Fieldbus Command Masking for Clearer Device Status Monitoring
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In industrial plants, field devices often respond to unsupported commands with error messages, leading to a 'noise level' that can obscure important status information, impairing the overview of device status.
Innovation Solution
A control or test system with a command memory and a masking memory to manage unsupported commands, preventing errors and reducing noise levels by identifying and suppressing unsupported commands, allowing for the use of generic device descriptions across multiple field devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a generic device description is used for field devices, then the complexity of maintaining multiple device descriptions is reduced, but error messages from unsupported commands create noise that obscures important status information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the device description into two distinct components: a generic device description that provides common functionality for multiple field devices, and a masking memory that stores device-specific unsupported command information. This segmentation allows the system to benefit from the simplicity of generic descriptions while separately managing device-specific limitations without creating noise in status communications.
Solution Approach 2:
The masking memory acts as an intermediary component between the control system and field devices. It stores information about unsupported commands and enables the control system to check against this masking information before communicating with field devices, thereby preventing the generation of erroneous status messages while maintaining compatibility with generic device descriptions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If unsupported commands are sent to field devices, then generic device descriptions can be used universally, but error messages are generated that reduce the reliability of status monitoring
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by maintaining a masking memory that pre-stores information about which commands are unsupported by specific field devices. Before the control system sends commands to field devices, it checks the masking memory to determine whether the commands are supported, thereby preventing the generation of error messages that would compromise status monitoring reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The masking memory provides feedback information to the control system about command compatibility. By checking the masking memory before command execution, the system receives feedback on whether a command will be supported by the target field device, allowing it to adjust its behavior and avoid sending unsupported commands that would generate misleading error messages.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a control or test system (3) for a field device (1), comprising a communication unit (33) for bidirectional communication with the field device (1) via a fieldbus protocol (14), as well as comprising a command storage (36) which is designed to accommodate commands (12) that can be transmitted to the field device (1) via the fieldbus protocol (14), wherein a masking storage (37) is also provided which is designed to accommodate the commands (12a) contained in the command storage (36) that are not supported by the field device (1), and/or for accommodating an error report (12b) fed back by the field device (1) in response to a command (12a) of this type. The invention also relates to a method for operating a control or test system (3) according to claim 2 and optionally one of claims 3 to 9, wherein the parser (30) is supplied with a device description (2) which is generic for the standard of the fieldbus protocol (14), and which contains all commands (12c, 12d) defined as "support mandatory" according to the standard, as well as at least one command (12e-12g) defined as "support optional" according to the standard. The invention further relates to a computer program product in which the control or test system, and/or the method, is implemented.