Handheld field maintenance tool with improved functionality

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9684296-B2
Application number	US-78004410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2010
Priority date	May 15, 2009
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

A handheld field maintenance tool with improved functionality is provided. The handheld field maintenance tool includes a keypad, a display, a short-range wireless transceiver and a processor. The processor is coupled to the keypad, the display and the short-range wireless transceiver. The processor is also coupled to memory having a plurality of instructions stored therein, which instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform at least one of remote wireless display; remote wireless keypress injection; and wireless printing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of interacting with a field device located in a relatively inaccessible location using an intrinsically-safe handheld field maintenance tool, the method comprising:
physically coupling the intrinsically-safe handheld field maintenance tool to the field device via a field device interface that comprises a plurality of wired process communication modules;
providing an operating system having an I/O module, wherein the intrinsically-safe handheld field maintenance tool has a local display that is driven, at least in part, by the I/O module;
providing wireless communication information from the intrinsically-safe handheld field maintenance tool to a remote device, the wireless communication information being indicative, at least, of alphanumeric display information;
receiving the wireless communication information at the remote device and rendering at least an alphanumeric display by the remote device based on the wireless communication information;
wherein the intrinsically-safe handheld field maintenance tool is physically coupled to the field device; and
receiving the wireless communication information from the remote device and causing the I/O module to inject at least one keystroke based on the received wireless communication information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication information is in accordance with a Bluetooth specification.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the intrinsically-safe handheld field maintenance tool is located in a hazardous location.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the display rendered by the remote device is larger than the local display.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local display of the handheld field maintenance tool is mirrored to the display rendered by the remote device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the mirroring is done in real-time.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein individual keystrokes on the intrinsically-safe handheld field maintenance tool are rendered on the display of the remote device.

Assignees

• Russell Iii Alden Chester
• Toepke Todd Mitchell
• Dewey Alan Roger
• Citrano Iii Joseph
• Fisher Rosemount Systems Inc

Inventors

• Russell Iii Alden Chester
• Toepke Todd Mitchell
• Dewey Alan Roger
• Citrano Iii Joseph

Classifications

• G05B2219/23406

  Programmer device, portable, handheld detachable programmer · CPC title

• G05B2219/36159

  Detachable or portable programming unit, display, pc, pda · CPC title

• G05B19/0428 Primary

  Safety, monitoring (G05B19/0423 takes precedence) · CPC title