Apparatus and method for optimizing maintenance and other operations of field devices in a process control system using user-defined device configurations

An apparatus comprising:

• at least one memory configured to store:
• a first device configuration associated with a field device in a process control system, the first device configuration identifying at least one of:
• (i) a subset of device parameters associated with the field device, (ii) a subset of device methods associated with the field device, and (iii) an interface arrangement of device parameters or methods associated with the field device;
• and
• a second device configuration associated with the field device, the second device configuration identifying (i) all of the device parameters associated with the field device and (ii) all of the device methods associated with the field device;
• and
• at least one processing unit configured to:
• determine whether a user has requested use of the first device configuration;
• if a determination is made that the user has requested use of the first device configuration, retrieve a first value for each device parameter identified by the first device configuration and generate a first graphical user interface using the first device configuration and the first retrieved values;
• and
• if a determination is made that the user has not requested use of the first device configuration, retrieve a second value for each device parameter identified by the second device configuration and generate a second graphical user interface using the second device configuration and the second retrieved values.

A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a computer program, the computer program comprising computer readable program code for:

• determining whether a user has requested use of a first device configuration associated with a field device in a process control system, the first device configuration identifying at least one of:
• (i) a subset of device parameters associated with the field device, (ii) a subset of device methods associated with the field device, and (iii) an interface arrangement of device parameters or methods associated with the field device;
• if a determination is made that the user has requested use of the first device configuration:
• retrieving a first value for each device parameter identified by the first device configuration;
• and
• generating a first graphical user interface using the first device configuration and the first retrieved values;
• and
• if a determination is made that the user has not requested use of the first device configuration:
• retrieving a second value for each device parameter identified by a second device configuration, the second device configuration identifying (i) all of the device parameters associated with the field device and (ii) all of the device methods associated with the field device;
• and
• generating a second graphical user interface using the second device configuration and the second retrieved values.