Fleet management system for portable maintenance tools

Abstract

An industrial service device fleet management system implements an organized and easy to use methodology to manage the digital content stored on each of a plurality of portable or stationary devices used in a plant, such as portable maintenance devices, to assure that each of the portable devices receives or implements only the content that it is supposed to have and is upgraded at the appropriatetime to include new content, features, etc. The fleet management system includes a memory for storing information related to the fleet of portable or stationary devices including device identifications, device descriptions, end user names and privileges, the current content of each of the portable devices, and templates defining configuration parameters for the portable or stationary devices. Thesystem also includes a content downloader that obtains, stores, and downloads content (such as software and firmware upgrades, additional features, applications, drivers, knowledge articles, etc.) for execution or display in various ones of the portable or stationary devices, includes a content decider module that analyzes when and if various ones of the portable or stationary devices should be provided additional or new content, and includes a notification system that notifies users of the portable or stationary devices of the need to upgrade or provide new content to the portable or stationary devices.

Description

technical field [0001] In general, the present disclosure relates generally to portable field maintenance tools, and in particular, to a system for managing a fleet of portable field maintenance tools. Background technique [0002] Process control systems, such as those used in chemical and petroleum processes, typically include one or more process controllers coupled via analog, digital, or combined analog-to-digital / digital communication links to at least A host or operator workstation and is coupled to one or more field devices. [0003] Process controllers (sometimes called "controllers"), often located in factories or other industrial settings, receive signals indicative of process measurements (sometimes called "control inputs") and use the information carried by these signals to implement control instances. A control routine that causes the controller to generate control signals (sometimes referred to as "control outputs") based on the control inputs and the internal...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The maintenance and management of these portable devices may be due to the different number of portable devices that may be used in the factory, because the portable devices in the factory may be different types of devices or different brands of devices, because the portable devices may have different types of support required, etc. quickly become inconvenient and difficult due to the different characteristics of

In addition, any particular portable device may be in use at any particular time, and thus may not be available for a support upgrade when it is performed, leading to the possibility that a particular portable device has not been upgraded or received the latest software and firmware features

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