The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 02, 2020
Filed:
Jul. 15, 2016
Fisher-rosemount Systems, Inc., Round Rock, TX (US);
Larry Oscar Jundt, Round Rock, TX (US);
Gary Law, Georgetown, TX (US);
Edward McDevitt, Olathe, KS (US);
Matt Stoner, Blue Springs, MO (US);
Godfrey R. Sherriff, Austin, TX (US);
David R. Denison, Austin, TX (US);
Mark J. Nixon, Round Rock, TX (US);
James R. Balentine, Austin, TX (US);
J. Michael Lucas, Leicester, GB;
Stephen Gilbert, Austin, TX (US);
FISHER-ROSEMOUNT SYSTEMS, INC., Round Rock, TX (US);
Abstract
Process control systems for operating process plants are disclosed herein. The process control systems include control modules that are decoupled from the I/O architecture of the process plants using signal objects or generic shadow blocks. This decoupling is effected by using the signal objects or generic shadow blocks to manage at least part of the communication between the control modules and the field devices. Signal objects may convert between protocols used by control modules and field devices, thus decoupling the control modules from the I/O architecture. Generic shadow blocks may be automatically configured to mimic the operation of field devices within a controller executing the control modules, thus partially decoupling the control modules from the I/O architecture by using the shadow blocks to manage communication between the control modules and the field devices.