JPH06102839A - Display operation panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute printing output such as the logging at the appointed time without preparing a program. CONSTITUTION:A fixed part in a printing output is registered in advance in a registration memory 32. The variable part of the printing output is pumped up as data from host computers H1-Hn as a monitoring object and printed according to printing information. The information for reading out data indicating from whichever host computer the data are read and printing information indicating a printing position are written to an information storage memory 34 at the time of registering the fixed part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display operation panel used as a monitoring device for various factory facilities, plant systems and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a plant system,
Machines and the like that compose the system are controlled by a corresponding host computer. In order to know the system status, it is necessary to display or print the information collected by the host computer and the status of the host computer itself. For this purpose, it is necessary to connect a display unit or printer to the host computer and install a program for displaying or printing.

When a programmable controller or the like is used as a host computer, a simple display means
A display operation panel is used. The display operation panel is a panel that displays the state of the system to be monitored connected through a communication line or the like in the form of characters, figures, graphs, etc., and the display mode can be appropriately selected and set by touch panel operation or the like. Is.

When using such a display operation panel,
If the display is to be performed under the control of the programmable controller side, it is necessary to install a display program in the programmable controller. This is inconvenient because it forces the user of the system to create a program for display. Further, when the system to be monitored has a plurality of programmable controllers, the display control program must be designed to prevent the line output from each programmable controller from colliding.

In order to solve such a problem, it is necessary to mount a display conversion function on the display operation panel. For example, the device disclosed in "Graphic Display Processing Device" filed by the applicant of the present application on May 13, 1991 sucks data from each programmable controller (host computer) according to a preset display format. , Display.

Specifically, first, a display format is set. The display screen is generally composed of a plurality of basic drawing units per screen, in addition to a fixed portion showing an outline and the like. Basic drawing units are "symbol" and "character string"
Etc., drawing information indicating how the information drawn from the host computer such as “drawing coordinate position” and “drawing color” is displayed and output on the screen, and the host computer number from which the data is read. And data read information that specifies data to be read such as the type of data to be read. When performing a display format setting operation, the system user first inputs a fixed portion by operating a keyboard or a mouse, and then inputs drawing information and data read information. Information input by such interactive input is stored in a built-in memory.

When the system is actually started up, necessary data is read from each host computer according to the data read information, and the read data is converted into an image according to the drawing information.

Therefore, in the device previously proposed by the applicant of the present application, the system status can be displayed and centrally monitored without the user having to create a program for display. Therefore, even if there are a plurality of host computers constituting the system to be monitored, it is not necessary to consider the collision of the outputs of the host computers. Also,
Even when using a programmable controller or the like that does not have a display function or is difficult to add a display function as a host computer, it is possible to perform display by a simple means.

[0009]

By the way, when trying to monitor the system using the display operation panel,
It is indispensable to collect and monitor the collected information at predetermined time intervals. For example, regular logging, creation of daily reports / monthly reports, and the like have conventionally been performed by human hands while observing the screen of the display operation panel, etc. Therefore, great effort has been paid.

Further, even when it is necessary to perform processing such as analysis on the data collected under the display operation panel, conventionally, the data cannot be used as it is, so that the processing such as analysis is troublesome. There was a problem of hanging.

Further, even if the data collected under the display / operation panel indicates an abnormality of the system to be monitored, there is a problem that the alarm cannot be issued promptly.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and by applying a conversion function of data collected from an external device such as a host computer, printing, storage in a storage medium, etc. Realized the function of
The purpose of the invention is to make it possible to perform regular logging and data analysis more easily and to issue an alarm quickly.

[0013]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a means for interactively setting an output mode from an input means such as a touch panel and a keyboard, and an external device connected via a communication line or the like. Means for converting the information read from the device into a format suitable for the set output mode and outputting the converted information.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the information converted into a format suitable for the set output mode is output according to the arrival of a predetermined time.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the information converted into a format suitable for the set output mode is output according to the establishment of the alarm condition.

The present invention is characterized in that the information converted into a format suitable for the set output mode is output to a printer or an external storage device.

[0017]

In the present invention, first, the output mode is interactively set by using the input means such as the touch panel and the keyboard. Next, necessary information is read from the external device, and the read information is converted into a format suitable for the output mode and output. Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to convert information read from an external device (host computer such as a programmable controller) to be monitored and then output the converted information to, for example, a printer or an external storage device.

That is, if the information converted into the format suitable for the output mode is output, for example, in response to the arrival of a predetermined time, the regular logging or the like is automatically created. Further, if the information converted into a format suitable for the output mode is output to, for example, an external storage device, it is possible to preferably execute processing such as analyzing the information in another device. Further, if the output of the information converted into the format suitable for the output mode is generated when the alarm condition is satisfied, a quick alarm is possible.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Device Structure FIG. 1 shows the structure of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The display operation panel according to the present embodiment includes a graphic display processing device 10 and a touch panel 12, and the touch panel 12 is superposed on a screen of a display unit (CRT, liquid crystal panel, etc.) 26 of the graphic display processing device 10. . Further, the graphic display processing device 10 is further connected to a printer 14, a keyboard 16, and an external storage device 18.

The graphic display processing device 10 is connected to the host computers H1 to Hn of the system to be monitored via a communication line. Each of H1 to Hn is, for example, a programmable controller, which targets a machine or the like that constitutes the system as a monitoring / controlling object.
That is, H1 to Hn operate according to the installed program to control the corresponding mechanical device, while monitoring the state of the device.

The graphic display processing device 10 includes a CPU
20, communication unit 22, display control unit 24, display unit 26 and I
An / O interface unit 28 is provided. The graphic display processing device 10 also has a system memory 30, a registration memory 32, an information storage memory 34, and a data storage memory 36 as memories. The respective units configuring the graphic display processing device 10 are connected to each other by a system bus 38. The communication unit 22 is connected to the communication line for absorbing data from H1 to Hn,
The touch panel 12, the printer 14, the keyboard 16, and the external storage device 18 are connected to the O interface unit 28.

The feature of the present embodiment is that the apparatus configuration as described above makes it possible to execute output processing related to printing and the like in addition to display processing. That is, the display operation panel of the present embodiment can execute the display process according to the earlier proposal by the applicant of the present application, and in addition, the output process related to printing or the like can be performed by the process to which the display process is applied. Can be executed. The operation of this embodiment will be described below.

Application of Device (Example) FIG. 2 shows a plant system having a relatively simple structure. This system P is a programmable controller PLC corresponding to the host computer of FIG.
1 and PLC2, and machines M1 and M2 that are the objects of monitoring and control by PLC1 and PLC2. PLC1 and PLC2 operate | move according to the program (ladder program) mounted, and control M1 and M2. Further, PLC1 and PLC2 are, for example, M1.
And read the state of M2. This information, P
The states of LC1 and PLC2 and the states of M1 and M2 to be monitored / controlled can be read as ON / OFF bit data and numerical data from the internal memory of PLC1 and PLC2.

When the outline display processing of the display processing is executed, first, it is necessary to set the display format before starting the system. This setting is for touch panel 12, keyboard 16
It is executed by an interactive process using, etc. As input means therefor, various input devices such as a mouse (not shown) can be used.

In addition to the fixed part, the display screen is generally composed of a plurality of basic drawing units per screen. The fixed portion is a portion that is fixedly displayed, such as a contour, and the basic drawing unit includes items, drawing information, and data read information. The fixed portion is input and set by the keyboard 16 or a mouse (not shown), and is registered in the registration memory 32 by the CPU 20. In addition, the items indicating the character string, the symbol, the graph, etc., the drawing information indicating the drawing color, the drawing position, the enlargement ratio, etc., and the programmable controller number, the type of the read data, the data read information indicating the address, etc. It is input by interactive processing and stored in the information storage memory 34 by the CPU 20.

The CPU 20 operates according to a system program stored in the system memory 30. CPU
When executing the display process, the 20 transfers the fixed portion registered in the registration memory 32 to the display control unit 24, and further reads the drawing information and the read information from the information storage memory 34. The display control unit 24 displays an image on the screen of the display unit 26 based on the transferred information. Therefore,
At this point, only the fixed part is displayed. CPU20
Uses the communication unit 22 in accordance with the read information to suck up the necessary data from the necessary programmable controllers PLC1 and PLC2. The CPU 20 converts the downloaded data according to the drawing information and outputs it to the display control unit 24. Then, on the screen of the display unit 26, an image such as a graph, a character string, or a figure in which necessary processing is performed on necessary data is displayed.

As a result of such display processing, the state of the entire plant system P can be centrally displayed. Further, the programmable controllers PLC1 and PLC2 do not require a function related to display processing.

Output Processing Next, output processing according to the features of this embodiment will be described.

In the present embodiment, the output processing to the printer 14 and the external storage device 18 is executed by the processing to which the above-mentioned display processing is applied. FIG. 3 shows an example of a print format when the printer 14 prints the states of the machines M1 and M2.

This print format is a format in which the operating current values and voltage values (a to d) of the machines M1 and M2 are printed in association with time. When printing is to be performed with this print format, it is necessary to set this format prior to print processing. Generally, the setting operation is performed before the system is started up. Therefore, the user does not need to execute the setting operation once the system is started up.

The setting operation is executed by an interactive process as shown in FIG. That is, the editing function is activated by using the keyboard 16 or the like to execute print format setting and print data setting editing (100). This operation is
This is performed by means of a keyboard 16 or a mouse (not shown). Specifically, after the fixed parts such as the frame and item names in the print format shown in FIG. 3 are set by the keyboard 16 or the mouse, the data items related to a to d, the print information and the data read-out information are also keyboard-operated. Interactively input with 16 or mouse. The CPU 20 registers the fixed portion in the registration memory 32, and stores the data items, print information, and data read information related to a to d in the information storage memory 34 (102).

The information storage memory 34 stores data items, print information, and data read information for each basic print unit. That is, the CPU 20 automatically converts the input data item, print information, and data read information into a format as shown in Table 1 and stores it in the information storage memory 34.

[0034]

[Table 1] In Table 1, 1 to 4 are numbers indicating basic printing units,
Any of the basic printing units 1 to 4 can be selectively used for a to d in FIG. In addition, each basic printing unit 1-4
A data item, print information, and data read information are associated with each. As shown in this table, data items are byte data, word data, etc.
The format of data to be input from LC1 and PLC2 is shown. The print information is information indicating what kind of conversion processing is applied to the data read from the host computer (PLC1 and PLC2 in FIG. 2) such as the print position, the number of print digits, the data conversion method, and the print expression. Furthermore, the data read information is information indicating where to obtain the necessary data, such as the number of the host computer to be read, the type of data to be read, the address of the data in the host computer, and the like. actually,
Since the user inputs data items, print information, and data read information by numerical values, the information stored in the information storage memory 34 has the contents as shown in Table 2, for example.

[0035]

[Table 2] If the printout is to be performed on a regular basis, the print time is also set.

After performing such processing, the system P is started up and the operation as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is started. The SGD 10 first executes initial processing according to the program on the system memory 30 (200).
Then, after the initial processing, the SGD 10 executes the above-described display processing (202) and processing (204) related to the operation of the touch panel 12 and the like.

The CPU 20 executes steps 202 and 204.
The process of is continued until the determination in step 206 or 208 is established. Step 206 is a judgment as to whether or not a command to print is input from the keyboard 16 or the like, and step 208 is a judgment as to whether or not the set printing time has come. When either condition of steps 206 and 208 is satisfied, the operation of the CPU 20 proceeds to step 210. The CPU 20 reads the information relating to the fixed part from the registration memory 32 in step 210, and stores it in the data storage memory 36 in step 212. In this state, the data storage memory 36 is written with the portions other than a to d of the print format shown in FIG.

Thereafter, the CPU 20 obtains the data corresponding to the portions a to d of the print format from the system P, processes the data, and stores the data in the data storage memory 36. Specifically, first, the CPU 20 detects the total number of basic print units (4 in the example of FIG. 3) by reading the information at the beginning of the basic print unit from the information storage memory 34 (214), and It is set in the built-in counter (216).

The CPU 20 obtains the data read information of the basic printing unit designated by the count value of the counter by referring to the information storage memory 34, and reads the necessary data from the PLC 1 or PLC 2 according to this information (218). . For example, when the data related to the basic print unit a is read, in the example of Table 2, the CPU 20 sets P
The 4-digit BCD data is read from the address 100 of the address data memory built in LC1. CPU 20
By referring to the information storage memory 34, the print information of the basic print unit designated by the count value of the counter is obtained, and the data read from the PLC 1 or PLC 2 is processed according to this information and stored in the data storage memory 36 ( 220). For example, when the data relating to the basic print unit a is read, in the case of the example in Table 2, the CPU 20 prints a numerical value in four digits as BCD at the print position (X, Y) = (10, 20). , Print data is created and stored in the data storage memory 36. The CPU 20 executes step 220
After the end, the counter is decremented by one (222). If the count value of the counter has not reached 0 (224), the data relating to the next basic print unit is read from PLC1 or PLC2 (226), and steps 218 to 224 are repeated.

At the time when it is determined in step 224 that the count value of the counter has reached 0, the contents of the data storage memory 36 include all print data. The CPU 20 has the data storage memory 36 at this point.
Data is read from the I / O interface unit 28
Output to the printer 14 or the external storage device 18 via the. Then, the process returns to step 202.

[0041] As the effect of the embodiment, according to this embodiment, the output to the print output and an external storage medium, only previously been set by the interactive initially can be obtained. At that time, no programming is required.

Further, this output can be obtained at any time by giving a command. Further, if the SGD 10 internally generates this command when a predetermined alarm condition is satisfied, the alarm operation can be automated.

Further, this output can be obtained according to the arrival of the set printing time. Therefore, the user can use this for automatic creation such as scheduled logging. Note that FIG.
Is a printed sample of a daily report when the system to be monitored is a power generation facility, and FIG. 8 is a print sample of scheduled logging.

Further, when the output is performed to the external storage medium, it becomes possible to perform processing such as processing and analyzing the data on the medium by another device.

Regarding the display, the same effect as that previously proposed by the applicant of the present application can be obtained.

In the above description, the plant system is assumed as the system to be monitored, but the present invention is not limited to this. Further, although the digital output was considered as the output of the system to be monitored, the present invention is not limited to the output form. Further, the data storage memory 36 may be eliminated and the CPU 20 may directly write information in the I / O interface unit 28.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the output mode is interactively set by using the input means such as a touch panel and a keyboard, the information is read from the external device and converted into a format suitable for the output mode and then output, the external device to be monitored (programmable controller, etc.) Information read from the host computer) can be output to a printer or an external storage device. At that time, it is not necessary to create a program for output.

Further, when the information to be output is output in response to the arrival of a predetermined time, for example, it is possible to automatically create the timed logging and the like, and the labor of the user can be remarkably reduced. Further, when the information to be output is output to, for example, an external storage device, it is possible to preferably execute processing such as analyzing the information in another device. Furthermore, when the information to be output is output when the alarm condition is satisfied, a quick alarm can be issued.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a simple plant system as an example of an application of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of a print format.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a work flow before startup.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations after startup.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of operations after startup, following FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a daily power transmission / reception report as a print sample.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing scheduled logging as a print sample.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Graphic Display Processing Device (SGD) 12 Touch Panel 14 Printer 16 Keyboard 18 External Storage Device 20 CPU 22 Communication Unit 24 Display Control Unit 26 Display Unit 28 I / O Interface Unit 30 System Memory 32 Registration Memory 34 Information Storage Memory 36 Data Storage Memory 38 system bus H1 to Hn host computer P plant system PLC1, PLC2 programmable controller M1, M2 machine a to d basic printing unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A state of a device for interactively setting a display mode from an input unit such as a touch panel and a keyboard and a state of an external device connected via a communication line or the like to the external device or a device connected to the external device. In a display operation panel, a means for reading information, and a means for displaying the information read from the external device on a screen after converting the information into a format suitable for a set display mode, input means such as a touch panel and a keyboard And a means for interactively setting the output mode, and a means for converting the information read from the external device into a format suitable for the set output mode and outputting the converted information, the display operation panel. 2. The display / operation panel according to claim 1, wherein the information converted into a format suitable for the set output mode is output in response to the arrival of a predetermined time. 3. The display / operation panel according to claim 1, wherein the information converted into a format suitable for the set output mode is output according to the establishment of an alarm condition. 4. The display / operation panel according to claim 1, wherein the information converted into a format compatible with the set output mode is output to a printer or an external storage device. .