Patent ID: 7693972

Claim:
A method for making available a directory service in an automation system, comprising: providing a plurality of Webservice applications in the automation system, each implementing at least one Internet standard selected from the set TCP/IP, HTTP, SMTP, XML, and SSL; providing a plurality of appliances in the automation system, each appliance comprising an automation apparatus with a data interface to at least one of the Webservice applications, the appliances forming a distributed structural topology of the automation system; providing an Automation Directory Discovery and Integration directory service (ADDI) on a server with access to at least some of the Webservice applications via a data communications network, the ADDI comprising a mapping of installation structures and the structural topology of the automaton system, and a database of access possibilities, service and functionality descriptions, and interface information of the appliances; providing a query service on the server for accessing the ADDI by remote operational and observational systems and by installations of the automation appliances via the data communications network; and automatically registering the appliances and functionalities of the automation system by providing a plug-and-play discovery process in which a newly installed one of the appliances automatically notifies the ADDI via the data communications network of the existence and address of the newly installed appliance, said notification being followed by an interrogation process in which the ADDI interrogates the newly installed appliance about its services and functionalities; wherein the ADDI discovers and integrates the appliances for remote operation, parameterization, control, diagnostics, and servicing thereof by a generic program in each of the remote operational and observational systems without custom generation of the generic program.