Patent ID: 8345710

Claim:
A Field Device Tool (FDT)-based system comprising: one or more processors; a FDT-based application comprising: at least one communication Device Type Manager (communication DTM) in the FDT-based application that corresponds with each type of communication protocol that an at least one plant asset follows, the communication DTM providing an interface for communication between the FDT-based application and the communication protocol that the plant asset follows; an asset optimization device manager that includes electronic device description language (EDDL), the asset optimization device manager including functionality for parameterization and performing diagnostics on the plant asset; a router Device Type Manager (router DTM)) in the FDT-based application coupled to the router DTM transferring data from the asset optimization device manager to the at least one communication DTM for communication with the plant asset to optimize the plant asset by parameterizing, and performing diagnostics on, the plant asset; at least one device-specific Device Type Manager (device DTM) in the FDT-based application including specific information about the at least one plant asset, wherein the device DTM is created by a manufacturer of the at least one plant asset; at least one generic Device Type Manager (generic DTM) in the FDT-based application including information that is non-specific to any plant asset, wherein the generic DTM is created by the FDT-based application, wherein the FDT-based application includes at least one of a device DTM or a generic DTM for each type of plant asset supported by the device DTM or generic DTM; and a remote input/output gateway Device Type Manager (RIO gateway DTM) in the FDT-based application connecting the router DTM with the communication DTM.