US Patent 11917027 Method and system for providing time-critical services

A system and method for providing time-critical services that are each assigned at least one server component formed by a software container which is loadable into a process control environment and which is executable at the process control environment, wherein a virtual IP stack is provided for each server component, which is connected to a virtual switch comprised by the process control environment, where each service additionally comprises a directory service component for determining services provided within the process control environment, where the directory service components are interconnected via a communication interface which is separated from the virtual switch and from the virtual IP stacks of the server components, and where an aggregator component formed via an additional software container is connected to the separated communication interface, where the aggregator component makes available, outside of the process control environment, reconciled information regarding the services provided via the server components.