JPH05282012A - Automatic verification device for equipment sequence changes - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] We propose an automatic verification device for sequence changes of equipment that can automatically check the correction of sequence programs. [Structure] An automatic verification device for sequence change contents of equipment for verifying change contents of sequence operation of a plurality of production facilities that compose a production line, and this device stores a sequence program consisting of a sequence composed of steps. Then, the rule generated by this program is stored in advance, and when the program is corrected, the corrected program is collated with the generation rule.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic verification device for sequence change contents of production equipment controlled by, for example, a sequencer, and more particularly to improvement of correction of a sequence program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a production line such as an automobile assembly line, a sequence control unit having a built-in computer is provided for various installed facilities, and the sequence control unit controls the sequence of operations to be sequentially performed by each facility. Is known to do.
In such sequence control, a control program is loaded into a computer incorporated in the sequence control unit, and the sequence control unit sequentially advances each step of operation control for each of various equipment installed in the production line in accordance with the sequence operation control program. It is designed to work.

In production control by such sequence control, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-60-238906,
The operating status is displayed when a failure occurs. In such display control, the ladder program and the display data exist separately, but both have a front-back relationship, and one has substantially the same content as the other. This is because if the procedure of the program being executed is different from the procedure of what is being displayed, it is not worth displaying.

[0004]

By the way, in an actual site, a program is often modified according to a change in a production process or a test result. Therefore, conventionally,
Even if there was a slight program correction, the display data had to be corrected corresponding to the correction. Such corrections are mainly done manually,
Because of that, there were many mistakes and it was not productive.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and an object thereof is to propose an automatic verification apparatus for sequence change contents of equipment capable of automatically checking the correction of a sequence program. The purpose is that.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] and

The present invention for achieving the above object is an automatic sequence change content verification device for verifying the change contents of sequence operations of a plurality of production equipments forming a production line, and is constituted by steps. It is provided with a means for storing a sequence program consisting of a sequence, a means for storing a rule generated by this program, a means for correcting this program, and a means for collating the corrected program with the generation rule.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This example system is
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of sequence control units 51 that respectively control a plurality of facilities, and these sequence control units 51.
CPU 60 for generating, loading, and maintaining a sequencer program for CRT, CRT display device 58 for displaying the generated sequencer program as a step flow map that facilitates human understanding, and control unit for controlling it It consists of 53. The features of this system are as follows: I: When a sequencer program is modified, a function to check whether the modification matches the rules of this system; II: When the modification is made, it is displayed on the CRT device 58. The step flow map is corrected according to the correction of the sequencer program.

Therefore, the sequencer program and the sequence ladder program, which are indispensable for understanding the system of this embodiment, will be described first. Sequencer Program and Ladder Program FIG. 2 shows the general structure of a sequencer program. Usually, a sequencer program has a common circuit part including a program part that is common to each facility having functions such as starting and stopping the sequencer system, and a block step operation that describes the substantial control procedure of each sequencer. It consists of a circuit part and a special circuit part for receiving production information. In this embodiment, the part related to the modification of the above-mentioned program is
It is a "block step operation circuit portion".

As is well known, in sequence management using a sequencer, a system to be controlled is often represented by operation blocks and operation steps. That is, the operations performed by all the "equipment" to be sequence-controlled can be decomposed into a plurality of "operation blocks". Here, the "motion block" can be defined as a set of a plurality of unit motions.

The most important property of a motion block is that it can complete a motion in the intermediate process from the start to the end of a motion block independently of other motion blocks without interference. Is. Due to these properties, it is possible to describe the operation block as one block (lump). In other words, a motion block is related to other motion blocks only at the level of the motion block. In order for an operation block to start operation, it is necessary to end the operation in another operation block. There may be one or more other operation blocks. That is, the end of the operation of one operation block becomes a start condition of another operation block (one or a plurality of operation blocks) connected to it, or the end of the operation of a plurality of operation blocks becomes a start condition. is there.

Further, according to the above-mentioned characteristics, the activation of another operation block is not performed in the intermediate stage of the operation in the operation block. In addition, there is no need to wait for activation from another operation block in the intermediate stage of the operation block. From the above definition of the action block, the following ancillary action block properties can be derived. That is, it is desirable that the motion block be the largest one among the set of unit motions that satisfy the above properties. This property is not absolutely necessary. However, if this property is satisfied, the number of operation blocks that describe the production line decreases,
The description of the whole process is simplified and is very easy to see.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a certain production process.
And then three blocks (B1, B2, B3)
It is extracted and illustrated. In this example, the block
B1 and block B2 can operate in parallel
Yes, block after processing these two blocks
Control of B3 starts. Equipment usually has many
Includes a user device. These actuators
Each of the devices has the cylinder symbol shown in FIG.
Is easily expressed and understood. For example, move the work
The equipment with one actuator for
It will be represented by Bol itself. With this symbol
All the actuators move left and right in the cylinder in Fig. 4.
Depending on the position of the moving piston, its "out" state and "return"
State is defined. Piston is a solenoid valve
Is activated or deactivated by the incoming “output” signal.
By being energized, the "out" state and the "return" state
Take one. These two states have two limits
It is confirmed by the switch (LS). That is, the “setting” in FIG.
As an output from "Bi", to confirm that it was driven
Output A from limit switch_O(“Outgoing confirmation” signal)
And a limit switch to confirm that it has been returned to its original position.
Output A from the switch _i(Return confirmation signal).

Signal "output" for driving the solenoid
A sequencer program describes the logic for generating a sequencer. For example, the sequencer program described in a special sequencer language as shown in FIG. 5 is a diagram that facilitates human understanding. It is a ladder program of 6. The inventors of the present application have proposed a technique for automatically generating the sequencer program of FIG. 5 and the ladder program of FIG. 6 from the operation step flow map as shown in FIG.
It is proposed in Nos. -30379, 2-231843 and 2231845. The relationship between the generated ladder program and sequencer program is as follows.

Now, it is assumed that the program of FIGS. 5 and 6 describes the logic using the three steps S1, S2 and S3 of the block B1 of FIG. 3 to complete the step S1 and activate the step S2. .. Each step of block B1 is assumed to be equivalent by three cylinder models, as shown in FIG. Each cylinder outputs a confirmation LS signal indicating that the cylinder piston has actually operated. As shown in FIG. 6, the operation of the operation step S2 is performed by the command from the previous step S1 (step S2
"Command storage circuit" for storing (command for starting), "command circuit" for starting the next step S3, and "output for generating an output signal that is a substantial output in step S2" Circuit ". In other words, the operation in one operation step is composed of at least the above-mentioned three "command storage circuit", "command circuit" and "output circuit". A program that describes the operation of an actual system is rarely composed of only three circuits, and is often composed of more circuits. Even in such a case, the "command storage circuit"
The "command circuit" and "output circuit" are also required functionally.

In the sequencer program, each of these three circuits is enclosed by an LD instruction and an OUT instruction, as shown in FIG. That is, each circuit is L
It starts with the D command and ends with the OUT command. The relationship between the sequencer program of FIG. 5 and the ladder program of FIG. 6 is that the LD instruction places the operand portion (“S1 command storage”) at the beginning of the ladder program (position 1 in FIG. 6) and the AND instruction The operand (“S1 confirmation LS”) is connected to the position of 2, that is, in the series of “S1 command storage”. Further, the operand portion (“S2 command storage”) is placed at the position of 6 by the OR instruction, and the position for the operator is parallel to “S1 confirmation LS” and “S1 command storage”. The NAND command is a command for adding a switch that is normally closed to the position of the series. The OUT instruction outputs its operand portion as a signal and is represented by <> in the ladder program. Specifically, "S1 confirmation LS" indicating that the operation of the cylinder in step S1 at the position 2 in FIG. 6 has been confirmed.
When becomes 1, the signal "S2 command" is output to the ladder program for step S3 and to the "command circuit" of step S2 by "OUT S2 command storage". The "OR S2 command storage" is for latching the "command storage circuit". That is, once “S2 command storage” is output, the OR circuit causes step S1
The "S2 command memory" remains 1 regardless of the state.

The "command circuit" of FIG. 5 and the "command circuit" of FIG.
As can be seen by comparing with, the signal "S2 command" is output when the "step feed" signal is 1, the block B1 is activated ("B1 is being activated" is 1), and This is when "S2 command storage" is output from the "circuit" and the cylinder operation in step S2 has not been performed yet. Once the "S2 command" is output, the "S2 command" remains at 1 regardless of the state of the signal "step feed" by the OR circuit at the 12th position.

When the "S2 command" becomes 1, "S2 command"
"Output" is output. The "S2 output" remains 1 until the signal from the confirmation LS becomes "1" and the signal "S2 command" becomes "0" by the switch at the 10th position when the cylinder in step 2 operates. Automatic Generation of Ladder Program The above is the description of the correspondence relationship between the ladder program and the sequencer program. In the above-mentioned prior application, the standard ladder pattern shown in FIG. It is proposed to automatically generate the program of FIG. The details are not described here, but the outline is as follows. Note that the equipment that can be used in a production system is known in advance, and therefore the equipment's actuator devices are also known. The operation of one step corresponds to the operation of one device, that is, the cylinder, and the operation of the cylinder is, as shown in FIG. 4, a signal "output" (memory address for storing) for driving the solenoid of the cylinder, It is defined by a signal "confirmation LS" (a memory address storing therein) for confirming that the cylinder has been driven and a signal "manual" (a memory address storing therein) for manually moving the cylinder. FIG. 9 is a table showing specifications of actuator devices created based on the rule that each actuator device is defined by the above three signals, and the inventors named the “actual I / O map”. In the example of the actual I / O map of FIG. 9, the signal “output” and the signal “confirmation L”
In addition to "S" and the signal "manual", an "action name" field and an "intermediate" field are provided. The "operation name" field is the name of the operation that the actuator device is scheduled to perform. By using this "operation name" as the name of the device, it is possible to refer to any device by name. The inventors of the present application have proposed a production management system in which an arbitrary device can be programmatically specified or referred to by a device name.
7290 and so on.

Further, the "intermediate" field of the actual I / O map of FIG. 9 is a field for storing a signal for intermediately confirming the operation of the device, and in this embodiment, the output in the "command circuit". In the example of FIG. 6, the signal is “S2 command”.
Is used as the “intermediate signal”. The automatic generation system for the ladder program and the sequencer program disclosed in the above-mentioned prior application generally expresses the "block flow map" and "step flow map" described later and the input / output relationship of the devices used in the production line. And a real I / O map ”are combined to create a ladder program. This combination is based on the block name, step name and device name used in the "block flow map" and "step flow map" and the "real I / O map".
This is done by linking with the device name stored in.

Before describing the block flow map and step flow map, the hardware configuration of the sequencer control program / ladder program generation system of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 14. In FIG. 12, the master table 101 has a device name, an operation type, and an input signal when the devices are represented by symbols as shown in FIG. 9 for all the equipment (actuators, etc.) of the target production line.
It includes the above-mentioned "real I / O map" in which the names of output signals are tabulated. The database 100 includes a library that stores names and the like given to all equipment (devices such as actuators) used in this production line. This library is provided to prevent the operator from giving arbitrariness to the device name. The database 100 includes a “block flow map” and a “step flow map” in addition to the library. The block flow map is a map as shown in FIG. 10, and makes it possible for the computer to process data by mapping the operation block flow chart shown in FIG. 3 intended to facilitate human understanding. .. The step flow map shows the operation of each step in the actual production line.
By mapping as shown in 1, the computer data processing is enabled.

In the system of the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, in addition to the "real I / O map" in the database 100 and the master table 101, "data generation", "automatic programming", "simulation", "Fault diagnosis /
It consists of four subsystems called "CRT operation panel". FIG. 13 is a rewrite of the embodiment system described in FIG. 12 from the viewpoint of the hardware configuration. As shown in the figure, this system from the viewpoint of the hardware configuration includes a control target equipment 50, a CPU 60, a CRT panel control unit 53 for controlling a CRT as a user interface, and data for storing the above-mentioned maps and databases. And files 56. The CPU 60 is an automatic programming / data input control program (control unit) that automatically generates a ladder program and the above-mentioned map.
55, a failure diagnosis control program (control section) 52 for performing failure diagnosis, and a simulation control program (control section) 54 for performing simulation control. These units are connected by a communication line 61, and a semiconductor memory is suitable for the data file 56 in order to increase the speed.

In addition to the CRT display device 58, the CRT panel control section 53 has a touch panel 57 mounted on its display screen. This system requires an interface with the operator during the automatic programming process, simulation process, failure diagnosis process, etc.
The control unit 53 displays a plurality of windows on the CRT 58 by the well-known multi-window display control, and the operator selects a desired item from the plurality of items in the displayed window by using the touch panel 57. Therefore, it goes without saying that a pointing device may be used instead of the touch panel 57.

FIG. 14 shows a program structure in the automatic programming / data input control section 55. A so-called "operating system" 200 is stored in the lowermost layer, and a "multi-window system" 201 and
A "Japanese front-end processor" (JFEP) 202 for inputting Japanese, a "graphic processor" 203 for creating a flowchart, a "library creation" program 204 for creating a library, and an actual I / O map A "map creation program" 205 to be created and a "map creation program" 207 to create a flow map
And a compiler 2 that creates a ladder program (Fig. 6) and a sequencer program (Fig. 5) from this flow map.
06 and a “program editing program” 208 for modifying and editing the generated program.

The figure processor is a processor for creating the flowchart of FIG. 3, and has a function of writing a box as a symbol of the flowchart, a function of giving a name to the box, and a function of inputting a sentence into the box. , And the function of connecting a plurality of boxes to each other. While this graphics processor is operating, the CRT device 58
Items that can be input from the above-mentioned library in the data file 56 are displayed in the multi-window mode on the screen. Here, the item is literal data such as the device name, the operation step name, and the operation block name described above. The operator uses the touch panel 57 to
A desired input can be made by selecting a specific item. In addition, it is possible to freely input names that are not in the library with the help of Japanese FEP described above. The reason why the items that can be input are displayed in the window and the desired item is selected from them is to prevent the names from being arbitrary. In addition, such multi-window control system, graphic processor,
Japanese FEP is already well known and detailed description thereof is unnecessary. The main function of Japanese FEP is to convert the input of Japanese romaji reading into a sentence containing kanji and kana.

The block flow map will be described.
FIG. 10 is a block flow map having an important role in the present system. This map is a conversion of the operation block flowchart of FIG. 3 by the flow map creating program of the CPU 60, and is stored in the data file 56. As shown in the figure, this map has seven items, namely, "block number", "block name",
The fields include "FROM", "TO", "step counter", "step OK", "block operation ON", "block operation enable memory" and the like. The block name is the name given to the block. The block can be uniquely specified by the block name, but the block can be easily specified by adding the block number. “FROM” indicates from which other upper block the block is connected. "FRO
When a plurality of block numbers are written in the "M" portion, it indicates that the block is connected to the block. “TO” indicates to which other lower block the block is connected. When a plurality of block numbers are written in the "TO" part, it indicates that the block is connected to the block. The “step counter” of the block flow map indicates which step is currently being executed in the block.

The step flow map of FIG. 11 is a map for describing the operation on the actual production line. Items of this map are as shown in part a of FIG.
“Block number” indicating the number of the block to which the step belongs, “step number”, “name” of the step, “FROM”, “TO”, “output”, “confirm”,
“Manual” and “command storage output”. "FROM",
The field such as “TO” represents the connection relation between steps as in the case of the block flow map. The "command storage output" field stores the output of the "command storage" described with reference to FIG.

Before the ladder program and the sequencer program are generated, the step flow map is shown in FIG.
As shown in, each field except the step number is blank. The step numbers are unspecified and pre-ordered. Referring to a block flow chart or a step flow chart showing a production process in an arbitrary production line, referring to "actual I / O map" as needed, b in FIG.
The step flow map shown in the section is created as follows.

The operator creates the block procedure of the production line to be programmed and the step procedure in each block as shown in FIG. The chart in Figure 3
It is created by using the graphic processor 203, and the data is vectorized data. The first six fields of the step flow map, namely "block number", "step number", "name", "action", and "F".
The data for "ROM" and "TO" is created by the flow map creation program from the vectorized operation step flow chart in the same manner as the creation of the block flow map. The remaining fields, namely "output",
The data for "confirmation" and "manual" embed the data from the above-mentioned "real I / O map" in these fields when the ladder program compiler of the automatic programming control unit 55 generates a ladder program. Also,
The ladder program compiler 206
The ladder program element is created while applying one of the three types of standard patterns shown in FIG. Then, in the course of this compilation, a so-called "cross-reference list" showing how it is used in the ladder program of conviction rape is created, and this list is shown as XREF in FIG.
Data file 56.

By doing the above, the ladder program as shown in FIG. 6 from the chart of FIG. 3 is completed, and the sequencer program as shown in FIG. 5 is completed from this ladder program. However, each of the automatically generated programs shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is a program that describes a nominal operation, and in an actual site, it is necessary to make a fine adjustment suitable for the site. .. The logic used for the adjustment is the interlock circuit (ILC ₀ , ILC ₁ ) shown in FIG. In actual operation of the system, the adjustment by the interlock circuit may be insufficient, and in such a case, one operation step may be represented by four or more circuits. In this respect, "Program edit" in FIG.
The function (208) becomes meaningful. Program modification As mentioned above, the "program edit" program has the following functions: I: When a sequencer program or ladder program is modified, a function to check whether the modification matches the rules of this system; In this case, the step flow map displayed on the CRT device 58 is corrected and displayed in accordance with the correction of the sequencer program.

The "program edit" program 208 of the present embodiment does not detect and correct the logic error of the ladder program or the sequencer program, but a grammatical error (syntax error) that may lead to a future logic error. ) Is detected. The rules described below define this grammar. The rule of this embodiment is composed of two basic rules. Since the ladder program has a fixed basic pattern as shown in FIG. 6, a correction that does not match this pattern is an error. Whether or not it matches the pattern is determined by the following two rules. That is, Rule A: Whether there is a signal having an appropriate identifier (described later) at an appropriate position in the circuit. Rule B: Whether or not a signal from an appropriate circuit comes in an appropriate position in the circuit.

A correction that does not match these rules is reported as an error, and a matching correction is regarded as an appropriate correction, and the display screen is changed to match the correction. The identifier will be described here. As shown in FIG. 11, each operation step is programmatically referred to as “output”, “confirm”, “intermediate”, “manual”, and “command storage output”.
Specified by two fields. Then, “output” means an output signal (“S2 output” in FIG. 6) of the operation step, and “confirmation” is a signal for confirming the operation of the cylinder of the actuator device in the operation step (FIG. 6).
“S2 confirmation LS”), “intermediate” means a “command” signal (“S2 command” in FIG. 6) of the operation step, “manual” means “command storage output” at the next step. A signal indicating that operation is possible (“S2 command storage” in FIG. 6)
Is. In other words, it is only by using these signals so that the system of FIG. 12 is capable of automatic program generation, and subsequent program maintenance is also consistent. So, in this example,
For each of the groups of “output”, “confirmation”, “intermediate”, “manual”, and “command storage output”,
A unique identifier for identifying each other will be provided. When the program is modified and some kind of switch or device is added to the ladder program or sequencer program, which part of the above five groups the addition belongs to is added to which part of the program. If it is determined which group each added element belongs to, it is determined whether the name added to the element complies with the above rule.

FIG. 15 shows identifiers for identifying the above five signal groups. In this example, the identifier "-(hyphen) 0" for the "output" group and the identifier "-" for the "confirm" group.
1 "and the identifier" -2 "for the" intermediate "group
And the identifier "-3" for the "manual" group,
The identifier "-4" is assigned to the "command storage output" group.

Therefore, the rules A and B applied to the systems of FIGS. 12 and 14 will be described first. Rule A As mentioned above, the signal names that belong to any of the groups "output", "confirm", "intermediate", "manual", and "command storage output" that are used in ladder programs and sequencer programs are , Each must have an identifier that identifies them. Therefore, the signal at a specific position must have a specific identifier. As shown in FIG. 6, the circuit representing the step has three circuits, that is, a "command storage circuit", a "command circuit" and an "output circuit", and each circuit has its own pattern. Have. From this, the following rules can be derived. A-1 Rule of "command memory" circuit: The "command memory" circuit has "command memory" (S1 command memory in Fig. 6) and "confirmation LS"("S1 verification LS" in Fig. 6) in the previous step. And are included in the parallel circuit. In addition, a confirmation LS (“S3 command storage” in FIG. 6) signal indicating that the step following the step is not operating is inserted in series in the NAND format. Further, in the parallel circuit, the “command storage” (S in FIG. 6) which is the output of the “command storage circuit” is OR-related.
2 command memory). Further, the output of the "command storage circuit" is the "command storage" signal.

Therefore, the identifier of the signal at the position 1 is "-".
4 ", the identifier of the signal at the position 2 is" -1 ", the identifier of the signal at the position 6 is" -4 ", the identifier of the signal at the position 3 is" -4 ", The identifier of the signal at position 5 must be "-4". Therefore, when the signals at the positions 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 do not have the corresponding identifiers, it is an error. A-2 (rule of command circuit) : 1 in "command circuit"
There are two parallel circuits, and the signals in the circuit are the "step feed" at position 7 and the output signal of the "command circuit" at position 12 ("S2 command in FIG. 6"). Since the signal at position 12 is "middle", it must have the identifier "-2". Also, after this parallel circuit, in a series,
Output signal of the "command storage circuit" at position 8 ("S2 in FIG. 6"
Command memory ”) is arranged. This signal is an identifier "-
Must have a 4 ". After that, a signal indicating that the block is being activated (“B1 is being activated” in FIG. 6)
, And then the confirmation signal of the step (“confirmation L
S ”) are arranged in the series. This "confirmation LS"
There is no ward that has the identifier "-1" indicating. Since the output of the command circuit is "middle", the identifier of the 11th position must be "-2". Therefore, 8, 10, 1
If the positions 1 and 12 contain signals that do not have their corresponding identifiers, the command circuit is in error. There is an error in the "command circuit" only when there is a signal. A-3 (Rule of output circuit) : In the "output circuit",
There is one parallel circuit, which includes the "command circuit" output signal at position 13 ("S2 command") and the position 16 "manual" signal. The identifier of position 13 is "-
2 ", the 16 position identifier is" -3 ", and 1
The identifier for position 5 must be "-0". Therefore, if the signal at position 13, 15, 16 does not have a corresponding identifier, the output circuit is in error. Rule B: This rule B is that a signal from an appropriate circuit must come in an appropriate position in the circuit. Here, the “appropriate position” in the rule B is the positions 1, 8 and 13 in FIG. For example, the signal at position 8 should be the same as the signal at position 5. The position at 13 must be the same as the signal at position 11. Also, the signal at position 1 must be the same as the signal at position 5 in the previous step. If this rule B is not followed, an error will occur.

A file indicating which signal should be located at which position in the ladder program is stored in advance in the data file 56 as the structure file (STRCT) of FIG. <Re-display of correction part> As described above, the program editing program has an editing function and a syntax check function. Since this check function is a syntax check rather than a logic error, correction according to the above rules Is accepted as legal. In other words, when there is a legal correction, in this embodiment, the program correction portion is reflected in the "step flow map", and the "output" and "output" in the corrected step flow map (Fig. 11). The “confirmation LS” and “intermediate” are displayed as they are corrected. The other parts (“manual” and “command storage output”) are not displayed because the size of the screen of the CRT 58 is taken into consideration. If the screen size allows, other items should be displayed. Good. <Control procedure> Next, the program editing program 208
The control procedure of is described with reference to FIG. 16 and subsequent figures.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart for realizing the syntax check function of the editing program 208 and the display function of the corrected portion. The program was modified,
When the operator gives a check instruction to the system (YES in step S2), "syntax check" is performed in step S100. Then, in step S200, the display map is corrected. Details of the syntax check are shown in FIGS. 17 and 18.

In the control procedure of FIG. 17, one block is designated (step S102), and in the block, the designated block and the block (one or a plurality of) of the preceding stage (higher position) are designated. Check connectivity. This relationship is that in the ladder program, the block start condition is that all the steps of all the blocks in the preceding stage are completed. The details of this check are shown in FIG. In step S106, all the signals designated as the activation condition are extracted, and in step S108, it is checked whether or not all of the signals have the identifier "-5". The identifier of the signal that means the end condition of the block,
If it is "-5" (see FIG. 15), it means that the block including the activation condition including the signal having no identifier is not correct. If this is violated, the position of the signal in the program is logged in step S109.

Next, in step S110 of FIG. 17, a step with the block is specified in the step flow map. In step S120, the syntax of this step is checked. When the check of one step is completed, it is confirmed in step S160 whether the check of all the steps of the block is completed, and then the process returns from step S162 to step S102 to perform the check of the next block.

Referring to FIG. 19, step S120
Details of the control procedure of the "step check" will be described. In steps S121 to S125 of FIG. 19, each of “output”, “confirmation LS”, “intermediate”, “command storage”, and “manual” of the step number designated in step S110 is referred to with reference to the step flow map (FIG. 11). Recall the signal name stored in the field. In step S126, the OUT instruction having the "output" name read in step S121 in the operand is searched for in the modified ladder program or sequencer program.

In step S128, it is checked whether or not there is a corresponding OUT instruction. If there is a corresponding one, the process proceeds to step S130, and if not, the process proceeds to step S140. The reason why the control is changed depending on the presence or absence of the corresponding OUT instruction is as follows. That is, the "step check" routine of the present embodiment starts the check by using the OUT instruction having the "output" name of the same name as the "output" in the step flow map in the operand, According to the structure of the ladder program shown in FIG. 6, the check is continued by tracing the signals one after another. This tracing back is facilitated by referring to the file XREF in the data file 56 described above. In other words, if the operator intentionally changes the "output", there is no "start", so the program itself does not know whether to continue the check. Therefore, if there is not, in step S140, the position of the OUT command that causes the operator to "take a stop" is set to the program 2
Encourage the 08 side to inform. That is, if the operator knows that the ladder program is modified so that the corresponding OUT instruction is not in the ladder program (the modification is appropriate), the OUT command is output in step S142.
The position of the instruction is notified to the program 208 side. And
In step S144, the fact that such a correction has been made is written in the log file. Further, in step S146, the "output" field in the step flow map is rewritten so as to be the same as the operand of the designated OUT instruction. Then, in step S130, it is checked whether or not the above rule A is met, the check result is written in a log file, and in step S134, it is checked whether or not the rule B is met, and the check result is checked in step S136. Write to log file. On the other hand, if the determination in step S128 indicates that the corresponding OUT instruction exists, steps S130 to S136 are executed as they are.

Thus, step S100 of FIG.
The "syntax check" routine ends. Check result of each block (step S109), check result of each step (step S148, step S13)
2, step S136) are written in the log file respectively. In step S200 of FIG. 16, the "correction of display map" routine is executed. Details of the "correct display map" routine are shown in FIG.
1 is illustrated. That is, in step S202 of FIG.
If there is a legal correction in the log file and it is determined that the actual I / O map or step flow map needs to be corrected in response to the correction, step S204
Modify these maps with. Further, if it is recorded in step S206 that the log file has a syntax error, the program of the error portion is displayed in red, for example, in step S208. <Modification> The present invention can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof.

For example, in the above embodiment, the identifier is represented in the signal name in the form of "-" and "number". This is because the system of the embodiment allows the signal name to be referred to by the data name. Finally, in the ladder program and the sequencer program, the signals and operands of the ladder elements are given as memory addresses. This is because it is preferable from the viewpoint of operability that the signal can be referred to by the data name at the program creation stage. In a system in which all signal names are converted into memory addresses, it is necessary to change the above embodiment as follows. That is, the memory address assigned to each signal is set to an address starting with "0" for the "output" signal, an address starting with "1" for the "confirmation" signal, and so on. If these first numbers are used as identifiers, the same function as in the above-described embodiment can be achieved.

Although the above-described embodiment has been applied to the automobile production line, the present invention is not limited to that application.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the sequence program is modified, the modification can be automatically checked.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a general structure of a sequence program used by the system of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a map called a block flow map or a step flow map used when automatically generating a sequence program of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a symbol diagram when an actuator device without equipment is displayed on a cylinder.

5 is a diagram showing an example of a sequencer program of block 1 step 2 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a ladder program of block 1 step 2 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a cylinder used in the program automatic generation subsystem according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a standard pattern of ladder symbols used when automatically creating a ladder program of operation steps.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a map called an actual I / O map in the example system.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of a map called a block flow map in the example system.

FIG. 11 is a diagram of a map called a step flow map in the embodiment system.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between subsystems in the embodiment system.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an example system.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the configuration of an automatic programming / data input unit of the embodiment system.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating types of identifiers used in the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the overall procedure of a “program modification” program.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a control procedure according to the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a control procedure according to the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a control procedure according to the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a control procedure according to the embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a view for explaining the relationship of file modification and modification by a modification program.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic verification device for sequence change contents of equipment for verifying change contents of sequence operation of a plurality of production facilities constituting a production line, and means for storing a sequence program consisting of a sequence composed of steps. An automatic verification device for sequence change contents of equipment, comprising: means for storing a rule generated by this program; means for correcting this program; and means for collating the corrected program with the generation rule.