| abstract |
An automation control system can be efficiently developed and maintained as a hierarchical arrangement of configured components that pass process control parameters received from a control component and return reports back to the control component. In particular, control components compare a current configuration to a validated, saved configuration in order to report a configuration status as to whether a process can be conducted as validated. Yet, changes to the configuration of the automation control system that do not affect a validated portion do not preclude continued validated processing. |