System and method for servicing field devices in an automated plant

A system for servicing field devices in an automated plant, comprising:

• a communication network;
• a gateway;
• an application server;
• and
• a superordinated control/service unit, which accesses the field devices via said communication network, wherein:
• said communication network has at a control/servicing level a first bus system with a first transmission protocol and at a field level a second bus system with a second transmission protocol;
• conversion between the two transmission protocols occurs in said gateway;
• there is provided in said gateway a basic software, which, upon occurrence of an event, scans to ascertain the field devices arranged at the field level and utilizes the ascertained information concerning the field devices, in order to download corresponding electronic device descriptions from said application server and to provide these to said control/service unit for servicing the field devices;
• and
• said application server contains server apps.

A method for servicing field devices in an automated plant with a superordinated control/service unit, comprising the steps of:

• accessing the field devices by the superordinated control/service unit accesses via a communication network;
• providing the communication network at a control/servicing level a first bus system with a first transmission protocol and at a field level a second bus system with a second transmission protocol;
• converting between the two transmission protocols in a gateway;
• upon the occurrence of an event, the gateway establishes a connection to an application server, downloads a scanning server app, ascertains by means of scanning, the field devices arranged at the field level and utilizes the ascertained information concerning the field devices to download from an application server electronic device descriptions or device driver corresponding to the ascertained field devices;
• and
• provides, on the occurrence of said event, such to the control/service unit for servicing the field devices.