Systems and methods for configuring and presenting a display navigation hierarchy in a process plant

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10877653-B2
Application number	US-201816121200-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2018
Priority date	Oct 2, 2017
Publication date	Dec 29, 2020
Grant date	Dec 29, 2020

Abstract

Techniques for configuring layouts and display view hierarchies and presenting display views in an operating environment of a process plant according to the layouts and display view hierarchies include providing graphical user controls at a graphical display configuration application for defining a layout. The layouts indicate a manner in which divide one or several display screens into one or several display regions, where each display region presents a display view that includes indications of process control elements. The graphical display configuration application also includes graphical user controls for defining a display view hierarchy of the display views by assigning levels of detail to the display views and designating some of the display views as subviews of other display views. An operator application obtains the defined layout and display view hierarchy and presents the display views at an operator workstation according to the obtained layout and/or display view hierarchy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for configuring an operator display navigation hierarchy in a process plant, the method comprising:
presenting, via a user interface of a computing device executing a graphical display configuration application in a configuration environment of a process plant, indications of a plurality of display views, each display view including indications of control elements included in an operating environment of the process plant;
receiving, at the graphical display configuration application, selections of levels of detail for the plurality of display views;
assigning, by the graphical display configuration application, a level of detail to each of the plurality of display views in accordance with the received selections to generate a display view hierarchy for the plurality of display views, such that in the operating environment of the process plant, an operator application navigates from a first display view at a lower level of detail to a second display view at a higher level of detail; and
downloading the display view hierarchy including the plurality of display views and respective levels of detail for the plurality of display views from the configuration environment into a user interface device for execution in the operating environment of the process plant to thereby cause a presentation, at the user interface device, of the plurality of display views organized according to the display view hierarchy.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning a level of detail to each of the plurality of display views in accordance with the received selections includes designating one or more of the plurality of display views as subviews for a corresponding one of the plurality of display views, wherein the one or more subviews are assigned a higher level of detail than the corresponding display view.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein receiving selections of levels of detail for the plurality of display views includes receiving, via a graphical user control, a request to designate a first display view as a subview of a second display view, wherein the first display view is assigned a higher level of detail than the second display view.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
presenting, via the user interface of the computing device executing the graphical display configuration application, a graphical depiction of the display view hierarchy, wherein indications of each of the plurality of display views are positioned in the graphical depiction to indicate respective levels of detail for the plurality of display views and relationships between display views designated as subviews of another display view.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
presenting, via the user interface of the computing device executing the graphical display configuration application, an interactive graphical depiction of the display view hierarchy as a preview of the display view hierarchy presented at the user interface device for execution in the operating environment of the process plant, including presenting a navigation bar with graphical user controls to toggle between display views and subviews within the display view hierarchy.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
presenting one of the plurality of display views in accordance with an indicated display view in the navigation bar; and
in response to receiving a selection of one of the graphical user controls in the navigation bar to navigate to another of the plurality of display views, presenting the other display view.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of display views depict process sections of the process plant.

8. A computing device for configuring an operator display navigation hierarchy in a process plant, the computing device comprising:
one or more processors;
a user interface;
a communication unit; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors, the user interface, and the communication unit, the non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a graphical display configuration application thereon executing in a configuration environment of a process plant that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the computing device to:
present, via the user interface, indications of a plurality of display views, each display view including indications of control elements included in an operating environment of the process plant;
receive selections of levels of detail for the plurality of display views;
assign a level of detail to each of the plurality of display views in accordance with the received selections to generate a display view hierarchy for the plurality of display views, such that in the operating environment of the process plant, an operator application navigates from a first display view at a lower level of detail to a second display view at a higher level of detail; and
download, via the communication unit, the display view hierarchy including the plurality of display views and respective levels of detail for the plurality of display views from the configuration environment into a user interface device for execution in the operating environment of the process plant to thereby cause a presentation, at the user interface device, of the plurality of display views organized according to the display view hierarchy.

9. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein to assign a level of detail to each of the plurality of display views in accordance with the received selections, the graphical display configuration application causes the computing device to designate one or more of the plurality of display views as subviews for a corresponding one of the plurality of display views, wherein the one or more subviews are assigned a higher level of detail than the corresponding display view.

10. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein to receive selections of levels of detail for the plurality of display views, the graphical display configuration application causes the computing device to receive, via a graphical user control, a request to designate a first display view as a subview of a second display view, wherein the first display view is assigned a higher level of detail than the second display view.

11. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the graphical display configuration application further causes the computing device to:
present, via the user interface of the computing device executing the graphical display configuration application, a graphical depiction of the display view hierarchy, wherein indications of each of the plurality of display views are positioned in the graphical depiction to indicate respective levels of detail for the plurality of display views and relationships between display views designated as subviews of another display view.

12. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the graphical display configuration application further causes the computing device to:
present, via the user interface of the computing device executing the graphical display configuration application, an interactive graphical depiction of the display view hierarchy as a preview of the display view hierarchy presented at the user interface device for execution in the operating environment of the process plant, the interactive graphical depiction including a navigation bar with graphical user controls to toggle between display views and subviews within the display view hierarchy.

13. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the graphical display configuration application further causes the computing device to:
present one of the plurality of display views in accordance with an indicated display view in the

Assignees

• Fisher Rosemount Systems Inc

Inventors

• Uy Cristopher Ian Sarmiento
• Strinden Daniel R
• Naidoo Julian K
• Scott Cindy A
• Nixon Mark J
• Bumatay Erika Joy
• Perdiguerra Racquel C
• Joshi Prashant

Classifications

• G06T11/26

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• G05B19/418 Primary

  Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM] · CPC title

• G05B19/042

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05B19/41845

  characterised by system universality, reconfigurability, modularity · CPC title

• G06F40/166 Primary

  Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting · CPC title