Graphics integration into a process configuration and control environment
First Claim
1. A configuration system for use in a process plant having a plurality of physical and logical process entities which operate together to perform a process and a process controller communicatively connected to the plurality of physical and logical process entities to implement a control routine to control the operation of the process plant, the configuration system comprising:
- an executable graphic display that includes one or more visual depictions to be displayed on a display device when the graphic display is executed, a parameter memory adapted to store a value of a parameter and a binding memory adapted to store a reference for communicatively connecting the parameter memory to a data source within the process plant;
a configuration database that stores an indication of the physical and logical process entities and an indication of the executable graphic display; and
a configuration engine that enables a user to configure the operation of the graphic display by producing a screen depicting the indications of the plurality of physical and logical process entities and the indication of the executable graphic display and enables a user to configure the operation of the executable graphic display by dragging the indication of the executable graphic display to one of the indications of the plurality of physical and logical process entities and dropping the indication of the executable graphic display on the one of the indications of the plurality of physical and logical process entities.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Graphic elements and graphic displays are provided for use in a process environment to display information to one or more users about the process environment, such as the current state of device within a process plant. The graphic elements and display may be associated with various logical and physical elements within the process plant during configuration of the process plant, and may be configured and downloaded to the hardware within the process plant along with other configuration items, such as control routines. In particular, the graphic elements and graphic displays may be created and stored in a library, and may then be configured by being associated with various logical or physical entities within the plant. During the configuration process, the graphic elements and graphic displays may be associated with areas, equipment, process modules, control routines or control strategies of the plant as defined elsewhere in the plant configuration, or may be associated with interfaces or display devices, to define the hardware on which the graphic displays will execute during runtime, as well as to define the process entities to which these displays will be bound for display purposes. Still further, each of the graphic displays may be defined with a role or a functional use, such as an operator view, a maintenance view, etc., and these roles may be used to defined the proper access and use of the graphic displays within the runtime environment.
102 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A configuration system for use in a process plant having a plurality of physical and logical process entities which operate together to perform a process and a process controller communicatively connected to the plurality of physical and logical process entities to implement a control routine to control the operation of the process plant, the configuration system comprising:
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an executable graphic display that includes one or more visual depictions to be displayed on a display device when the graphic display is executed, a parameter memory adapted to store a value of a parameter and a binding memory adapted to store a reference for communicatively connecting the parameter memory to a data source within the process plant; a configuration database that stores an indication of the physical and logical process entities and an indication of the executable graphic display; and a configuration engine that enables a user to configure the operation of the graphic display by producing a screen depicting the indications of the plurality of physical and logical process entities and the indication of the executable graphic display and enables a user to configure the operation of the executable graphic display by dragging the indication of the executable graphic display to one of the indications of the plurality of physical and logical process entities and dropping the indication of the executable graphic display on the one of the indications of the plurality of physical and logical process entities.
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2. A configuration system for use in a process plant having a plurality of physical and logical process entities which operate together to perform a process and a process controller communicatively connected to the plurality of physical and logical process entities to implement a control routine to control the operation of the process plant, the configuration system comprising:
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an executable graphic display that includes one or more visual depictions to be displayed on a display device when the graphic display is executed, a parameter memory adapted to store a value of a parameter and a binding memory adapted to store a reference for communicatively connecting the parameter memory to a data source within the process plant; a configuration database that stores an indication of the physical and logical process entities and an indication of the executable graphic display; and a configuration engine that enables a user to configure the operation of the graphic display by producing a screen depicting the indications of the plurality of physical and logical process entities and the indication of the executable graphic display and producing an indication that the executable graphic display needs to be downloaded to a display device within the process plant after the executable graphic display is associated with one of the physical and logical process entities.
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3. A method of configuring a process plant to include graphic displays for execution on one or more display devices within the process plant, the method comprising:
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defining one or more executable graphic displays for use in the process plant; storing an indication of one or more physical and logical process entities within a configuration database; storing an indication of the one or more executable graphic displays in the configuration database; enabling a user to configure the operation of the executable graphic displays by associating the indications of the one or more executable graphic displays within the configuration database with the indications of the one or more physical and logical process entities within the configuration database; and downloading the one or more executable graphic displays according to the manner in which the indications of the one or more executable graphic displays are associated with the indications of the one or more physical and logical process entities within the configuration database. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of using executable graphic displays within a process environment, the method comprising:
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creating one or more executable graphic displays to include one or more visual depictions and one or more parameters to be bound to data sources within the process plant; storing a role for each of the one or more executable graphic displays; assigning the one or more executable graphic displays to display devices according to the defined roles for the one or more executable graphic displays; and downloading the one or more executable graphic displays according to the manner in which the one or more executable graphic displays are assigned to the display devices. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification