JP5951041B2 - Programmable display - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a programmable display for monitoring and operating a control device.

  Conventionally, when constructing a system in which a host computer and a control device are connected, the protocol used for communication may be different from each other. The burden of creating the program becomes large. Therefore, a system configuration in which a programmable display is interposed between the host computer and the control device and protocol conversion between the host computer and the control device is performed in real time by the programmable display is effective (for example, Patent Document 1, (See Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3).

  In addition, when the host computer commands a setting command to a control device connected to the programmable display, the host computer designates a connection path using dedicated setup software and gives the setting command via the programmable display (for example, (See Patent Document 4).

JP 2000-137508 A JP 2001-117612 A JP 2010-8279A JP 2006-185305 A

  However, according to the technique described in Patent Document 4, since dedicated setup software is required, there is a problem that it takes time and cost to prepare dedicated setup software.

  Further, according to the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, when a request that requires a plurality of transmissions / receptions is given from the dedicated setup software of the host computer to the control device, each time one transmission / reception is performed on the programmable display Since protocol conversion was performed, there was a problem that it took time until the processing related to the request was completed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to obtain a programmable display that makes it unnecessary to prepare dedicated setup software in a host computer and shortens processing time as much as possible. To do.

In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a programmable display according to the present invention includes a first interface unit to which one or more control devices are connected, and a computer connected to the first communication protocol. A write file request is written to the one or more control devices , and the request description includes the first information indicating the write-destination control device, and receives the text file. a second interface unit, the second interface unit is described in a text file received, the decryption unit for decrypting the request including the first information, based on the decoded result of the decoding unit, the first Data for transmission / reception and writing for control based on a second communication protocol different from the communication protocol A plurality of transmissions / receptions including the transmission of data to execute the writing process with the write-destination control device among the one or more control devices via the first interface unit. And an overall processing unit that transmits the information to the computer via the second interface unit.

  The programmable display according to the present invention can receive a request described in a text file, and executes a plurality of transmissions and receptions for realizing requested processing with a control device based on the request. Therefore, it is unnecessary to prepare dedicated setup software in the host computer, and the processing time can be shortened as much as possible.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a system using the programmable display device according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a format example of a request. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the system using the programmable display according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the effect of the embodiment of the present invention.

  Embodiments of a programmable display device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

Embodiment.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system using a programmable display according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the programmable display device 200 is connected to a host computer (computer) 100 via a communication path 1 and is connected to a plurality (three in this figure) of control devices 300 via a communication path 2. .

  The communication standards of the communication path 1 and the communication path 2 are not limited to specific standards. For example, Ethernet (registered trademark), RS-232C, or USB (Universal Serial Bus) can be adopted as a communication standard for the communication path 1 and the communication path 2. Further, for example, as a communication standard for the communication path 2, a communication standard for an inter-controller network such as MELSECNET / H, CC-Link IE, or FL-net (OPCN-2) can be adopted. Note that the communication standard of the communication path 1 and the communication standard of the communication path 2 may be different. Further, the communication path 1 or the communication path 2 may be connected by wire or may be connected wirelessly.

  The control device 300 is, for example, a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). The PLC can control the controlled device. Specifically, the PLC stores a user program and one or more state variables (devices) related to the controlled device in an internal memory. Each device is associated with a memory address in the PLC on a one-to-one basis. The PLC manipulates the value of the state variable (device value) based on the user program. The controlled device can receive a command from the control device 300 or transmit a response to the control device 300 by reading and writing a value to a predetermined address.

  The host computer 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 110, a memory 120, an input device 130, a display device 140, and an interface (I / F) unit 150. The CPU 110, the memory 120, the input device 130, the display device 140, and the I / F unit 150 are connected to each other via a bus line.

  The input device 130 includes a mouse and a keyboard, for example, and inputs operation information for the host computer 100 from a user. The input operation information is sent to the CPU 110. The display device 140 is, for example, a liquid crystal monitor or the like and can display output information for the user. The output information is generated by the CPU 110 and sent to the display device 140 via the memory 120. The I / F unit 150 is a connection interface for connecting to the communication path 1.

  The memory 120 is configured by a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), or a combination thereof. The memory 120 stores an operating system program (OS) 121 in advance. The CPU 110 provides various functions for enabling the user to use the resources of the host computer 100 based on the OS 121. One of the functions is a text editor. The user can describe a character string in a text file by starting up a text editor and operating the input device 130. The text file is stored in the memory 120 (text file 122).

  Here, the user can describe a request for realizing a desired process for the control device 300 in the text file 122. The host computer 100 can transmit the text file 122 in which the request is described to the programmable display 200 using means such as FTP.

  Processing that can be requested using the text file 122 is arbitrary. For example, it is possible to request a process of writing a user program or parameters to the control device 300 or reading the data from the control device 300. Further, it is possible to request a process for rewriting (writing) the value of a desired device. In addition, it is possible to request a process of reading a desired device value. In addition, it is possible to request processing for reading a log of a desired device.

  The text file 122 sent to the programmable display 200 contains all the information necessary to complete the process. Information necessary for completing the processing includes, for example, information for specifying a communication path, information for specifying a control device 300 to be processed (destination), and classification information for identifying the type of request (request classification) ) Or request details. Note that what information is necessary varies depending on the request classification. For example, when the request classification is writing of a user program, a parameter, or a device value, information necessary for completing the process is information for specifying a write target such as a name of write data or a write Contains the previous address. The information for specifying the write target may be a data name or an address where the write target data is stored. When the request classification is reading of a user program, a parameter, a device value, or a device value log, information necessary for completing the process includes information for specifying a reading target. The information for specifying the read target may be a data name or an address where the read target data is stored. Moreover, the name of a device may be sufficient.

  The request is described in conformity with a predetermined format so that the programmable display 200 (precisely, a decoding unit 212 described later) can identify and extract each piece of information included in the request. The request format is arbitrary. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a format example of a request. As shown in the figure, the connection channel number (communication_port) for specifying the communication path is “1”, the name / type code (cpu_type) for specifying the processing target control device 300 is “Q06UDEH”, the request classification ( Job_Type) is “road_fl”.

  The programmable display 200 functions as an HMI (Human Machine Interface) for the user to monitor and operate the device. In the present embodiment, the programmable display 200 displays the text file 122 describing the request (hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, the text file 122 refers to the text file 122 describing the request). When received from the computer 100, the requested processing is executed for the control device 300, and after the processing is completed, the processing result can be transmitted to the host computer 100.

  The programmable display 200 includes a CPU 210, a memory 220, a touch panel device 230, an interface (I / F) unit 240 and an I / F unit 250. CPU 210, memory 220, touch panel device 230, I / F unit 240, and I / F unit 250 are connected to each other via a bus line.

  The I / F unit 250 is a connection interface for connecting to the communication path 1. The I / F unit 250 is connected to the host computer 100 via the communication path 1 and receives the text file 122. The I / F unit 240 is a connection interface for connecting to the communication path 2.

  The memory 220 includes a ROM 221 and a RAM 222. The ROM 221 stores in advance a system program 223 for controlling basic operations of the programmable display device 200 and drawing data 224. The drawing data 224 is data that defines, for example, a layout of components displayed on the touch panel device 230 and a display target device. The component is an element of a minimum unit constituting the display screen, and includes a button, a switch, a graph, or a numerical display field. The user may confirm the value of the desired device by visually recognizing the display screen of the touch panel device 230, or may operate the value of the desired device by operating a button or switch displayed on the display screen. it can.

  The RAM 222 provides the CPU 210 with an area for expanding the system program 223 and an area for storing temporary data.

  When starting up, the CPU 210 reads the system program 223 from the ROM 221 and expands the read system program 223 in the RAM 222. The CPU 210 functions as the overall processing unit 211 and the decrypting unit 212 by executing the system program 223 expanded in the RAM 222.

  The decryption unit 212 decrypts the text file 122 received from the host computer 100 and extracts information necessary for executing the requested process.

  The overall processing unit 211 controls input / output via the touch panel device 230 based on the drawing data 224. Further, the requested processing is executed based on the information extracted from the text file 122 by the decoding unit 212. Specifically, the overall processing unit 211 executes a plurality of transmissions / receptions with the control device 300 for realizing the requested processing based on the information extracted as the decoding result of the decoding unit 212, and executes The result is transmitted to the host computer 100 via the I / F unit 250.

  The system program 223 may be configured to be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet. Further, in place of the ROM 221, any recording medium as long as it is a non-temporary tangible medium can be adopted as a recording medium from which the system program 223 is loaded. For example, it is possible to employ an external storage device, a removable memory device, an optical disk device, or the like.

  Each functional block (the overall processing unit 211 and the decoding unit 212) is described as being realized by software (system program 223), but is realized by hardware or a combination of software and hardware. Is possible. Whether such a function is realized as hardware or software depends on a specific embodiment or a design constraint imposed on the entire system. Those skilled in the art can implement these functions in various ways for each specific embodiment, and determining such implementation is within the scope of the invention.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the system using the programmable display 200.

  First, the user creates a text file 122 describing the request using a text editor of the host computer 100 (step S1). The created text file 122 is stored in the memory 120 by the CPU 110. The host computer 100 transmits the text file 122 stored in the memory 120 to the programmable display 200 via the I / F unit 150 and the communication path 1 based on the operation from the user (step S2). The protocol for sending the text file 122 may be FTP, for example. In the programmable display device 200, the overall processing unit 211 stores the text file 122 received by the I / F unit 250 in the ROM 221.

  When the request classification is reading of data (user program, parameter, device value or device value log) from the control device 300, only the text file 122 is transmitted in the process of step S2. When the request classification is writing of data (user program, parameter, or device value) to the control device 300, the write data is transmitted together with the text file 122. The write data is stored in the ROM 221 together with the text file 122 by the overall processing unit 211. The write data may be transmitted at a timing before the transmission timing of the text file 122.

  With the reception of the text file 122 as a trigger, the overall processing unit 211 outputs a decryption instruction to the decryption unit 212 (step S3). The decryption unit 212 that has received the decryption instruction decrypts the text file 122 stored in the RAM 222, for example, in units of lines, and extracts information for executing the requested processing (step S4). The extracted information is transmitted to the overall processing unit 211 via the RAM 222.

  Subsequently, the overall processing unit 211 performs access to the control device 300 for realizing the requested processing based on the received information (step S5). Access to the control device 300 is executed via the I / F unit 240 and the communication path 2.

  Here, the access to the control device 300 for realizing the requested processing may require a plurality of times of transmission / reception. Specifically, for example, the requested process includes a handshake process for establishing communication with the processing target control device 300, various notifications transmitted / received before and after data transmission / reception, or Including processing for disconnecting communication. In step S5, the overall processing unit 211 automatically executes one or more transmissions / receptions for realizing the requested processing based on the information extracted by the decoding unit 212.

  When the transmission / reception for realizing the requested processing with respect to the control device 300 is completed, the overall processing unit 211 transmits data corresponding to the requested processing to the host computer 100 by means of FTP or the like (step S6). ), The operation is completed.

  When the request classification is reading of data (user program, parameter, device value or device value log) from the control device 300, status information indicating that the operation has been completed is described in the process of step S6. The read text file and the read data are transmitted. When the request category is writing of data (user program, parameter, or device value) to the control device 300, only the text file describing the status information indicating that the operation has been completed in the process of step S6. Sent.

  When the process is normally completed, the overall processing unit 211 may describe a normal completion code, a completion time, and a process history log in the status information. Further, when the decoding of the text file 122 fails or when any abnormality occurs during access to the control device 300, an abnormality code, an abnormality occurrence time, and a processing history log may be described in the status information.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the effect of the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, when reading the data, when the host computer 100 transmits the text file 122 to the programmable display 200, the programmable display 200 transmits / receives data to / from the control device 300 for reading. This is executed a plurality of times, and then the text file 261 describing the status information and the read data 301 are transmitted to the host computer 100. Further, when data is written, when the host computer 100 transmits the text file 122 and the data 123 to the programmable display device 200, the programmable display device 200 transmits / receives data 123 to / from the control device 300. Is executed a plurality of times, and then a text file 262 describing the status information is transmitted to the host computer 100.

  Thus, the host computer 100 can request a desired process from the programmable display 200 using the text file 122. Further, until the requested process is completed, a plurality of transmissions / receptions with the control device 300 for realizing the process are performed only between the programmable display 200 and the control device 300. That is, communication between the programmable display 200 and the host computer 100 is not required until the processing is completed. When the processing is completed, either the text file 122 describing the request or the text file 122 describing the request and the data 301 is transferred from the programmable display 200 to the host computer 100 as a processing result. Thus, according to the present embodiment, a plurality of transmissions / receptions between the control device 300 and the control device 300 for realizing the requested processing are protocol-converted by the programmable display device 200 while the control device 300 and the host computer 100 perform the conversion. The processing time until the requested processing is completed is shortened as compared with the case where the processing is executed between.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the programmable display 200 is connected to the host computer 100 and receives the text file 122 describing the processing request to the control device 300. And the requested processing between the control device 300 based on the decryption result of the decryption unit 212 and the decryption unit 212 that decrypts the request described in the text file 122 received by the I / F unit 250 A general processing unit 211 that executes a plurality of transmissions and receptions and transmits the execution result to the host computer 100 via the I / F unit 250. Thereby, the host computer 100 can request a desired process to the programmable display 200 using a general-purpose text editor. Further, until the requested process is completed, a plurality of transmissions / receptions with the control device 300 for realizing the process are performed only between the programmable display 200 and the control device 300. In other words, communication with the programmable display 200 can be made unnecessary until the host computer 100 transmits the text file 122 and receives the execution result. That is, according to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to prepare dedicated setup software in the host computer 100, and the processing time until the processing requested by the host computer 100 is completed is shortened.

  Further, the overall processing unit 211 describes the execution results in the text files 261 and 262 and transmits them to the upper computer 100, so that the user can operate the control device 300 without preparing dedicated setup software in the upper computer 100. Be able to run.

  As described above, the programmable display according to the present invention is suitable for application to a programmable display that monitors and operates a control device.

  1, 2 communication path, 100 host computer, 110, 210 CPU, 120, 220 memory, 121 OS, 122, 261, 262 text file, 123 data, 130 input device, 140 display device, 150, 240, 250 I / F Part, 200 programmable display, 211 general processing part, 212 decoding part, 221 ROM, 222 RAM, 223 system program, 224 drawing data, 230 touch panel device, 300 control device, 301 data.

Claims (9)

A first interface unit to which one or more control devices are connected;
A text file that is connected to a computer and sent from the computer in accordance with a first communication protocol, in which a write processing request for the one or more control devices is described. A second interface for receiving the text file , including first information indicating ;
A decryption unit configured to decrypt the request including the first information described in the text file received by the second interface unit;
A plurality of transmission / reception that realizes the writing process, including transmission / reception for control based on a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol and transmission of data to be written based on a decoding result of the decoding unit Of the one or more control devices with the write-destination control device via the first interface unit, and the execution result is transmitted to the computer via the second interface unit And
A programmable display comprising: The description of the request further includes second information indicating the data to be written,
  The decoding unit extracts the data to be written by decoding the second information;
  The programmable display according to claim 1.   The write target data is a parameter, a device value, or a program for operating the write destination control device.
  The programmable display device according to claim 2.   A first interface unit to which one or more control devices are connected;
  A text file that is connected to a computer and sent from the computer according to a first communication protocol, in which a read processing request is described for the one or more control devices. A second interface for receiving the text file, including first information indicating;
  A decryption unit configured to decrypt the request including the first information described in the text file received by the second interface unit;
  A plurality of transmission / reception that realizes the reading processing, including transmission / reception for control based on a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol and reception of data to be read based on a decoding result of the decoding unit Of the one or more control devices with the read-out control device via the first interface unit, and the execution result is transmitted to the computer via the second interface unit And
  A programmable display comprising:   The description of the request further includes second information indicating the data to be read,
  The decoding unit extracts the data to be read by decoding the second information;
  The programmable display according to claim 4.   The data to be read is a parameter, a device value, or a program for operating the control device to be read.
  The programmable display according to claim 5.   The overall processing unit describes the execution result in a text file and transmits it to the computer.
  The programmable display device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the programmable display device is provided.   The first communication protocol is FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
  The programmable display device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the programmable display device is provided.   Transmission / reception for control based on the second communication protocol includes transmission / reception for handshake processing for establishing communication, transmission / reception of various notifications required before and after transmission / reception of data, or transmission / reception for disconnection of communication. ,including,
  The programmable display device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the programmable display device is provided.

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