Process control configuration system for use with an AS-Interface device network

A method of configuring a process control system including a controller, a first device network that uses a first communication protocol and an AS-Interface device network which has an AS-Interface device connected to an AS-Interface I/O card and which uses an AS-Interface communication protocol, the method including the steps of:

• creating a device definition associated with the AS-Interface device for storage in a configuration database, said device definition including information pertaining to a signal associated with the AS-Interface device;
• using a configuration documentation system to associate an indication of the AS-Interface device with a port of the AS-Interface I/O card to reflect the actual connection of the AS-Interface device to the process control system;
• assigning a signal tag for the signal associated with the AS-Interface device as connected within the process control system;
• downloading a configuration of the port of the AS-Interface I/O card to the AS-Interface I/O card;
• and
• configuring a control application to be run in the controller to use the signal by specifying the signal tag to be used by the control application.

A configuration system for use in a process control network having a controller, a first device network that communicates using a first input/output protocol and an AS-Interface device network that communicates using an AS-Interface input/output communication protocol, the configuration system comprising:

• a configuration database that stores configuration information pertaining to the first device network and configuration information pertaining to the AS-Interface device network;
• a data acquisition routine that builds a device definition for an AS-Interface device for storage in the configuration database, said device definition including information pertaining to a signal associated with the AS-Interface device;
• a configuration documentation system that enables a user to indicate a desired configuration by associating an indication of the AS-Interface device with a port of an AS-Interface I/O card to reflect the actual connection of the AS-Interface device to the process control network;
• a configurator that configures the AS-Interface device network based on the device definition of the AS-Interface device and on the indicated desired configuration.