Patent ID: 6952727

Claim:
A method for use by an industrial control system, the method comprising: a controller providing control over an industrial process through at least one control element and at least one monitoring element each coupled to the network via a network I/O device, the controller communicating with the network I/O devices according to a layered general purpose query protocol including a transport layer for communication compatible with TCP (Transmission Control Protocol); performing an analysis of communication transactions related to sensor data and/or control commands between the controller and either the control element or the monitoring element; and the controller making a permanent-type connection to the network I/O device for the control element or for the monitoring element based on the analysis of the communication transactions; wherein the permanent-type connection is a connection at the transport layer left open for later use after an earlier use; thereby specializing the layered general purpose query protocol, which would ordinarily be used in computer to computer communications for making ad hoc queries of an external device, to use by the industrial control system in performing frequent communications of control and monitoring information between the controller and the control element or the monitoring element of the industrial control system.