1 Scope

The OPC UA for Machinery specification contains various building blocks for Machinery that allow to address use cases across different types of machines and components of machines defined in various companion specifications.

For the general scope of the OPC UA for Machinery specification see OPC 40001-1.

This part contains a building block for

Result Transfer

2 Normative references

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments and errata) applies.

OPC 10000-1, OPC Unified Architecture - Part 1: Overview and Concepts

OPC 10000-1

OPC 10000-3, OPC Unified Architecture - Part 3: Address Space Model

OPC 10000-3

OPC 10000-4, OPC Unified Architecture - Part 4: Services

OPC 10000-4

OPC 10000-5, OPC Unified Architecture - Part 5: Information Model

OPC 10000-5

OPC 10000-6, OPC Unified Architecture - Part 6: Mappings

OPC 10000-6

OPC 10000-7, OPC Unified Architecture - Part 7: Profiles

OPC 10000-7

OPC 10000-20, OPC Unified Architecture – Part 20: File Transfer

OPC 10000-20

OPC 10000-100, OPC Unified Architecture - Part 100: Devices

OPC 10000-100

OPC 40001-1, OPC UA for Machinery - Part 1: Basic Building Blocks

http://www.opcfoundation.org/UA/Machinery/

3 Terms, definitions and conventions

3.1 Overview

It is assumed that basic concepts of OPC UA information modelling are understood in this specification. This specification will use these concepts to describe the Machinery – Result Transfer Information Model. For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in OPC 10000-1, OPC 10000-3, OPC 10000-4, OPC 10000-5, OPC 10000-7, OPC 40001-1, as well as the following apply.

Note that OPC UA terms and terms defined in this specification are italicized in the specification.

3.2 OPC UA for Result Transfer terms

3.2.1 Configuration

Ensures that a recipe produces the same result on different entities of my machine. The configuration can optionally be used to make a program/recipe usable for different articles. The characteristics are often technology or industry specific.

3.2.2 Environment

The set of external entities working with the System in one way or another, e.g. PLC, MES, etc.

3.2.3 Job

The concrete implementation of a set of information that a machine needs to execute an order.

3.2.3.1 Untitled

3.2.4 Part

Describes a concrete instance or instances of the Product (e.g., a specific DIN A4 sheet).

3.2.4.1 Untitled

3.2.5 Program

Contains a number of executable activities for controllable units.

3.2.5.1 Untitled

3.2.6 Product

Describes the output that is to become the core of the value creation (e.g. DIN A4 sheet).

3.2.6.1 Untitled

3.2.7 Recipe

The set of information required to uniquely describe the production requirements for one or more specific products.

3.2.7.1 Untitled

3.2.8 System

Any complex information processing system generating results.

3.2.9 System-wide unique

At any given time no other entity of the same type and meaning shall exist in the OPC UA Server with the same value.

3.2.9.1 Untitled

3.2.10 Step

A domain- or manufacturer-specific definition that represents an intermediate stage of the job process.

3.2.10.1 Untitled

3.3 Abbreviated terms

3.4 Conventions used in this document

For conventions used in this document see OPC 40001-1.

4 General information to Machinery and OPC UA

For general information to Machinery and OPC UA see OPC 40001-1.

5 Use cases

The user would like to receive complex measurement results, that might be created over a certain amount of time and potentially require some processing of raw measurement values.

This leads to the requirements

Clients shall be notified if new results are available (see section 8.1, ResultReadyEventType)

Clients shall be able to access individual results (see section 7.1, ResultManagementType and section 7.1.2, GetResultById)

Clients shall be able to filter for specific results (see section 7.1.3, GetResultIdListFiltered)

Note that the main purpose of the result transfer is to provide meta data together with the individual results. For a simple transfer of measured values like a flow or temperature without such meta data there are simpler mechanisms in OPC UA like providing a OPC UA Variable with a specific measurement value.

6 Result Transfer Information Model overview

6.1 General

The result transfer information model provides mechanisms to transfer results that are produced by a Server or its underlying system. The characteristics of such results is to contain meta data together with the individual results. Servers will provide the results for a certain amount of time so that Clients can receive the results using the result transfer.

The base modelling construct for the result transfer is the ResultManagementType (see Figure 1). Servers may provide several instances of that ObjectType to expose different sources of results. Each instance of ResultManagementType already can provide many results.

Instances of ResultManagementType provide optionally all available results as Variables of ResultType under the Results folder. They may generate Events of ResultReadyEventType for new created results. And they provide optional Methods to retrieve individual results or filter for specific results.

6.2 Retrieve Information that Results exist

The model provides different mechanism how Clients can retrieve information about the currently available results provided by instances of the ResultManagementType. Not all implementations will provide all those possibilities.

The mechanisms are depicted in Figure 2. In order to get notified that a new result has been created, a Client can subscribe to Events of ResultReadyEventType if the Server supports those Events. In order to retrieve information about the available results, the Client can

Browse the Results folder, each Variable of ResultType represents an individual available result

Call the GetLatestResult Method to retrieve information about the latest created result

Call the GetResultIdListFiltered Method to retrieve information about all available results according to the specified filter criteria

6.3 Transfer Results

The model provides different mechanism how Clients can transfer results provided by instances of the ResultManagementType. Not all implementations will provide all those possibilities.

The result consists of meta data describing the result, a relatively small amount of result data called ResultContent and optionally a larger amount of result data called ResultFile, transferred via the OPC UA file transfer. In some cases, the result only consists of parts of the meta data, the ResultEvaluation, which indicates whether the result is in a tolerance.

If a result has been successfully created, the Server shall at least provide the ResultContent, the ResultFile or the ResultEvaluation.

The ResultReadyEvents provide the meta data of the result as well as the ResultContent. Clients can either only subscribe to parts of the meta data and access the ResultContent via a different mechanism or get the ResultContent as well with the Event.

The ResultContent as well as the meta data can be transferred by calling the GetResultById Method. This requires knowledge on the ResultId, that can either be retrieved via the ResultReadyEvents or by calling the GetResultIdListFiltered Method. The latest ResultContent and its meta data can also be transferred by calling the GetLatestResult Method.

The ResultContent as well as the meta data is also provided by Variables under the Results folder and can be transferred by reading or subscribing to those Variables.

In Figure 3, the different options are displayed.

In case the result also contains a ResultFile, the ResultTransfer Object may be used to transfer the ResultFile. In order to use the ResultTransfer Object, the ResultId of the result is needed.

6.4 Lifetime of a Result

The lifetime of a result typically is limited as the management of the results is consuming resources of the Server. When using the Methods GetResultById, GetLatestResult or GetResultIdListFiltered, the Client can provide a timer how long it requests the retrieved results to be available, and receives a handle it can use to call the ReleaseResultHandle Method in order to hint to the Server, that the result is not required by the Client anymore. The mechanism is intended to secure the read process of results and not to lock a specific result for a longer time. There is no guarantee that the Server will keep the result until the RelaseResultHandle is called or the timeout is reached. The strategy of the Server is vendor-specific. A Server may, for example, stop producing new results when the old results should still be kept, or remove old results anyhow. A Server may remove results as soon as one Client has received the result data, or keep the results for a specific time since many Clients may need to access the result data.

Note: Since there is no guaranteed storage time even a Server without the capability to store more than one result locally can use this mechanism.

The handle and timeout are of specific importance when the result contains a ResultFile, or when the GetResultIdListFiltered was called and not all returned ResultIds have been received via the GetResultById Method.

Servers may support the AcknowledgeResults Method that can be used by a specific Client responsible to store the results to inform the Server, that the acknowledged results are processed and can be removed.

6.5 Partial Results and Result Content

Generating results may take time, and during that period Servers may already expose partial results, i.e., results that do contain some information but are not complete. For example, a vision system may inspect a produced part several times from different angles, and each inspection is a partial result. The meta data of the result indicate, when the result is only a partial result. The final result contains the aggregated data of the partial results.

The ResultContent or the ResultEvaluation and potentially in addition the ResultFile together provide the complete result. Servers may also provide a reduced result summarizing the overall result. For example, a vision system inspecting a produced part may provide in the result the raw image data of the product part in addition to the flag indicating if the quality of the produced part is sufficient. The ReducedResultContent may only contain the quality information without the raw image data. The optional ReducedResultContent is provided with the ResultReadyEvents and the Variables of the Results folder.

7 OPC UA ObjectTypes

7.1 ResultManagementType ObjectType Definition

7.1.1 Overview

The ResultManagementType provides mechanism to access results generated by the underlying system. Results can be managed in a local result store of the Server. Methods and Objects with Variables as well as Events and external file stores can be used to provide the results to the Client. The ObjectType is formally defined in Table 1.

The optional ResultTransfer Object is used to transfer the content of a result by a temporary file transfer. In order to be called by the Client, the Client first need to receive a ResultId.

The optional Results Object is used to organize available results of the system which the Server decides to expose in the AddressSpace. It may contain no result if no result is available, if the Server does not expose results in the AddressSpace at all or if no available result matches the criteria of the Server for exposure in the AddressSpace. It may contain multiple results if multiple results are available.

The components of the ResultManagementType have additional subcomponents which are defined in Table 2.

Each <ResultVariable> represents a result. If partial results are supported, the Variable value gets updated with partial results until the final result is provided as value.

The child Nodes of the ResultManagementType have additional Attribute values defined in Table 3.

7.1.2 GetResultById

The Method GetResultById is used to retrieve a result. Depending on the design of the system, the Client may be informed by Events of ResultReadyEventType that a new result is available. Then, the Client might fetch this result using the information provided by Events of ResultReadyEventType which is defined in Section 8.1.

Since the ResultId is supposed to be system-wide unique, this Method shall return only a single result. If the system supports partial results, only the latest partial result, or the final result, shall be returned.

Since there may be additional result content to be retrieved by temporary file transfer, the Server should keep result data available, resources permitting, until the Client releases the handle by calling ReleaseResultHandle. However, the Client cannot rely on the data to remain available until then.

The signature of this Method is specified below. Table 4 and Table 5 specify the Arguments and AddressSpace representation, respectively.

Signature

	GetResultById (
		[in]	0:TrimmedString	resultId,
		[in]	0:Int32	timeout,
		[out]	0:Handle	resultHandle,
		[out]	ResultDataType	result,
		[out]	0:Int32	error)

7.1.3 GetResultIdListFiltered

The Method GetResultIdListFiltered is used to get a list of results matching certain filter criteria. The signature of this Method is specified below. Table 6 and Table 7 specify the Arguments and AddressSpace representation, respectively.

Signature

	GetResultIdListFiltered (
		[in]	0:ContentFilter			filter,
		[in]	0:RelativePath[]			orderedBy,
		[in]	0:UInt32			maxResults,
		[in]	0:Int32			timeout,
		[out]	0:Handle			resultHandle,
		[out]	0:TrimmedString[]		resultIdList,
		[out]	0:Int32			error)

7.1.4 ReleaseResultHandle

The Method ReleaseResultHandle is used to inform the Server that the Client has finished processing a given result set allowing the Server to free resources managing this result set.

The Server should keep the data of the result set available for the Client until the ReleaseResultHandle Method is called or until a timeout given by the Client has expired. However, the Server is free to release the data at any time, depending on its internal resource management, so the Client cannot rely on the data being available. ReleaseResultHandle is merely a hint allowing the Server to optimize its internal resource management. For timeout usage see the description in Section 6.4.

The signature of this Method is specified below. Table 8 and Table 9 specify the Arguments and AddressSpace representation, respectively.

Signature

	ReleaseResultHandle (
		[in]	0:Handle	resultHandle,
		[out]	0:Int32	error)

7.1.5 GetLatestResult

The Method GetLatestResult is used to retrieve the latest result created for the instance of ResultManagementType.

Since there may be additional result content to be retrieved by temporary file transfer, the Server should keep result data available, resources permitting, until the Client releases the handle by calling ReleaseResultHandle. However, the Client cannot rely on the data to remain available until then.

The signature of this Method is specified below. Table 10 and Table 11 specify the Arguments and AddressSpace representation, respectively.

Signature

	GetLatestResult (
		[in]	0:Int32	timeout,
		[out]	0:Handle	resultHandle,
		[out]	ResultDataType	result,
		[out]	0:Int32	error)

7.1.6 AcknowledgeResults

The Method AcknowledgeResults is used to inform the Server that the Client has finished the processing of given results allowing the Server to free resources managing those results.

The Server may be configured to keep the results available for the Client until the AcknowledgeResults Method is called. However, the Server is free to release the results at any time, depending on its internal resource management, so the Client cannot rely on the data being available.

Note: It is recommended that this Method is used only by the Client that is responsible for exclusively storing the results.

The signature of this Method is specified below. Table 12 and Table 13 specify the Arguments and AddressSpace representation, respectively.

Signature

	AcknowledgeResults (
		[in]	0:TrimmedString[]	resultIds,
		[out]	0:Int32[]		errorPerResultId,
		[out]	0:Int32		error
	)

7.2 ResultTransferType ObjectType Definition

7.2.1 Overview

This ObjectType is a subtype of the 0:TemporaryFileTransferType defined in OPC 10000-20 and is used to transfer result data as a file.

The ResultTransferType overwrites the Method GenerateFileForRead to specify the concrete type of the generateOptions Argument of the Method. It does not specialize the GenerateFileForWrite Method of the base type as results are supposed to be only generated by the Server, not received.

The ResultTransferType is formally defined in Table 14.

7.2.2 GenerateFileForRead

The Method GenerateFileForRead is used to start the read file transaction. A successful call of this Method creates a temporary FileType Object with the file content and returns the NodeId of this Object and the file handle to access the Object. The signature of this Method is specified below. Table 15 and Table 16 specify the Arguments and AddressSpace representation, respectively.

Signature

	GenerateFileForRead (
		[in]	BaseResultTransferOptionsDataType	generateOptions,
		[out]	0:NodeId					fileNodeId,
		[out]	0:UInt32					fileHandle,
		[out]	0:NodeId					completionStateMachine)

8 OPC UA EventTypes

8.1 ResultReadyEventType ObjectType Definition

The ResultReadyEventType provides information of a complete or partial result. Events of this type are to be triggered when the Server has a complete or partial result available to the Client. It is formally defined in Table 17.

To enable access to a result, several Properties of the result, which are generated by the system, are supplied. These Properties can be used to query the results in the ResultManagement Object. A sufficiently small result can also be provided in the ResultContent component of the Event.

This EventType inherits all Properties of the BaseEventType.

The Result Variable of ResultType VariableType contains the subvariables as defined by the ResultType. Clients can select some of those individually when subscribing to Events. The Result represents a partial or complete result.

9 OPC UA VariableTypes

9.1 ResultType VariableType Definition

The ResultType is a subtype of BaseDataVariableType. It is used to expose the information of the ResultDataType in individual subvariables. They have the same meaning as defined by the DataType in section 10.5.

The VariableType is formally defined in Table 18.

The optional ReducedResultContent Variable, not defined in the ResultDataType, contains a reduced ResultContent summarizing the overall result (see 6.5).

The components of the ResultType have additional subcomponents which are defined in Table 19.

10 OPC UA DataTypes

10.1 BaseResultTransferOptionsDataType

This abstract structure contains information on which ResultFile should be provided to be transferred to the Client. The structure contains the ResultId of the requested result. Companion Specifications and vendors shall either subtype this structured DataType to provide more information about the provided ResultFile, like the file format, or use an existing subtype like ResultTransferOptionsDataType. The structure is defined in Table 20.

Its representation in the AddressSpace is defined in Table 21.

10.2 ResultTransferOptionsDataType

This structure contains information on which ResultFile should be provided to be transferred to the Client. The structure is a concrete DataType that can be used directly if no additional information needs to be added. No additional fields have been added to the structure.

Its representation in the AddressSpace is defined in Table 22.

10.3 ResultEvaluationEnum

This enumeration ResultEvaluationEnum indicates whether a result was in tolerance. The enumeration is defined in Table 23.

Its representation in the AddressSpace is defined in Table 24.

10.4 ProcessingTimesDataType

This structure contains measured times that were generated during the execution of a recipe. These measured values provide information about the duration required by the various sub-functions The structure is defined in Table 25.

Its representation in the AddressSpace is defined in Table 26.

10.5 ResultDataType

This structure contains fields that were created during the execution of a recipe. A result may be a total or a partial result, which is defined by the value of the property IsPartial. The structure of the ResultContent which is generated by the system is application-specific and not defined at this time. If no ResultContent is available, the array of ResultContent shall be empty.

The structure is defined in Table 27.

Its representation in the AddressSpace is defined in Table 28.

10.6 ResultMetaDataType

This structure contains meta data of a result, describing the result. The structure is defined in Table 29.

Its representation in the AddressSpace is defined in Table 30.

11 Profiles and ConformanceUnits

11.1 Conformance Units

This chapter defines the corresponding Conformance Units for the OPC UA Information Model for Machinery – Result Transfer.

11.2 Profiles

11.2.1 Profile list

Table 32 lists all Profiles defined in this document and defines their URIs.

11.2.2 Server Facets

11.2.2.1 Overview

The following sections specify the Facets available for Servers that implement the Machinery – Result Transfer companion specification. Each section defines and describes a Facet or Profile.

11.2.2.2 Machinery-Result Simple Result Transfer Server Facet

Table 33 defines a Facet that describes a Server providing a simple result transfer by offering the GetLatestResult Method. This mechanism is limited to only provide the latest result, not accessing the previous results.

11.2.2.3 Machinery-Result Result Transfer Server Facet

Table 34 defines a Facet that describes a Server providing a result transfer mechanism by providing ResultEvents and the GetResultById Method. This mechanism can be used to allow accessing the latest and previous results.

11.2.2.4 Machinery-Result Result Transfer Variables Server Facet

Table 35 defines a Facet that describes a Server providing a result transfer mechanism by offering ResultVariables. This mechanism can be used to allow accessing the latest and previous results.

11.2.3 Client Facets

11.2.3.1 Overview

The following tables specify the Facets available for Clients that implement the Machinery – Result Transfer companion specification.

11.2.3.2 Machinery-Result Client Simple Result Transfer Client Facet

Table 36 defines a Facet that describes the base characteristics for Clients using the GetLatestResult Method to receive results.

11.2.3.3 Machinery-Result Client Result Transfer Client Facet

Table 37 defines a Facet that describes the base characteristics for Clients supporting various ways to receive results.

12 Namespaces

12.1 Namespace Metadata

Table 38 defines the namespace metadata for this document. The Object is used to provide version information for the namespace and an indication about static Nodes. Static Nodes are identical for all Attributes in all Servers, including the Value Attribute. See OPC 10000-5 for more details.

The information is provided as Object of type NamespaceMetadataType. This Object is a component of the Namespaces Object that is part of the Server Object. The NamespaceMetadataType ObjectType and its Properties are defined in OPC 10000-5.

The version information is also provided as part of the ModelTableEntry in the UANodeSet XML file. The UANodeSet XML schema is defined in OPC 10000-6.

Note: The IsNamespaceSubset Property is set to False as the UANodeSet XML file contains the complete Namespace. Servers only exposing a subset of the Namespace need to change the value to True.

12.2 Handling of OPC UA Namespaces

Namespaces are used by OPC UA to create unique identifiers across different naming authorities. The Attributes NodeId and BrowseName are identifiers. A Node in the UA AddressSpace is unambiguously identified using a NodeId. Unlike NodeIds, the BrowseName cannot be used to unambiguously identify a Node. Different Nodes may have the same BrowseName. They are used to build a browse path between two Nodes or to define a standard Property.

Servers may often choose to use the same namespace for the NodeId and the BrowseName. However, if they want to provide a standard Property, its BrowseName shall have the namespace of the standards body although the namespace of the NodeId reflects something else, for example the EngineeringUnits Property. All NodeIds of Nodes not defined in this document shall not use the standard namespaces.

Table 39 provides a list of mandatory and optional namespaces used in a Machinery – Result Transfer OPC UA Server.

Table 40 provides a list of namespaces and their indices used for BrowseNames in this document. The default namespace of this document is not listed since all BrowseNames without prefix use this default namespace.

13 (normative) Machinery – Result Transfer Namespace and mappings

13.1 NodeSet and supplementary files for Machinery – Result Transfer Information Model

The Machinery – Result Transfer Information Model is identified by the following URI:

http://opcfoundation.org/UA/Machinery/Result/

Documentation for the NamespaceUri can be found here.

The NodeSet associated with this version of specification can be found here:

https://reference.opcfoundation.org/nodesets/?u=http://opcfoundation.org/UA/Machinery/Result/&v=1.01.0&i=1

The NodeSet associated with the latest version of the specification can be found here:

https://reference.opcfoundation.org/nodesets/?u=http://opcfoundation.org/UA/Machinery/Result/&i=1

Supplementary files for the Machinery – Result Transfer Information Model can be found here:

https://reference.opcfoundation.org/nodesets/?u=http://opcfoundation.org/UA/Machinery/Result/&v=1.01.0&i=2

The files associated with the latest version of the specification can be found here:

https://reference.opcfoundation.org/nodesets/?u=http://opcfoundation.org/UA/Machinery/Result/&i=2

___________

14 (informative) Extending the Result Transfer

14.1 Overview

This specification defines concepts for result transfer that can be used as is. However, companion specifications or vendors may want to add additional information into the meta data of the result transfer or define explicitly the formats of the transferred results. This annex describes how to best extend the result transfer approach.

14.2 Extending Metadata

The metadata of the result is defined in the ResultMetaDataType, which is used in the ResultDataType and therefore also in the ResultType VariableType, which again is used in the ResultReadyEventType. The ResultDataType is also used in various methods.

If the metadata of the result is to be extended, the ResultMetaDataType has to be extended by creating a subtype. For using the Methods of the ResultManagementType, this is all that needs to be done. Those Methods returning instances of ResultDataType, now using the extended subtype in that structure. It is not allowed to change the signature of the Methods in a subtype of ResultManagementType, therefore, no subtype needs to be created.

In case, the ResultType Variables or the ResultReadyEvents are supported, additional subtypes should be created. It is not necessary to create a subtype of ResultDataType, as it is not possible to change the DataType of ResultMetaData in the DataType. Only instances of ResultDataType will use the subtype. But the ResultType VariableType is exposing the content of the ResultMetaDataType as subvariables. Therefore, a subtype of the VariableType should be created exposing those additional fields of the subtype of the ResultMetaDataType as subvariables. Since those should also be exposed as Event fields, a subtype of the ResultReadyEventType should be created using the subtype of the VariableType. In both cases, also a subtype of the ResultManagementType should be created, using the subtype of the VariableType and pointing to the subtype of the ResultReadyEventType.

In Table 41, this is summarized.

In Figure 4, an example extending the metadata for all communication mechanisms is given.

14.3 Explicit Result Format

The result is returned in the ResultContent of the ResultDataType, as well as in the ResultContent and ReducedResultContent of the ResultType VariableType, and potentially also in the file transfer using the ResultTransferType.

14.3.1 Explicit Content Format

In order to expose the format and data structure of the ResultContent, it is not possible to subtype the ResultDataType, as the type of a structure field cannot be changed in a subtype. However, a subtype of the ResultType VariableType should be created, where the ResultContent and ReducedResultContent can be overridden and the DataType is changed to the specific DataType. In order to expose this for the Event subscriptions, a subtype of the ResultReadyEventType should be created as well, using the subtype of the VariableType.

That is, without a subtype of the VariableType there is no standardized mechanism to expose the expected DataType for ResultContent and ReducedResultContent. Clients need to receive an instance of ResultDataType in order to get the information about the used DataType in that instance.

14.3.2 Explicit File Format

If the file transfer is used to expose larger results, Servers may support various file formats, as exposed by the FileFormat field of the ResultMetaDataType. In order to allow access to those different file formats, a Server should subtype the BaseResultTransferOptionsDataType and add a field for selecting the file format (and potentially other fields defining the content of the file). Servers should subtype the ResultTransferType (and therefore also the ResultManagementType) to document which subtype of the ResultTransferOptionsDataType is allowed when calling the Method for the file transfer. The BaseResultTransferOptionsDataType is intentionally defined as an abstract DataType. The subtype ResultTransferOptionsDataType can be used as concrete DataType, if no additional fields are needed. This allows to override the GenerateFileForRead Method and change the DataType of the generateOptions in the signature to a concrete DataType. This would not be allowed, if the BaseResultTransferOptionsDataType would not be abstract.

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