Operator interface devices, methods and tangible articles of manufacture

Abstract

Sparkline presentation of process control system alarms is described. 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 including an alarm presentation interface presented on the display via the operator application, the alarm presentation interface including sparklines associated with alarms to graphically indicate trends of process variables relative to alarm limits associated with the alarms.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to process control systems and, more specifically, to sparkline presentation of process control system alarms. [Background technology]

[0002] Process control systems, such as those used in chemical, petroleum, or other processes, typically include one or more process controllers communicatively coupled to one or more field devices via an analog bus, a digital bus, or a combination analog / digital bus. The field devices, which may be, for example, valves, valve positioners, switches, transmitters (e.g., temperature, pressure, and flow sensors), perform process control functions within the process, such as opening and closing valves, measuring process control parameters, etc. The process controller receives signals produced by the field devices that are representative of the process measurements, and processes this information to generate control signals to execute control routines, make other process control decisions, and activate process control system alarms. Often, process control information is also recorded for long-term historization for later analysis and / or training.

[0003] Typically, information from the field devices and / or controllers is made available over a data highway or communication network to one or more other hardware devices, such as operator workstations, personal computers, data historians, report generators, centralized databases, etc. These devices are typically located in control rooms and / or other locations that are located away from the more hostile plant environment. These hardware devices execute applications that enable operators to perform any of a variety of functions with respect to processes in the process control system, for example, viewing the current state of the process, changing the operating state, changing the settings of process control routines, modifying the operation of process controllers and / or field devices, viewing alarms generated by field devices and / or process controllers, simulating process operation for purposes of training personnel and / or evaluating processes, etc.

[0004] These hardware devices typically include one or more operator interface displays for displaying appropriate information regarding the operational status of the control system and / or devices within the control system. Exemplary displays take the form of alarm displays that receive and / or display alarms generated by controllers or devices within the process control system, control displays that display indicative of the operational status of controllers and other devices within the process control system, etc.

[0005] In a process control system, it is common for thousands of different alarms to be defined within the process control system to notify the process control system operator of potential problems. For example, alarms may be defined to protect personnel and / or equipment, to avoid environmental hazards, and / or to ensure the quality of products during manufacturing. Each alarm is typically defined with one or more settings (e.g., alarm limits) that define when a problem has occurred or an alarm may be imminent and / or may occur, as well as a priority (e.g., emergency or warning) that defines the importance of the alarm relative to other alarms.

[0006] Typically, alarms are presented (e.g., on a screen display) to an operator in a list or tabular format. In such a format, each alarm is presented as a single row in the list along with certain data that may be relevant to notifying the operator of the state of the control system. Data provided in the 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 state of the alarm (e.g., acknowledged or not, active or not), the type of process variable that caused the alarm, the value of that process variable, etc. As information is received from the process controllers and / or field devices, the alarm list data may be updated in real time so that an operator has access to up-to-date information regarding all active alarms. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] A method and apparatus for presenting a sparkline presentation of process control system alarms is 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 that is presented on the display via the operator application. The alarm presentation interface includes a sparkline associated with the alarm to graphically show a trend of a process variable relative to an alarm limit for the alarm.

[0008] In another example, the method includes receiving process variable data from a process controller associated with a process variable, receiving alarm data for an alarm associated with the process variable, generating sparklines based on the process variable data and the alarm data to graphically trend the process variable relative to an alarm limit for the alarm, and displaying the sparklines via an operator interface. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example process control system. [Diagram 2] 2 illustrates an exemplary manner of implementing the exemplary operator station of FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] 2 illustrates an example alarm presentation interface that may be used to implement an operator display and / or applications and / or more generally implement the example operator station of FIG. 1. [Figure 4] FIG. 13 illustrates another example alarm presentation interface. [Diagram 5] 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for implementing the example operator station of FIG. 1 and / or FIG. 2. [Figure 6]FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an example processor platform that may be used and / or programmed to execute the example process of FIG. 5 and / or, more generally, to implement the example operator station of FIG. 1 and / or FIG. 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] An alarm display is one of the primary means for keeping a process control system operator aware of potential problems within the process control system. A typical alarm display includes a tabular listing of all active alarms. Information presented in the alarm display for each active alarm may include the time of alarm activation, the type of alarm (e.g., high alarm, low alarm, etc.), the threshold setting or alarm limit (e.g., 400 gal), and the process variable measurement (e.g., 408 gal).

[0011] Additionally, alarm displays are typically updated in real-time to provide operators with up-to-date information regarding the status of the process control system. However, even if an operator has up-to-date data regarding a process control system alarm, the variance of the process variable associated with an active alarm (i.e., ongoing trends and / or behavior of the process variable) during the period since the corresponding alarm became active is not immediately available for analysis. Without this information, an operator may misinterpret the severity and / or meaning of the alarm, which may result in ineffective corrective action. For example, an operator may become accustomed to certain frequently occurring alarms from past experience. Because process dynamics differ for the same familiar alarm, past experience may lead an operator to make incorrect inferences about the root cause (i.e., the initial situation and / or state of the process control system that caused the alarm). For example, an operator may become accustomed to a process variable that typically returns slowly to a normal (non-alarm) state. This is due to normal process dynamics and / or inappropriate alarm configurations, such as excessive hysteresis and / or off-delay times. As a result, an operator may mistakenly ignore such alarms for an extended period of time when the actual state of the process control system differs from the operator's assumption and therefore requires immediate action. In other words, an operator may become accustomed to responding to one or more alarms in a particular manner (e.g., by waiting a certain amount of time before responding) that has worked in the past. However, when the same alarm is signaled even though the actual state of the process control system differs from the assumption, the operator may not understand the different state of the control system and, as a result, may respond in the usual manner that has little or no effect.Failure to understand ongoing trends in process variables associated with certain alarms after those alarms become active may lead to erroneous inferences regarding the state and / or root cause of the process control system, and an incorrect understanding of the behavior of the process variable that caused the corresponding alarm may also lead to incorrect root cause determinations and / or ineffective responses by operators.

[0012] Thus, the examples described herein include trend line graphics (referred to herein as sparklines) that may be used to visually display the behavior of a process variable both leading up to an alarm (becoming active) and after the alarm has been triggered. The display sparklines may have a fixed height and width and may not have labels or scales, but may present the ever-changing relationship of the process variable and its corresponding alarm limit over a recent period of time. The sparklines allow an operator to quickly review the alarm presentation display, rather than having to wade through related information to understand the behavior and / or state of the process variable relative to the corresponding alarm limit. Additionally, the sparkline display allows an operator to determine whether the changing state of the process variable associated with an active alarm corresponds to an acceptable state with normal behavior or is an abnormal deviation from expected behavior that requires special attention. Additionally, because the ongoing behavior of the process variable is displayed, an operator may also recognize when his or her actions are effective in correcting a potential problem or when additional and / or different actions are required.

[0013] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an example process control system 100. The example process control system 100 of Figure 1 includes one or more process controllers (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 example process controllers 102, the example operator stations 104, and the example workstations 106 are communicatively coupled via a bus and / or a local area network (LAN) 108, which is commonly referred to as an application control network (ACN).

[0014] 1 enables an operator to review and / or interact with one or more operator display screens and / or applications that enable the operator to view process control system variables, view process control system status, review process control system conditions, review process control system alarms, and / or change process control system settings (e.g., set points, operating states, clear alarms, silence alarms, etc.). Exemplary manners of implementing the example operator station 104 of FIG. 1 are described below in conjunction with FIG. 2. Exemplary operator display applications that may be used to implement the example operator station 104 are also described below in conjunction with FIGs. 3 and 4.

[0015] The example operator station 104 includes and / or implements an alarm presentation interface (e.g., the example alarm presentation interface of FIGS. 3 and 4) for displaying sparklines associated with each active alarm, which allows an operator of the process control system to visualize the behavior of the process variable associated with each active alarm, including the duration leading up to the alarm becoming active and the current state of the process variable after the alarm becomes active. In some examples, the sparklines associated with each active alarm may be displayed within a column of a traditional alarm list (e.g., the example alarm presentation interface of FIG. 4) along with additional information related to each alarm. In other examples, the sparklines associated with each active alarm may be displayed as a separate interface or as a banner in a sidebar along with other elements of the alarm presentation interface (e.g., the example alarm presentation interface of FIG. 4).

[0016] The example workstation 106 of FIG. 1 may be configured as an application station that executes one or more information technology applications, user interactive applications, and / or communications applications. For example, the application station 106 may be configured to execute primarily process control related applications, while another application station (not shown) may be configured to execute primarily communications applications. The communications applications enable the process control system 100 to communicate with other devices or systems using any desired communications medium (e.g., wireless, wired, etc.) and protocol (e.g., HTTP, SOAP, etc.). The example operator station 104 and the example workstation 106 of FIG. 1 may be implemented using one or more workstations and / or any other suitable computer system and / or processing system. For example, the operator station 104 and / or the workstation 106 may be implemented using a single-processor personal computer, a single-processor or multi-processor workstation, etc.

[0017] The example LAN 108 of Figure 1 may be implemented using any desired communication medium and protocol. For example, the example LAN 108 may be based on a wired and / or wireless Ethernet communication scheme. However, any other suitable communication medium and / or protocol may be used, as would be readily understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Additionally, although a single LAN 108 is shown in Figure 1, two or more LANs and / or other alternative pieces of communication hardware may be used to provide redundant communication paths between the example systems of Figure 1.

[0018] The example controller 102 of FIG. 1 is coupled to a number of smart field devices 110, 112, and 114 via a digital data bus 116 and an input / output (I / O) gateway 118. The smart field devices 110, 112, and 114 may be Fieldbus standard compliant valves, actuators, sensors, etc., where the smart field devices 110, 112, and 114 communicate over the digital data bus 116 using the well-known Foundation Fieldbus protocol. Of course, other types of smart field devices and communication protocols could be used instead. For example, the smart field devices 110, 112, and 114 could instead be Profibus and / or HART standard compliant devices that communicate over 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) may be coupled to the controller 102 to allow additional groups of smart field devices, which may be Foundation Fieldbus devices, HART devices, etc., to communicate with the controller 102.

[0019] In addition to the example smart field devices 110, 112, and 114, one or more non-smart field devices 120 and 122 may be communicatively coupled to the example controller 102. The example non-smart field devices 120 and 122 of FIG. 1 may be, for example, conventional 4-20 milliamps (mA) or 0-10 volts direct current (VDC) devices that communicate with the controller 102 via respective wired links.

[0020] The example controller 102 of FIG. 1 may be, for example, a DeltaV® controller sold by Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc., an Emerson Process Management company. However, any other controller could be substituted. Additionally, although only one controller 102 is shown in FIG. 1, any desired type and / or combination of additional controllers and / or process control platforms could be coupled to the LAN 108. In any case, the example controller 102 executes one or more process control routines associated with the process control system 100 that were created and downloaded and / or instantiated into the controller 102 by a systems engineer and / or other system operators using an operator station 104.

[0021] The methods and apparatus detailed below for controlling information presented to a process control system operator may be advantageously employed. Although an exemplary process control system 100 is shown in FIG. 1, the methods and apparatus described herein for controlling information presented to an operator may also be advantageously employed in other process plants and / or process control systems that are more complex or simpler than the example of FIG. 1 (e.g., having more than one controller, spanning more than one geographic location, etc.), as desired.

[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary manner of implementing the exemplary operator station 104 of 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 instructions coded within a main memory 202 (e.g., random access memory (RAM) and / or read-only memory (ROM)) of the processor 200. The processor 200 may be any type of processing unit, such as a processor core, a processor, and / or a microcontroller. The processor 200 may execute an operating system 204, an operator display module 206, an operator application 208, and an alarm presentation interface 210, among other things. The exemplary operating system 204 is an operating system from Microsoft® products. The exemplary main memory 202 of FIG. 2 may be one or more memories and / or memory devices implemented by and / or implemented within the processor 200 and / or operably coupled to the processor 200.

[0023] 2 includes any type of display 212. The example display 212 includes, but is not limited to, a computer monitor, a computer screen, a television, a mobile device (e.g., a smart phone, a Blackberry™, and / or an iPhone™), etc. capable of displaying a user interface and / or applications implemented by the processor 200 and / or, more generally, the example operator station 104.

[0024] 2 displays and / or facilitates the display of the alarm presentation interface 210 by and / or at the exemplary display 212. To facilitate operator interaction with applications implemented by the exemplary operator station 104, the example operating system 204 executes an application programming interface (API) that enables the example operator display module 206, via the operator application 208, to define and / or select the alarm presentation interface 210 and to cause and / or direct the operating system 204 to display the defined and / or selected alarm presentation interface 210. The example alarm presentation interface 210 is described below in conjunction with FIGS. 3 and 4.

[0025] To present process control system operator displays and / or applications, the example operator station 104 of FIG. 2 includes an example operator display module 206. The example operator display module 206 of FIG. 2 collects alarm data and / or information from one or more process controllers (e.g., the example controller 102 of FIG. 1) and / or other elements of the process control system, and uses the collected alarm data and / or information to create and / or define a particular alarm presentation interface 210 (e.g., the example alarm presentation interface 300 of FIG. 3) via an operator application 208. In the process, the example operator display module 206 temporarily stores or buffers process variable data corresponding to all active and unsuppressed alarms or any predefined subset of alarms of a particular type (e.g., module and safety instrumented system (SIS) alarms) for a recent time period. The buffered process variable data may then be accessed to create and / or define sparklines included in the alarm presentation interface 210. The alarm presentation interface 210 graphically displays the historical behavior of the process variables relative to corresponding alarm limits over the period of time that data was buffered if the corresponding alarm was subsequently triggered. The buffering of all process variables may be accomplished without user setup and may be performed independently of any long-term historizing functionality within the process control system. The created and / or defined alarm presentation interface 210 is displayed on the example display 212 by and / or via the example operating system 204.

[0026] An exemplary manner of implementing the exemplary operator station 104 of Figure 1 is shown in Figure 2, although the data structures, elements, processes and devices illustrated in Figure 2 may be combined, divided, rearranged, omitted, removed, and / or implemented in any other manner. 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 Figure 2 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and / or any combination thereof. Still further, the exemplary operator station 104 may include additional elements, processes and / or devices in place of or in addition to the elements illustrated in Figure 2, and / or may include two or more of any or all of the illustrated data structures, elements, processes and devices.

[0027] 3 illustrates an example alarm presentation interface 300 that may be used to implement an operator display and / or application and / or more generally to implement the example operator station 104 of FIG. 1. The example alarm presentation interface 300 may be displayed as a standalone interface or a sidebar alarm banner along with other elements of the alarm presentation interface (not shown). The alarm presentation interface 300 includes an alarm box 302 that contains basic information about each active alarm of the process control system. The information includes the alarm priority (indicated by the shape and / or color of the icon 304), the alarm type (indicated by the label 306), and an alarm tag 308 that identifies the alarm that corresponds to the alarm box 302. The alarm box 302 also includes a sparkline 310 that corresponds to each active alarm. Each sparkline 310 includes a trendline 312 that represents the behavior of the process variable with respect to the alarm limit as indicated by the alarm limit line 314 over a recent period (e.g., the past hour).

[0028] The current state of the process variable corresponding to the sparkline 310 may be graphically represented by an icon, such as, for example, a tick mark 318 located at the right end of the trend line 312. The horizontal scale corresponds to the most recent period for which process variable data was buffered. The time of alarm activation is graphically represented on the sparkline 310 by another icon, such as, for example, a dot 316. As time passes from when the alarm was first activated (i.e., when the process variable exceeded the alarm limit) to the current time, the dot 316 moves leftward along the alarm limit line 314 until a time greater than the width of the sparkline 310 has elapsed. At that point, the dot 316 is no longer displayed. Additionally, all sparklines 310 in the alarm presentation interface 300 may be fixed to a common width and common time scale and vertically aligned (e.g., alarm boxes 302 in a vertical column), allowing an operator to quickly visually compare multiple alarms and recognize potentially interrelated process variables.

[0029] As shown in FIG. 3, each sparkline 310 does not include a label or scale to quantify the magnitude of the corresponding process variable's fluctuation. However, the vertical scale of each sparkline 310 is automatically adjusted to fit within a fixed height so that an operator can quickly identify the variability of the process variable as well as the current slope and direction of the process variable relative to the corresponding alarm limit. Additionally, the example alarm presentation interface 300 may highlight (e.g., surround with a red border 320) or otherwise change the appearance of the alarm box 302 if the difference between the process variable and its corresponding alarm limit based on the most recent portion of the time period displayed in the sparkline 310 (e.g., the last 30 seconds) increases. By being visually notified when the process variable is deviating from a normal state, an operator can quickly identify alarms where additional action may be required to correct the direction of the process variable without risking confusion as to whether an increase or decrease in the process variable corresponds to an acceptable or problematic condition.

[0030] 4 illustrates another example alarm presentation interface 400. The alarm presentation interface 400 includes an alarm list 402 that includes a list of active alarms in a process control system. A column 404 includes associated information corresponding to each alarm listed in the alarm list 402. The example alarm list 402 includes a sparkline column 406 that includes a sparkline 408 corresponding to each alarm included in the alarm list 402. The sparkline 408 is implemented in the same manner as described above with respect to FIG. 3. However, because the sparkline 408 is not included within the alarm box 302, the sparkline 408 is highlighted (e.g., surrounded by a red border 410) when a process variable is about to deviate from its corresponding alarm limit to provide a graphical notification to an operator of an alarm corresponding to a process condition that may require action.

[0031] FIG. 5 is a flow chart depicting an example process for implementing the example operator station 104 of FIG. 1 and / or FIG. 2. The example process of FIG. 5 is executed by a processor, a controller, and / or any other suitable processing device. For example, the process of FIG. 5 may be embodied by encoded instructions (e.g., computer readable instructions) stored on a tangible machine-accessible or machine-readable medium, such as a flash memory, a ROM, and / or a random access memory RAM, associated with a processor (e.g., the example processor 602 described below with respect to FIG. 6). As used herein, the term "tangible computer readable medium" is expressly defined to include (and not include propagating signals) any type of non-transitory computer readable storage medium or any other storage medium on which information is stored for any period of time (e.g., long term, permanent, short term, during temporary buffering, and / or during information caching).

[0032] Alternatively, some or all of the example operations of FIG. 5 may be performed using any combination of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable logic devices (FPLDs), discrete logic elements, hardware, firmware, etc. Also, one or more of the operations illustrated in FIG. 5 may be performed manually or by any combination of any of the above techniques, e.g., any combination of firmware, software, discrete logic elements, and / or hardware. Furthermore, although the example process of FIG. 5 is described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5, numerous other ways of performing the example process of FIG. 5 may be employed, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and / or some of the described blocks may be modified, removed, divided, or combined. Furthermore, any or all of the example operations of FIG. 5 may be performed sequentially and / or in parallel, e.g., by separate processing threads, processors, devices, discrete logic elements, circuits, etc.

[0033] The process of FIG. 5 begins at block 500, where an operator station (e.g., the example operator station 104 of FIG. 2) executes an operator display module (e.g., the example operator display module 206) and displays an alarm presentation interface (e.g., the example alarm presentation interface 210) at block 502. At block 504, the operator station (e.g., the example operator station 104) receives process variable data for all enabled and unsuppressed alarms or any predefined subset of alarms of a particular type (e.g., module and SIS alarms) and buffers the data for a recent period of time. At block 506, the operator station (e.g., the example operator station 104) receives new and / or updated alarm data via a process controller (e.g., the example controller 102). At block 508, an operator application (e.g., the example operator application 208) determines whether the data for each buffered process variable corresponds to an active alarm. For each buffered process variable that does not correspond to an active alarm, the process returns to block 504 to continue buffering the process variables. For each process variable corresponding to an active alarm, the process moves to block 510, where an operator application (e.g., the example operator application 208) determines the current trend of the process variable (i.e., whether the process variable is diverging or converging with respect to the corresponding alarm limit) and the current state of the process variable. In block 512, the operator application (e.g., the example operator application 208) generates and / or updates sparklines corresponding to each active alarm and determines other changes to be made to the alarm presentation interface (e.g., the example alarm presentation interface 210), and then communicates the changes to an operator display module (e.g., the example operator display module 206).Control then returns to block 502, where an updated alarm presentation interface (eg, the example alarm presentation interface 210) is displayed.

[0034] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of an example processor platform 600 that may be used and / or programmed to execute the example process of Figure 5 and / or more generally implement the example operator station 104 of Figures 1 and / or 2. For example, the processor platform 600 may be implemented by one or more general purpose processors, processor cores, microcontrollers, etc.

[0035] The example processor platform 600 of FIG. 6 includes at least one general-purpose programmable processor 602. The processor 602 executes coded instructions 604 and / or 608 in a main memory of the processor 602 (e.g., in a RAM 606 and / or a ROM 610). The processor 602 may be any type of processing unit, such as a processor core, a processor and / or a microcontroller. The processor 602 may execute the example process of FIG. 5, among others, to implement the example operator station 104 described herein. The processor 602 communicates with the main memory (including the ROM 610 and / or the RAM 606) via a bus 612. The RAM 606 may be implemented by a DRAM, a SDRAM, and / or any other type of RAM device, and the ROM 610 may be implemented by a flash memory and / or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the memories 606 and 610 may be controlled by a memory controller (not shown).

[0036] The processor platform 600 also includes an interface circuit 614. The interface circuit 614 may be implemented by any type of interface standard, such as a USB interface, a Bluetooth interface, an external memory interface, a serial port, a general-purpose input / output, etc. One or more input devices 616 and one or more output devices 618 are coupled to the interface circuit 614. For example, the input device 616 and / or the output device 618 may be used to provide an alarm presentation interface 210 to the example display 212 of FIG. 2.

[0037] Although certain exemplary methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture are described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. Such examples are intended to be non-limiting illustrative. To the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.

Claims

1. 1. An operator interface device for a process control system, comprising: A display and an operator display module for presenting operator applications on said display; an alarm presentation interface presented on the display via the operator application; Equipped with the alarm presentation interface includes at least one sparkline associated with the alarm for graphically illustrating a trend of the process variable, and at least one alarm information display associated with the sparkline, the display including an alarm priority, an alarm type, and an alarm tag; the sparkline includes a trend of the process variable for a recent period of time; The sparklines are adjacent to the alarm priority, the alarm type, and the alarm tag. Operator interface device.

2. 2. The operator interface device of claim 1, wherein the vertical scale of the sparkline is automatically adjusted to match the fixed height of the sparkline.

3. 3. The operator interface device of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the sparkline associated with the alarm has an equal width and time scale as a second sparkline associated with a second alarm, allowing an operator to visually compare the sparkline and the second sparkline.

4. An operator interface device as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the sparkline includes a graphical indication of when the alarm was triggered relative to the recent period.

5. the alarm priority is indicated by the shape and / or color of an icon; The type of alarm is indicated by a label; the alarm tag identifies the alarm corresponding to the alarm information display; An operator interface device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. An operator interface device according to any preceding claim, wherein the sparklines are incorporated into an alarm list of the alarm presentation interface.

7. The operator interface device of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the sparklines are incorporated into a sidebar banner display of the alarm presentation interface.

8. 8. The operator interface device of claim 1, wherein the sparkline is highlighted when the difference between the process variable and the alarm limit is increasing, graphically indicating a significant change in the process variable relative to the alarm limit and requiring operator attention.

9. receiving process variable data from a process controller associated with the process variable; receiving alarm data for an alarm associated with the process variable; generating sparklines based on the process variable data and the alarm data to graphically illustrate trends in the process variable; displaying the sparkline and at least one alarm information display associated with the sparkline via an operator interface such that the sparkline indicates at least one of: that an operator action has addressed the alarm, that further action is needed to address the alarm, and that different action is needed to address the alarm; and Including, The alarm information display includes an alarm priority, an alarm type, and an alarm tag; the sparkline includes a trend of the process variable for a recent period of time; The sparklines are adjacent to the alarm priority, the alarm type, and the alarm tag. method.

10. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sparkline associated with the alarm has an equal width and time scale as a second sparkline associated with a second alarm, allowing an operator to visually compare the sparkline and the second sparkline.

11. 11. The method of claim 9 or claim 10, further comprising highlighting the sparklines when the process variable is deviating from a normal state and graphically indicating to an operator when further action may be needed to address the process variable.

12. A tangible article of manufacture storing machine-readable instructions that, when executed, receiving process variable data associated with the process variable; receiving alarm data associated with the process variable; generating sparklines based on the process variable data and the alarm data to graphically illustrate trends in the process variable; displaying the sparklines via an alarm presentation interface of an operator interface to indicate at least one of the behavior of the process variable and the state of the process variable relative to an alarm limit, and displaying an alarm priority, an alarm type, and an alarm limit. displaying at least one alarm information display associated with the sparkline, the alarm information display including a tag; The machine executes the the sparkline includes a trend of the process variable for a recent period of time; The sparklines are adjacent to the alarm priority, the alarm type, and the alarm tag. Tangible manufactured goods.

13. 13. The tangible article of manufacture of claim 12, wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to buffer the process variable data for a length of time equal to a recent period regardless of long-term historization of the process variable data.

14. 14. The tangible article of manufacture of claim 12 or claim 13, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to highlight the sparkline when the difference between the process variable and an alarm limit is increasing to graphically indicate a significant change in the process variable relative to the alarm limit requiring operator attention.

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