GRAPHIC ELEMENT WITH MULTIPLE VISUALIZATIONS IN A PROCESS ENVIRONMENT
First Claim
1. A graphic display editor for use in a process plant to create a graphic display that represents an operation of one or more entities within the process plant, the graphic display editor comprising:
- a library of graphic objects, wherein one of the graphic objects includes a multiplicity of different visual representations of a physical or a logical entity within the process plant; and
a graphically based editor canvas routine that enables a user to define an executable graphic display by placing indications of one or more graphic objects from the library of graphic objects onto an edit canvas to define a manner in which visual representations of the one or more graphic objects will be displayed on a display device to a user during execution of the graphic display, wherein the graphically based editor canvas routine enables the user to select between the multiplicity of different visual representations for the one of the graphic objects when the one of the graphic objects is placed into the edit canvas.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Smart graphic elements are provided for use as portions or components of one or more graphic displays, which may be executed in a process plant to display information to users about the process plant environment, such as the current state of devices within the process plant. Each of the graphic elements is an executable object that includes a property or a variable that may be bound to an associated process entity, like a field device, and that includes multiple visualizations, each of which may be used to graphically depict the associated process entity on a user interface when the graphic element is executed as part of the graphic display. Any of the graphic element visualizations may be used in any particular graphic display and the same graphic display may use different ones of the visualizations at different times. The different visualizations associated with a graphic element make the graphic element more versatile, at they allow the same graphic element to be used in different displays using different graphical styles or norms. These visualizations also enable the same graphic element to be used in displays designed for different types of display devices, such as display devices having large display screens, standard computer screens and very small display screens, such as PDA and telephone display screens.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A graphic display editor for use in a process plant to create a graphic display that represents an operation of one or more entities within the process plant, the graphic display editor comprising:
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a library of graphic objects, wherein one of the graphic objects includes a multiplicity of different visual representations of a physical or a logical entity within the process plant; and a graphically based editor canvas routine that enables a user to define an executable graphic display by placing indications of one or more graphic objects from the library of graphic objects onto an edit canvas to define a manner in which visual representations of the one or more graphic objects will be displayed on a display device to a user during execution of the graphic display, wherein the graphically based editor canvas routine enables the user to select between the multiplicity of different visual representations for the one of the graphic objects when the one of the graphic objects is placed into the edit canvas. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A graphical display configuration system for use in creating a display representing the interconnections between one or more physical or logical process entities within a process plant, the system comprising:
a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon one or more sets of instructions executable by a processor, the one or more sets of instructions comprising; a library of one or more graphic objects, each graphic object associated with a process entity, executable to store a value of a property associated with the process entity, and including one or more graphic visualizations of the process entity, wherein one of the graphic objects includes a multiplicity of different graphic visualizations of the process entity, and one of the one or more graphic visualizations is selectable to be displayed on a display device as a graphic representation of the process entity when the graphic object is executed by the processor; and a display editor module executable to create an executable graphic display object that represents an operation of the one or more process entities, the display editor comprising a graphically-based editor canvas routine that enables a user to define the executable graphic display object by placing indications of one or ore graphic objects from the library of graphic objects onto an edit canvas to define a manner in which graphic visualizations of the one or more graphic objects will be displayed on the display device during execution of the graphic display object, wherein the graphically based editor canvas routine enables the user to select, when the one of the graphic objects is placed into the edit canvas, between the multiplicity of different graphic visualizations to be displayed upon execution of the one of the graphic objects. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
Specification