JPH0232402A - Programmable controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display the displaying request time of a message when instruction is executed by a pointer by storing the generation time and the displaying message when a message displaying request occurs from a user program. CONSTITUTION:When a message displaying request is executed from a user program 7, a program 2 reads the request generating time from a timer 6, the time is temporarily saved to a register and the request message is stored into a memory 3. The time saved to the register is stored into a memory 4. The latest message to update a pointer and generate the displaying request and the generating time are sent to a manual data input device 8 and shown at a liquid crystal display device 9. With a key 10, the message to occur before the arbitrary number of times is selected. By such a constitution, even after an all-night service, etc., the condition of the machine can be known retroactively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a programmable controller (hereinafter referred to as a PC), and particularly to a PC having a message posting function.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional PCs display only the latest message, or when displaying a plurality of messages, display them in random order, regardless of the order in which display requests for the messages are generated.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

After operating a machine connected to a PC unattended all night, the operator needs to have a detailed understanding of the machine's status during that time. In particular, if any abnormality or failure occurs during that time, it is important to investigate the extent of the abnormality and the cause of the failure. Therefore, it would be extremely beneficial if messages sent from the PC, such as alarms, operation requests to operators, and recovery procedure instructions, could be displayed retroactively in the past.

Furthermore, if it is possible to know the times at which the display requests for these messages are generated, it may be possible to infer the course of the occurrence of the abnormality and its relationship with the status of other machinery and equipment, which is even more convenient.

However, with conventional PCs, it is difficult to display messages that occurred an arbitrary number of times ago, display messages in the order in which display requests occurred, or display the time when message display requests occurred. I had to write a user program.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and by realizing a message bulletin board function in a system program, it is possible to go back in time and send messages that have occurred an arbitrary number of times before, without creating a complicated user program. To provide a PC capable of displaying a message and displaying a message display request time.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a programmable controller having a message display function for displaying messages such as alarm display or instructions to an operator, and includes means for storing a message requested to be displayed; A programmable device characterized by comprising: means for selecting and displaying the latest message among messages; and means for preferentially displaying a message selected by operation key input from among the stored messages.・A controller is provided.

[Effect]

When a message display request is issued by a user program, the time of occurrence is stored in the time storage memory, and the displayed message is stored in the message storage memory.

The display pointer is updated by the system program or by an operator's operation, and the message pointed to by the display pointer and the time at which a display request for that message is issued are displayed on the display device.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of the hardware configuration of a PC.

In the figure, l is a processor for overall control, 2
is a system program that executes the bulletin board function of the present invention. Reference numeral 3 denotes a message storage memory for storing displayed messages, and is composed of a RAM.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a time storage memory for storing the time when a message display request is issued, and is composed of a RAM. 5 is a display pointer for indicating the content to be displayed.

6 is a timer, that is, a clock function built into the PC. 7 is a user program stored in the ROM, and a message table for displaying alarms, operation requests to the operator, recovery procedure instructions, etc. is also stored here.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a manual data input (hereinafter referred to as MDI), which has a liquid crystal display device 9 and operation keys 10. 11 is an interface for connecting MDI 8 and bus 12;

Next, the operation will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG. The number following S is the step number.

[S1] Check whether a message display request has been issued from the user program 7. If it has appeared, proceed to S2; if not, proceed to S6.

[S2] The system program 2 reads the message display request generation time from the timer 6 and temporarily saves the time in a register (not shown).

[S3] The message requested to be displayed is stored in the message storage memory 3.

(S4) The time saved in the register in S2 is stored in the message display request generation time storage memory 4.

[S5] Pointer 5 is updated. As a result, the latest message for which a display request occurred and its generation time are displayed on the MDl.
B and displayed on the liquid crystal display device 9.

In this embodiment, the display device 9 can only display one message at a time. The system program 2 normally selects and displays the latest message.

If it is desired to display a message other than the latest message, the operator uses the operation keys 10 to select a message that occurred a predetermined number of times.

[S6] Check whether there is any operation by the operator. If there is, proceed to S7; if not, proceed to S8.

[S7] The pointer 5 is updated to the number selected by the operation key input. As a result, the pointer 5 points to the previous display message the number of times selected by the operation key input.

[S8] The message indicated by the pointer 5 and the time when the display request occurred are displayed on the liquid crystal display device 9, and
Return to l.

The above operations are periodically processed by the system program.

In the above embodiments, a display device that can display only one message at a time was used, but a display device that can display multiple messages at a time may also be used. In that case, the most recent message It is preferable to select a plurality of messages in order and display them in the order in which display requests are generated. In this case as well, it is preferable to preferentially display one or more messages selected by operation key input.

Furthermore, a timer built into the PC may be provided with a calendar function to display the date and day of the week in addition to the time.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention makes it possible to display previously generated messages an arbitrary number of times without creating a complicated user program, so even if the machine has been operated all night, You can know the situation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of a PC according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a program that executes the present invention. 1-------------------- Processor 2--1
- System program 3 - - - - - - - - - - Message storage memory 4 - Display request generation time storage memory 5 Display pointer 6 - - - - - - - Timer 7 User - Program 8 - Manual data input (MDI)
) 9 Liquid crystal display device 10・〜・−・−・−Operation keys 11 Interface 12−・−・−・−−−1・−Bus Patent applicant Fanuc Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney Takeshi Hattori

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a programmable controller having a message display function for displaying messages such as alarms or instructions to operators, means for storing messages requested to be displayed and for displaying the latest message among the stored messages. A programmable controller comprising: means for selecting and displaying; and means for preferentially displaying a message selected by inputting an operation key from among the stored messages. (2) The means for selecting and displaying the messages is configured to select a plurality of messages from the latest and display them in the order in which display requests are generated. programmable controller. (3) A clock function; means for storing a message display request generation time; and means for displaying a display request generation time of the selected message. programmable controller.