In the middle of 2003, the technical committee 3, “Application Profiles,” published the first part of the “PROFIBUS Profile Guidelines” by releasing the document “Identification and Maintenance Functions” (I&M).
The I&M functions allow the end user to call up detailed information online about the corresponding device in the different life cycle phases of a product, such as project planning, commissioning, parameter setting, diagnostics, repair, firmware update, asset management, and audit trailing. The devices contain information that can be resolved via tables available at www.profibus.com. The tables can be loaded via Internet using an engineering tool, saved locally and used offline. The tables are made available in machine-readable form (XML document) and in human-readable form (HTML document).To use the I&M functions, each device internally manages a profile ID, device ID and manufacturer ID. Based on ID numbers delivered by the device, the corresponding information is loaded directly from the web server www.profibus.com and used by engineering tools.
Information about features and use as well as a series of information about the manufacturer of the device can be called up. If an inquiry from an end user occurs, the transmitted manufacturer ID is used to filter out the information stored in the table and transmit it to the tool of the end user. Since the information is available online and not permanently stored in the device, it is ensured that all information is always up-to-date. For example, if the contact address of a manufacturer changes, the new information is available immediately .
If you do not own a manufacturer-ID yet, you can request your manufacturer-ID by sending an e-mail to info@profibus.com.
To change your company information please send an e-mail to info@profibus.com.
To illustrate the functionality of the I&M-Functions we offer you a testtool.The program simulates the access to the I&M-Data, the evaluation of the single I&M-Parameters and the language specific representation of the data. It also shows you the use of specific service-functions of the manufacturer site. To make the use of the program easier, you will also find a usermanual (PDF-file) in the download-section. You will find the testtool in the download-area under 'Software and Tools'.
