JP2002278666A - Control panel for controlling facility - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the operability of a control panel for operating or monitoring a facility. SOLUTION: This control panel is provided with a function for selecting a plurality of elements necessary for an operator from the constituting elements of a standard picture prepared by a plotting tool, and for displaying those elements simultaneously in one picture screen.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plurality of standard screens composed of elements such as lamps for indicating the operation state of a control device for controlling equipment and operation switches for operating the control device. The present invention relates to an equipment control operation panel in which a display is displayed on a display by a switching operation, a transparent touch panel is arranged so as to overlap the screen of the display, and an operator touches the touch panel to control and monitor the equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an operation panel for equipment control having a touch panel mounted on a screen as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-245325. The screen definition data that defines the standard screen configuration of such an operation panel is usually programmed logic software that controls the names of the elements, the size of the screen, and the equipment using a personal computer or the like using commercially available drawing software. Defines attributes indicating the correspondence between input and output signal addresses of control devices that control the operation of equipment, such as controllers (hereinafter referred to as PLCs) and numerical control devices (hereinafter referred to as CNCs). Is created, the data is converted by a compiler, stored as screen definition data in a memory in the operation panel, and the screen is displayed.

[0003] In general, the number of elements constituting the display screen of the operation panel is large, and it is not possible to display all the elements on one screen. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 5, each screen is usually formed in a tree shape, and the screen to be displayed is switched by the operation of the operator.

[0004]

Elements such as lamps indicating operation states of control equipment for controlling equipment to be operated by an operator or operation switches for operating the control equipment are provided on a plurality of screens. In such a case, there is an inconvenience that the screen switching operation must be repeatedly performed when controlling or monitoring the equipment.

In order to collectively display all the elements required by the operator on one screen so that the screen switching is not required, the operator himself must learn the operation of the drawing software and change the screen. Attribute data indicating the relationship between the names of all the constituent elements, the size occupied on the screen, and the input / output signal addresses of the control device that controls the equipment, and the data that sets the allocation positions of these elements on the screen Since it is necessary to create and convert these data by a compiler and to store the data as screen definition data in a memory in the operation panel, it has required a great deal of labor and time.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above problems,
An object of the present invention is to enable a plurality of elements constituting an operation panel screen required by an operator to be easily and collectively displayed on a single screen in a short time by an operator's operation at a facility control site.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an element for storing attribute data of each element constituting a plurality of standard screens, as shown in FIG. An attribute data storage unit, an element selection unit for an operator to select a necessary element from the elements stored in the element attribute data storage unit, and a user screen for displaying the element selected by the element selection unit. An element allocating means for determining an allocation position of each element, and an allocation of each element in the user screen determined by the element allocation means, with reference to the attribute of each element stored in the element attribute data storage means. User screen display control means for arranging and displaying the information on a display device. Elements can be displayed together in one of the screen.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a list of element names of the elements used on the standard screen is displayed on the screen of the display, and the operator selects an element from the list by operating the touch panel. Since it can be performed, a plurality of elements can be selected in a short time.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, an element can be displayed on a standard screen, and the element can be selected by touching the element. can do.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, by referring to the attributes of the elements stored in the element attribute data storage means, the elements occupied in the user screen are allocated in ascending order of the area on the user screen. Since the selected elements can be arranged without wasting space, especially when there are many selected elements, the elements can be efficiently allocated without specifying the allocation position by the operator.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the elements are assigned to the user screen in the order in which the operator selects the elements, so that the operator selects the elements in the order in which the elements are to be assigned on the user screen. Can control the arrangement order of the respective elements, and the screen configuration can reflect the intention of the operator.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the element selected by the operator is assigned to the position of the screen designated by operating the touch panel, so that the operator can easily view and operate the screen. Can be.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an equipment control operation panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a PLC,
A control device such as a CNC; 40, equipment controlled by the control device 10; 20, an equipment control operation panel connected to the control device 10; And the control device 10
Receives the signal indicating the operation state of the equipment 40 output from the
Of the operating state over time as a graph, and data such as a counter value as a numerical value.

The equipment control operation panel 20 includes a CPU 21 for controlling data exchange with the control device 10 and the like.
1 comprises a display 23 connected via an interface 22, a touch panel 24 installed on the display 23, a storage device 30 storing a processing program 25 executed by the CPU 21 and screen definition data 29. It is connected via an interface 31.

The screen definition data 29 is stored in the display 23
Element attribute data 26 storing attribute data indicating the correspondence between the name of the element to be displayed in the screen, the size of the screen, and the input / output signal addresses of the control device 10 for each element; For a standard screen with fixed contents, standard screen configuration data 27 storing where to assign the elements stored in the element attribute data 26 to a plurality of standard screens, and elements stored in the element attribute data 26 to the user screen. And user screen configuration data 28 that stores where to allocate the data.

In the above configuration, the equipment control operation panel 20
With reference to FIG. 2, a process for selecting an element required by the operator, creating the user screen configuration data 28, and displaying the user screen will be described with reference to a flowchart of the user screen editing / display mode processing shown in FIG. The operator operates the touch panel 24 to operate the equipment control operation panel 2.
When instructing 0 to shift to the user screen editing / display mode, the equipment control operation panel 20 shifts to the user screen editing / display mode.

In steps 100 to 107, an element selection process for selecting an element required by the operator is performed. First, in step 100, the equipment control operation panel 20 is based on the user screen configuration data 28 at that time.
The user screen is displayed on the display 23 with reference to the element attribute data 26.

Next, in step 101, step 100
The operator inputs, through the operation of the touch panel, whether or not there is any of the elements displayed on the user screen that can be selectively deleted according to the judgment of the operator.
If YES is selected, the process proceeds to step 102 and NO
If is selected, the process proceeds to step 104.

In step 102, the operator selects an element to be deleted by touching the touch panel in a portion where the element is displayed on the screen. When this operation is performed, the user screen configuration data 28
, The data of the element is deleted. After completion of this operation, the process returns to step 100 in order to confirm whether the deletion processing of the element has been correctly performed and whether there is any element to be subsequently deleted.

In step 104, whether or not all the elements displayed on the user screen are to be deleted is input by operating the touch panel of the operator. If NO is selected, the process proceeds to step 106. If YES is selected, the process proceeds to step 105, and after all the data of the elements registered in the user screen configuration data 28 are deleted, step 10 is executed.
Proceed to 6.

In step 106, referring to the element attribute data 26, the element names of each element are listed and displayed on the screen. Elements that have already been registered in the user screen configuration data 28 are displayed so that the operator can recognize that they have already been registered, for example, by changing the display color. Also, it is assumed that each element has a name set in advance so that the function and attribute of the element can be easily determined. In step 107, the operator selects an element to be added to the user screen by touching the touch panel on the portion of the list where the element is displayed.

Next, at step 108, the user screen configuration data 28 is created and updated. An example of the procedure for creating the user screen configuration data 28 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of creating user screen configuration data, and FIG. 4 is an example of screen division for determining the allocation position of a selected element. In FIG. 4, it is assumed that the screen is divided vertically and horizontally into eight parts each, for a total of 64 parts,
Vertical cells 1 to 8 are represented by m, and horizontal cells 1 to 8 are represented by n, and each cell is represented by (mn). According to this notation, the square of A in FIG. 4 is represented as (4-7). In addition, it is assumed that the size of each element is defined in the unit of this cell. For example, it is assumed that the graph B in FIG.

Next, the procedure for allocating each element on the screen will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Step 200
In, the selected elements are sorted in descending order. By this processing, the largest element is defined as element 1 and the next largest element is defined as element 2, and the elements arranged in descending order are expressed as element x (x is a natural number).
In step 201, 1 is substituted as an initial value of x. In step 202, 1 is substituted for each of the initial values of m and n. In step 203, it is determined whether or not the element x can be allocated so that the cell (mn) is located at the upper right corner of the element x. When the element x is assigned to this position, if a part of the element x protrudes from the screen or overlaps another element, it is determined that the assignment is impossible, and otherwise, it is determined that the assignment is possible. If it is determined that the assignment is impossible, the value of m or n is changed by the processing from step 204 to step 207. M in step 207
Exceeds 8, it is determined that the element x cannot be allocated on the screen, and the process ends abnormally. Otherwise, the process returns to step 202.

If it is determined in step 203 that allocation is possible, in step 208 the element x is allocated to the (mn) cell. In step 209, it is checked whether or not all elements have been allocated.
After adding 1 to x, the process proceeds to step 202. When the allocation of all the elements is completed, the allocation position of each element is stored in the storage device 30 as the user screen configuration data 28 in step 211. When there are a plurality of elements having the same size, the operability of the operator is further improved by referring to the attributes of the elements and arranging the elements having the same function as one.

In step 109 of the flow chart of FIG. 2, it is determined whether or not the user screen configuration data updating process in step 108 has been completed normally. If the process has been abnormally terminated, an error content is displayed on the display 23 in step 110. Then, the processing of the user screen edit / display mode is ended.

If the user screen configuration data updating process has been completed normally, at step 111, the element attribute data 26 is assigned to the assigned position on the user screen of the selected element obtained from the user screen configuration data 28. A user screen display process of arranging elements with reference to the attributes of each element stored in the display 23 and displaying the elements on the display 23 is performed.
Each element displayed on the user screen performs its operation in accordance with the attribute defined in the element attribute data 26. In this state, the operator can control and monitor the equipment 40 by using a lamp displayed on the user screen indicating the operation state of the control device or an operation switch for operating the control device.

Thereafter, when the operator performs an operation to exit the user screen editing / display mode, the processing in this mode is terminated, and the operation returns to the normal operation mode based on the contents of the standard screen configuration data 27 and the element attribute data 26. I do. As described above, a series of processes of selecting an element on the user screen, determining an allocation position, and displaying the user screen are completed.

As for the operation of selecting an element to be allocated to the user screen, the standard screen may be displayed in order, and the operator may make a selection by touching the touch panel 24 at a portion where the required element is displayed. .

In the operation of allocating the selected elements on the user screen, the selected elements may be allocated to the screen in the order selected by the operator.
Alternatively, the operator selects the selected element on the touch panel 2
4 may be assigned to the position on the screen designated by the user.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the operator of the equipment control operation panel learns the operation method of the drawing tool, sets the attribute of each element, and further displays the screen of each element. It is possible to quickly create a user screen that collects the elements that you want to display on the screen at once with only a simple operation of the touch panel, without having to set the allocation position in and write these setting data to the operation panel. Can be.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a list of element names of elements used in the standard screen is displayed on the screen of the display, and the operator selects an element from the list by operating the touch panel. Can be performed, so that a plurality of elements can be selected in a short time.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the elements can be displayed on the standard screen, and the elements can be selected by touching the elements on the standard screen. You can select the element.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, by referring to the attributes of the elements stored in the element attribute data storage means, the elements occupying the user screen are allocated in ascending order of the area on the user screen. The selected elements can be arranged without wasting space, so if there are many selected elements, the elements can be efficiently allocated without the operator having to specify the allocation position of each element. .

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the elements are allocated to the user screen in the order in which the operator selects the elements, the operator selects the elements in the order desired to be allocated on the user screen. The arrangement order of the above elements can be controlled, and the screen configuration can reflect the intention of the operator.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the elements selected by the operator are assigned to the positions of the screen specified by operating the touch panel, so that the screen is configured to be more easily viewed and operated by the operator. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an equipment control operation panel according to the present invention, a control device and equipment connected to the operation panel.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a process of editing and displaying a user screen of a facility control operation panel.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process for determining a position at which a selected element is allocated on a user screen.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a process of determining a position at which a selected element is allocated on a user screen.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of transition of a display screen.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a user screen

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Control device 20 ... Equipment control operation panel 21 ... CPU 22 ... Interface with a display and a touch panel 23 ... Display 24 ... Touch panel 25 ... Processing program 26 ... Element attribute data 27 ・ ・ ・ Standard screen configuration data 28 ・ ・ ・ User screen configuration data 29 ・ ・ ・ Screen configuration data 30 ・ ・ ・ Storage device 31 ・ ・ ・ Control device interface 40 ・ ・ ・ Equipment

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5E501 AA13 AC02 AC34 AC35 BA03 BA05 CA02 CB05 DA11 DA14 EB05 EB06 FA06 FA23 FA44 FA46 FB03 FB04 FB13 FB23 FB45 5H269 AB01 BB07 QC01 QE12 QE28 QE34

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of standard screens each comprising an element such as a lamp indicating an operation state of a control device for controlling equipment and an operation switch for operating the control device are respectively displayed by an operator's screen switching operation. , A transparent touch panel is arranged so as to overlap the screen of the display, and the operator touches the touch panel to configure the plurality of standard screens on a facility control operation panel for controlling and monitoring the facility. Element attribute data storage means for storing attribute data indicating the correspondence between the name of each element to be occupied on the screen, the size of the screen, and the input / output signal address of the control device; and the elements stored in the element attribute data storage means. Element selection means for the operator to select a required element from among the elements, and a user displaying the element selected by the element selection means. An element allocating means for determining an allocation position of each element on the screen; and an attribute of each element stored in the element attribute data storage means at an allocation position of each element in the user screen determined by the element allocation means. And a user screen display control means for arranging elements with reference to and displaying the elements on the display. 2. The element selecting means displays an element name list of elements used on the standard screen on the screen of the display, and allows the operator to select an element from the list by operating the touch panel. The operation panel for equipment control according to claim 1, wherein the operation is performed. 3. The equipment control panel according to claim 1, wherein said element selection means displays an element on said standard screen and selects an element by touching the element on said standard screen. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said element allocating means refers to the attribute of the element stored in said element attribute data storing means and allocates the elements in the user screen in descending order of area. 4. The operation panel for equipment control according to any one of items 3 to 3. 5. The equipment control panel according to claim 1, wherein the element allocating means allocates the user screens in the order selected by the operator with the element selecting means. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said element allocating means allocates the element selected by said element selecting means to a position on a screen designated by an operator by operating said touch panel. An operation panel for equipment control according to item 1.