Status tree monitoring and display system

Claim 1

A method of monitoring a complex process control system in which an operator selectively activates active areas of a presentation display by means of a cursor to produce a multi-level status tree display permitting monitoring of said process, comprising the steps of (a) sampling process control data and producing a status display having a left half and a right half of said process being monitored characterized by; (b) producing a summary status bar display (30) on said left half of said process being monitored; (c) producing a reference grid (34) over said summary status bars (38) providing reference lines (36) indicating the discrete states of the process, said left hand of said summary status bar display (32) having at least two discrete state status bars (40, 42) centered in said reference grid (34), each having a size, a color, a status wording (52) and a procedure name (54) in dependence upon the process state being monitored, the procedure name (54) indicating a procedure performed by an operator in dependence on the state, and having a status bar name (50) identifying the process represented by the status bars (40, 42), said status bars arranged such that the highest priority bar is on top and the lowest priority bar is on bottom; (d) producing a data quality indicator (56) spatially associated with each status bar (40, 42) indicating the quality of the process control data; (e) producing an array of meter images . (32) in the right hand side of said status display depicting process control parameters in the active path of a function state of said process selected for display by an operator, said array of meter images (32) associated with the status bar of interest selected by the operator by said cursor; (f) displaying variable range brackets (64-70), state ranges and color coding for each of said meters in said array (32), said color coding dependent upon the state of the process being monitored, said meters also having variable value range change threshold meters (72); (g) providing an operator selectable first level status tree display (200-260) by using said cursor to activate an active area of said status display, said status tree (200-254) for one of said status bars (40, 42) of said process having a highlighted active path (222-228); and a miniature (262) of said status bar display (30) spatially associated with said status tree; and (h) providing an operator selectable second level status tree display (264-298) by using said cursor to activate an active area of said status display, said second level status tree having status tree node representations (290) sensor values (296); and a miniature (262) of said status bar display spatially associated with said representation and said sensor values.

Claim 2

A method of monitoring a complex process control system in which an operator selectively activates active areas of a presentation display by means of a cursor to produce a multi-level status tree display permitting monitoring of said process, comprising the steps of (a) sampling process control data and producing a status display having a left half and a right half of said process being monitored characterized by; (b) producing a summary status bar display (30) on said left half of said process being monitored; (c) producing a reference grid (34) over said summary status bars (38) providing reference lines (36) indicating the discrete states of the process, said left hand of said summary status bar display (32) having at least two discrete state status bars (40, 42) centered in said reference grid (34), each having a size, a color, a status wording (52) and a procedure name (54) in dependence upon the process state being monitored, the procedure name (54) indicating a procedure performed by an operator in dependence on the state, and having a status bar name (50) identifying the process represented by the status bars (40, 42), said status bars arranged such that the highest priority bar is on top and the lowest priority bar is on bottom; (d) producing a data quality indicator (56) spatially associated with each status bar (40, 42) indicating the quality of the process control data; (e) producing an array of meter images . (32) in the right hand side of said status display depicting process control parameters in the active path of a function state of said process selected for display by an operator, said array of meter images (32) associated with the status bar of interest selected by the operator by said cursor; (f) displaying variable range brackets (64-70), state ranges and color coding for each of said meters in said array (32), said color coding dependent upon the state of the process being monitored, said meters also having variable value range change threshold meters (72); (g) providing an operator selectable first level status tree display (200-260) by using said cursor to activate an active area of said status display, said status tree (200-254) for one of said status bars (40, 42) of said process having a highlighted active path (222-228); and a miniature (262) of said status bar display (30) spatially associated with said status tree; and (h) providing an operator selectable second level status tree display (264-298) by using said cursor to activate an active area of said status display, said second level status tree having status tree node representations (290) sensor values (296); and a miniature (262) of said status bar display spatially associated with said representation and said sensor values.

Claim 3

An apparatus for producing a discrete state display for a process control system monitoring process control data, said apparatus characterized by data acquisition and status tree computation means (700-706) for sampling the process control data, determining a discrete process control state and creating a first display (30, 32) in dependence on the state; display means (708, 714) for displaying the first display (30, 32), said first display comprising a left half having at least two discrete state status bars (40, 42) each having a size in dependence upon the state, a status bar name (50) identifying the process represented by the status bar and a priority indicated vertically and a right half displaying an array of meters representing operational states of one of said status bars on said left hand side.

Claim 4

An apparatus for producing a discrete state display for a process control system monitoring process control data, said apparatus characterized by data acquisition and status tree computation means (700-706) for sampling the process control data, determining a discrete process control state and creating a first display (30, 32) in dependence on the state; display means (708, 714) for displaying the first display (30, 32), said first display comprising a left half having at least two discrete state status bars (40, 42) each having a size in dependence upon the state, a status bar name (50) identifying the process represented by the status bar and a priority indicated vertically and a right half displaying an array of meters representing operational states of one of said status bars on said left hand side.