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:
Oct. 26, 2010
Filed:
Apr. 15, 2002
Mark J. Nixon, Round Rock, TX (US);
Ken Beoughter, Round Rock, TX (US);
Brandon Hieb, Austin, TX (US);
Terrence L. Blevins, Round Rock, TX (US);
Dennis L. Stevenson, Round Rock, TX (US);
Mark J. Nixon, Round Rock, TX (US);
Ken Beoughter, Round Rock, TX (US);
Brandon Hieb, Austin, TX (US);
Terrence L. Blevins, Round Rock, TX (US);
Dennis L. Stevenson, Round Rock, TX (US);
Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A system and method for creating and incorporating a function block within a process control system enables a user of the process control system to generate a function block by combining a plurality of files selected from a group of files provided by the manufacturer of the process control system to form a source code file associated with the function block. The user can modify the function block source code file to include a procedure, routine or algorithm that is not provided by the manufacturer and can send the modified source code file to the manufacturer for validation. If the function block source code file is validated, a security measure such as a digital signature is provided to the user that enables the user to incorporate the function block within the process control system. The function blocks can be used to incorporate a new function into a process control application or to operatively integrate a data source external to a process control application with the process control application via data mapping functions performed by the function blocks.