, the I/O modules  62  may communicate with new sensors  16  or actuators  60  added to monitor and control the industrial automation equipment  56 . It should be noted that the I/O modules  62  may communicate directly to sensors  16  or actuators  60  through hardwired connections or may communicate through wired or wireless sensor networks, such as Hart or IOLink. 
     Generally, the I/O modules  62  serve as an electrical interface to the processor  54  and may be located proximate or remote from the processor  54 , including remote network interfaces to associated systems. In such embodiments, data may be communicated with remote modules over a common communication link, or network, wherein modules on the network communicate via a standard communications protocol. Many industrial controllers can communicate via network technologies such as Ethernet (e.g., IEEE802.3, TCP/IP, UDP, Ethernet/IP, and so forth), ControlNet, DeviceNet, or other network protocols (Foundation Fieldbus (H1 and Fast Ethernet) Modbus TCP, Profibus) and also communicate to higher level computing systems. 
     In certain embodiments, the local control system  42  and the industrial automation equipment  56  may make up an industrial automation application  64 . The industrial automation application  64  may involve any type of industrial process or system used to manufacture, produce, process, or package various types of items. For example, the industrial applications  64  may include industries such as material handling, packaging industries, manufacturing, processing, batch processing, the example industrial automation system  10  of  FIG. 1 , and the like. 
     In certain embodiments, the processor  54  may be communicatively coupled to a computing device  66 . In this network, input and output signals generated from the processor  54  may be communicated to the computing device  66 . Although the processor  54  may be capable of communicating with the computing device  66 , as mentioned above, in certain embodiments, the processor  54  (e.g., local computing system  42 ) may perform certain operations and analysis without sending data to the computing device  66 . 
     In some embodiments, while communicatively coupled to the processor  54 , the computing device  66  may display a webpage representative of the local control system  42 . The webpage may include operational data, configuration information, and additional actions to utilize the local control system  42  and the related data. For example, within the webpage, there may be an option to generate and encode image data representative of the configuration of industrial automation system. By utilizing this option, the image data may be displayed on the computing device  66  to be scanned by an accompanying computing device. 
     In certain embodiments, the computing device  66  and/or the processor  54  may be communicatively coupled to a cloud-based computing system  68 . In this network, the computing device  66  may transmit encoded image data generated by processor  54  to the cloud-based computing system  68  for storage and analysis. The cloud-based computing system  68  may then send data relating to the analyzed image data back to the computing device  66 . Although the computing device  66  may first transmit image data to the cloud-based computing system  68 , in certain embodiments, the cloud-based computing system  68  may transmit data to the computing device  66  without first receiving image data from the computing device  66 . That is, in other words, the cloud-based computing system  68  may not need to first receive an input from the computing device  66  to provide an output back to the computing device  66 . 
     In some embodiments, the cloud-based computing system  68  may employ machine learning algorithms to glean insight into trends, patterns, expected issues, and the like based on a correlation between the received configuration data and configuration data regarding various other industrial equipment collected over time. That is, the cloud-based computing system  68  may analyze relationships between the configuration data of similar types of equipment to determine recommendations or operational adjustments (e.g., speed, load, temperature) for equipment to prevent or guard against potential vulnerabilities in an industrial automation system. The operational adjustments or recommendations may include downloading firmware or software updates, recommendations to replace certain components with newer components, and the like. 
     With this in mind,  FIG. 3  illustrates example components that may be part of the local control system  42 , in accordance with embodiments presented herein. For example, the local control system  42  may include a communication component  72 , the processor  54 , a memory  76 , a storage  78 , input/output (I/O) ports  80 , an image sensor  82  (e.g., a camera), a location sensor  84 , a display  86  (e.g., HMI  52 ), additional sensors (e.g., vibration sensors, temperature sensors), and the like. The communication component  72  may be a wireless or wired communication component that may facilitate communication between the industrial automation equipment  56 , the cloud-based computing system  68 , and other communication capable devices. 
     The processor  54  may be any type of computer processor or microprocessor capable of executing computer-executable code. The processor  54  may also include multiple processors that may perform the operations described below. The memory  76  and the storage  78  may be any suitable articles of manufacture that can serve as media to store processor-executable code, data, or the like. These articles of manufacture may represent computer-readable media (e.g., any suitable form of memory or storage) that may store the processor-executable code used by the processor  54  to perform the presently disclosed techniques. Generally, the processor  54  may execute software applications that include programs that enable a user to track and/or monitor operations of the industrial automation equipment  56  via a local or remote communication link. That is, the software applications may communicate with the processor  54  and gather information associated with the industrial automation equipment  56  as determined by the processor  54  via the sensors  16  disposed on the industrial automation equipment  56  and the like. 
     The memory  76  and the storage  78  may also be used to store the data, analysis of the data, the software applications, and the like. The memory  76  and the storage  78  may represent non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., any suitable form of memory or storage) that may store the processor-executable code used by the processor  74  to perform various techniques described herein. It should be noted that non-transitory merely indicates that the media is tangible and not a signal. 
     In one embodiment, the memory  76  and/or storage  78  may include a software application that may be executed by the processor  54  and may be used to monitor, control, access, or view one of the industrial automation equipment  56 . As such, the computing device  66  may communicatively couple to industrial automation equipment  56  or to a respective computing device of the industrial automation equipment  56  via a direct connection between the devices or via an indirect connection (e.g., via routers) with the devices. The software application may perform various functionalities, such as tracking statistics of the industrial automation equipment  56 , storing reasons for placing the industrial automation equipment  56  offline, determining reasons for placing the industrial automation equipment  56  offline, securing industrial automation equipment  56  that is placed offline, denying access to place an offline industrial automation equipment  56  back online until certain conditions are met, and so forth. 
     In another embodiments, the memory  76  and/or storage  78  may include a software application that may be executed by the processor  54  and may be used to generate and encode image data representative of data collected from the industrial automation equipment  56 . The software application may perform various functionalities, such as facilitating the collection of firmware versions, manufacturer data, network security parameters, compatibility data, lifecycle data, and the like from the industrial automation equipment  56 . Additionally, the software application may use the collected data to generate and encode image data in the form of an easily transmissible medium, such as a QR Code®. 
     The I/O ports  80  may be interfaces that may couple to other peripheral components such as input devices (e.g., keyboard, mouse), sensors, input/output (I/O) modules, and the like. I/O modules may enable the computing device  66  or other automation controllers  54  to communicate with the industrial automation equipment  56  or other devices in the industrial automation system via the I/O modules. 
     The image sensor  82  may include any image acquisition circuitry such as a digital camera capable of acquiring digital images, digital videos, or the like. The location sensor  84  may include circuitry designed to determine a physical location of the local control system  42 . In one embodiment, the location sensor  84  may include a global positioning system (GPS) sensor that acquires GPS coordinates for the processor  54 . 
     The display  86  may depict visualizations associated with software or executable code being processed by the processor  74 . In one embodiment, the display  86  may be a touch display capable of receiving inputs (e.g., parameter data for operating the industrial automation equipment  56 ) from a user of the processor  54 . As such, the display  86  may serve as a user interface to communicate with the industrial automation equipment  56 . The display  86  may be used to display a graphical user interface (GUI) for operating the industrial automation equipment  56 , for tracking the maintenance of the industrial automation equipment  56 , and the like. The display  86  may be any suitable type of display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma display, or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, for example. Additionally, in one embodiment, the display  86  may be provided in conjunction with a touch-sensitive mechanism (e.g., a touch screen) that may function as part of a control interface for the industrial automation equipment  56  or for a number of pieces of industrial automation equipment in the industrial automation application  64 , to control the general operations of the industrial automation application  64 . In some embodiments, the operator interface may be characterized as the HMI  52 , a human-interface machine, or the like. The HMI  52  may present to the computing device  66  image data representative of the configuration of the industrial automation equipment  56 . 
     Although the components described above have been discussed with regard to the local control system  42 , it should be noted that similar components may make up other computing devices described herein. Further, it should be noted that the listed components are provided as example components and the embodiments described herein are not to be limited to the components described with reference to  FIG. 3 . In addition, although the components listed in  FIG. 3  are described as being part of the local control system  42 , the components may also be part of the supervisory control system  40 , the computing device  66 , the cloud-based computing system  68 , or any other suitable computing device. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 2 , in operation, the industrial automation application  64  may receive one or more inputs used to produce one or more outputs. For example, the inputs may include feedstock, electrical energy, fuel, parts, assemblies, sub-assemblies, operational parameters (e.g., sensor measurements), or any combination thereof. Additionally, the outputs may include finished products, semi-finished products, assemblies, manufacturing products, by products, or any combination thereof. To produce the one or more outputs, the processor  54  may control operation of the industrial automation application  64 . In some embodiments, the processor  54  may control operation by outputting control signals to instruct industrial automation equipment  56  to perform a control action by implementing manipulated variable set points. For example, the processor  54  may instruct a motor (e.g., an automation device  20 ) to implement a control action by actuating at a particular speed (e.g., a manipulated variable set point). 
     In some embodiments, the processor  54  may determine the manipulated variable set points based at least in part on process data. As described above, the process data may be indicative of operation of the industrial automation device  20 , the industrial automation equipment  56 , the industrial automation application  64 , and the like. As such, the process data may include operational parameters of the industrial automation device  20  and/or operational parameters of the industrial automation application  65 . For example, the operational parameters may include any suitable type, such as temperature, flow rate, electrical power, and the like. 
     In some embodiments, the supervisory control system  40  may provide centralized control over operation of the industrial automation application  64 . For example, the supervisory control system  40  may enable centralized communication with a user (e.g., operator). To facilitate, the supervisory control system  40  may include the display  86  to facilitate providing information to the user. For example, the display  86  may display visual representations of information, such as process data selected features, expected operational parameters, and/or relationships there between. Additionally, the supervisory control system  40  may include similar components as the processor  54  described above in  FIG. 3 . 
     In some embodiments, the local control system  42  may control operation of a portion of the industrial automation application  64  based at least in part on the control strategy determined by the supervisory control system  40 . Additionally, the supervisory control system  40  may determine the control strategy based at least in part on process data determined by the local control system  42 . Thus, to implement the control strategy, the supervisory control system  40  and the local control systems  42  may be communicatively coupled via a network, which may be any suitable type, such as an Ethernet/IP network, a ControlNet network, a DeviceNet network, a Data Highway Plus network, a Remote I/O network, a Foundation Fieldbus network, a Serial, DH-485 network, a SynchLink network, or any combination thereof. 
     The local control system  42  may perform data collection operations by identifying and/or accessing components accessible to the local control system  42 . Connections and connected devices may be discovered through various methods of system discovery, such as network discovery, I/O tree mapping, stored schematics, and the like. These connections and connected devices may be collected into data representing the configuration of the industrial automation system  10 . The method of generating image data representative of the configuration data for transmission is depicted in  FIG. 4 . 
     Keeping this in mind,  FIG. 4  illustrates a block diagram of a method  100  that may be performed by the local control system  42  to generate image data representative of a configuration of the industrial automation system  10 . Although the method  100  is described as being performed by the local control system  42  and in a particular order, it should be noted that the method  100  may be performed by any suitable computing device and in any suitable order. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , at block  102 , the local control system  42  may receive a request to generate image data representative of the configuration of the industrial automation equipment. The request may be received directly by the local control system  42  via an input through the HMI  52 , via the computing device  66 , via the cloud-based computing system  68 , or the like. In some embodiments, the request may be received automatically in response to a change to a pre-existing or current configuration being detected. That is, in some embodiments, the local control system  42  may receive a user input changing a configuration aspect of one or more devices. In other embodiments, the local control system  42  may receive a notification from an industrial automation device  20  after the configuration of the respective industrial automation device  20  has updated or changed. 
     At block  104 , the local control system  42  may collect individual system configuration data from a plurality of individual systems communicatively coupled to the local control system  42 . In some embodiments, the configuration data may be retrieved from a memory or storage component accessible to the local control system  42 . That is, the storage component may include a file or data that lists each of the industrial automation devices  20  that are part of the industrial system  10 , the software or firmware loaded on each component of each industrial automation device  20 , and the like. In other embodiments, the configuration data may also be collected using a network discovery probe or other suitable software crawler that may ping or access each of the components of the industrial automation system  10  and collect configuration data regarding each component in the industrial automation system  10 . In certain embodiments, the configuration data may be collected via any form of removable media. That is, the removable media may be removed from one of the plurality of individual systems and inserted into the local control system  42 . The configuration data may be stored in a respective storage component that is part of a respective industrial automation device  20 . The configuration data may include details related to hardware components (e.g., devices, routers, form factor, mechanical connecting feature, electrical input features), software components (e.g., firmware version, software version, application data, license data), and any suitable information related to one or more industrial automation device  20  or components therein. 
     By way of example, the configuration data for each individual system may include a firmware version for various hardware components or equipment, manufacturer identity data, serial number data, network address data, network security parameters, compatibility data, lifecycle data, and the like. The firmware version may be related to the operation of hardware components within the industrial automation device  20 . In some embodiments, the firmware of the respective industrial automation device  20  may be configured to control various parameters related to the operator of the device. Additionally, the firmware of the respective industrial automation device  20  may control various network functions and enable connecting to the entire network of the industrial automation system  10 . Moreover, the firmware may also control communication between the respective industrial automation device  20  and the industrial automation system  10 . 
     In other embodiments, the firmware of the respective industrial automation device  20  may be updated locally or over the network. That is, if a new firmware version is available, it may be uploaded into the industrial automation device  20  through an input/output port or over the network during a specific period of time. The firmware for the industrial automation device  20  may be stored within the non-volatile memory of a storage component within the respective industrial automation device  20 . 
     Manufacturing identity data and serial number data may be issued to the respective component by a producer or manufacturer. In some embodiments, manufacturing identity data and serial number data may be stored in the storage component within the respective industrial automation device  20 . That is, the manufacturing identity data and the serial number data may be stored in a particular memory or storage location within storage component. 
     Network address data may be assigned to the respective component by a local control system  42  upon accessing the network for the first time. The network address data may be directed towards designating a location for the respective industrial automation device  20  within the encompassing network of the industrial automation equipment  56 . In certain embodiments, network address data may refer to an IP address, a MAC address or any suitable data that describes the network properties of the respective industrial automation device  20 . In some embodiments, the network address data for the respective industrial automation device  20  may be stored in a particular memory or storage location within the memory of the local control system  42 . In other embodiments, the network address data may be stored within a storage component within the respective industrial automation device  20 . 
     Network security parameters may be provided to each network compatible industrial automation device  20  connected to a local network by the local control system  42 . In other embodiments, a central router, which controls the local network, may provide the network security parameters to the local control system  42  and each industrial automation device  20  that has network capabilities. The network security parameters may provide protection for each industrial automation device  20  from exterior infiltration attempts and other attacks directed at disrupting the network. With the foregoing in mind, network security parameters may consist of firewall protection, intrusion detection parameters, antivirus parameters, antimalware parameters, access control settings, wireless security parameters, Virtual Private Network (VPN) parameters, and the like. In some embodiments, the network security parameters for the respective industrial automation device  20  may be stored in a particular memory or storage location within the memory of the local control system  42 . In other embodiments, the network security parameters for the respective industrial automation device  20  may be stored within a storage component within the respective industrial automation device  20 . 
     Compatibility data and lifecycle data may be issued to the respective component by a producer or manufacturer. The compatibility data of the respective industrial automation device  20  may include data relating to the compatibility (e.g., mechanical compatibility, software compatibility) of the respective industrial automation device  20  with other industrial automation devices  20 . By way of example, the compatibility data of the mixer  18  may include data relating to using the depositor  22  in conjunction with the mixer  18 . Additionally, the lifecycle data of the respective industrial automation device  20  may include data relating to the lifecycle stage (e.g., early, replacement) of the respective industrial automation device  20 . In some embodiments, the lifecycle data includes data generally directed to an expected remaining hours of life of the respective industrial automation device  20  under a wide variety of different operating conditions. These operating conditions may consist of temperature, voltage usage, current usage, daily device usage, operating conditions, and mechanical information. In certain embodiments, the lifecycle data may be dynamically updated by the machine learning module of the cloud-based computing system  68  as it processes data relating to the processes performed by the industrial automation system  10 . In some embodiments, the compatibility data and lifecycle data for the respective industrial automation device  20  may be stored in a particular memory or storage location within the memory of the local control system  42 . In other embodiments, the compatibility data and lifecycle data for the respective industrial automation device  20  may be stored within a storage component within the respective industrial automation device  20 . 
     In some embodiments, the configuration data may include details regarding how various equipment are communicatively coupled to each other, physically arranged next to each other, or the like. By way of example, in some embodiments, the local control system  42  may connect to control systems of the industrial automation equipment  56  to determine configuration data of a group of industrial automation devices  20 . That is, the local control system  42  may query the control systems to retrieve the respective configuration data. In other embodiments, the local control system  42  may connect directly to an industrial automation device  20  or a group of industrial automation devices  20  to determine configuration information. For instance, the local control system  42  may employ network probes to connect to I/O systems  62  to determine I/O tree information for the connected device and determine the configuration of the industrial automation equipment  56 . In some embodiments, the local control system  42  may send out a wireless broadcast signal to retrieve configuration information from the group of industrial automation devices  20 . The wireless broadcast signal may be Wi-Fi, mobile telecommunications technology (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE), Bluetooth®, near-field communications technology, and the like. In another embodiment, the local control system  42  may use hardwired connections between the local control system  42  and the group of industrial automation devices  20  to determine I/O tree information for the connected device and determine the configuration of the industrial automation equipment  56 . 
     In certain embodiments, the local control system  42  may utilize machine learning techniques to monitor the retrieval of the configuration data from the group of industrial automation devices  20 . That is, retrieving certain types of configuration data may involve a multi-step process that includes accessing certain applications or storage components, querying certain data fields, and extracting particular datasets. In this case, the machine learning techniques may identify patterns in accessing configuration data and create models that emulate the processes involved to acquire existing configuration data. In some embodiments, the machine learning techniques may enable the local control system  42  to use these identified patterns to reduce the amount of time taken by the local control system  42  to collect configuration data from the group of industrial automation devices  20 . Additionally, the local control system  42  may store information related to the retrieval processes in a database  69  that may include various models for retrieving configuration data from various industrial automation devices  20 . 
     At block  106 , the local control system  42  may then generate image data based on collected configuration data. In some embodiments, the local control system  42  may generate the image data in the form of a QR Code®. Since the image data may be limited with respect to the amount of data that may be embedded therein, the local control system  42  may generate multiple images (e.g. multiple QR Codes®), such that the multiple images include the comprehensive collection of configuration data for the components of the industrial automation system  10 . In some embodiments, the multiple images may have an associated order to ensure correct and complete transmission and analysis of the configuration data. In some embodiments, the local control system  42  may encrypt the images to securely transmit or protect the images. The encryption techniques may include encrypting an order in which the images are to be decrypted and combined together to retrieve the comprehensive set of configuration data. That is, the encryption techniques may include attaching metadata to the encrypted image to include information relating to the order of in which images are to be decrypted and combined together. 
     In certain embodiments, the local control system  42  may extract product data, mechanical data, and layout data of respective industrial automation system  10  and the individual industrial automation devices  20  that make up the industrial automation system  10  utilized in generating the image data. That is, the local control system  42  may utilize multiple sources of data to generate the image data representative of the configuration data. The product data for the respective industrial automation system  10  may include the previously discussed firmware versions, manufacturing identity data, serial number, network address data, network security parameters and other suitable data directed to describing the individual industrial automation device  20 . In some embodiments, extracting the product data may include accessing the storage component within the respective industrial automation device  20  mentioned previously. In other embodiments, extracting the product data may include accessing the memory of the local control system  42  after the local control system  42  has performed the I/O crawl process or the like. 
     The mechanical data of the industrial automation system  10  may include compatibility data, dimensional data, and other physical properties the individual industrial automation devices  20  of the industrial automation system  10 . In some embodiments, extracting the mechanical data may include accessing the storage component within the respective industrial automation device  20  mentioned previously. In other embodiments, extracting the mechanical data may include accessing the memory of the local control system  42  after the local control system  42  has performed the I/O crawl. 
     The layout data of the industrial automation system  10  may include parts of or the entirety of the mechanical data and the product data of the industrial automation system  10 . In certain embodiments, extracting the layout data may include utilizing the I/O trees discovered by the local control system  42  in combination with the mechanical and product data of the respective industrial automation devices  20  to create the layout data of the local control system  42 . The layout data may correspond to a physical layout, a network layout, a security layout, a hierarchical layout, or the like. In some embodiments, the layout data of the industrial automation system  10  may be extracted from previous configuration data. That is, the local control system  42  may utilize previous configuration data in addition to the current compatibility data of the respective industrial automation devices  20  and the previously discussed I/O trees in creating the layout data of the current configuration data for the industrial automation system  10 . 
     At block  108 , the local control system  42  may display the image via the HMI  52  or via the webpage of the computing system  66 . In some embodiments, the computing device  66  may acquire the image via the image sensor  82 . Furthermore, the computing device  66  may transmit the acquired image to any suitable destination, such as the cloud-based computing system  68 . In some embodiments, the computing device  66  may also transmit current location data with the image data. As such, the configuration data embedded in the image data may be associated with a particular location. 
     Additionally, at block  108 , a push notification may be sent to alert the operator that the image data is ready for scanning. In some embodiments, the image data may automatically be displayed via the HMI  52  or via the computing device  66 , while in other embodiments the image data may only be displayed when the operator is detected to be physically near the local control system  42 . That is, the operator&#39;s computing device  66  may be detected near the local control system  42  and thus the push notification may be sent to the operator&#39;s computing device  66 . In this way, the HMI  52  or the computing device  66  may communicate the updated configuration data without having a network connection outside of a local network that includes the industrial system  10 . 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a block diagram of a method  110  carried out by the cloud-based computing system  68 . At block  111 , the cloud-based computing system  68  may receive image data representative of the configuration data for the industrial automation system  10  from the computing device  66 . In some embodiments, the configuration data may be received via a secure and dedicated receiving component that may only be accessible by the cloud-based computing system  68  and the computing device  66 . That is, the secure and dedicated receiving component may include security features which enable the operator to verify the identity of the computing device  66 . These security features may include, but are not limited to passwords, public/private key pairs, multiple factor authentication, and the like. Each operator may be given individualized methods of identification verification. In some embodiments, the operator may choose which method of verification before transmission. In other embodiments, the method of verification may be predetermined by the cloud-based computing system  68 . 
     In some embodiments, the cloud-based computing system  68  may receive multiple sets of image data representative of configuration data for the industrial automation system from the computing device  66 . In this way, the entire configuration of the industrial automation system  10  may be transmitted using the limited data available in the image data. That is, the image data may store a limited amount of data and additional images may include additional data to provide the entire configuration of the industrial automation system  10 . In some embodiments, each image data of the set of image data may be associated with an order number to ensure that the images are decoded in a particular order to enable the cloud-based computing system  68  to obtain the complete configuration data. The associated order may also be employed for improved encryption techniques. Indeed, the order in which the images are decrypted or received may provide an additional layer of security in the transmission of the images. By way of example, the decryption of a first ordered image may provide a key or algorithm for decrypting the second ordered image. 
     In some embodiments, the cloud-based computing system  68  may have access to an ordering algorithm or scheme that may enable the cloud-based computing system  68  to properly order the received images. For example, the received image data may include metadata that represents an order in which the images are to be decoded or decrypted. The cloud-based computing system  68  may use the accessible ordering algorithm or key to determine the order of the images and decode the images according to the determined order. 
     Additionally, the cloud-based computing system  68  may then receive geotag information or location information of the computing device  66  that sent the image data and may then associate the geotag information with the received image data or sets of image data (block  112 ). In some embodiments, the geotag information may be automatically acquired based on a GPS system present within the computing device  66 , a network address of the computing device  66 , and the like. In other embodiments, the geotag information may be manually entered into the computing device  66  with the transmitted image data. 
     With the foregoing in mind, at block  113 , the cloud-based computing system  68  may decode the image data or sets of image data to generate the configuration information that was encoded by the automation controller  54 . Additionally, the cloud-based computing system may decrypt the image data or sets of image data based on the decryption techniques discussed previously. Decrypting the image data may involve decoding the metadata stored with the image data, as mentioned above. 
     It should be noted that the cloud-based computing system  68  may not be limited to any particular software to decode the encoded image data or sets of image data. The decoded image data or sets of image data may provide the configuration data of the industrial automation system  10 . That is, the cloud-based computing system  68  may determine the product data, the mechanical data, and the layout data of the industrial automation system  10  from the decoded image data or sets of image data. The cloud-based computing system  68  may use the product data, the mechanical data, and the layout data of the industrial automation system  10  to construct the configuration data of the respective industrial automation system  10 . 
     As shown in block  114 , the decoded configuration data may be stored within a database  69  by the cloud-based computing system  68  with the geo-tag information. In certain embodiments, the database  69  may contain a number of configuration data sets from a number of different operators. Moreover, the database  69  may store a number of configuration data sets, which may be associated with a number of different geotags from a number of different industrial automation systems. The database  69  may be a cloud server hosted by a provider of the service or a secure third-party. In some embodiments, the database  69  may be a physical server run by the provider of the service. 
     In certain embodiments, the cloud-based computing system  68  may then begin to analyze the stored configuration data from the database  69  to provide recommendations to the operator as indicated in block  115 . The cloud-based computing system  68  may generate these recommendations by comparing the current configuration information of the operator to pre-existing configuration data stored in the database  69 . The recommendations may include identified firmware updates for one or more individual systems within the industrial automation system  10 , product recommendations for the industrial automation system  10 , and the like. That is, the cloud-based computing system  68  may compare the product data, mechanical data, and the layout data from two different sets of configuration data to determine similarities, differences, and areas for improvement based on configuration data for other industrial automation systems  10  located within the same country, city, or general location. 
     By way of example, the product data of the configuration data may be similar to the product data of a different configuration data, but the layout data may indicate that certain components are arranged according to a different manner. The cloud-based computing system  68  may recognize and create recommendations that are directed towards changing the layout data to achieve higher efficiency, less power usage, and the like. 
     In some embodiments, the cloud-based computing system  68  may also utilize stored manufacturing information to identify relevant firmware updates to individual industrial automation devices  20 . The cloud-based computing system  68  may achieve this by comparing the installed firmware versions of the compatible industrial automation devices  20  to the current and manufacturer recommended firmware versions. The cloud-based computing system may store a dynamically updated list of current and manufacturer recommended firmware versions for the industrial automation devices  20  within the database  69 . That is, the cloud-based computing system  68  may utilize the list of current and manufacturer recommended firmware versions in creating recommendations for the respective industrial automation devices  20  managed by other operators. Additionally, the recommendations may contain directives regarding maintaining and operating certain industrial automation devices  20 . The cloud-based computing system  68  may use the lifecycle data of different operator&#39;s industrial automation devices  20  to determine the best operating conditions given similar configurations. 
     The cloud-based computing system  68  may then transmit recommendations directly to the computing device  66  (block  116 ). The computing device  66  may receive the recommendations directly via a “push notification” alerting the operator of the recommendations. In some embodiments, the “push notification” may be sent to the operator when the operator is within a proximity to the local control system  42 . The “push notification” may cause the computing device  66  to display the relevant notification on the computing device  66 . 
     In certain embodiments, the new firmware updates may be automatically downloaded to the local control system  42  for transmission to the respective industrial automation device  20 . That is, the operator may indicate if new firmware updates should be automatically installed onto the respective automation device  20 . Additionally, the operator may indicate that the new firmware updates be installed on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. In other embodiments, the operator may indicate that the new firmware update be manually installed. 
     By employing the techniques described in the present disclosure, the systems and the methods described herein may allow for an operator to better interpret and analyze industrial automation system configurations. The recommendations provided by the cloud-based computing system  68  may serve as a unique tool to provide valuable insight into the operator&#39;s configuration and relevant adjustments that may be made to improve the industrial automation system as a whole. Indeed, utilizing encoded image data presented, in some embodiments, as a QR Code®, to provide configuration data by transmitting said image data through the operator&#39;s computing device  66  in a secure method to a cloud-based computing system  68  will lead to a wide array of improvements within the automation industry. 
     While only certain features of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the embodiments described herein.