Patent ID: 7089530

Claim:
Apparatus for configuring a process control system, the apparatus executing on a digital data processor and comprising: one or more objects, each representing an entity and each being associated with an object type, each object being associated with one or more parameters that pertain to characteristics of the entity represented by the object, each parameter being associated with a parameter type, at least one object, hereinafter referred to as a first connection object, identifying permissible combinations of object types that can form any of a parent/child relationship, a source/sink relationship, and other relationship, at least one object, hereinafter referred to as a second connection object, identifying permissible combinations of parameter types that can form any of a parent/child relationship, a source/sink relationship, and other relationship, the apparatus validating a potential relationship between objects by comparing the object types with which they are associated with permissible relationships identified by the first connection object, and the apparatus establishing a relationship between one or more parameters of one or more objects for which a potential relationship has been validated, the relationship between parameters being established by comparing the types of those parameters with the types identified by the second connection object.