Patent ID: 7272815

Claim:
A digital data processing apparatus of a type having one or more processors, the digital data processing apparatus for configuring a control system, the digital data processing apparatus comprising: one or more objects hereinafter referred to as entity-representative objects that each (i) represent one or more entities in any of the control system and a system controlled thereby, and (ii) have a plurality of characteristics including: a) one or more type characteristics, where a type characteristic identifies any of appearance and behavior of the one or more entities represented by the respective entity-representative object, and where such one or more type characteristics are represented by one or more type characteristic objects to which the respective entity-representative object is associated, and (b) one or more area characteristics, where an area characteristic identifies location of the one or more entities represented by the respective entity-representative object, and where such one or more area characteristics are represented by one or more area characteristic objects to which the respective entity-representative object is associated, at least one area characteristic being selected from a hierarchy of area characteristics, one or more objects hereinafter referred to as area permission objects that identify permissions one or more groups of users have with respect to one or more area characteristics, one or more objects hereinafter referred to as type permission objects that identify permissions one or more groups of users have with respect to one or more type characteristics, a security mechanism that is coupled to the objects and that controls user access to the entity-representative objects, the security mechanism permitting a user to access to an entity-representative object as a function of (i) one or more groups of which the user is a member, (ii) permissions those one or more groups have with respect to the one or more type characteristics of the entity-representative object as identified by one or more type permission objects, and (iii) permissions those one or more groups have with respect to one or more area characteristics of the entity-representative object as identified by one or more area permission objects.