Patent ID: 7721273

Claim:
An automation system embodied on a computer readable medium that when executed on one or more processors facilitates automated industrial processing implemented as network interconnected controllers interacting with an industrial controller supporting execution of an industrial batch process, the system comprising: an equipment phase object that is executed within the industrial controller, wherein the equipment phase object is accessible by at least one of internal instructions from within the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object and external instructions directed to the industrial controller from one or more of said network external controllers to at least one of access data, interact or control objects associated with the equipment phase object to affect operations within the industrial controller; a plurality of state machines that operate at multiple levels of the industrial batch process, wherein the plurality of state machines are instantiated from within one or more of said controllers external to the industrial controller and direct the external instructions via the network to the industrial controller to control the equipment phase object to affect operation of the industrial controller, wherein each of the plurality of state machines executes a portion of the industrial batch process, the equipment phase object further operable for maintaining information related to at least one of configuration, state or execution associated with the industrial batch process pertinent to the industrial controller; and wherein the equipment phase object upon concurrently receiving at least two instructions from one or more of said multiple levels of state machines, manages the at least two concurrently received instructions according to prioritization rules, wherein one or more of the at least two instructions is an instruction originated from said external state machines and directed as one or more concurrent external client requests to the prioritization service of the equipment phase object for synchronization in accordance to the rules.