Chemical process machine programming system
First Claim
1. In a system comprising a computer for controlling a membrane filtration process, wherein a memory of the computer contains an operation comprising a plurality of steps in the process, a method comprising steps of:
- (A) identifying a first subset of the plurality of steps as fixed steps;
(B) identifying a second subset of the plurality of steps as variable steps; and
(C) providing to a user of the system an interface through which the variable steps, but not the fixed steps, may be modified.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides an operation editor that includes a user interface for programming operations to be performed by a chemical process machine. Through the user interface the user may specify that one or more of the steps in an operation be variable. Such variable steps may subsequently be edited by the same or another user when the operation is incorporated into a procedure. Steps in the operation that are not variable are fixed and may not be edited when the operation has been incorporated into a procedure. Furthermore, individual fields in a variable step may be either variable or fixed. The present invention also provides a procedure editor that includes a user interface, which allows the user to edit variable steps within the procedure'"'"'s operations. The procedure editor presents to the user for editing only those steps within the procedure that are variable.
58 Citations
20 Claims
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1. In a system comprising a computer for controlling a membrane filtration process, wherein a memory of the computer contains an operation comprising a plurality of steps in the process, a method comprising steps of:
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(A) identifying a first subset of the plurality of steps as fixed steps;
(B) identifying a second subset of the plurality of steps as variable steps; and
(C) providing to a user of the system an interface through which the variable steps, but not the fixed steps, may be modified. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. In a system comprising a computer for controlling a membrane filtration process, a method comprising a step of:
(A) producing, within a memory of the computer, an operation comprising a plurality of steps in the process, by performing steps of;
(1) producing within the operation at least one fixed step that may not be edited by a user of the computer; and
(2) producing within the operation at least one variable step that may be edited by a user of the computer. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. In a system comprising a computer for controlling a membrane filtration process, wherein a memory of the computer contains an operation comprising a plurality of steps in the process, and wherein the plurality of steps comprises at least one variable step and at least one fixed step, a method comprising steps of:
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(A) receiving input from a user indicating a modification to the at least one variable step; and
(B) modifying the at least one variable step to reflect the input received from the user in step (A). - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. In a system comprising a computer for controlling a membrane filtration process, wherein a memory of the computer contains an operation comprising a plurality of steps in the process, and wherein the plurality of steps comprises at least one variable step and at least one fixed step, an apparatus comprising:
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means for receiving input from a user indicating a modification to the at least one variable step; and
means for modifying the at least one variable step to reflect the input received from the user. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. In a system comprising a computer for controlling a membrane filtration process, wherein a memory of the computer contains a procedure data structure comprising pointers to a plurality of operation data structures, and wherein each of the plurality of operation data structures comprises at least one fixed step in the process and at least one variable step in the process, a method comprising steps of:
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(A) providing to a user of the system a first interface through which a user may select one of the plurality of operation data structures; and
(B) providing to the user a second interface through which the at least one variable step, but not the at least one fixed step, of the selected operation data structure may be modified.
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14. In a system comprising a computer for controlling a membrane filtration process, wherein a memory of the computer contains a procedure data structure comprising at least one pointer to at least one operation data structure, and wherein the at least one operation data structure comprises at least one fixed step in the process and at least one variable step in the process, a method comprising steps of:
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(A) receiving input from a user indicating a modification to the at least one variable step; and
(B) modifying the procedure data structure to reflect the input received from the user in step (A). - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. In a system comprising a computer for controlling a membrane filtration process, wherein a memory of the computer contains a procedure data structure comprising at least one pointer to at least one operation data structure, and wherein the at least one operation data structure comprises at least one fixed step in the process and at least one variable step in the process, an apparatus comprising:
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means for receiving input from a user indicating a modification to the at least one variable step; and
means for modifying the procedure data structure to reflect the input received from the user. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. In a system comprising a computer for controlling a membrane filtration process, a procedure data structure residing in a memory of the computer, the procedure data structure comprising:
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at least one pointer to an operation data structure within the memory, wherein the operation data structure comprises data for specifying at least one fixed step and at least one variable step in the process; and
at least one datum specifying the at least one variable step.
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Specification