TIMELINE PRESENTATIONS OF PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM ALARMS

Abstract

Operator interface device for a process control system comprising: a display; an operator display module for presenting an operator application on the display; an alarm presentation interface to be presented on the display via the operator application, wherein the alarm presentation interface includes a timeline to graphically indicate a temporary relationship of a plurality of active alarms of the process control system by displaying an icon associated with each of the active alarms along the timeline, characterized in that a manual control action is presented on the timeline to indicate a temporary relationship of the manual control action to the active alarms, or a process state change is presented on the timeline to indicate a temporary relationship of the process state change to the active alarms.

Description

AREA OF REVELATION This invention relates generally to process control systems and in particular to timeline presentations of process control system alarms. GENERAL STATE OF THE ART Process control systems, such as those used in chemical, petroleum, or other processes, typically include one or more process control devices that communicate with one or more field devices via analog, digital, or combined analog / digital buses. The field devices, which can be valves, valve controllers, switches, and transmitters (e.g., temperature, pressure, and flow sensors), perform process control functions within the process, such as opening or closing valves and measuring process control parameters. The process control devices receive signals indicating process measurements taken by the field devices and then process this information to generate control signals, execute control routines, make other process control decisions, and initiate process control system alarms. Information from field devices and / or control systems is usually provided via a data highway or communication network to one or more other hardware devices, such as operator workstations, personal computers, data storage mechanisms, report generators, centralized databases, etc. Such devices are typically located in control rooms and / or at other locations remote from the harsher factory environment.These hardware devices, for example, execute applications that allow an operator to perform any of a variety of functions related to the process of a process control system, such as viewing the current state of the process, changing the operating state, changing the settings of a process control routine, modifying the operation of the process control equipment and / or field devices, viewing alarms generated by the field devices and / or process control equipment, simulating the operation of the process for the purpose of training personnel and / or evaluating the process, etc. These hardware devices typically include one or more operator interface displays to show relevant information relating to the operating status(s) of the control system(s) and / or the devices within the control system. Examples of such displays include alarm displays that receive and / or show alarms generated within the process control system by control devices or equipment; control displays that indicate the operating status(s) of the control device(s) and other devices within the process control system, etc. A process control system typically has thousands of alarms defined to alert system operators to potential problems. Alarms are defined, for example, to protect people and / or equipment, to prevent environmental incidents, and / or to ensure product quality during production. Each alarm is typically defined by one or more settings (e.g., an alarm threshold) that define when a problem has occurred and / or triggers the alarm; and a priority (e.g., critical or warning) to define the alarm's importance relative to other alarms. Alarms are typically presented to operators in list or table format (e.g., displayed). In such formats, each alarm is presented as a single line on the list with specific data that may be relevant to informing an operator about the status of the control system. Data provided on an alarm list may include, for example, a description of the alarm, the time the alarm was triggered, the source of the alarm, the importance or priority of the alarm, the status of the alarm (e.g., acknowledged or unacknowledged, active or inactive), the parameters that triggered the alarm, the value of the parameters, etc. As information is received from the process control devices and / or field devices, the alarm list data can be updated in real time to provide operators with access to the latest information relating to all active alarms. From US patent 2010 / 0156654 A1, an operator interface device for a process control system with the features of the preamble of claim 1 and a method according to the preamble of claim 12 are known. SUMMARY The invention is defined as an operator interface device with the features of claim 1 and as a method with the features of claim 12. Advantageous developments of the inventive concept are the subject of the respective dependent claims. Methods and devices for presenting a timeline display of a process control system alarm are disclosed. In one example, an operator interface device for a process control system includes an operator display module for presenting an operator application on a display. The operator interface also includes an alarm presentation interface, which is presented to the display via the operator application. The alarm presentation interface includes a timeline for graphically indicating the temporal relationship of a plurality of active alarms of the process control system. In another example, a procedure involves receiving new and / or updated alarm data; modifying the timeline based on the alarm data; and displaying the modified timeline via an operator interface. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary process control system. Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary way of implementing the exemplary operator station of Fig. 1. Fig. 3A illustrates part of an exemplary alarm presentation interface that can be used to implement an operator display and / or application and / or, more generally, the exemplary operator station of Fig. 1. Fig. 3B is another part of the exemplary alarm presentation interface of Fig. 3A. Fig. 3C is another part of the exemplary alarm presentation interface of Figs. 3A and 3B. Fig. 4 is a flowchart representative of an exemplary process that can be executed to implement the exemplary operator station of Figs. 1 and / or 2.Figure 5 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary processor platform that can be used and / or programmed to execute the exemplary process of Fig. 4 and / or, more generally, to perform the exemplary operator station of Fig. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is not uncommon for operators of process control systems to be confronted with multiple alarms at any given time. While an operator may be able to comfortably and adequately handle up to five alarms within a ten-minute period, exceeding this alarm rate can become overwhelming. When many alarms are triggered within a short timeframe, commonly referred to as an alarm flood, the resulting volume of information can exceed the operator's capacity to analyze and effectively respond to the alarms. Because alarms are typically presented in list format, it is unlikely that the operator will quickly grasp the entire situation. For example, the number of alarms may exceed the vertical space provided for the alarm list, requiring the operator to scroll through the list or otherwise classify and / or filter it to review all alarms. This task is often complicated by the fact that alarm data is typically updated in real time. Therefore, if an alarm is released, changes its status, or additional alarms are triggered, the operator may miss one or more of these changes.The only way to prevent this is for the operator to repeatedly and frequently reread the list of alarm information, thereby sacrificing valuable time to deal with the flood of alarms and avoiding a potentially significant failure of the process control system. Furthermore, a specific circumstance and / or condition of a process control system often leads to a cascade of predictable alarms, frequently triggered in a predictable sequence. The original circumstance and / or condition of the process control system that causes such an alarm series is referred to as a root cause. The faster operators can identify a root cause of an alarm surge, the faster they can take the necessary corrective actions, thereby minimizing the impact of a process control system failure. As such, specific operator training may be required for predetermined abnormal process states with severe consequences, where operators are expected to recognize anticipated alarm activation patterns (e.g., sequence of occurrence and spacing).However, it is unlikely that operators equipped only with a classified and / or filtered alarm list will be able to recognize the relationships between the alarms in order to identify the common pattern and root cause while the data itself is changing. Accordingly, the examples described here – in conjunction with an alarm list, but also independently – can be used to display a timeline to graphically indicate the overall state of a process control system. This is achieved by populating the timeline with icons representing each of the alarms currently active in the process control system. The priority of each alarm is represented by the shape and color of the corresponding icon. Each alarm can also be toggled incrementally along a defined scale of the timeline to reveal the temporal relationships between active alarms. This allows the operator to identify patterns and determine the causal relationships between alarms during an alarm surge and / or at other times.To avoid scrolling back and forth to alarms along the timeline that originate from the distant past, the examples described here allow the timeline to be divided into separate time spans, with the scale of each span being different and spatially adjustable relative to each other via the operator interface display, thus enabling the operator to quickly perceive all active alarms, regardless of how many alarms are active. Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary process control system 100. The exemplary process control system 100 of Fig. 1 includes one or more process control units (one of which is designated by reference numeral 102), one or more operator stations (one of which is designated by reference numeral 104), and one or more workstations (one of which is designated by reference numeral 106). The exemplary process control unit 102, the exemplary operator station 104, and the exemplary workstation 106 are communicatively connected via a bus and / or a local area network (LAN) 108, which is generally referred to as an application control network (ACN). The exemplary operator station 104 of Fig. 1 enables an operator to monitor and / or operate one or more operator display screens and / or applications that allow the operator to view process control system variables, process control system states, process control system conditions, process control system alarms, and / or change process control system settings (e.g., setting values, operating states, enabling alarms, disabling alarms, etc.). An exemplary way of implementing the exemplary operator station 104 of Fig. 1 is described below in conjunction with Fig. 2. Exemplary operator display applications that can be used to implement the exemplary operator station 104 are described below in conjunction with Figs. 3A-3C. The exemplary operator station 104 includes and / or implements an alarm presentation interface (e.g., the exemplary alarm presentation interface shown in Figures 3A-3C) to graphically display all active alarms on a timeline. This allows process control system operators to visually perceive the temporal relationships between alarms and to indicate changes and / or manual control actions. The alarm presentation interface also provides summary graphs based on collected data for all active alarms, offering operators a quick and intuitive means of gaining an overall understanding of the processing control system's status and evaluating relationships between different alarms.Furthermore, the alarm presentation interface allows the generation of traditional alarm lists populated with alarms selected from the interface. An additional feature of the exemplary operator station 104 in Fig. 1 is the recording of the timeline in memory for playback purposes (e.g., to learn to recognize noteworthy alarm patterns) and / or for conducting autopsy investigations. The exemplary workstation 106 of Fig. 1 can be configured as an application station for running one or more information technology applications, user-interactive applications, and / or communication applications. For example, application station 106 can be configured primarily for running process control-related applications, while other application stations (not shown) can be configured primarily for running communication applications that allow the process control system 100 to communicate with other devices or systems using any desired communication media (e.g., wireless, wired, etc.) and protocols (e.g., HTTP, SOAP, etc.). The exemplary operator station 104 and the exemplary workstation 106 of Fig.1. These tasks can be performed using one or more workstations and / or all suitable computer systems and / or processing systems. For example, operator station 104 and / or workstation 106 could be performed using single-processor personal computers, single or multi-processor workstations, etc. The exemplary LAN 108 of Fig. 1 can be implemented using any desired communication medium and protocol. For example, the exemplary LAN 108 can be based on a hardwired and / or wireless Ethernet communication scheme. However, any other suitable communication medium and / or protocol(s) could be used, as is readily apparent to the person skilled in the art. Furthermore, although a single LAN 108 is illustrated in Fig. 1, more than one LAN and / or other alternative communication hardware components can be used to provide redundant communication paths between the exemplary systems of Fig. 1. The exemplary control unit 102 of Fig. 1 is connected via a digital data bus 116 and an input / output (I / O) gateway 118 to a plurality of smart field devices 110, 112, and 114. The smart field devices 110, 112, and 114 can be fieldbus-compliant valves, actuators, sensors, etc., in which case they communicate via the digital data bus 116 using the well-known Foundation fieldbus protocol. Other types of smart field devices and communication protocols could, of course, be used instead. For example, the smart field devices 110, 112, and 114 could be Profibus- and / or HART-compliant devices that communicate via the data bus 116 using the well-known Profibus and HART communication protocols.Additional I / O devices (similar and / or identical to the I / O gateway 118) can be connected to the control unit 102 to enable additional groups of smart field devices, which can be Foundation fieldbus devices, HART devices, etc., to communicate with the control unit 102. In addition to the exemplary smart field devices 110, 112, and 114, one or more non-smart field devices 120 and 122 can be communicatively connected to the exemplary control unit 102. The exemplary non-smart field devices 120 and 122 of Fig. 1 can, for example, be conventional 4-20 milliamperes (mA) or 0-10 volt DC devices that communicate with the control unit 102 via their respective hard-wired connections. The exemplary control device 102 shown in Fig. 1 may, for example, be a DeltaV™ control device sold by Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc., an Emerson Process Management company. However, any other control device may be used instead. Although only one control device 102 is shown in Fig. 1, additional control devices and / or process control platforms of any desired type and / or combinations of types may be connected to the LAN 108. In each case, the exemplary control device 102 executes one or more process control routines associated with the process control system 100, generated by a system technician and / or other system operator using the operator station 104, and downloaded and / or instantiated into the control device 102. While Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary process control system 100 within which the methods and devices for controlling the information presented to the process control system operator, which are described in more detail below, can be advantageously used, it is readily apparent to the average person skilled in the art that the methods and devices described herein for controlling the information presented to the operator can, if desired, be advantageously used in other process plants and / or process control systems of greater or lesser complexity (e.g., having more than one control device, over more than one geographical location, etc.) than the illustrated example of Fig. 1. Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary implementation of the exemplary operator station 104 from Fig. 1. The exemplary operator station 104 of Fig. 2 includes at least one programmable processor 200. The exemplary processor 200 of Fig. 2 executes coded instructions stored in a main memory 202 of the processor 200 (e.g., within a random-access memory (RAM) and / or a read-only memory (ROM)). The processor 200 can be any type of processing unit, such as a processor core, a processor, and / or a microcontroller. The processor 200 can, among other things, execute an operating system 204, an operator display module 206, an operator application 208, and an alarm presentation interface 210. An exemplary operating system 204 is a Microsoft® operating system. The exemplary main memory 202 of Fig.2 can be performed by the processor and / or within the processor 200 and / or can be one or more memory and / or storage devices that are functionally connected to the processor 200. To enable an operator to interact with the exemplary processor 200, the exemplary operator station 104 of Fig. 2 includes any type of display 212. Exemplary displays 212 include a computer monitor, a computer screen, a television, a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone, a Blackberry™ and / or an iPhone™), etc., this list being non-exhaustive, which are capable of displaying user interfaces and / or applications performed by the processor 200 and / or, more generally, the exemplary operator station 104. The exemplary operating system 204 of Fig. 2 displays and / or supports application user interfaces (e.g., the alarm presentation user interface 210) via the exemplary display and / or on the exemplary display 212. To support operator interactions with the applications performed by the exemplary operator station 104, the exemplary operating system 204 implements an application programming interface (API) by means of which the exemplary operator display module 206 can define and / or select the alarm presentation interface 210 via the operator application 208, and can cause and / or instruct the operating system 204 to display the defined and / or selected alarm presentation interface 210. An exemplary alarm presentation interface 210 is described below in connection with Figs. 3A-3C. For the presentation of process control system operator displays and / or applications, the exemplary operator station 104 of Fig. 2 includes the exemplary operator display module 206. The exemplary operator display module 206 of Fig. 2 collects alarm data and / or information from one or more process control devices (e.g., the exemplary control device 102 of Fig. 1) and / or other elements of a process control system, and uses the collected alarm data and / or information to generate and / or define a specific alarm presentation interface 210 (e.g., the exemplary alarm presentation interface of Figs. 3A-3C) via the operator application 208. The generated and / or defined display is shown on the exemplary display 212 by and / or via the exemplary operating system 204.The exemplary operator display module 206 also receives operator input via the alarm presentation interface 210 (e.g. in response to the selection, setting and / or operation of the elements of the alarm presentation interface 210 by the operator) in order to update the alarm presentation interface 210 via the operator application 208. Although the exemplary implementation of the exemplary operator station 104 of Fig. 1 is illustrated in Fig. 2, the data structures, elements, methods, and devices illustrated in Fig. 2 can be combined, divided, rearranged, omitted, eliminated, and / or implemented in any other way. Furthermore, the exemplary operating system 204, the exemplary operator display module 206, the exemplary alarm presentation interface 210, and / or, more generally, the exemplary operator station 104 of Fig. 2 can be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, and / or any combination thereof. The exemplary operator station 104 can also include additional elements, methods, and / or devices instead of or in addition to those shown in Fig.2 illustrated and / or may include more than one or all of the illustrated data structures, elements, procedures and devices. Figures 3A-3C illustrate an exemplary alarm presentation interface 300, which can be used to implement an operator display and / or operator application and / or, more generally, the exemplary operator station 104 of Figure 1. The exemplary alarm presentation interface 300 includes a timeline 302 for the graphical representation of the temporal relationship of all active alarms by displaying alarm icons 304 corresponding to each alarm along the timeline 302. When the alarms are first triggered (i.e., become active), corresponding alarm icons 304 appear in the rightmost column 306 of the timeline 302. Over time, the active alarms switch along the timeline 302 to fixed time intervals within the corresponding column 308, thereby graphically maintaining the temporal relationships of all alarms. Multiple active alarm icons 304 can exist within each of the time intervals.To represent the temporary relationships of the alarms within a single column 308 of the timeline 302, the corresponding alarm icons 304 can be stacked in chronological order starting at the bottom of column 308. Some alarms may remain unresolved for an extended period (i.e., an expired alarm). Therefore, to display all alarms on the alarm presentation interface 300 without requiring horizontal scrolling, the timeline 302 is divided into several time spans 310, 312, 314, and 316. Each of the time spans 310, 312, and 314 has a corresponding time scale. In this example, the first time span 310 has a time scale 318, covering 0 to 60 seconds in 5-second increments; the second time span 312 has a time scale 320, covering 0 to 60 minutes in 1-minute increments; and the third time span 314 has a time scale 322, covering 0 to 24 hours in 1-hour increments.As such, if multiple alarms are triggered within a single minute, the corresponding alarm icons 304 are temporarily flagged from one another as they toggle along timeline 302 in columns 308 of the first time span 310, based on the time each alarm was triggered, in 5-second intervals. After one minute has elapsed, the alarm icons 304 switch to the left into the second time span 312 and are stacked within the rightmost column 324 of the second time span 312. The alarm icons 318 are all located within one column of the second time span 312 because the corresponding alarms all occurred within a single minute, and each column in the second time span 312 represents one minute. The alarm icons 304 switch as a cluster (i.e.,stacked in a single column) continue to the left until they reach the rightmost column 326 of the third time period 314, where they are grouped with all alarms triggered within the same hourly period. The fourth time span, 316, has no time scale. Instead, it is designated as "old" and provides a position for all alarms older than 24 hours (e.g., expired alarms) to be displayed on the sample alarm presentation interface, 300. All alarms that remain active beyond 24 hours are re-stacked as such in the leftmost columns, 308, of timeline 302, to ensure that all active alarms remain active on timeline 302 without requiring horizontal scrolling. An adjustable boundary 328 is provided between each of the example time periods 310, 312, 314, and 316 to allow an operator to set the widths of each of the time periods 310, 312, 314, and 316 by clicking on the adjustable boundary 328 and moving it horizontally (e.g., by using a mouse or other device) to place alarms within a specific time period as needed. Although an operator can set the boundaries 328 for each time period 310, 312, 314, and 316, a minimum width can be set for each time period 310, 312, 314, and 316 so that visibility of all alarms is maintained, even if they are closely packed. In addition to the alarm icons 304 on timeline 302, which indicate the temporary relationship of all alarms, the alarm icons 304 also vary in shape and color to indicate alarm priority (e.g., red squares for critical alarms and yellow triangles for warnings). The alarm icons 304 may also blink or otherwise vary in appearance (e.g., intensity, size, shape, etc.) to indicate when a particular alarm has not yet been acknowledged. When unacknowledged alarms become inactive, the corresponding alarm icons 304 exhibit a modified appearance. When the alarms are acknowledged and become inactive, the corresponding alarm icons 304 are removed from timeline 302. All remaining alarm icons 304 retain their vertical positions within each of the columns 308 and their relative temporary positions along timeline 302. The exemplary alarm presentation interface 300 of Fig. 3A-3C also includes a system change bar 330 arranged over the timeline 302. The exemplary system change bar 330 can contain flags 332 representing manual control actions, such as SP – a change to a setting value, MD – a change to a mode, OU – a change to an output, PR – a change to a parameter, and MD – a manual change (e.g., an action by an external operator reported by the Syncade™ software sold by Emerson Process Management). The flags 332 are also presented for UN – a transitional state of a device, such as a transition from "unused" to "in operation."Flags 332 are placed on the system change bar 330 and graphically linked to the timeline 302, allowing an operator to visually perceive the temporal relationships between manual control actions and / or transition state changes and the alarms represented by the alarm icons 304 on the timeline 302. In this way, operators can graphically determine whether some of the most common alarm contributing factors (i.e., manual control actions and process state changes) are a root cause of one or more alarms without having to spend time reviewing an event log. There may be circumstances where the operator wishes to view additional information relating to specific alarms represented on timeline 302. As such, the exemplary alarm presentation interface 300 allows the operator to move the mouse pointer over an alarm icon 304 or a flag 332 to cause additional information to appear, for example, in an enlarged view. Operators can also access additional alarm information by transferring the alarms displayed on timeline 302 to an optional alarm list 334, which displays additional information in tabular form below timeline 302. The alarms included in alarm list 334 can be selected individually by clicking on the corresponding alarm icons 304 on timeline 302, or they can be selected in bulk using common mouse controls (e.g., click, drag, or click).Clicking and dragging the mouse pointer to form a square box around the desired alarm icons (304) also allows operators to populate the alarm list (334) with all active alarms with a single mouse click. Similarly, when operators have finished reviewing a particular alarm list, the list can be released with a single mouse click, and the exemplary alarm presentation interface (300) can be configured to generate a new list. Once alarm list 334 is populated with the desired alarms, operators can classify and filter it. However, any classification of or work with the data in alarm list 334 does not affect the temporal relationships and patterns of the alarms maintained on timeline 302. Alarm list 334 does not interact with timeline 302. For example, when one or more alarms are selected in alarm list 334 (e.g., by highlighting the alarm(s)), the corresponding icons 304 within timeline 302 are visually distinguished (e.g., by highlighting, enlarging, etc.) to allow for quick identification of the selected alarms on timeline 302. In addition to selecting multiple alarms to populate the alarm list 334 described above, the exemplary alarm presentation interface 300 allows an operator to perform other related actions for one or more alarms, such as acknowledging or storing the selected alarms. Furthermore, the alarm presentation interface 300's ability to perform related actions allows it to recognize which actions are permitted for the selected alarms and to prevent improper actions. Figure 3A further illustrates an alarm distribution sidebar 336, which provides summary graphs 338 based on collected data. These graphs group all active alarms into distribution charts based on specific characteristics. For example, the summary graphs 338 can include distributions of alarms by priority, area, batch number, physical location, etc. In this way, an operator can assess the overall status of the process control system at a glance on the alarm presentation interface 300. All alarms within one of the summary graphs 338 that share a common characteristic can be transferred in bulk to the alarm list 334 by clicking on that part of the summary graphs 338.For example, clicking on a critical priority segment 340 of an alarm priority distribution bar chart 342 places all critical alarms with additional information corresponding to these alarms in the alarm list 334. In addition to the foregoing, the exemplary alarm presentation interface 300 also allows abnormal indications to be temporarily overlaid onto timeline 302 (i.e., creating a ghost image). The abnormal indications include: suppressed alarm activation, lock activation, bypass activation, permission disabling, device alert activation, and system hardware alert activation, to further investigate indications of a root cause. Fig. 4 is a flowchart representing an exemplary method for carrying out the operator station 104 of Fig. 1 and / or 2. The exemplary method of Fig. 4 can be executed by a processor, a control device, and / or any other suitable processing device. The method of Fig. 4 can, for example, be executed in coded instructions stored on a removable, computer-accessible or -readable medium, such as flash memory associated with a processor, ROM, and / or RAM (e.g., the exemplary processor 502, which is discussed below in connection with Fig. 5). The term removable, computer-readable medium, as used here, is expressly defined as including any type of computer-readable memory and excluding propagating signals. The exemplary method of Fig.4. This can additionally or alternatively be carried out using coded instructions (e.g., computer-readable instructions) stored on a non-transient, computer-readable medium, such as flash memory, ROM and / or RAM, cache memory, or any other storage media on which information is stored for any specified duration (e.g., for extended periods, permanently, for short periods, for temporary buffering, and / or for caching the information). The term "non-transient, computer-readable medium" as used here is expressly defined as including any type of computer-readable medium and excluding propagating signals. Some or all of the exemplary operations shown in Fig. 4 can alternatively be performed by using any combination(s) of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field-programmable logic devices (FPLDs), discrete logic, hardware, firmware, etc. One or more of the operations shown in Fig. 4 can also be performed manually or as any combination of any of the preceding techniques, for example, any combination of firmware, software, discrete logic, and / or hardware. Although the exemplary procedure of Fig. 4 is described with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 4, it is readily apparent to the average person skilled in the art that many other methods of implementing the exemplary procedure of Fig. 4 can be employed.The order in which the blocks are executed can be changed, for example, and / or some of the described blocks can be modified, eliminated, subdivided, or combined. The average person skilled in the art will also readily recognize that any or all of the exemplary operations in Fig. 4 can be executed sequentially and / or in parallel, for example, by separate processing lines, processors, devices, discrete logic, circuits, etc. The process of Fig. 4 begins at block 400 with an operator station (e.g., the exemplary operator station 104 from Fig. 2) that executes an operator display module (e.g., the exemplary operator display module 206) to display an alarm presentation interface (e.g., the exemplary alarm presentation interface 210) at block 402. At block 404, the operator station (e.g., the exemplary operator station 104) receives new and / or updated alarm data via the process control devices (e.g., the exemplary control device 102). At block 406, the operator station (e.g., the exemplary operator station 104) receives input data from the operator via the alarm presentation interface (e.g., the exemplary alarm presentation interface 210) (e.g., acknowledgment of alarms, state changes, manual control actions, alarm list selection, etc.). At block 408, an operator application (e.g.,The exemplary operator application 208 applies all applicable safety override functions to the inputs received from the operator via the alarm presentation interface (e.g., the exemplary alarm presentation interface 210). At block 410, the operator application (e.g., the exemplary operator application 208) determines the timeline position of each alarm icon and / or flag input from the operator. At block 412, the operator application (e.g., the exemplary operator application 208) determines which aspects of the alarm presentation interface (e.g., the exemplary alarm presentation interface 210) need to be changed and then notifies the operator display module (e.g., the exemplary operator display module 206) of the changes. The controller then returns to block 402 to display the updated alarm presentation interface (e.g., the exemplary alarm presentation interface 210). Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary processor platform 500, which can be used and / or programmed to implement any or all of the exemplary operator stations 104 from Fig. 1 and / or 2. The processor platform 500 can be implemented, for example, by one or more general-purpose processors, core processors, microcontrollers, etc. The processor platform 500 of the example in Fig. 5 includes at least one general-purpose programmable processor 502. The processor 502 executes coded instructions 504 and / or 508 that are stored in the main memory of the processor 502 (e.g., within a RAM 506 and / or a ROM 510). The processor 502 can be any type of processor unit, such as a core processor, a processor, and / or a microcontroller. The processor 502 can, among other things, execute the exemplary process of Fig. 4 to operate the exemplary operator stations 104 described herein. The processor 502 communicates with the main memory (including a ROM 510 and / or the RAM 506) via a bus 512. The RAM 506 can be implemented by DRAM, SDRAM, and / or any other type of RAM device, and the ROM can be implemented by flash memory and / or any other desired type of storage device.Access to memory locations 506 and 510 can be controlled by a memory control device (not shown). The processor platform 500 also includes an interface circuit 514. The interface circuit 514 can be implemented using any type of interface standard, such as a USB interface, a Bluetooth interface, an external storage interface, a serial interface, a multi-purpose input / output interface, etc. One or more input devices 516 and one or more output devices 518 are connected to the interface circuit 514. The input devices 516 and / or output devices 518 can be used, for example, to provide the alarm presentation interface 210 to the exemplary display 212 of Fig. 2. Although certain exemplary methods, devices, and articles have been described herein, the scope of this patent is not limited to them. Such examples are intended to be non-restrictive and illustrative. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, devices, and articles that either fall within the scope of the appended claims, either literally or according to the equivalence doctrine.

Claims

Operator interface device for a process control system comprising: a display; an operator display module for presenting an operator application on the display; an alarm presentation interface to be presented on the display via the operator application, wherein the alarm presentation interface includes a timeline to graphically indicate a temporary relationship of a plurality of active alarms of the process control system by displaying an icon associated with each of the active alarms along the timeline, characterized in that a manual control action is presented on the timeline to indicate a temporary relationship of the manual control action to the active alarms, or a process state change is presented on the timeline to indicate a temporary relationship of the process state change to the active alarms. Operator interface device as defined in claim 1, wherein the temporal relationship of the active alarms is presented on the timeline to enable an operator to detect a root cause of an alarm flood. Operator interface device as defined in claim 1 or 2, wherein the icons associated with the active alarms switch over the timeline to one or more periodic time intervals, and wherein the timeline includes a position for displaying icons associated with the expired alarms of the active alarms to enable the display of all active alarms. Operator interface device as defined in claim 3, wherein the timeline includes a first time span with a first time scale to display a newest part of the icons associated with a newest part of the active alarms, and a second time span with a second time scale to display an older part of the icons associated with an older part of the active alarms, wherein one of the periodic time intervals corresponds to the first time scale and another corresponds to one of the periodic time intervals of the second time scale. Operator interface device as defined in claim 4, wherein the first and second time spans can be spatially adapted to each other along the timeline. Operator interface device as defined in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the alarm presentation interface includes an alarm distribution display to present a summary graph of the data associated with the active alarms. Operator interface device as defined in claim 6, wherein the alarm presentation interface includes an alarm list display to present a list of a portion of the active alarms, which are presented on the timeline - together with the information associated with each of the alarms in the portion of active alarms. Operator interface device as defined in claim 7, wherein the portion of active alarms corresponds to a collected grouping of active alarms represented on the alarm distribution display. Operator interface device as defined in one of claims 7 or 8, wherein the portion of active alarms is determined by an operator who selects a portion of the icons associated with the portion of active alarms over the timeline. Operator interface device as defined in any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the alarm list display can be changed by an operator independently of the timeline display. Operator interface device as defined in any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein a priority of each of the active alarms is indicated by the appearance of the icon associated with the active alarm. A method comprising: receiving alarm data for a plurality of process control alarms from at least one process control device or field device; generating a timeline based on the alarm data, graphically representing a temporal relationship between the plurality of process control alarms via an icon corresponding to each of the process control alarms; and displaying the timeline via an operator interface, characterized in that it further includes: receiving the data associated with a process state change; modifying the timeline to include a representation of the process state change in order to indicate a temporal relationship between the process state change and the process control alarms; and displaying the modified timeline via the operator interface, or: receiving the data associated with a manual control action;Modifying the timeline to include a representation of the process state change, in order to indicate a temporary relationship between the process state change and the process control alarms; and displaying the modified timeline via the operator interface. Method as defined in claim 12, wherein the temporal relationship of the process control alarms is presented to enable an operator to detect a root cause of an alarm flood. A method as defined in one of claims 12 or 13, further comprising: receiving a change to the alarm data; modifying the timeline based on the modified alarm data; and displaying the modified timeline via the operator interface. Method as defined in any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the timeline includes a first time span with a first time scale to display a first part of the icons corresponding to a most recent part of the process control alarms, and a second time span with a second time scale to display a second part of the icons corresponding to an older part of the process control alarms. Method as defined in claim 15, wherein the first and second time intervals may be spatially adapted to each other along the timeline. Method as defined in one of claims 15 or 16, further comprising: switching the first part of the icons across the timeline to a first periodic time interval corresponding to the first timescale; and switching the second part of the icons across the timeline to a second periodic time interval corresponding to the second timescale. Method as defined in claim 17, wherein the timeline includes a position for displaying expired process control alarms to enable the timeline to display all the icons corresponding to all process control alarms. Method as defined in any one of claims 12 to 18, further comprising: receiving a selection of a part of the process control alarms by an operator via the operator interface; and displaying the alarm data of the part of the process control alarms in list format via the operator interface. Method as defined in claim 19, wherein the selection of the part of the process control alarms is received via a selection of a part of the icons on the timeline that corresponds to the part of the process control alarms. Method as defined in one of claims 19 or 20, wherein the list of alarm data of the part of the process control alarms can be changed by an operator independently of the display of the timeline. A method as defined in any one of claims 12 to 21, further comprising: grouping the process control alarms according to one or more alarm characteristics associated with the process control alarms; generating an alarm distribution display to graphically summarize the one or more characteristics associated with the process control alarms; and displaying the alarm distribution display via the operator interface. Method as defined in claim 22, further comprising: receiving a selection of one or more alarm characteristics from an operator; and displaying the process control alarms associated with the selected alarm characteristics in list format via the operator interface. Method as defined in any one of claims 12 to 23, wherein a priority of each of the active alarms is indicated by the appearance of the icon associated with the active alarm.

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