JPH0282301A - Peripheral device for programmable controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the number of times of input of a vertical line key and cursor move keys by providing a means which draws a vertical line from the block where a cursor exists to unused blocks, a means which moves the cursor to the right of the vertical line, and a means which moves the cursor to the first column of the first row and erases the vertical line. CONSTITUTION:A vertical line is automatically drawn from the block, where the cursor exists, to unused blocks continuous in the column direction at the time of adding plural coils to reduce the number of times of input of a vertical line key 22. The cursor is moved to the right of this vertical line at the time of line feed after coil input to omit input of a key 19 which moves the cursor right. When vertical lines are unnecessary because of too many vertical lines, vertical lines in the row where the cursor exists and following rows can be erased at a time. Thus, input of a key 24 which moves the cursor left and the operation to erase these unnecessary vertical lines are omitted.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] This invention relates to a display unit, a keyboard, a memory, etc.
The present invention relates to a peripheral device for a programmable controller that creates a program circuit for the programmable controller.

[Conventional technology]

Programmable controller (Programma b)
leController (hereinafter referred to as pc) is “
Logical operations.

In order to perform control operations such as sequence operations, delays, calculations, and arithmetic operations, it has a memory that stores control procedures in the form of a series of command words, and according to the contents of this memory, digital and analog input and output signals are controlled. ``Digitally operated electronic devices that control various machines and processes through modules'' (Programmable Controller Application Technology Handbook June 15, 1985, 1st edition, 1st printing, published by 1!Kishoin Co., Ltd., Chapter 1) page 5). Therefore, in order to operate a PC, a control procedure must be stored in the form of a series of commands. A programming language is used to describe this control procedure, and writing a control procedure using this programming language is called programming. A variety of programming languages have been proposed, but some of the most popular are as follows.

(A) Description-based programming language (A1) 2-
Monik method (A2) Numerical formula/special symbol method (Bl) Diagram method programming language (B1) Ladder diagram method (B2) Logic diagram method (C) Display method programming language (C1) Flowchart method (C2) Time chart method ( C3) Decision table method The explanation of these languages will be omitted, but the ladder diagram method uses open contact and closed contact.

Convert circuit elements such as outputs (coils) into diagrams and symbols.

This is a method of displaying and connecting them to draw a program circuit. Diagrams drawn in this way are called ladder diagrams, and the general rules for drawing them are as follows.

(1) The format is generally written horizontally and drawn as a two-dimensional array.

(11) The number of elements (block number) in one row is limited to two due to the restriction of two displays.

(iit) Current flows in one direction from left to right in the horizontal direction, and in both directions in the vertical direction.

(1■) Place the output (coil) at the rightmost end.

(V) Crossing of lines without continuity is not allowed.

Now, the PC peripheral device according to the present invention is a device that draws a ladder diagram using the above-mentioned ladder diagram programming language and creates a program for the PC.
For this purpose, there is a display section that displays the ladder diagram, a keyboard that inputs graphical symbols indicating circuit elements such as open contacts, closed contacts, and output coils, a memory that stores the ladder diagram and the created program circuit, and these display sections and the keyboard. and a control section that controls the memory.

Conventional PC peripheral devices will be explained below.

Figure 12 is a structural diagram of the PC's peripheral equipment. In Figure 2, σB is the main body of the PC's peripheral equipment, (+2 is the keyboard for inputting graphic symbols, etc., (13 is the CRT for displaying the ladder diagram,
The α core is a control unit that controls the peripheral device σB according to the contents operated from the keyboard (12), and a!1 is the keyboard (12).
Contacts and coils in the ladder diagram input from z.

A character memory 01 is a character memory for storing codes of diagram symbols such as branches, and a sequence program memory 01 stores a program in which one ladder diagram is converted into a series of instruction codes.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the contents of keys related to creating a ladder diagram on the keyboard 113. aη is a write key that issues a command to start creating a ladder diagram, (ls is a conversion key that issues a command to convert the created ladder diagram into a series of command codes that can be processed by a PC, and H is used to move the cursor while inputting a ladder diagram. cursor movement key, (a) is the contact key for inputting the contact symbols of open and closed contacts, CD is the horizontal line key for connecting the contacts and coils, etc. of the ladder diagram, and (to) is for parallel branching of the ladder diagram. The vertical line key (C) is a coil key for inputting a coil symbol.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the relationship between the ladder diagram displayed on ORT ti3 and character memories 0 to 9. (A) is an example of a ladder diagram displayed on the ORT 63.

(51) is a block that is a unit configuring a ladder diagram, and in this example, it is a ladder diagram with an arrangement of 9 blocks per row and 6 blocks in a -column. Character memory (l!19 is also composed of a two-dimensional array to match the CRT ti3 display, and one constituent unit is one block 61)
It corresponds to And this one structural unit receives input from one keyboard and has a T contact.

Graphical symbols such as coils, vertical lines, horizontal lines, etc. are stored in codes corresponding to each graphical symbol.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the processing contents after the processing of the control unit α4 becomes the ladder diagram creation processing depending on the write key surface. (2) is a manual key operation for creating a ladder layer using the keyboard +12.

(3) is a process that branches into each process depending on the key input in the key manual process (2). When the cursor movement key 09 is input, the cursor is moved by the cursor movement process +4). Contact key Ya, horizontal line key c2n, vertical line key■
is input, the code shown in Figure 14 corresponding to the graphic symbol input using the contact, horizontal line, and vertical line key processing in (3) is written into the character memory (one structural unit) corresponding to the cursor position. Move the cursor one block to the right.

When the coil key (to) is input, coil key processing (7
), the code of the coil symbol is written in the constituent unit of the character memory (15) corresponding to the block in which the coil is drawn, and the cursor is moved to the beginning (left end) of the next line.

+41. After processing either +3) or +71, (9
) The contents of the character memory O9 are displayed on the CRT in the CRT display process, and the process returns to key manual operation (2). (2)
When the conversion key 0 ladder is pressed, al's character memory conversion process converts the character memory (151) into an instruction code that can be processed by the PC and writes it to the sequence program memory (13).Then, the ladder diagram Complete a series of operations called program creation.

Figures 16 to 20 are the input procedure and OR to change the state of the ladder diagram in Figure 16 to the ladder diagram in Figure 20.
T (1: Indicates the display state on l.

The operation will be explained using FIGS. 16 to 19. From the light ladder diagram as shown in Figure 16, the coils of Aya and c3υ are added as shown in Figure 20.
When you move 4 blocks to the right and input the vertical line key, vertical line 04 will be drawn as shown in Figure 17, and the cursor will also move to (2).
). Next, when the coil key (to) is input, a coil device is added to the right end as shown in FIG. 18, and the cursor is moved to position a9 with a new line.

Furthermore, in the same way as when adding the Gll coil, use the cursor key 01 to move the cursor to the 0η position and use the vertical line key to draw a vertical line for the throat. Furthermore, the coil key (c)
By inputting (111 coils), a ladder diagram as shown in FIG. 20 can be created.

The cursor is moved to the he position with a new line.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Conventional PC peripheral devices perform the above processing, so when adding multiple coils, you must always move the cursor to the point where you want to input the vertical line, input the vertical line, and then input the coil, and repeat the process. In addition, there were problems such as having to operate the vertical line and cursor movement keys many times.

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and by reducing the number of inputs using vertical line keys and cursor movement keys,! The purpose of the present invention is to obtain a PC peripheral device that improves the operability of creating ladder diagrams.

[Means to solve the problem]

The PC peripheral device according to the present invention includes the following means.

('b1) A means of drawing a vertical line between two consecutive unused blocks from the block where the cursor is located (b2) A means of moving the cursor to the right side of the vertical line drawn in (b1) above when starting a new line (b3) Move the cursor to the first column of the same row.

Means for erasing the vertical line drawn in the above (b1) below that line.

[Effect]

The PC peripheral device according to the present invention reduces the number of vertical line key inputs by automatically drawing a vertical line from the block where the cursor is located to continuous unused blocks in two columns when adding multiple coils. reduce Also, by moving the cursor to the right side of this vertical line when starting a line break after inputting a coil.

This eliminates the need for manual keystrokes to move the cursor to the right, which is conventional. Also, considering that there may be cases where there are too many vertical lines and they are no longer needed, we have added a new feature that allows you to move the cursor to the left end at once and simultaneously erase the vertical lines below the line where the cursor is located. I made it. This eliminates the need to manually move the cursor to the left or erase unnecessary vertical lines.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1st
The figure is a flowchart showing the processing contents after the control unit I starts the ladder diagram creation process by using the write key aη. When there is a vertical line in the block above the cursor position, the vertical line code automatic input process automatically displays the vertical line in the column direction until the graphic symbol is reached or the block in the bottom row of the array, and (5) the left end of the cursor Movement key processing and (
The contents include the cursor movement process when inputting a coil in a).

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the keyboard az, and the keys from aη to (c) are the same as before, and (goods) is a cursor left end movement key that moves the cursor to the left end.

First, as in the past, the control unit α4 process is changed to the ladder diagram creation process by using the write key o71, and in (1) a vertical line is input at the cursor position. Vertical lines are automatically input in the column direction until the next graphic symbol or the bottom row block of the array is determined.

That is, a vertical line is drawn in unused blocks that are continuous in the vertical direction (.Next, same as before! 2), and branching to each process is performed at +31 process. Cursor movement processing (4) and contact points, horizontal lines,
Vertical line key processing (3), coil symbol processing +71. CRT display processing (9) and conversion processing o1 are the same as conventional processing.

When the cursor left end movement key C4 is input by manual key operation (2), the cursor is moved to the left end by cursor left end movement key processing (5) and the vertical line below that line is erased.

Also, after the coil symbol processing (7), the cursor movement processing (
In a), was the cursor input at the right position of the vertical line?

Then, it is determined whether the vertical line is continuous to the line below, and if the input is made at the right position of the vertical line and the vertical line is continuous, the cursor is moved to the right side of the vertical line in the next line.

3 to 7 show the input procedure and display state of the CRT, showing how the same operations as in the past are processed by the processing of the peripheral device according to the present invention.

The operation will be explained using the seventh WJ from FIG. 3. The ladder diagram shown in Figure 3 is changed to (A) and GIl as shown in Figure 7.
When adding a coil, the cursor is at (a) in Figure 3, so use the α9 cursor key to move it four blocks to the right and press the vertical line key ■.

By the vertical line code automatic input process (1), a vertical line on the forehead is automatically drawn as shown in FIG. 4, and the cursor is moved to (to). Next, when the coil key (c) is input, a coil is added as shown in FIG. 5, and the cursor movement process (a) moves the cursor to a position to the right (to) the vertical line of the next line. Furthermore, if you input the coil key device to add the L311 coil, the C31+ coil will be input.

By the cursor movement process (a), the cursor is moved to the position C32+ on the right side of the vertical line in the next line, as shown in FIG.

Then, when you input the cursor left edge movement key (424), the cursor is moved to the left edge position of the same line by the cursor left edge movement key process (5), and the protruding part of the vertical line on the surface is erased (2). The result will be as shown in Figure 7.

In addition, the ladder diagram is as shown in Figure 8, and the vessel and (7)
When adding the MK I4T1 coil to the circuit, first, in Figure 8, the cursor is at the position of Cη, so use the cursor key (L value to move to the block below the vertical line in Figure 8). Due to line code automatic input processing (1) (to)
A vertical line is automatically drawn as shown in Figure 9.

Next, inputting the coil key (c) adds a coil of 7l4(l), and the cursor moves to the right side of the vertical line (41) by the cursor movement process (a), as shown in FIG.

Next, when you input the cursor left end movement key (goods), the cursor left end movement key process (5) erases the protruding part of the vertical line of ``to'' and makes it look like +5, and the cursor moves to the left end. It will look like Figure 13.

In the above example, the case of a ladder diagram was explained, but other line diagram type programming languages (logical diagram type) and two display type programming languages (flow chart type, time chart type, etc.) can be used with symbols and lines. Programs are created by drawing diagrams.2 Similar to the case of ladder diagrams, there are certain rules for these depictions. In particular, it is important to efficiently control the cursor and input diagrams, and the peripheral device according to the present invention can be applied to other programming languages, producing the same effects as the above embodiments.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when a vertical line is input at the cursor position or when the cursor position is below the vertical line, a vertical line is drawn from that block.

Automatically display on unused blocks that are continuous vertically,
When starting a new line, move the cursor to the right side of this vertical line, and when this vertical line is no longer needed, provide a key that erases the vertical line below the cursor position and moves the cursor to the left end at the same time. This eliminates the need to use vertical line keys and cursor movement keys, improving the operability of keys manually.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a ladder diagram creation process according to an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operating procedure and a CRT display state according to an actual embodiment of the invention. FIG. 8 to FIG. 11 are operation procedures and CR according to other embodiments.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the configuration of the peripheral equipment of the Nen-0-shot PC, and FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the relationship between the ladder diagram and character memory. Fig. 13 is a diagram showing key contents related to the creation of a conventional keyboard ladder diagram, Fig. 15 is a flowchart of the conventional ladder diagram creation process, and Figs. It is a figure which shows a display state. (1) is vertical line code automatic input processing, (2) is manual key operation, and (3) is a process that branches into each process by manual key operation. (4) is cursor movement processing, (5) is cursor left end movement key processing, (3) is contact, horizontal line, vertical line key processing, (7)
is coil key processing, (a) is cursor movement processing, (9)
is CRT display processing, fII is character memory conversion processing, αD is PC peripheral device, n71 is keyboard, α
3 is CRT. α41 is the control unit, 0 is the character memory, αe is the sequence program memory, αη is the write key, a barrel is the conversion key, Kan is the cursor movement key, (4) is the contact key, gradient is the horizontal line key, ■ is the vertical Line key, (731 is coil key, 0
4) In the cursor left end movement diagram, the same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a peripheral device for a programmable controller having the following elements (a^1) to (a^4), the following (b)
Programmable controller peripheral devices (a) and (a^3) characterized by being equipped with the elements ^1) to (b^3)
Elements (a^1) of (a^4) from 1) Display a two-dimensional array of a predetermined size with one block as a unit, and attach a graphical symbol indicating a circuit element to each block constituting this array. A display section (a^2) for creating a program circuit while displaying it; a keyboard (a^3) having graphic symbol keys indicating circuit elements and cursor movement keys; and a memory (a^4) for storing the contents of the display section and the program circuit. Control unit (b), (b^1) which displays the input from the keyboard on the display unit, creates a program circuit for the programmable controller using two-dimensionally arranged graphical symbols, and stores it in the memory. ) to (b^3) element (b^1) Means of drawing a vertical line from the block where the cursor is located to consecutive unused blocks in the column direction (b^2) When starting a line break, move the cursor to the above (b Method of moving to the right side of the vertical line drawn in ^1) (b^3) Move the cursor to the first column of the same row and erase the vertical line drawn in the above (b^1) below that line. means to do.