WILLIAM R HODSON
Engineers in Telford, PA

6700483, Mar 2, 2004

Jul 12, 2002

10/194195

Alexander Chernoguzov - Warrington PA
William R. Hodson - Telford PA

Honeywell International Inc. - Morristown NJ

G08B 2900

340506, 340 31, 340 32, 340 511, 700 12, 700 83

An alarm recovery method and device for regenerating a list of alarm state values of a device after loss of communication or other discontinuity in processing is disclosed. The method and device are implemented in a control system for the control of a process. In normal operation the device sends notification messages on a high priority basis to a computer to update the alarm state values of a list. When communication is lost and then resumed, or other discontinuity of processing occurs and is restored, the recovery procedure begins by notifying the notification manager of the start of the notification process, saving alarm condition disable states, disabling each enabled alarm condition, allowing the device to generate return-to-normal notifications, restoring the original alarm condition disable states, allowing the device to generate appropriate current active alarm notifications, and notifying the notification manager of the end of the notification process. The notification manager reliably re-synchronizes the alarm states since the re-generated alarms are communicated at the same priority as the new alarm state changes, preventing mis-matches possible with other alarm state-access methods.

7127528, Oct 24, 2006

Jul 22, 2002

10/201183

Alexander Chernoguzov - Warrington PA, US
William R. Hodson - Telford PA, US

Honeywell International Inc. - Morristown NJ

G06F 15/16

709249, 709223, 709224, 709228

A caching method and system for a control system having a fast network and a slow network that each contain devices involved in the control of a process is disclosed. The cache is disposed in a gateway interface device interconnected with both the fast and the slow networks. The cache is populated only in response to requests of clients connected in the fast network but is refreshed independently of the fast network. To reduce traffic on the slow network, the cache is populated with a collection of parameters to which a requested parameter belongs. This avoids a round trip on the slow network for future requests of the requested parameter and other members of the collection. A parameter is removed from cache if an associated expiration timer expires before a further request therefor is received. Cache refresh is variable based on loading of the slow network and responsiveness of the devices of the slow network.

8266602, Sep 11, 2012

May 31, 2006

11/444044

William R. Hodson - Telford PA, US
Prasad Samudrala - Bangalore, IN

Honeywell International Inc. - Morristown NJ

G06F 9/45, H04J 3/22

717137, 370466

A device description language (DDL) converter is provided for converting a first DDL file into one or more second DDL files. The DDL files may be associated with wireless field devices that are or could be used in a process control system, such as wireless sensors or wireless actuators. The DDL files may contain information associated with parameters of the field devices, such as tunings, performance statistics, statuses, measurements, and other data of interest. The first DDL file could be associated with a non-standard DDL. The one or more second DDL files could be associated with standard DDLS, such as HART, Foundation Fieldbus, and Profibus DDLs.

7965664, Jun 21, 2011

May 31, 2006

11/444200

William R. Hodson - Telford PA, US
Prasad Samudrala - Bangalore, IN
Alexander Chernoguzov - Warrington PA, US

Honeywell International Inc. - Morristown NJ

H04B 7/00

370310, 370328, 370338

An apparatus is provided for facilitating integration of a wireless field device (such as a wireless sensor or actuator) and a wired protocol that is used in a process control system. The apparatus supports a wireless field device protocol for communicating with the wireless field device. The apparatus also supports a wired field device protocol for communicating with other components of the process control system over a network. The apparatus could map a wireless application model associated with the wireless field device protocol to a wired application model associated with the wired field device protocol. The apparatus could actually support multiple mappings from the wireless application model to wired application models associated with multiple wired field device protocols. As particular examples, the wired field device protocol(s) could include the HART, Foundation Fieldbus, Profibus, and/or Modbus protocols. The network could represent an Ethernet network or a serial network.

7889747, Feb 15, 2011

May 31, 2006

11/443773

William R. Hodson - Telford PA, US
Prasad Samudrala - Bangalore, IN
Alexander Chernoguzov - Warrington PA, US
Paul F. McLaughlin - Ambler PA, US

Honeywell International Inc. - Morristown NJ

H04L 12/56

370401, 370466

A system for integrating a wireless network with wired field devices includes a field unit that communicates with the wired field devices using a first wired field device protocol. A gateway wirelessly communicates with the field unit and communicates over a network using one or more second wired field device protocols. The gateway also converts between the first wired field device protocol and the one or more second wired field device protocols. The gateway could further permit access to the wired field devices by a component of the process control system (such as a process controller, asset management tool, or configuration tool) that does not support the first wired field device protocol. At least one of the field unit and the gateway could appear as a multiplexer or linking device to the component of the process control system, such as a HART multiplexer or a Foundation Fieldbus or Profibus linking device.

7876722, Jan 25, 2011

May 31, 2006

11/444042

William R. Hodson - Telford PA, US
Prasad Samudrala - Bangalore, IN
Alexander Chernoguzov - Warrington PA, US

Honeywell International Inc. - Morristown NJ

H04W 4/00, G08B 1/08

370328, 455445, 34053926

A system for transferring a signal between a field device and a control system component includes a field linking unit and a system gateway. The field linking unit is electrically coupled to a field device, and a signal is transferred between the two using a first protocol. The system gateway is electrically connected to a control system component, and the signal is transferred between the two using a second protocol. The field linking unit and the system gateway communicate wirelessly. One of the field linking unit and the system gateway may encrypt the signal before sending, and the other may decrypt the signal upon receipt. The system may also include at least one intermediate node, and the field linking unit and the system gateway may communicate wirelessly via the intermediate node(s).

7278066, Oct 2, 2007

Oct 22, 2003

10/692043

William R. Hodson - Telford PA, US

Honeywell International Inc - Morristown NJ

G06F 11/00

714 49, 714 4, 709224

A Fieldbus device and method for handling errors arising from parameter write messages. A load mode identifier detects if the parameter write messages are operator initiated or program initiated. If program initiated, communication of errors resulting from execution of the parameter writes is suppressed. Also, a rejection of a parameter write operation arising from the errors is suppressed for program initiated program write messages.

7363380, Apr 22, 2008

Oct 29, 2002

10/283766

William R. Hodson - Telford PA, US

Honeywell International Inc. - Morristown NJ

G06F 15/16

709228, 709229, 709253, 700 1, 700 23, 700 83, 700 7, 700 28, 700 44, 702188, 702182

A method for improving a link schedule used in a communications network is disclosed. While the method applies generally to networks that operate on a scheduled communications basis, it is described in the context of a Foundation FIELDBUS. The method includes: scheduling sequences and their associated publications according to their relative priority, per application; minimizing delays between certain function blocks, and between certain function blocks and publications; and grouping certain publications. Accordingly, advantages such as latency reduction, schedule length reduction, and improved communications capacity are gained.

8538559, Sep 17, 2013

Apr 4, 2011

13/066019

William R. Hodson - Telford PA, US

Relcom, Inc. - Forest Grove OR

G05B 11/01

700 12, 700 18, 700 19

A process control system for a fieldbus network includes field devices having function blocks. Some distributed control systems access the standard parameters of the function blocks but cannot access manufacturers' non-standard parameters. Such parameters are placed in shared transducer blocks in the field devices where they are accessed by an alternate system for configuration and for collecting and monitoring data. This enables use by the function blocks of both standard and manufacturers' specific parameters and enables function blocks with only standard parameters to facilitate non-standard inter-function block communication connections using the shared transducer block parameters.

7945682, May 17, 2011

Mar 5, 2008

12/074662

William R. Hodson - Telford PA, US

Honeywell International Inc. - Morristown NJ

G06F 15/16

709228, 709229, 709253, 700 1, 700 23, 700 83, 700 7, 700 28, 700 44, 702188, 702182

A method for improving a link schedule used in a communications network is disclosed. While the method applies generally to networks that operate on a scheduled communications basis, it is described in the context of a Foundation FIELDBUS. The method includes: scheduling sequences and their associated publications according to their relative priority, per application; minimizing delays between certain function blocks, and between certain function blocks and publications; and grouping certain publications. Accordingly, advantages such as latency reduction, schedule length reduction, and improved communications capacity are gained.