Patent ID: 8180948

Claim:
A two-wire process input-output (“IO”) transmitter powered by a two-wire process loop and configured as a single transmitter, the transmitter comprising: a gateway module; and at least one local IO module, the gateway module including a first circuit configured to wholly power the gateway module from the two-wire process loop without powering any other module from the two-wire process loop, a second circuit configured to communicate via the two-wire process loop, and a third circuit configured to communicate with the at least one IO module via a local bus separated from the two-wire process loop, each of the at least one local IO module including a first circuit configured to wholly power the respective local IO module from the two-wire process loop without powering any other module from the two-wire process loop, a second circuit to communicate at least with the gateway module via the local bus, and a third circuit configured to interface with at least one IO field device.