Methods and systems for streaming process control data to remote devices

A computer system for communicating process data from a process control system of a process plant to remote computing devices, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• one or more communication units configured to send and receive data via a process control network and a remote access network;
• a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to:
• receive, via the process control network by the one or more communication units, one or more configuration files describing a configuration of the process control system and operable, when downloaded to process controllers of the process control system, to cause the process controllers to control the process plant;
• transmit a polling request for one or more lists including indications of requested process data parameters requested by a mobile server via the remote access network by the one or more communication units for further communication to the remote computing devices, the requested process data parameters indicating process data parameters associated with the one or more configuration files, and selected from among process data parameters specified in the one or more configuration files;
• receive the one or more lists in response to the polling request;
• receive a digitally encoded data stream comprising real-time process parameter data values from a plurality of process controllers within the process plant via the process control network by the one or more communication units;
• select a subset of the process parameter data values from the digitally-encoded data stream of process parameter data values to send to the mobile server based upon the requested process data parameters of the one or more lists;
• and
• transmit as a second digitally-encoded data stream the subset of the process parameter data values to the mobile server via the remote access network by the one or more communication units,
• wherein the data server only accepts the one or more lists for a predetermined interval of time following the polling request.