Integrated alarm display in a process control network

• US 6,774,786 B1
• Filed: 11/07/2000
• Issued: 08/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Schleiss, Trevor D., Scott, Cindy, Ott, Michael G., Fletcher, J. Clint, Havekost, Robert B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Crosland, Donnie L.
• Application Number:
  US09/707,580
• Time in Patent Office: 1,372 Days
• Field of Search: 340/517, 340/500, 340/525, 340/506, 340/501, 340/521, 700/11, 700/12, 700/17, 700/80, 700/21, 700/83, 702/183-185, 702/187, 702/188, 709/318
• US Class Current: 340/517
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0272 Presentation of monitored results, e.g. selection of status reports to be displayed; Filtering information to the user

Abstract

An alarm display and interface tool for use in a process control system receives and displays different categories of alarms, including for example, device alarms and hardware alarms as well as traditional process alarms, on a single display to enable an operator or other user to view and have access to these different categories of alarms. The display and interface tool may be used to filter the alarms that are displayed according to any number of categories, including the category of the alarm, the priority of the alarm, the status of the alarm, etc. so as to alternatively segregate or combine the tasks typically associated with operator, maintenance and engineer personnel. The tool may also be used to access each of the displayed alarms to obtain more information about any individual alarm.

Claims

1. An alarm display system for use in a process control network having a user interface with a display mechanism and a multiplicity of communicatively interconnected devices adapted to generate and send alarm messages containing alarms of various categories to the user interface, the alarm display system comprising:

an alarm receiver configured to receive the alarm messages from the multiplicity of devices to obtain a plurality of alarms of various categories;

an alarm processing unit that processes the plurality of alarms for display based on at least one user customizable criterion to ascertain a set of alarms for display; and

an alarm display unit that presents indications of the set of the alarms for display on the display mechanism, wherein the alarm display unit presents indications of alarms of various categories in an integrated manner on the display mechanism.

2. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarm processing unit includes an alarm filter that filters the plurality of alarms for display based on the least one user customizable criterion to ascertain the set of alarms for display.

3. The alarm display system of claim 2, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to enable a user to change alarm filter settings associated with the alarm filter to filter the alarms by alarm categories.

4. The alarm display system of claim 2, wherein the alarm filter filters the alarms based on alarm category.

5. The alarm display system of claim 2, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to enable a user to change alarm filter settings associated with the alarm filter to filter alarms by priority.

6. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarms of various categories include a process alarm related to the functionality of process control software and a hardware alarm related to the functionality of a device defining a node in the process control system.

7. The alarm display system of claim 6, wherein one of the hardware alarms relates to a controller.

8. The alarm display system of claim 6, wherein one of the hardware alarms relates to an input/output device connected between a controller and a field device.

9. The alarm display system of claim 6, wherein one of the hardware alarms relates to a workstation.

10. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarms of various categories include a device alarm related to the functionality of a field device and a hardware alarm related to the functionality of a device defining a node in the process control system.

11. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarms of various categories include process alarms related to the functionality of process control software, device alarms related to the functionality of field devices and hardware alarms related to the functionality of devices defining a node in the process control system.

12. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarm display unit presents indications of the alarms of various categories in an integrated manner using an alarm banner.

13. The alarm display system of claim 12, wherein the alarm banner is adapted to include the alarm indications for the alarms of various categories and a summary for a selected one of the alarm indications.

14. The alarm display system of claim 12, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to provide a primary control display for a selected one of the alarm indications in the alarm banner.

15. The alarm display system of claim 12, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to enable a user to suppress one or more of the alarms associated with one or more of the alarm indications in the alarm banner.

16. The alarm display system of claim 12, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to enable a user to acknowledge one or more of the alarms associated with one or more of the alarm indications in the alarm banner.

17. The alarm display system of claim 12, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to present indications of the alarms of various categories in an order based on the priority of the alarms.

18. The alarm display system of claim 12, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to present indications of the alarms of various categories in an order based on the acknowledged status of the alarms.

19. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to present indications of the alarms of various categories in an integrated manner using an alarm summary window that summarizes the alarms of various categories for display.

20. The alarm display system of claim 19, wherein the alarm summary window summarizes suppressed alarms but not active alarms.

21. The alarm display system of claim 19, wherein the alarm summary window summarizes active alarms but not suppressed alarms.

22. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to present indications of the alarms of various categories associated with a particular node in the process control system.

23. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to present indications of the alarms of various categories associated with a particular device in the process control system.

24. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to present indications of the alarms of various categories associated with a particular unit in the process control system.

25. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to present indications of the alarms of various categories associated with a particular area in the process control system.

26. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarms of various categories include a process alarm related to the functionality of process control software and a device alarm related to the functionality of a field device.

27. The alarm display system of claim 1, further including an event chronicle database that stores change information pertaining to the alarms of various categories.

28. The alarm display system of claim 1, wherein the alarm processing unit includes an alarm filter that filters the plurality of alarms for display based on at least one scope respectively associated with at least one of an operator and a workstation.

30. The alarm display system of claim 28, wherein the routine processes the plurality of alarms by filtering the alarms based on alarm category.

31. The alarm display system of claim 30, wherein the routine is adapted to enable a user to change filter settings which effect the manner in which the routine filters the alarms.

32. The alarm display system of claim 30, wherein the routine processes the plurality of alarms by filtering the alarms based on alarm priority.

29. An alarm display system for use in a process control network that includes a user interface having a processor and a display mechanism coupled to the processor and having a multiplicity of communicatively interconnected devices adapted to generate and send alarm messages containing alarms of various categories to the user interface, the alarm display system comprising:

a computer readable memory; and

a routine stored on the computer readable memory and adapted to be implemented on the processor, wherein the routine;

receives the alarm messages from the multiplicity of devices to obtain a plurality of alarms of various categories;

processes the plurality of alarms for display based on at least one user customizable criterion to ascertain a set of alarms for display; and

presents indications of the set of the alarms for display on the display mechanism, wherein the set of alarms for display includes alarms of various categories which are presented in an integrated manner on the display mechanism of the user interface.

33. The alarm display system of claim 29, wherein the alarms of various categories include two or more of a process alarm related to the functionality of process control software, a device alarm related to the functionality of a field device and a hardware alarm related to the functionality of a device defining a node in the process control system.

34. The alarm display system of claim 29, wherein the routine presents the indications of the alarms for display in an integrated manner using an alarm banner.

35. The alarm display system of claim 34, wherein the alarm banner is adapted to include alarm indications for the alarms of various categories and a summary for a selected one of the alarm indications.

36. The alarm display system of claim 34, wherein the routine is adapted to provide a primary control display for a selected one of the alarm indications in the alarm banner.

37. The alarm display system of claim 29, wherein the routine is adapted to present indications of the alarms of various categories in an order based on a parameter associated with each of the various categories of alarms other than alarm category.

38. The alarm display system of claim 29, wherein the routine is adapted to present indications of alarms of various categories associated with a particular device in the process control system.

39. The alarm display system of claim 29, wherein the routine processes the plurality of alarms by filtering the alarms based on at least one scope respectively associated with at least one of an operator and a workstation.

40. A process control system, comprising:

a user interface with a display mechanism;

a multiplicity of communicatively interconnected devices adapted to generate and send alarm messages containing alarms of various categories to the user interface;

an alarm receiver configured to receive the alarm messages from the multiplicity of devices to obtain a plurality of alarms of various categories;

an alarm filter that filters the plurality of alarms for display based on at least one user customizable criterion to ascertain a set of alarms for display and allows adjustment from at least one predefined priority level respectively associated with the alarms to at least one offset priority respectively associated with the alarms; and

an alarm display unit that presents indications of the set of the alarms for display on the display mechanism, wherein the alarm display unit presents indications of alarms of various categories in an integrated manner on the display mechanism.

41. The process control system of claim 40, wherein the alarm filter filters the alarms based on alarm category.

42. The process control system of claim 40, wherein one of the devices includes software that generates and sends one of a process alarm, a device alarm, or a hardware alarm and another one of the devices includes further software that generates and sends a different one of a process alarm, a device alarm or a hardware alarm, wherein a process alarm is related to the functionality of process control software, a device alarm is related to the functionality of a field device and a hardware alarm is related to the functionality of a device defining a node.

43. The process control system of claim 40, wherein the alarm display unit presents indications of the alarms of various categories in an integrated manner using an alarm banner.

44. The process control system of claim 43, wherein the alarm banner is adapted to include the alarm indications for the alarms of various categories and a summary for a selected one of the alarm indications.

45. The process control system of claim 43, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to provide a primary control display for a selected one of the alarm indications in the alarm banner.

46. The process control system of claim 43, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to enable a user to suppress one or more of the alarms associated with one or more of the alarm indications in the alarm banner.

47. The process control system of claim 43, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to enable a user to acknowledge one or more of the alarms associated with one or more of the alarm indications in the alarm banner.

48. The process control system of claim 43, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to present indications of the alarms of various categories in an order based on a parameter associated with each of the various categories of alarms other than alarm category.

49. The process control system of claim 40, wherein the alarm filter filters the alarms based on at least one scope respectively associated with at least one of an operator and a workstation.

50. The process control system of claim 40, wherein the alarm display unit is adapted to present indications of the alarms in an order based on the offset priority level.

51. A method of generating and displaying alarms in a process control system having a multiplicity of devices communicatively connected to a user interface, the method comprising the steps of:

generating various categories of alarms in the multiplicity of devices;

sending messages containing alarms of the various categories to the user interface;

determining an adjusted priority level for at least one of the alarms based on a preconfigured priority level for the alarm;

filtering the alarms received at the user interface based on at least one user customizable criterion; and

displaying the alarms of various categories which pass the step of filtering on the user interface in an integrated display.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the step of generating the alarms of various categories includes generating one or more of process alarms, device alarms and hardware alarms in two or more of the devices, wherein the process alarms are related to the functionality of process control software, the device alarms are related to the functionality of field devices and the hardware alarms are related to the functionality of devices defining a node within the process control system.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the step of displaying includes the step of displaying the alarms of various categories in an alarm banner.

54. The method of claim 53, further including the step of enabling a user to select one of the alarms in the alarm banner and displaying more information about the selected alarm.

55. The method of claim 51, wherein the step of displaying includes the step of displaying an alarm summary having information about the alarms of various categories that have been generated.

56. The method of claim 51, further including the step of enabling a user to select the criterion used in the step of filtering to control the alarms displayed on the user interface.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the step of filtering includes the step of filtering based on alarm category.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein the step of filtering includes the step of filtering based on alarm priority.

59. The method of claim 51, wherein the step of generating includes the step of providing each alarm with a parameter defining the alarm category.

60. The method of claim 51, wherein the step of displaying includes the step of displaying the alarms in an order based on the adjusted priority level.

61. The method of claim 56, wherein the step of filtering includes the step of filtering based on at least one scope respectively associated with at least one of an operator and a workstation.

62. An alarm display system for use in a process control network having a user interface with a display mechanism and a multiplicity of communicatively interconnected devices adapted to generate and send alarm messages containing alarms of various categories to the user interface, the alarm display system comprising:

an alarm receiver configured to receive the alarm messages from the multiplicity of devices to obtain a plurality of alarms of various categories;

an alarm processing unit that processes the plurality of alarms for display based on at least one user customizable criterion to ascertain a set of alarms for display and filters the plurality of alarms for display based on at least one scope respectively associated with at least one of an operator and a workstation; and

an alarm display unit that present indications of the set of the alarms for display on the display mechanism, wherein the alarm display unit presents the indications of alarms of various categories in an integrated manner on the display mechanism.