Process control system including alarm priority adjustment

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computable readable code embodied therein including a process control system including a field device including a source of event condition information, a controller coupled to the field device, and computer coupled to the controller and including a user interface, the computer program product including an event condition monitoring and display program for the process control system, the event condition monitoring and display program including:
• a plurality of control modules including event attributes, the plurality of control modules being selectively controlled and selectively distributed among the field device, the controller and the workstation, the control modules operating mutually independently and in parallel accumulating event condition information;
• a display routine for accessing the event condition information from the plurality of control modules and displaying the event condition information accessed from the plurality of control modules in an order of priority selected by the user;
• and
• a configuration routine for user-selectively defining and creating the control modules and the event attributes of the control modules and for user selectively distributing the control modules among the field device the controller, and the workstation.

A method for operating a process control system comprising the steps of:

• defining a plurality of conditions as events, the events being associated with a plant area;
• activating an event journal for logging event conditions;
• configuring an alarm behavior including the steps of:
• creating an alarm attribute, the alarm attribute being selectively created in a control module or in an equipment module;
• selectively disabling or enabling the created alarm attribute;
• selectively placing an enabled alarm attribute in an acknowledged state or an unacknowledged state;
• and
• selectively placing the alarm attribute in an active state or an inactive state;
• selecting a priority for the alarm attribute;
• and consolidating a plurality of active alarm conditions into a subset of highest priority alarms.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computable readable code embodied therein including a process control system further including:
• a routine for defining a plurality of conditions as events, the events being associated with a plant area;
• a routine for activating an event journal for logging event conditions;
• a routine for configuring an alarm behavior including:
• a routine for creating an alarm attribute, the alarm attribute being selectively created in a control module or in an equipment module;
• a routine for selectively disabling or enabling the created alarm attribute;
• a routine for selectively placing an enabled alarm attribute in an acknowledged state or an unacknowledged state;
• and
• a routine for selectively placing the alarm attribute in an active state or an inactive state;
• a routine for selecting a priority for the alarm attribute;
• and
• a routine for consolidating a plurality of active alarm conditions into a subset of highest priority alarms.