Patent ID: 8352641

Claim:
A method for identifying Fieldbus devices within a control system, the method comprising: receiving, by a controller comprising one or more computers, one or more messages from one or more respective linking devices, wherein each of the one or more messages comprises information associated with a plurality of segments for the respective linking device, wherein each of the plurality of segments comprises a communications channel to which at least one Fieldbus device can be connected; parsing, by the controller, each of the one or more received messages to identify one or more of the plurality of segments for each respective linking device to which at least one Fieldbus device is connected; generating, by the controller for each of the identified one or more segments, a respective query message requesting information associated with the at least one Fieldbus device connected to the segment; communicating, by the controller to each of the identified one or more segments, the respective query message; receiving, by the controller in response to the one or more query messages, one or more respective responses, each response comprising information associated with one or more Fieldbus devices connected to the segment; preparing, by the controller and based upon the one or more respective responses, a listing of one or more Fieldbus devices included in the control system; determining a change to one or more Fieldbus devices connected to at least one of the plurality of segments, wherein the change comprises a difference between a received query response and a respective previously stored query response; and determining a change to at least one of the plurality of segments for a respective linking device, wherein the change comprises a difference between a received second query response and previously stored information associated with the plurality of segments.