Process control communication between a portable field maintenance tool and an asset management system

A system for synchronizing a set of data between a portable field maintenance tool and a process control asset management system application within a process control system, the system comprising:

• a portable field maintenance tool communication server;
• and
• a process control asset management system application communicatively coupled to the portable field maintenance tool communication server,
• wherein the portable field maintenance tool communication server is:
• adapted to communicatively couple to the portable field maintenance tool via a wireless communication channel, and
• adapted to receive a set of data from the portable field maintenance tool via the wireless communication channel, the set of data defined by a set of rules for automatic synchronization of the set of data between the portable field maintenance tool and the process control asset management system application during a communication session between the portable field maintenance tool and the process control asset management system application, the portable field maintenance tool and the portable field maintenance tool communication server each having a framework of a communication protocol of the field device layered above a communication protocol of the process control asset management system, and the protocol of the process control asset management system layered above a network communications protocol, and wherein the set of data is wrapped in the communication protocol of the process control asset management system, and
• adapted to automatically notify the process control asset management system application that the set of data from the portable field maintenance tool communication server is ready to synchronize with the process control asset management system application upon receipt of the set of data from the portable field maintenance tool;
• wherein the process control asset management system application is:
• adapted to automatically initiate a transfer of the set of data from the portable field maintenance tool communication server to the process control asset management system application to synchronize a set of the data in the process control asset management application with the set of data from the portable field maintenance tool upon receipt of the notification,
• adapted to publish a user interface update message to a plurality of process control asset management stations that the set of data has changed, and
• adapted to execute an operation of the process control system involving the change in the set of data.

A portable field maintenance tool comprising:

• a housing;
• a processor disposed within the housing;
• a memory disposed within the housing and operatively coupled to the processor;
• a wireless communication interface disposed within the housing and operatively coupled to the processor and the memory, the communication interface adapted to communicatively couple with a wireless communication channel of a process control asset management system;
• a communication circuit disposed within the housing and communicatively coupled to the wireless communication interface, the communication circuit adapted to encode the communication signal for the wireless communication channel using a framework of a communication protocol of a field device layered above a communication protocol of the process control asset management system, and the protocol of the process control asset management system layered above a network communications protocol;
• and
• a client application stored on the memory and adapted to, when executed by the processor, automatically transfer a set of data to a portable field maintenance tool communication server within the process control asset management system via a wireless communication channel of the process control asset management system in response to a change in the set of data, wherein the set of data is defined by a set of rules for automatic synchronization of the set of data between the portable field maintenance tool and the process control asset management system application during a communication session between the portable field maintenance tool and the process control asset management system application, and wherein the set of data is wrapped in the communication protocol of the process control asset management system.