APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING MAINTENANCE AND OTHER OPERATIONS OF FIELD DEVICES IN A PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM USING USER-DEFINED DEVICE CONFIGURATIONS

摘要

A method includes receiving (802) a request to access a field device (126a-126n) and identifying (808) a first device configuration associated with the field device The first device configuration identifies (i) a subset of device parameters associated with the field device, (ii) a subset of device methods associated with the field device, and/or (iii) an interface arrangement of device parameters or methods associated with the field device. The method also includes retrieving (810) a value for each device parameter identified by the first device configuration and generating (816) a graphical user interface (600) using the first device configuration and the retrieved values. The method could also include determining (804) whether a user has requested use of the first device configuration. If not, the method can include identifying a second device configuration associated with the field device, retrieving the value for each device parameter identified by the second device configuration, and generating a second graphical user interface.