Systems and methods to customize alert presentation

• US 8,730,054 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2011
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Infrastructure Technology, LLC (GE Vernova, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Karaffa, John Michael, Downor, Johnny Stephen, Smith, Steven William
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US13/149,811
• Publication Number:
  US 20120310381A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• Field of Search: 340/502, 340/517, 340/519, 340/521, 340/522, 340/531, 340/533, 340/540, 340/679, 340/691.1, 340/691.6, 700/80, 700/108, 715/700
• US Class Current: 340/679
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/418 Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0267 Fault communication, e.g. human machine interface [HMI]
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0272 Presentation of monitored results, e.g. selection of status reports to be displayed; Filtering information to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0275 Fault isolation and identification, e.g. classify fault; estimate cause or root of failure
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

In one embodiment, an industrial process control system includes a field device configured to provide an alert. The process control system also includes a graphical user interface configured to present an alarm for the alert, and an alarm server comprising a processor and configured to associate an alarm class with the alert. The alarm class includes a plurality of alarm attributes having a respective plurality of values, and the graphical user interface is configured to present the alarm for the alert based on the plurality of alarm attributes and the respective plurality of values.

Claims

1. An industrial process control system, comprising:

a field device configured to provide an alert;

a graphical user interface configured to present an alarm for the alert; and

an alarm server comprising a processor and configured to associate an alarm class with the alert, wherein the alarm class comprises a plurality of alarm attributes having a respective plurality of values, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to present the alarm for the alert based on the plurality of alarm attributes and the respective plurality of values.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the field device is configured to communicate with the alarm server using a FIELDBUS FOUNDATION®

H1 protocol, a HART®

Communications Foundation (HCF) protocol, a PROFIBUS®

Nutzer Organization (PNO) protocol, or a combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a controller configured to receive the alert from the field device and transmit an acknowledgment to the alarm server that the alert has been received from the field device.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising a plant data highway, a unit data highway, a high speed Ethernet Network, a linking device, and a Foundation H1 network, wherein the graphical user interface is coupled to the plant data highway or the unit data highway, the alarm server is coupled to the unit data highway, the controller is coupled to the unit data highway and the high speed Ethernet network, the linking device is configured to link the high speed Ethernet network to the Foundation H1 network, and the field device is coupled to the Foundation H1 network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is disposed on a human-machine interface (HMI) system, a manufacturing execution system (MES), a distributed control system (DCS), a supervisor control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, or an alarm viewer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to receive the plurality of values for the plurality of alarm attributes and to send the plurality of values to the alarm server.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of alarm attributes comprises:

a plurality of normal alarm attributes that are associated with a healthy or non-alarmed state of the field device, wherein the plurality of normal alarm attributes comprises a normal sound, a normal background color, a normal background blink color, a normal text color, a normal text blink color, or a normal blink rate; and

a plurality of active alarm attributes that are associated with an unhealthy or alarmed state of the field device, wherein the plurality of active alarm attributes comprises an active sound, an active background color, an active background blink color, an active text color, an active text blink color, or an active blink rate.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the alert comprises one or more of a low limit alarm alert, a high limit alarm alert, a critical low limit alarm alert, a critical high limit alarm alert, a deviation low alarm alert, a deviation high alarm alert, a discrete alarm alert, a block alarm alert, or a custom alarm alert.

9. A method, comprising:

receiving an alert from a field device of an industrial control system;

resolving the alert to an associated alarm class, wherein the associated alarm class comprises a plurality of presentation attributes not defined by the alert; and

instructing a user interface to display an alarm for the alert based on a respective plurality of values of the plurality of presentation attributes for the associated alarm class.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein resolving the alert comprises using a unique identifier from the alert to determine the associated alarm class.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the alert comprises receiving the alert from a controller of the industrial control system coupled to the field device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the field device is configured to communicate with the controller using a FIELDBUS FOUNDATION®

H1 protocol, a HART®

Communications Foundation (HCF) protocol, a PROFIBUS®

Nutzer Organization (PNO) protocol, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the alert for the field device comprises one or more of a low limit alarm alert, a high limit alarm alert, a critical low limit alarm alert, a critical high limit alarm alert, deviation low alarm alert, a deviation high alarm alert, a discrete alarm alert, or a block alarm alert.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of presentation attributes comprises:

a plurality of normal presentation attributes that are associated with a healthy or non-alarmed state of the field device, wherein the plurality of normal presentation attributes comprises a normal sound, a normal background color, a normal background blink color, a normal text color, a normal text blink color, or a normal blink rate; and

a plurality of active presentation attributes that are associated with an unhealthy or alarmed state of the field device, wherein the plurality of active presentation attributes comprises one or more of;

an active sound, an active background color, an active background blink color, an active text color, an active text blink color, or an active blink rate.

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

receiving a selection of an alert of a field device from a user interface;

defining an alarm class, wherein the alarm class comprises a plurality of presentation attributes having a respective plurality of values; and

associating the alarm class with the alert of the field device.

16. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the code further comprises instructions for displaying the alarm based on the plurality of presentation attributes of the alarm class.

17. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the field device is configured to communicate with a controller using a FIELDBUS FOUNDATION®

H1 protocol, a HART®

Communications Foundation (HCF) protocol, a PROFIBUS®

Nutzer Organization (PNO) protocol, or a combination thereof.

18. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality of presentation attributes comprises:

a plurality of normal presentation attributes that are associated with a healthy or non-alarmed state of the field device, wherein the plurality of normal presentation attributes comprises a normal sound, a normal background color, a normal background blink color, a normal text color, a normal text blink color, or a normal blink rate; and

a plurality of active presentation attributes that are associated with an unhealthy or alarmed state of the field device, wherein the plurality of active presentation attributes comprises an active sound, an active background color, an active background blink color, an active text color, an active text blink color, or an active blink rate.

19. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the user interface comprises a user interface on a human-machine interface (HMI) system, a manufacturing execution system (MES), a distributed control system (DCS), a supervisor control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, or an alarm viewer.

20. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the alert comprises one or more of a low limit alarm alert, a high limit alarm alert, a critical low limit alarm alert, a critical high limit alarm alert, a deviation low alarm alert, a deviation high alarm alert, a discrete alarm alert, a block alarm alert, or a custom alarm alert.