Patent ID: 7752156

Claim:
A system for automatically creating, installing and configuring extensions of functionalities in system nodes of a distributed automatic system, the system comprising: at least one system diagnosis tool; at least one knowledge-based planning tool; and at least one installation and configuration tool; wherein the at least one system diagnosis tool stored in one of the system nodes analyzes the current system status of the distributed automatic system by iterating system diagnosis functions of the system diagnosis tool via the individual system nodes in the distributed automatic system and by analyzing existing system components of the system nodes, summarizes the current system status of the distributed automatic system in a system status file and forwards the system status file to the at least one knowledge-based planning tool; wherein the knowledge-based planning tool stored in a separate planning computer generates rule-based and data-based installation files from the system status file and a planning database, the installation files being for automatically installing and configuring the extensions of the functionalities in the system nodes of the distributed automatic system, wherein the knowledge-based planning tool forwards the installation files to at least one installation and configuration tool; and wherein the installation and configuration tool automatically selects from the installation files for the respective system nodes, installs and configures the extensions of the functionalities to be installed in the respective system nodes of the distributed automatic system.