Field devices are generally used in a plant for detecting physical quantities such as temperature, pressure and flow rate inside piping; and to transmit the detected signals to control equipment installed at a distant location or to receive signals transmitted from the control equipment. Such field devices may include intelligent field devices with digital communication functions such as for example, Foundation Fieldbus (FF) enabled devices and Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) enabled devices. Foundation Fieldbus and HART are examples of digital communication protocols or standards used in enabling digital data transfer among intelligent field devices. For example, Foundation Fieldbus is a standard defined by the Fieldbus Foundation which defines “Fieldbus” to be a digital, two-way, multi-drop communication link among intelligent measurement and control devices. A Fieldbus serves as a Local Area Network (LAN) for advanced process control, remote input/output and high speed factory automation applications.
In standard maintenance procedures in a plant, field devices may need to be replaced due to device failure, calibration or modifications to include additional functionality. To determine if a new field device is compatible with an existing field device to be replaced, the user first obtains a Device Tag of the existing field device to be replaced and looks for a new field device that has the same Device Tag as the existing field device. A Device Tag is a logical name assigned to an equipment module or control module is assigned or which it implements and may be assigned according to the placement of an equipment module or control module in a plant. If the placement of the equipment module is changed, for instance when the equipment module or control module is replaced, the Device Tag of the replacement or new equipment module will also change. To configure a new field device, it is required to connect a new or a spare field device to the same path or segment where the existing field device was previously connected.
FIG. 1 is a process diagram illustrating a known process 1 for exchanging field devices in an industrial process. The existing field device is removed by a user from a path or segment in step 2 and the new field device is connected to or installed in the path in step 3. A path may refer to a group of process units that are configured in series or parallel and used, or planned to be used in a batch production operation. After physical removal and installation of the existing and new field devices, the user may activate some external tools or applications available from an asset management system 4. The asset management system 4 is a system for managing field devices in real-time. The asset management system 4 may be configured to perform intelligent operations such as, remote access, device parameter management, device diagnostics and tuning for devices that have field communication function including devices compatible with communication protocols including Fieldbus, HART or the like. The asset management system 4 may be configured for enabling devices with or without field communication capability to be registered together for centralized device management. For example, in a device exchange process, the user may access the asset management system 4 to do one of or all of the following device-related tasks to:                1) Configure the new field device in step 5 by modifying the Device Tag and other parameters related to the existing field device;        2) Detect the new field device and register/update its information in step 6 to a database server (not shown) connected to the asset management system 4;        3) Download the existing parameters in step 7 to the new field device;        4) Associate the new and existing field devices by virtue of the new field device inheriting device information of the existing field device in step 8;        
After everything has been set and configured, the user uploads the parameters and device information of the new field device in step 9 to the database server. A disadvantage of the above process is that the process relies heavily on the knowledge of the user to remember all the device-related tasks and may not be adequate to complete an exchange of devices in order for the new field device to be operable in the path or an industrial process. Further, heavy reliance on user experience may result in several unintended mistakes if for example, the device exchange process is performed by an untrained operator. Still further, the tasks to be performed on the new field device in order to replace the existing field device could be tedious and confusing because there may be several procedures to be performed on the new field device before the new field device can be operational. As a result, there is tremendous burden on the user who must know each and every method to execute, as well as the proper sequence of the tasks in order to avoid mistakes.