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US 8,856,302 B2Granted
Systems and methods for foundation fieldbus alerts
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsJohn Michael Karaffa, Johnny Stephen Downor, Steven William Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An industrial process control system is provided. The industrial control system includes an alarm server with a processor configured to receive device information representative of field device information extracted from a device definition file. The processor is further configured to translate the device information into a first format interpretable by a global system for mobile communications (OPC AE) server and provide the device information in the first format to the OPC AE server.
Claims20
An industrial process control system comprising:
- an alarm server comprising a processor, wherein the alarm server is configured to:
- receive device information representative of a Foundation Fieldbus field device, wherein the device information comprises information extracted from a foundation fieldbus device definition (DD) file of the field device,
- receive an alarm, an alert, or both from the field device, via a controller communicatively coupled to the alarm server;
- provide the extracted device information with the alarm, the alert, or both, based upon the device information from a plurality of control systems of different manufacturers, through a standard interface of an Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) Alarms and Events (OPC AE) protocol, communicating with an OPC AE server;
- the extracted device information comprises:
- operational ranges of the field device;
- icons representative of a present state of the field device;
- description information about the field device, parameters of the field device, or a combination thereof;
- or a combination thereof;
- wherein the extracted device information is used for visualizing, managing, or visualizing and managing the Foundation Fieldbus device, via the control system, regardless of a manufacturer of the control system and a manufacturer of the Foundation Fieldbus field device;
- query a server for human-readable text corresponding to the alarm or alert data sent by the controller;
- provide the human-readable text corresponding to the alarm or alert data to the OPC AE server;
- and the OPC AE server provides the human-readable text corresponding to the alarm or alert data to distributed control systems configured to interface with the OPC AE server.
10 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving, at an alarm server, device information representative of a Foundation Fieldbus field device, wherein the device information comprises information extracted from a foundation fieldbus data definition (DD) file;
- receiving an alarm, an alert, or both from the field device, via a controller communicatively coupled to the alarm server;
- providing the extracted device information, by a processor of the alarm server, the device information and the alarm, the alert, or both, based upon the device information from a plurality of control systems of different manufacturers, through a standard interface of an Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) Alarms and Events (OPC AE) protocol, communicating with an OPC AE server;
- the extracted device information comprises:
- operational ranges of the field device;
- icons representative of a present state of the field device;
- description information about the field device, parameters of the field device, or a combination thereof;
- or a combination thereof;
- wherein the extracted device information is used for visualizing, managing, or visualizing and managing the Foundation Fieldbus device, via the control system, regardless of a manufacturer of the control system and a manufacturer of the Foundation Fieldbus field device;
- providing the alarm, the alert, or both with the extracted information to an Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) Alarms and Events (OPC AE) server, in a first format interpretable by the OPC AE server;
- querying a server for human-readable text corresponding to the alarm or alert data sent by the controller;
- providing the human-readable text corresponding to the alarm or alert data to the OPC AE server;
- and the OPC AE server provides the human-readable text corresponding to the alarm or alert data to distributed control systems configured to interface with the OPC AE server.
10 more elements
A non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium comprising executable code, the code comprising instructions for:
- receiving, at an alarm server, device information representative of a Foundation Fieldbus field device, wherein the device information comprises information extracted from a foundation fieldbus data definition (DD) file;
- receiving an alarm, an alert, or both from the field device, via a controller communicatively coupled to the alarm server;
- providing the extracted device information, by a processor of the alarm server, the device information and the alarm, the alert, or both, based upon the device information from a plurality of control systems of different manufacturers, through a standard interface of an Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) Alarms and Events (OPC AE) protocol, communicating with an OPC AE server;
- the extracted device information comprises:
- operational ranges of the field device;
- icons representative of a present state of the field device;
- description information about the field device, parameters of the field device, or a combination thereof;
- or a combination thereof;
- wherein the extracted device information is used for visualizing, managing, or visualizing and managing the Foundation Fieldbus device, via the control system, regardless of a manufacturer of the control system and a manufacturer of the Foundation Fieldbus field device;
- providing the alarm, the alert, or both with the extracted information to an Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) Alarms and Events (OPC AE) server, in a first format interpretable by the OPC AE server;
- querying a server for human-readable text corresponding to the alarm or alert data sent by the controller;
- providing the human-readable text corresponding to the alarm or alert data to the OPC AE server;
- and the OPC AE server provides the human-readable text corresponding to the alarm or alert data to distributed control systems configured to interface with the OPC AE server.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.