Managing field devices having different device description specifications in a process control system
First Claim
1. A method of managing a plurality of field devices in a process control plant, a first plurality of device descriptions specifying a manner in which said plurality of field devices are to be managed, said plurality of device descriptions being defined according to a corresponding plurality of specifications, said method comprising:
- forming a second plurality of device descriptions from said first plurality of device descriptions, said second plurality of device descriptions being in a common format and also specifying said manner in which said plurality of field devices can be managed;
receiving data representing a user action associated with a first field device contained in said plurality of field devices, a first device description corresponding to said first field device, wherein said first device description is contained in said second plurality of device descriptions in said common format; and
examining said first device description in said common format to determine the manner in which to process data representing said user action, wherein a common parser is used by said examining due to the use of said common format.
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Abstract
According to an aspect of the present invention, device descriptions of different DD specifications are converted (represented) into a single format. In an embodiment, the single format corresponds to extended markup language (XML). The device description in the single format is then examined to provide a user interface for management of the corresponding field devices. Due to such use of a common format, integration of field devices (into a management system) having device description defined according to a new DD specification, may be simplified.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method of managing a plurality of field devices in a process control plant, a first plurality of device descriptions specifying a manner in which said plurality of field devices are to be managed, said plurality of device descriptions being defined according to a corresponding plurality of specifications, said method comprising:
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forming a second plurality of device descriptions from said first plurality of device descriptions, said second plurality of device descriptions being in a common format and also specifying said manner in which said plurality of field devices can be managed;
receiving data representing a user action associated with a first field device contained in said plurality of field devices, a first device description corresponding to said first field device, wherein said first device description is contained in said second plurality of device descriptions in said common format; and
examining said first device description in said common format to determine the manner in which to process data representing said user action, wherein a common parser is used by said examining due to the use of said common format. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for causing a system to manage a plurality of field devices in a process control plant, wherein a first plurality of device descriptions specifying a manner in which said plurality of field devices are to be managed, said plurality of device descriptions being defined according to a corresponding plurality of specifications, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors contained in said system causes said one or more processors to perform the actions of:
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forming a second plurality of device descriptions from said first plurality of device descriptions, said second plurality of device descriptions being in a common format and also specifying said manner in which said plurality of field devices can be managed;
receiving data representing a user action associated with a first field device contained in said plurality of field devices, a first device description corresponding to said first field device, wherein said first device description is contained in said second plurality of device descriptions in said common format; and
examining said first device description in said common format to determine the manner in which to process data representing said user action, wherein a common parser is used by said examining due to the use of said common format. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification