Patent ID: 7937170

Claim:
An operator interface device for a human-machine interface (HMI) system, comprising: a housing adapted for mounting at an operator workstation; at least one signal device disposed on said housing; a serial communication port disposed on said housing adapted for connection to a serial device at the operator workstation; at least one Ethernet port disposed on said housing adapted for connection to a network, the network having a server running HMI software connected thereto; and a microcontroller integrated circuit chip having embedded Ethernet and at least one serial communication interface disposed thereon, the at least one signal device, the serial communication port, and the at least one Ethernet port being connected to the microcontroller, the microcontroller being configured to communicate serial communications signals between the serial device and the HMI software by TCP/IP, the microcontroller configured to execute and run the HMI software immediately upon establishing the connection with the serial device, and to interface the HMI software with the at least one signal device in order to communicate messages between the HMI software and a human operator at the operator workstation.