Common database system for a communication system

A communications network for monitoring and controlling a plurality of weld controllers coupled to the network, the network comprising:

• A. at least one master operator interface unit for controlling the communications network through an application program;
• B. a system database system stored in said master operator interface unit, said data base for storing data associated with each weld controller device coupled to the communications network;
• C. a configuration file in said system data base, said configuration file including a listing for each different data structure type associated with said weld controllers and an device address for each weld controller on the network;
• E. an interface file in said system data base, said interface file including embedded base class object files for each different data structure type, said base class object file including weld controller device characteristics and behaviors encoded into data fields and methods;
• F. a device file for each weld controller device on the network, said device file for storing data associated with the weld controller, said data including status, control, and weld schedule programs, said device file for constructing a device object model from said base class object file, said device object model for converting all data sent to and received from each weld controller;
• G. user input means for uploading and downloading data between the master operator interface unit and selected weld controllers, said input means including means for identifying the selected weld controllers and using its respective device file to convert said received and sent data for storage in said system data base through said interface file;
• and
• H. wherein said master operator interface unit for monitoring and controlling and editing weld schedule programs for each of said plurality of weld controllers regardless of their said different data structure types.