Patent ID: 8769072

Claim:
A method for identifying Foundation Fieldbus linking devices, the method comprising: receiving, by a gateway device comprising one or more computers, status information associated with a plurality of Foundation Fieldbus linking devices; determining, by the gateway device based at least in part on the status information, a pair of redundant Foundation Fieldbus linking devices of the plurality of Foundation Fieldbus linking devices having an “online” status; determining, by the gateway device, a single virtual address representative of the pair of redundant Foundation Fieldbus linking devices; determining, by the gateway device based at least in part on the status information, at least one other Foundation Fieldbus linking device having an “offline” status; providing, by the gateway device to an external system, the status information associated with at least one of the pair of redundant Foundation Fieldbus linking devices and the at least one other Foundation Fieldbus linking device, wherein the virtual address is utilized to represent the at least one of the pair of redundant Foundation Fieldbus linking devices; and after providing the status information, sending, by the gateway device, a communication to at least one of the pair of redundant Foundation Fieldbus linking devices instead of the at least one other Foundation Fieldbus linking device having the “offline” status.