US Patent 8125405 Wearable computer in a process control environment

A wearable computer for use in a process control environment includes a central processing unit, a memory and a number of other or integral devices such as a display, a microphone, a video camera, a voice recognition unit and a remote communication device that communicates with a host computer. The wearable computer provide information pertaining to one or more devices within a process control system (such as diagnostic information, help information, operator overviews, schematics or process parameter information) via the display. The wearable computer also executes a voice recognition routine that processes a received voice signal to automatically identify user inputs such as commands, process control devices within the field of view of the wearer, device tags, etc. and uses the user inputs to change a display, to alter a process signal, to retrieve device information etc.