Patent ID: 6711629
Filing Date: 2004-03-23
Classification: G05B,H04L,Y02P

Abstract:
A method of configuring a communication link for use in a distributed process control system having a controller, a first remote I/O interface communicatively coupled to the controller and a remote I/O communication link, a second remote I/O interface communicatively coupled to the remote I/O communication link, and an I/O device communicatively coupled to the second remote I/O interface, the method comprising the steps of:specifying a connection between the controller and the I/O device, wherein specifying the connection includes receiving an input from a user through a graphical user interface; recognizing that the connection between the controller and the I/O device requires communications over the remote I/O communication link; automatically generating a first communication object based on the connection between the controller and the I/O device that automatically routes communications between the controller and the remote I/O communication link and that receives communications having a first signal protocol and converts the communications to a second signal protocol; and automatically generating a second communication object based on the connection between the controller and the I/O device that automatically routes communications between the remote I/O communication link and the I/O device.