Wireless handheld communicator in a process control environment

• US 20050164684A1
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Published: 07/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Nixon, Mark J., Chen, Deji, Burr, Kent A., Peterson, Neil J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,640,007 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.100
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0423 Input/output
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4184 characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23406 Programmer device, portable, handheld detachable programmer
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24012 Use camera of handheld device, head mounted display
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25297 Identify controlled element, valve, and read characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25428 Field device
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31121 Fielddevice, field controller, interface connected to fieldbus
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32014 Augmented reality assists operator in maintenance, repair, programming, assembly, use of head mounted display with 2-D 3-D display and voice feedback, voice and gesture command
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/36159 Detachable or portable programming unit, display, pc, pda
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A handheld communicator wirelessly interfaces or communicates with individual devices in a process control system, such as field devices, controllers, etc., to wirelessly perform monitoring, maintenance, configuration and control activities with respect to those devices. The wireless handheld communicator includes a housing adapted for handheld operation, a processing unit disposed within the housing, a computer readable memory disposed within the housing and coupled to the processing unit and a display, a keypad and a radio frequency transceiver. The handheld communicator may be adapted to communicate with a host system to receive information needed to communicate with various field devices in the process plant and may then be used to wirelessly communicate with each of the various field devices directly while in close proximity to the field devices to perform monitoring and configuration activities with respect to the field devices. Thereafter, information obtained from the field devices may be wirelessly communicated to the host system or to a repository, such as a data historian or a configuration database.

Claims

1. A method of communicating with a device in a process control environment, comprising:

storing communication information in a handheld communicator defining a communication protocol for wirelessly communicating with the device; and

wirelessly communicating with the device using the handheld communicator and the defined communication protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, including identifying the device prior to wirelessly communicating with the device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying the device includes recognizing a radio frequency identification tag associated with the device to identify the device.

4. The method of claim 2, further including wirelessly communicating with a repository to obtain the communication information after identifying the device.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying the device includes automatically identifying the device using the handheld communicator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the communication information includes storing one or more of a user interface for display on the handheld communicator to communicate with the device, a device description defining communications with the device, and a communication protocol for use in communicating with the device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly communicating with the device includes requesting information from the device and storing the requested information in a memory within the handheld communicator.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein requesting information from the device includes requesting one of status, calibration, manufacturer, and process parameter information from the device.

9. The method of claim 7, further including communicating with a base unit and delivering the stored requested information to the base unit.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein communicating with the base unit includes wirelessly communicating with the base unit.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly communicating with the device includes sending configuration information to the device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly communicating with the device includes sending a control command to the device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly communicating with the device includes communicating with the device via a radio frequency transmitter on the handheld communicator.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly communicating with the device includes communicating with the device via a radio frequency transmitter disposed on the device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly communicating with the device includes communicating with the device via a radio frequency transmitter node separate from the device but communicatively connected to the device via a hardwired communication connection.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly communicating with the device includes communicating with the device via a radio frequency transmitter node separate from the device but communicatively connected to the device via a wireless communication connection.

17. A communication system for use in a process environment having a plurality of devices distributed in a process plant, the communication system comprising:

a handheld communicator having a processing unit, a computer readable memory, a graphical display unit, an input device and a first wireless transceiver; and

a second wireless transceiver disposed in the process environment and communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of devices;

wherein the handheld communicator further includes a memory adapted to store communication information that defines a manner of communicating with the at least one of the plurality of devices and a communication routine adapted to be executed on the processor to communicate with the at least one of the plurality of devices through the first and second transceivers using the communication information.

18. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the second wireless transceiver is disposed on the at least one of the plurality of devices.

19. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the second wireless transceiver is disposed apart from the at least one of the plurality of devices but is connected to the at least one of the plurality of devices via a hardwired communication connection.

20. The communication system of claim 19, wherein the second wireless transceiver is connected to the at least one of the plurality of devices via a bus-type communication connection.

21. The communication system of claim 19, wherein the second wireless transceiver is connected to the one of the plurality of devices via a point-to-point hardwired communication connection.

22. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the second wireless transceiver is disposed apart from the at least one of the plurality of devices and is connected to the at least one of the plurality of devices via a secondary wireless communication connection.

23. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the first and second wireless transceivers are radio frequency transceivers.

24. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the handheld communicator includes a secondary receiver adapted to wirelessly receive one or more signals from an additional transmitter disposed within the process.

25. The communication system of claim 24, wherein the secondary receiver is an infrared receiver.

26. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the handheld communicator stores one or more user interface screens in the memory for use in communicating with the at least one of the plurality of devices.

27. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the handheld communicator stores a communication routine adapted to communicate with a base unit disposed in the process environment via the first transceiver.

28. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the handheld communicator includes an identification routine stored on the memory and adapted to be executed on the processor to identify ones of the plurality of devices.

29. The communication system of claim 28, wherein the identification routine is adapted to identify one of the plurality of devices using a radio frequency identification tag.

30. The communication system of claim 28, wherein the identification routine is adapted to identify one of the plurality of devices using an optical recognition technique.

31. The communication system of claim 28, wherein the identification routine is adapted to identify one of the plurality of devices using a sound processing recognition technique.

32. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the handheld communicator further includes a hardwire communication connection adapted to be temporarily connected to the at least one of the plurality of devices or to a base unit to perform communication with the at least one of the plurality of devices or the base unit.

33. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the handheld communicator is reconfigurable to be able to communicate at different times with different ones of the plurality of devices using different communication protocols.

34. A communication system for use in a process environment, comprising:

a plurality of devices distributed in the process environment for performing one or more control or measurement activities within the process environment;

a first wireless transceiver disposed in the process environment and communicatively connected to at least one of the plurality of devices;

a handheld communicator having a processing unit, a computer readable memory, a graphical display unit, an input device, and a second wireless transceiver, the handheld communicator further including a memory adapted to store communication information that defines a manner of communicating with the at least one of the plurality of devices and a communication routine adapted to be executed on the processor to communicate with the at least one of the plurality of devices through the first and second transceivers using the communication information.

35. The communication system of claim 35, wherein the first wireless transceiver is disposed on the at least one of the plurality of devices.

36. The communication system of claim 35, wherein the first wireless transceiver is disposed apart from the at least one of the plurality of devices but is connected to the at least one of the plurality of devices via a hardwired communication connection.

37. The communication system of claim 36, wherein the first wireless transceiver is connected to the at least one of the plurality of devices via a bus-type communication connection.

38. The communication system of claim 35, first wireless transceiver is disposed apart from the at least one of the plurality of devices and is connected to the at least one of the plurality of devices via a secondary wireless communication connection.

39. The communication system of claim 35, wherein the handheld communicator is adapted store two different sets of communication information that define manners of communicating with two or more different ones of the plurality of devices.

40. The communication system of claim 39, wherein each of the two different sets of communication information includes different user interfaces to be displayed on the display unit of the handheld communicator for use by a user when communicating with the two or more different ones of the plurality of devices.