Patent ID: 8407716

Claim:
An apparatus to access information associated with a process control system, the apparatus comprising: a processor system; and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor system, the memory including stored instructions that enable the processor system to: assign a first user-defined parameter name to a first data source operating according to a first access protocol; store identifying information in connection with the first user-defined parameter name, the identifying information being indicative of a location at which data from the first data source can be obtained; configure a first interface assigned to the first data source to enable a second interface assigned to a second data source to submit to the first interface a data request including the first user-defined parameter name, the data request being of a second access protocol different from the first access protocol, wherein the first and second interfaces are instances of a particular object class, wherein the second interface is to access the second data source in response to receiving a second data request including a second user-defined parameter name; in response to the data request of the second access protocol, access the first data source using the first access protocol and the identifying information using the first interface to provide a data value from the first data source to the second interface; generate a third data request having a third access protocol associated with a third data source, the third data request excluding identifying information defining a location of the third data source; and receive data from the third data source based on the third request.