METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING AND/OR CUSTOMIZING DISPLAY SCREENS AND OPERATOR INTERFACES FOR PROCESS CONTROL AND MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS

The invention is directed to methods, together with apparatus for implementing such methods, for providing display screens and operator interfaces for process control and measurements, comprising the steps of (a) graphically defining and generating Display Libraries that can be used by a stand alone process control and/or process measurement instrument containing an interpretation engine (a software task designed to interpret Display Definitions) to actually render displays and control their appearance and behavior during real time process operations; and (b) interpreting the contents of the aforesaid Display Definitions (using said interpretation engine) during the normal operation of a stand alone instrument, thereby rendering displays having the defined appearances and behaviors. By using the invention, display screens and operator interface controls can be created, provided to and executed on a wide range of user process control and measurement instruments which run on platforms that are otherwise incapable of supporting a display editor.