Use of uniform resource locators in process control system documentation
AssigneeFisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc.
InventorsAndrew P. Dove, Larry O. Jundt, Trevor D. Schleiss
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A uniform resource locator (URL) is embedded in computerized or digital documentation for a physical and/or a software process control element existing within a process control environment to thereby provide an automatic link to documentation or other applications that exist in other processing or data environments, such as in a word processing environment or in a data manipulation environment. The URL may include a generalized field having a descriptor that identifies a property of the process control element and that operates so that, when the URL is selected, the generalized field is replaced with the property identified by the descriptor.
Claims45
A process control application for implementation and use in a control programming environment associated with a process control system having a multiplicity of process control elements therein, the process control application comprising:
- a display screen having a plurality of display fields for one of the multiplicity of process control elements, each of said display fields adapted to display information to a user and adapted to be stored in a memory within the process control system;
- and
- a context sensitive uniform resource locator disposed in one of the display fields of the display screen to point to an address of an external entity, the address to which the context sensitive uniform resource locator points dynamically changing in response to changes to an attribute value of the one of the multiplicity of process control elements.
A process control element adapted for implementation and use in a control programming environment associated with a process control system, the process control element comprising:
- a process function operator;
- a display screen having a plurality of display fields for the process function operator, each of said display fields adapted to display information to a user and adapted to be stored in a memory within the process control system;
- and
- a context sensitive uniform resource locator disposed in one of the display fields of the display screen to point to an address of an external entity, the address to which the context sensitive uniform resource locator points dynamically changing in response to changes to an attribute value of the process function operator.
A process control system comprising:
- a computer readable memory;
- a display device adapted to display information stored in the computer readable memory;
- a process control element adapted to be used in a control programming environment;
- and
- a routine adapted to produce a display screen that provides a display related to the process control element including a plurality of fields of information about the process control element;
- wherein one of the plurality of fields of information includes a context sensitive uniform resource locator that points to an address of an external entity, the address to which the context sensitive uniform resource locator points dynamically changing in response to changes to an attribute value of the process control element.
A method of providing support for a process control element used within in a control programming environment, comprising the steps of:
- storing textual documentation pertaining to the process control element in a computer readable memory used within the control programming environment;
- storing a context sensitive uniform resource locator in the textual documentation, wherein the context sensitive uniform resource locator points to an address of an external entity, the address to which the context sensitive uniform resource locator points dynamically changing in response to changes to an attribute value of the process control element;
- and
- displaying the textual documentation including the uniform resource locator on a display device to enable selection of the uniform resource locator.
A process control application for implementation and use in a control programming environment associated with a process control system having a multiplicity of process control elements therein, the process control application comprising:
- a display screen having a plurality of display fields for one of the multiplicity of process control elements, each of said display fields adapted to display information to a user and adapted to be stored in a memory within the process control system;
- and
- a context sensitive uniform resource locator disposed in one of the display fields of the display screen, the context sensitive uniform resource locator pointing to an external entity based on an attribute value of the one of the multiplicity of process control elements, wherein the uniform resource locator includes a generalized field that has a descriptor identifying a property of the one of the multiplicity of process control elements, and further including a routine that replaces the generalized field with the identified property of the one of the multiplicity of the process control elements to create a new uniform resource locator when the uniform resource locator is selected by a user.
A process control element adapted for implementation and use in a control programming environment associated with a process control system, the process control element comprising:
- a process function operator;
- a display screen having a plurality of display fields for the process function operator, each of said display fields adapted to display information to a user and adapted to be stored in a memory within the process control system;
- and
- a context sensitive uniform resource locator disposed in one of the display fields of the display screen, the context sensitive uniform resource locator pointing to an external entity based on an attribute value of the process function operator, wherein the uniform resource locator includes a generalized field that has descriptor identifying a property of the process control element, and further including a routine that replaces the generalized field within the uniform resource locator with the property identified by the descriptor to create a new uniform resource locator to be delivered to a browser.
A method of providing support for a process control element used within in a control programming environment, comprising the steps of:
- storing textual documentation pertaining to the process control element in a computer readable memory used within the control programming environment;
- storing a context sensitive uniform resource locator in the textual documentation, wherein the context sensitive uniform resource locator references an external entity related to the control element based on an attribute value of the process control element;
- displaying the textual documentation including the uniform resource locator on a display device to enable selection of the uniform resource locator;
- and
- placing a generalized field having a descriptor identifying a property of the process control element within the uniform resource locator and replacing the generalized field within the uniform resource locator with the property identified by the descriptor when the uniform resource locator is selected via the display device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.