Patent ID: 7865907

Claim:
A method of updating a host application running on a host system in a process plant, wherein the host system is connected to a plurality of process control devices used in the process plant, the method comprising: receiving a first command at the host system from the host application requesting to communicate with a particular one of the plurality of process control devices; sending a second command from the host system to the particular one of the plurality of process control devices to request a device description identification identifying a device description for the particular one of the plurality of process control devices, wherein the device description identification includes a device identifier, a manufacturer ID, or a device revision for identifying the device description for the particular one of the plurality of process control devices, and wherein the device description comprises data and operating procedures for the particular one of the plurality of process control devices, including variables, methods, commands, menus or display formats associated with one or more features of the particular one of the plurality of process control devices; receiving the device description identification at the host system from the particular one of the plurality of process control device devices; searching on the host system for the device description identified by the received device description identification; downloading the device description identified by the received device description identification into the host system if the host system does not have the device description identified by the received device description identification, wherein downloading the device description includes: connecting the host system to a communication network; requesting the device description identified by the received device description identification from a device description database connected to the communication network; and receiving the device description from the device description database; and updating the host application to include the data and operating procedures for the particular one of the plurality of process control devices, described in the device description identified by the received device description identification.