System and method for providing interlinked user interfaces corresponding to safety logic of a process control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018300048-A1
Application number	US-201615766904-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 7, 2016
Priority date	Oct 9, 2015
Publication date	Oct 18, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and method for enabling access to information included in a safety requirement specification (SRS) for a process plant, the process plant controlled by a process control system including displaying, in a user interface, a cause and effect matrix (CEM) having a set of elements including a set of causes and a set of effects, wherein each of the set of causes represents a condition within the process plant and each of the set of effects represents an effect to be performed within the process plant, and wherein at least some of the set of causes and the set of effects are related as cause-effect pairs whereby the corresponding effect activates in response to an occurrence of the corresponding condition. The system and method further including receiving, via the user interface, a selection of an element of the set of elements, and, in response to receiving the selection: (i) accessing, from the SRS, a set of information associated with the element of the set of elements, and (ii) displaying the set of information in the user interface.

First claim

What is claimed:

1 . A computer-implemented method of enabling access to information included in a safety requirement specification (SRS) for a process plant, the process plant controlled by a process control system, the method comprising:
displaying, in a user interface, a cause and effect matrix (CEM) having a set of elements including a set of causes and a set of effects, wherein each of the set of causes represents a condition within the process plant and each of the set of effects represents an effect to be performed within the process plant, and wherein at least some of the set of causes and the set of effects are related as cause-effect pairs whereby the corresponding effect activates in response to an occurrence of the corresponding condition; receiving, via the user interface, a selection of an element of the set of elements; in response to receiving the selection:
accessing, from the SRS, a set of information associated with the element of the set of elements, and
displaying the set of information in the user interface.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , where receiving, via the user interface, the selection of the element of the set of elements comprises:
receiving, via the user interface, the selection of a cause of the set of causes; and wherein accessing, from the SRS, the set of information comprises: accessing, from the SRS, the set of information associated with the cause of the set of causes.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , where receiving, via the user interface, the selection of the element of the set of elements comprises:
receiving, via the user interface, the selection of an effect of the set of effects; and wherein accessing, from the SRS, the set of information comprises: accessing, from the SRS, the set of information associated with the effect of the set of effects.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein accessing, from the SRS, the set of information comprises:
accessing, from the SRS, at least one of (i) a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) associated with the element of the set of elements, and (ii) a safety instrumented function (SIF) description associated with the element of the set of elements.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving the selection://launching particular safety logic
initiating an application configured to display, via the user interface, safety logic associated with the element of the set of elements.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising://selecting/displaying additional information
receiving, via the user interface, an additional selection of a portion of the set of information displayed in the user interface; accessing, from the SRS, an additional set of information associated with the portion of the set of information; and displaying the additional set of information in the user interface.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising://navigating from the information back to the CEM
receiving, via the user interface, an additional selection of a portion of the set of information displayed in the user interface, the portion of the set of information corresponding to an additional element of the set of elements of the cause and effect matrix (CEM); and displaying, in the user interface, the CEM and an indication of the additional element.

8 . A system for enabling access to information included in a safety requirement specification (SRS) for a process plant, the process plant controlled by a process control system, comprising:
a user interface; a memory configured to store (i) a set of computer-executable instructions, (ii) the SRS, and (iii) a cause and effect matrix (CEM) having a set of elements including a set of causes and a set of effects, wherein each of the set of causes represents a condition within the process plant and each of the set of effects represents an effect to be performed within the process plant, and wherein at least some of the set of causes and the set of effects are related as cause-effect pairs whereby the corresponding effect activates in response to an occurrence of the corresponding condition; and a processor interfaced with the user interface and the memory, and configured to execute the set of computer-executable instructions to cause the processor to:
cause the user interface to display the CEM,
receive, via the user interface, a selection of an element of the set of elements,
in response to receiving the selection:
access, from the SRS, a set of information associated with the element of the set of elements, and
cause the user interface to display the set of information in the user interface.

9 . The system of claim 8 , where the processor receives, via the user interface, the selection of a cause of the set of causes,
and wherein the processor accesses, from the SRS, the set of information associated with the cause of the set of causes.

10 . The system of claim 8 , where the processor receives, via the user interface, the selection of an effect of the set of effects,
and wherein the processor accesses, from the SRS, the set of information associated with the effect of the set of effects.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor accesses, from the SRS, at least one of (i) a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) associated with the element of the set of elements, and (ii) a safety instrumented function (SIF) description associated with the element of the set of elements.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to, in response to receiving the selection:
initiate an application configured to cause the user interface to display safety logic associated with the element of the set of elements.

13 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive, via the user interface, an additional selection of a portion of the set of information displayed in the user interface, access, from the SRS, an additional set of information associated with the portion of the set of information, and cause the user interface to display the additional set of information.

14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive, via the user interface, an additional selection of a portion of the set of information displayed in the user interface, the portion of the set of information corresponding to an additional element of the set of elements of the cause and effect matrix (CEM), and cause the user interface to display the CEM and an indication of the additional element.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors in a machine, cause the machine to:
display, in a user interface, a cause and effect matrix (CEM) having a set of elements including a set of causes and a set of effects, wherein each of the set of causes represents a condition within a process plant and each of the set of effects represents an effect to be performed within the process plant, and wherein at least some of the set of causes and the set of effects are related as cause-effect pairs whereby the corresponding effect activates in response to an occurrence of the corresponding condition; receive, via the user interface, a selection of an element of the set of elements; in response to receiving the selection:
access, from a safety requirement specification (SRS) associated with the process plant and stored in memory, a set of information associated with the element of th

Assignees

• Fisher Rosemount Systems Inc

Inventors

• Law Gary K
• Diaz Sergio
• Colclazier Deborah R

Classifications

• G05B2219/23328

  Modification program · CPC title

• G05B2219/24015

  Monitoring · CPC title

• G05B19/0426

  Programming the control sequence · CPC title

• G05B2219/23258

  GUI graphical user interface, icon, function bloc editor, labview · CPC title

• G06F3/04847 Primary

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title