Abstract: An operator station for a manufacturing process control system including a network of at least one dedicated process control computer for monitoring and controlling SECTIONS of the manufacturing process wherein each SECTION includes one or more SEQUENCES of the manufacturing process, the operator station includes a processor, a communication link to the process control communication system, a display including a SECTIONS window providing information relating to at least one of the SECTIONS monitored by the operating station and a SEQUENCE window providing information relating to one or more SEQUENCES monitored by the operator station, a data input device for selecting a SECTION from which information is to be displayed. The operator station may further include a flow sheet display window which includes a graphic depiction of a portion of the process, and a trend display window which includes current and historical information in graphic form for selected process control variables.

Abstract: An adaptive process control system which is responsive to both process measurement input signals and economic environment inputs is provided. The process control system features an interactive optimization modeling system for periodically determining one or more manipulated process variables (also known as setpoints). These manipulated process variables are used to position directly controllable process parameters and attributes of a manufacturing system, such as a valve controlling the temperature of a coolant or a valve controlling the flow rate in a steam line.

Abstract: A secure front-end communication system which couples a plurality of actively redundant process control computers to a computer network. The system includes a front end computer which is capable of establishing time limited communication contracts with one or more computer entity on the computer network. Each time limited communication contract is based upon an acceptable response to the transmission of an unpredicable signal from the front end computer, such as an encrypted transformation of a psuedo-random number generated by the front end computer. A security table is used to identify the network entities that are permitted to send write command messages to the process control computers to which the front end computer is connected. The front end computer also includes at least one permissive table which is used to determined whether a write command message from the network entity should be transmitted to the process control computer for which the message was intended.

Abstract: The process control display program receives input in the form of an alphanumeric process control statement. The alphanumeric statement is parsed into its constituent lexical units and graphical icons corresponding to those lexical units are arranged on the display screen in an interconnected network or pattern which corresponds to the syntactic relationship of the lexical units which make up the statement being displayed. The change or flow of live data is depicted by changing the visual quality or color of the icons and their interconnecting network to provide a graphical representation of the alphanumeric statement which is readily understood by users worldwide.