US 12,393,170 B2
Digital safety locks in industrial process plants
Wallace A. Pratt, Jr., Pflugerville, TX (US); and Mark J. Nixon, Thorndale, TX (US)
Assigned to FIELDCOMM GROUP, INC., Austin, TX (US)
Filed by FIELDCOMM GROUP, INC., Austin, TX (US)
Filed on Jan. 4, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/404,436.
Application 18/404,436 is a continuation of application No. 17/470,799, filed on Sep. 9, 2021, granted, now 11,880,181.
Prior Publication US 2024/0134335 A1, Apr. 25, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G05B 19/048 (2006.01)
CPC G05B 19/048 (2013.01) [G05B 2219/24024 (2013.01); G05B 2219/25428 (2013.01)] 40 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a first device in a locked mode and having a digital safety lock that is activated without using a physical lock, a request of a second device to access or control the first device, the locked mode indicative of the first device being functionally unresponsive to instructions issued by devices other than devices that provide indications of respective digital safety lock keys of one or more locking parties that activated one or more digital safety locks at the first device;
sending, by the first device to the second device, an indication of a locking party included in the one or more locking parties;
responsive to the sent indication of the locking party, receiving, by the first device, an indication of a digital safety lock key; and
deactivating, by the first device, a digital safety lock activated by the locking party at the first device when the received digital safety lock key corresponds to an actual digital safety lock key corresponding to the locking party.