US 12,333,323 B2
Systems and methods for providing a virtual machine link to process controls
Guilherme Frederico Heinen, North Rhine-Westphalia (DE); Luiz Guilherme Neves Da Silva, São Paulo (BR); and Junqiu Yang, St. Louis, MO (US)
Assigned to MONSANTO TECHNOLOGY LLC, Saint Louis, MO (US); and BAYER AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, Leverkusen (DE)
Filed by Monsanto Technology LLC, St. Louis, MO (US); and Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, Leverkusen (DE)
Filed on Jun. 10, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/838,006.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/210,426, filed on Jun. 14, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0398122 A1, Dec. 15, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 9/455 (2018.01); G05B 19/418 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 9/45558 (2013.01) [G05B 19/4185 (2013.01); G06F 2009/4557 (2013.01); G06F 2009/45595 (2013.01)] 5 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for controlling production of products at a manufacturing plant, the method comprising:
receiving, by a controller client included in a virtual machine hosted in a cloud platform, a message from a distributed control system (DCS) of a manufacturing plant associated with a process to produce a product, the manufacturing plant including a component for controlling a set-point of the process, wherein the message is in a first message format specific to the DCS;
transforming, by the controller client, the message received from the DCS from the first message format into a second message format different from the first message format;
communicating, by the controller client, the message in the second message format to a controller server included in the virtual machine;
receiving, by the controller client, a response message from the controller server in the second message format, wherein the response message includes an action to be implemented at the manufacturing plant, as determined by a controller specific to the process at the manufacturing plant, based on an operational state of the process;
transforming, by the controller client, the response message from the second message format to the first message format;
communicating, by the controller client, the response message including the action, in the first message format, to the DCS; and then
in response to the response message in the first message format, adjusting, by the DCS, the component of the manufacturing plant to alter the set-point of the process based on the action included in the response message.