System configuration using templates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9256219-B2
Application number	US-53939909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2009
Priority date	Aug 11, 2009
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A method in a computer system for developing a process control strategy includes providing a module template having a first plurality of components and being associated with a control operation, receiving a selection of one or more of the first plurality of components of the module template, generating an instance of a module based on the module template, including instantiating only the selected one or more of the first plurality of components, and associating the generated instance of the module with the process control strategy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process control configuration method in a computer system for developing a process control strategy of a process plant, comprising:
providing a shared module template from among a plurality of shared module templates, the shared module template having a plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks that may be executed by a processor to implement the process control strategy by facilitating one or more physical functions within a process control system of the process plant and,
wherein one or more of the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks includes a multiplicity of parameters associated therewith for carrying out a process control operation in the process plant,
receiving a plurality of attribute selections for one or more of the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks via a user interface to define (i) a mandatory set of function blocks having a mandatory attribute, and (ii) an optional set of function blocks having an optional attribute;
receiving a plurality of selections indicating which of the optional set of function blocks are to be instantiated in a plurality of respective module instances;
generating the plurality of module instances based on the shared module template by instantiating the mandatory set of function blocks and the optional set of function blocks as designated by the plurality of selections received for each respective module instance; and
associating each of the plurality of generated module instances with respective process control strategies by generating a set of instructions executable on a processor for use in a physical device operating in the process plant in accordance with the plurality of generated module instances,
wherein the plurality of generated module instances are structurally distinct from one another based upon differences between their respective optional sets of function blocks,
wherein the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks belong to a hierarchical control element structure lower than (i) a module instance, and (ii) the physical device within the process control system for which the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks facilitate control.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying, on the user interface, a graphical representation of one of the generated module instances by displaying display elements that correspond to the (i) mandatory set of function blocks and only (ii) the optional set of function blocks as designated by the selection received for displayed one of the generated module instances.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein
generating the plurality of module instances further includes:
unconditionally including each of the mandatory set of function blocks in the plurality of generated module instance for each of the plurality of generated module instances based on the shared module template.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a template library having a plurality of shared module templates,
wherein providing the shared module template includes:
providing the shared module template in response to a selection of one of the plurality of shared module templates from the template library.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the shared module template includes:
displaying a dialogue screen listing the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks and having a respective selection control for each of the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the dialogue screen includes a spreadsheet having a plurality of rows and a multiplicity of columns defining a set of cells of the spreadsheet,
wherein one of the plurality of rows or the multiplicity of columns specifies a plurality of module instances to be generated based on the shared module template, and
wherein the other one of the plurality of rows or the multiplicity of columns specifies the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks, so that each of the set of cells corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of module instances and a respective one of the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shared module template specifies a plurality of types with which a certain at least partially interconnected function block from the set of selected one or more at least partially interconnected function blocks can be associated, the method further comprising:
receiving a type selection for the certain at least partially interconnected function block,
wherein the type selection identifies one of the plurality of types, and
wherein generating a module instance from among the plurality of module instances further includes:
instantiating the certain at least partially interconnected function block in accordance with the type selection.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of types corresponds to at least one of a plurality of protocols, a plurality of alarm capabilities, or a plurality of signal options including a feedback option and a feedforward option.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving a modification request for the generated module instance,
wherein the modification request specifies the certain at least partially interconnected function block and a new type from the plurality of types; and
updating the generated module instance according to the modification request, including associating the certain at least partially interconnected function block with the new type.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a control to associate each of the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks with an optional attribute to specify an optional presence of each of the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks in a generated module instance from among the plurality of module instances.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating a module instance from among the plurality of module instances based on the shared module template further includes:
associating an options selected attribute with one of the plurality of module instances,
wherein the options selected attribute identifies each of the plurality of at least partially interconnected function blocks and specifies whether the identified at least partially interconnected function block is included in the generated one of the plurality of module instances.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the options selected attribute is a bitmask.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing an interface for modifying one of the plurality of module instances, including restricting modifications of the one of the plurality of module instances according to the set of selected one or more at least partially interconnected function blocks.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a module instance identification request associated with the shared module template;
identifying each of the plurality of module instances associated with the process control strategy and based on the shared module template; and
displaying information on an interactive user interface descriptive of at least an identity of each module instance-from among the identified plurality of module instances.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving a modification request associated with one of a set of selected one or more optional at least partially interconnected function blocks; and
automatically

Assignees

• Blevins Terrence L
• Lucas John M
• Nixon Mark J
• Gilbert Stephen C
• Enver Alper T
• Fisher Rosemount Systems Inc

Inventors

• Blevins Terrence L
• Lucas John M
• Nixon Mark J
• Gilbert Stephen C
• Enver Alper T

Classifications

• G05B19/0426 Primary

  Programming the control sequence · CPC title