Patent ID: 7114157

Claim:
A system for controlling use of at least one resource, wherein the at least one resource is one of a physical workspace that is in part shared by at least two machines, control of an industrial process and a data object, the system comprising: a plurality of addressable locations in the system; a communication system connecting the addressable locations and transmitting communications between the addressable locations, the communication system having no inherent capability to provide mutually exclusive use of the at least one resource; controllers operably connected to respective ones of a plurality of machines or processes, the controllers being located with at least one of the addressable locations; a plurality of control programs operable at different addressable locations to request use of the at least one resource, at least one of the control programs operable to command one of the controllers; and a plurality of resource managers being located at different ones of the addressable locations, each resource manager communicating over the communication system with at least one other resource manager, and the plurality of resource managers working together over the communication system to arbitrate which one control program of the plurality of control programs is given exclusive use of the at least one resource during execution of the one control program, the one control program being given use of the at least one resource by a local resource manager at the same addressable location as the one control program.