STATE MACHINE FUNCTION BLOCK WITH USER-DEFINABLE ACTIONS ON A TRANSITION BETWEEN STATES

摘要

A control system, a safety system, etc., within a process plant may each use one or more state machine function blocks that can be easily integrated into a function block diagram programming environment. Such a state machine function block may include one or more inputs, which may cause a state machine implemented by the state machine function block to identify a next state as well as one or more transition actions to perform in accordance with transitioning from a current state to the next state. Configuration data associated with the transition actions may be retrieved from a database based on the current and next states of the state machine and at least one of the inputs. The state machine function block may also include one or more outputs that are generated based on the state transition.

主权项

1. A method of configuring, via a computing device having a display device and an input device, a function block associated with a process plant, the function block to implement a state machine, the method comprising:
providing a graphical user interface displayed by the display device, the graphical user interface indicating a first plurality of cells associated with the function block and arranged in a matrix having a first dimension and a second dimension, wherein positions along the first dimension indicate state machine states and transition action identifiers associated therewith, and positions along the second dimension correspond to state machine inputs, such that the first plurality of cells define input/state pairs and transition actions thereof based on the positions of the first plurality of cells relative to the first and second dimensions; receiving state transition data associated with a cell of the first plurality of cells via the input device, the state transition data identifying a next state to which the state machine transitions following a condition in the process plant corresponding to the input/state pair defined by the cell; receiving transition action data via the input device, the transition action data identifying at least one transition action to be performed according to the state transition data; and storing the state transition data and the transition action data on a computer readable medium associated with the function block.