Patent ID: 7822802

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing a method of merging wireless data collected from a wireless network into a process control system, wherein the wireless data is collected from an input/output data point not native to the process control system, and wherein the input/output data point not native to the process control system includes a source of information from an input/output device outside the process control system, the computer-executable instructions comprising instructions for: receiving wireless data from the input/output data point of the wireless network not native to the process control system; mapping the wireless data between the input/output data point of the wireless network not native to the process control system and a data point placeholder within the process control system corresponding to the input/output data point of the wireless network not native to the process control system, wherein the data point placeholder provides an identification for the input/output data point of the wireless network not native to the process control system and relates to a place reserved within the process control system for the wireless data without establishing a corresponding input/output data point native to the process control system, and wherein an input/output data point native to the process control system comprises a source of information from an input/output device within the process control system; establishing communication with the process control system via a process control interface, wherein the process control interface comprises a common interface for entities within the process control system; and writing the mapped wireless data to the corresponding data point placeholder of the process control system via the process control interface.