Patent ID: 9397836
Filing Date: 2016-07-19
CPC Classification: G05B,H04L

Claim Text:
1. A process control device for use in a process control plant, the process control device comprising: a processor; a non-volatile memory storing data indicative of a set of necessary attributes that are required for the process control device to be allowed to communicate with another device using a network of the process control plant, the set of necessary attributes being descriptive of an environment of the process control plant in which the process control device is allowed to communicate with the another device, and the process control plant including at least one field device that performs a respective physical function to control one or more processes executing within the process control plant; and computer-executable instructions stored on the non-volatile memory or on another memory of the process control device, the computer-executable instructions being executable by the processor after a boot up of the process control device and prior to the process control device communicating with any other device to at least one of: (i) configure the process control device, or (ii) at least one of transmit or receive data used to control at least one of the one or more processes in the process control plant, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the process control device to: (i) configure the process control device, or (ii) at least one of transmit or receive real-time data to cause the at least one of the one or more processes to be controlled, and wherein the process control device is one of: a field device that performs a respective physical function to control the at least one of the one or more processes executing within the process control plant, a process controller that transmits to or receives from the field device signals corresponding to respective physical function of the field device, or an input/output (I/O) card communicatively connecting the field device and the process controller; and wherein a downloaded configuration configures the process control device with a definition of a behavior of the process control device to control, in conjunction with one or more other process control devices, the at least one of the one or more processes executing within the process control plant when the set of current attributes adheres to the set of necessary attributes.