Patent ID: 6167464
Filing Date: 2000-12-26
Classification: G05B,H04L

Abstract:
An industrial control system for controlling the operation of a process executed on a plurality of spatially separate machines that interact to execute the controlled process, the control system comprising:a data network;a plurality of interface circuits providing output signals to the machines and receiving input signals from the machines;an electronic computer communicating with the interface circuits via the data network and executing a control program to read the input signals from the interface circuits and to generate the output signals to the interface circuit s based on the input signals and the control program so as to control the process;a remote link;a portable operator terminal including:(i) terminal output means for providing a terminal output to a human operators wherein the terminal output indicates a portion of the control program associated with a given machine;(ii) a locator means producing a location signal indicating a spatial proximity of the portable operator terminal to the given machine;the electronic computer further communicating with the portable operator terminal via the remote link and executing an operator program to provide the terminal outputs based on the location signals and the operation of the given machine. therefore.