Patent ID: 8667078

Claim:
An industrial process control system comprising: a processor configured to: translate a device definition (DD) file, wherein the DD file comprises instructions written in an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) language standard; extract device information for a field device from the DD file, and convert the device information into a first format, wherein the first format comprises Extensible Markup Language (XML); a configuration server including the processor, and configured to: receive the device information in the first format from the processor, store the device information into a symbol table stored in a memory of the configuration server for centralized access by one or more components of the industrial process control system; and respond to queries for the device information in the symbol table; and an alarm server configured to send a query directly to the configuration server for the stored device information, wherein the query comprises a set of unique identifiers of the field device, and wherein the set of unique identifiers comprises a device type, a device revision, and an alarm identification number.