SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ALERT CAPTURE AND TRANSMISSION

• US 20120310373A1
• Filed: 05/31/2011
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Karaffa, John Michael, Downor, Johnny Stephen, Smith, Steven William, Pettigrew, William Robert
• Application Number:
  US13/149,660
• Publication Number:
  US 20120310373A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/11
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4186 by protocol, e.g. MAP, TOP
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25206 Protocol: only devices with changed states communicate their states, event
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31369 Translation, conversion of protocol between two layers, networks
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33151 Distributed client server
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

The embodiments described herein include a system and a method. In one embodiment, an industrial process control system includes a controller coupled to a field device. The industrial process control system further includes an alert server coupled to the controller. The controller is configured to receive alert information from the field device in a first protocol and communicate the alert information to the alert server in a second protocol.

Claims

1. An industrial process control system comprising:

a controller coupled to a field device; and

an alert server coupled to the controller,

wherein the controller is configured to receive alert information from the field device in a first protocol and communicate the alert information to the alert server in a second protocol.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the alert information comprises an event, an alarm, or a combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the alarm comprises a low limit alarm (LO), a high limit alarm (HI), a critical low limit alarm (LO LO), a critical high limit alarm (HI HI), a deviation low alarm (DV LO), a deviation high alarm (DV HI), a discrete alarm (DISC), a block alarm (BLOCK), a write protect changed alarm (WRITE), or a combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the alert information comprises the event, and the event comprises a static data update event, a link associated with function block update event, a trend associated with block update event, an ignore bit string update event (IGNORE), an integrator reset update event (RESET), or a combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first protocol comprises a Fieldbus Foundation protocol, a HART protocol, or a combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the second protocol comprises a serial data interface (SDI) protocol, a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), a user datagram protocol (UDP), a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), an institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 protocol, a Zigbee protocol, Z-Wave protocol, or a combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the field device comprises a Fieldbus Foundation device, a Profibus device, a HART device, or a combination thereof.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to collect the alert information from the field device during introduction of the field device into the industrial process control system.

9. The system of claim 8, comprising the field device, wherein the field device comprises an automatically commissioned field device.

10. The system of claim 8, comprising the field device, wherein the field device comprises a manually commissioned field device.

11. The system of claim 1, comprising a linking device, a high speed Ethernet network, and a Foundation H1 network, wherein the linking device is configured to link the high speed Ethernet network to the Foundation H1 network, the controller is coupled to the high speed Ethernet network and the field device is coupled to the Foundation H1 network.

12. A method, comprising:

collecting, via a controller of an industrial control system, alerts from a field device in a first protocol;

transferring, via the controller of the industrial control system, the alerts to an alert server in a second protocol; and

providing the alerts to a plurality of components of the industrial control system, wherein the first protocol is different from the second protocol.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first protocol comprises a Fieldbus Foundation protocol, a Profibus protocol, a HART protocol, or a combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the second protocol comprises a serial data interface (SDI) protocol, a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), a user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), an institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 protocol, a Zigbee protocol, a Z-Wave protocol, or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the collecting the alerts comprises receiving an attachment message from the field device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the collecting the alerts comprises reporting the attachment message to the alert server, retrieving a pre-configuration information for the device, and retrieving the alert information by using the first protocol.

17. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium comprising executable code, the executable code comprising instructions for:

collecting, via a controller of an industrial control system, alerts from a field device in a first protocol;

transferring, via the controller of the industrial control system, the alerts to an alert server in a second protocol; and

providing the alerts to a plurality of components of the industrial control system, wherein the first protocol is different from the second protocol.

18. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions for collecting the alerts from the field device comprise instructions for receiving an attachment message from the field device, reporting the attachment message to the alert server, retrieving a pre-configuration information for the device, and retrieving the alert information by using the first protocol.

19. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions for collecting the alerts from the field device in the first protocol comprise instructions for using a first process executable by a controller and configured to collect the alerts from the field device in the first protocol.

20. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions for transferring the alerts to an alert server in the second protocol comprise instructions for using an alarm process executable by a controller and configured to transfer the alerts to the alert server in the second protocol.