Transparent support of remote I/O in a process control system

A system for configuring a communication link for use in a process control system having a controller with a processor, a first remote I/O interface communicatively coupled to the controller and a remote I/O communication link, a second remote I/O interface communicatively coupled to the remote I/O communication link, and an I/O device communicatively coupled to the second remote I/O interface, the system comprising:

• a computer readable medium;
• a first configuration routine stored on the computer readable medium and adapted to be executed by the processor that recognizes a command to form a communication link between the controller and the I/O device;
• a second configuration routine stored on the computer readable medium and adapted to be executed by the processor that automatically generates a first communication object based on the communication link between the controller and the I/O device, wherein the first communication object is adapted to automatically route communications between the controller and the remote I/O communication link and to receive communications having a first signal protocol and to convert the communications to a second signal protocol;
• and
• a third configuration routine stored on the computer readable medium and adapted to be executed by the processor that automatically generates a second communication object based on the communication link between the controller and the I/O device, wherein the second communication object is adapted to automatically route communications between the remote I/O communication link and the remote I/O device.

A method of configuring a communication link for use in a process control system having a user interface, a controller coupled to the user interface, a first remote I/O interface communicatively coupled to the controller and a remote I/O communication link, a second remote I/O interface communicatively coupled to the remote I/O communication link, and an I/O device communicatively coupled to the second remote I/O interface, the method comprising the steps of:

• specifying within the user interface a connection between the controller and the I/O device;
• automatically generating a first communication object based on the connection between the controller and the I/O device, wherein the first communication object is adapted to cause the first remote I/O interface to automatically route communications between the controller and the remote I/O communication link, and wherein the first communication object is adapted to receive communications having a first signal protocol and convert the communications to a second signal protocol;
• and
• automatically generating a second communication object based on the connection between the controller and the I/O device, wherein the second communication object is adapted to cause the second remote I/O interface to automatically route communications between the remote I/O communication link and the I/O device.

A system for configuring a remote input/output (I/O) communication link for use in a process control system having an I/O device communicatively coupled to a remote I/O communication link, the system comprising:

• a controller that automatically downloads first and second communication objects in response to a request for a connection between the controller and the I/O device;
• a first remote I/O interface communicatively coupled to the controller and the remote I/O communication link, wherein the first remote I/O interface uses the first communication object to automatically route communications between the controller and the remote I/O communication link, and wherein the first communication object receives communications having a first signal protocol converts the communications to a second signal protocol;
• and
• a second remote I/O interface communicatively coupled to the remote I/O communication link and the remote databus, wherein the second remote I/O interface uses the second communication object to automatically route communications between the remote I/O communication link and the I/O device.