BULK FIELD DEVICE OPERATIONS

• US 20150066162A1
• Filed: 09/04/2014
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Hokeness, Scott N., Peluso, Marcos A., Pille, Charles H., Hurt, Paul J., Hong, Nghy A., Xiao, Qian (Jane)
• Granted Patent: US 9,851,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/28
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23192 A limited number of programs to be used by plurality of machines, multiplex
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25061 Configuration stored in central database
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25428 Field device

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for configuring a plurality of field devices is provided. The method includes defining a configuration template and mapping the configuration template to a plurality of field devices. The defined configuration template is automatically applied to the plurality of field devices. A method of verifying field device configuration information is also provided.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for configuring a plurality of field devices, the method comprising:

defining a configuration template;

mapping the configuration template to a plurality of field devices; and

automatically applying the defined configuration template to the plurality of field devices.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein defining a configuration template includes receiving, through a user interface, a set of device configurations to be used as a model for a plurality device configurations.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the defined configuration template is stored in a database.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the database is a database of an asset management system.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the database is a database of a control system.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein mapping the configuration template to a plurality of field devices includes generating an association between a name of the configuration template and a unique field device identifier.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein at least one of the plurality of field devices is a virtual field device.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the unique field device identifier is a device tag.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the association between the plurality of field devices and the configuration is individually listed in a document.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the document is a spreadsheet.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein automatically applying the defined configuration to the plurality of field devices includes engaging a device commissioning process of an asset management system to apply a configuration to each field device in accordance with the defined configuration template.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in an asset management system.

13. A computer-implemented method for verifying configuration information of a plurality of field devices, the method comprising:

accessing a configuration template;

accessing a map relating the configuration template to a plurality of field devices; and

automatically comparing information stored in the configuration template with field device configuration information for each field device mapped to the configuration.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the configuration template includes a set of device configurations that serves as a model for a plurality field device configurations.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the method is executed by a report tool.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, and further comprising generating a report indicating configuration information for each field device.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, and further comprising receiving search criteria relative to the report and responsively providing a search result based on the search criteria.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, and further comprising providing a status identifier for the report.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, and further comprising generating a report indicating incorrect configuration information for each field device.

20. A system comprising:

a processor;

a storage device coupled to the processor;

a user interface component configured to generate a user interface that receives a user configuration template and a map relating the user configuration template to a plurality of intelligent field devices; and

wherein the processor is configured to automatically execute an operation on each field device defined in the map based on the defined user configuration template.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the operation is a field device commissioning operation.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the operation is a field device verification operation.