JP2006107378A - Design supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a design supporting device that defines a connection relation between interfaces of modules designated by a user on a GUI (graphical user interface) screen. <P>SOLUTION: This design supporting device 200 is provided with: a storing part 12 for storing a control program corresponding to a module; a selection receiving part 101 for receiving an instruction to display a device object indicating the module stored in the storing part 12 to be a design target by a user through an inputting part 11; a connection receiving part 103 for receiving designation to connect input and output interfaces of the displayed device object; a module displaying part 102 for distinguishing the input and output interfaces of the module received by the selection receiving part 101 to display the device object on a display 13 and carrying out a connection between the input and output interfaces received by the connection receiving part 103 to display the connected input and output interfaces on the display 13; and a connecting part 104 for defining a connection relation between the interfaces received by the connection receiving part 103. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to the design of a program execution device that executes a control program, and more particularly to a design support device that supports the definition of the connection relationship of each module in the design of a program execution device in which a plurality of modules are combined.

In general, when an electronic apparatus is formed by combining a plurality of modules (parts), a method of generating an electronic apparatus by combining modules in a small processing unit is used. Here, the module realizes a certain function by executing a program.
When creating an electronic device by the above method, the user creates a table that defines the input / output interface of each module in advance, defines the connection relationship of each module based on the table, and creates the electronic device based on the definition. Had gone. The program created based on the definition is verified using a simulation device (see Patent Document 1), and if there is a connection error, it is corrected while checking the input / output interface of each module and the definition of the connection relationship. I had to.
JP-A-62-14240

However, for users who are unfamiliar with such work, it takes a lot of time to define the connection relationship. Therefore, a design support device that allows anyone to define the connection between modules is desired. ing.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described demand, and provides a design support apparatus capable of defining connections between a plurality of modules with a simple operation while referring to a connection relationship between modules. With the goal.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a design support apparatus according to the present invention is a design support apparatus that defines an association between a plurality of program execution apparatuses that perform calculation based on input data and output data, and the program execution apparatus Display control means for displaying a design target graphic formed by distinguishing between input and output, connection accepting means for accepting designation for connecting the input of one program execution apparatus and the output of another program execution apparatus, and the connection Connection display means for connecting and displaying the input and output of the graphic to be designed according to the specification received by the reception means; and definition means for defining the connection relationship of each program execution device according to the specification received by the connection reception means; It is characterized by providing.

With the above-described configuration, the module is displayed in a graphic form so that the input / output interface of the module to be designed can be distinguished. Therefore, the user can easily connect between each module by looking at the abstractly displayed module and its interface. Since the connection relationship between modules can be confirmed on the screen, connection leakage and the like are unlikely to occur.
The program execution device is for executing a control program, and the design support device further includes a storage means for storing each control program and the connection so as to be linked according to the connection relation defined by the definition means. It is good also as providing the simulation means which performs the simulation execution of the control program corresponding to each program execution apparatus which concerns on.

With this configuration, the design support apparatus can simulate the cooperative operation of the coupled modules by executing the control program for the modules connected by the user.
The simulation unit may further include a connection display change unit that displays the connection by changing the display mode of the connection in accordance with the output value of each program execution device related to the connection.

According to this configuration, the design support apparatus executes a control program corresponding to a design target graphic (hereinafter referred to as “apparatus object”) indicating the program execution apparatus connected on the screen, and according to the output data value Since the connection width on the screen is changed and displayed, the user can confirm the change of the data value.
When the program execution device executes a control program and the design target graphic has a frame, the design support device further includes a control program corresponding to the design target graphic displayed by the display control means. Program display accepting means for accepting an instruction to display, and program display means for displaying a control program corresponding to the design target graphic within the frame of the instructed design target graphic.

According to this configuration, since the design support apparatus displays the control program corresponding to the device object in the device object frame to be designed, it is possible to easily confirm what processing the device object performs. .
<Embodiment>
The design support apparatus 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

The design support apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment is realized by using GUI technology, and an object name for identifying a control object corresponding to each module and a device object indicating each module on the GUI screen is set for each module by the user. It is assumed that it has been registered in advance.
The design support apparatus 200 displays a list of object names in the library area for module selection on the GUI screen, and when a plurality of object names are selected from the library by the user's mouse operation and arranged in the work area, The device object and its interface are displayed in the work area on the same screen, and the connection between modules is defined according to the mouse operation by the user.
<Overall configuration>
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a design support apparatus 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the design support apparatus 200 includes an input unit 11, a storage unit 12, a display 13, and a control unit 100.
Here, the input unit 11 is realized by a mouse and a keyboard, and has a function of receiving a user operation and transmitting a signal indicating each operation to the control unit 100.
The storage unit 12 is composed of a hard disk or the like, and includes a device object table in which a control program registered by a user and an object name are associated with each other, an interface table indicating an input / output interface display mode, and coordinates indicating coordinates of a displayed object A table, a connection table that defines the connection relationship of each interface specified by the user, and object information that defines a display mode such as a device object are stored. The description of each table will be described later.

The display 13 is realized by, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like, and has a function of displaying an image of a device object or the like according to a signal transmitted from the control unit 100.
The control unit 100 is realized by a memory and a control processor. The selection reception unit 101, the module display unit 102, the connection reception unit 103, the connection unit 104, the generation unit 105, the simulation unit 106, the connection width change unit 107, and a graph display Unit 108, program display receiving unit 109, and program display unit 110, and has a function of operating in accordance with a signal sent from input unit 11.

Hereinafter, functions of each unit of the control unit 100 will be described.
The selection receiving unit 101 receives an instruction for selecting a module and arranging a device object of the module in the work area from the user via the input unit 11, and a signal indicating the module and coordinates for arranging the module is displayed on the module display unit 102. The function to send to Note that the user places an apparatus object in the work area by dragging and dropping it into the work area using, for example, a mouse.

  The module display unit 102 reads the object information, the interface table, and the device object table from the storage unit 12, and based on the coordinates where the module object received from the selection receiving unit 101 is arranged, the object information, and the interface table, A function for calculating the coordinates for displaying the device object of the module and the relative coordinates of the input / output interface in each device object, storing the coordinates in the coordinate table of the storage unit 12, and displaying the device object at the calculated coordinate position of the display 13 Have Further, it has a function of receiving an instruction to connect the coordinates of the interface from the connection unit 104 described later and displaying a connection object for connecting the coordinates on the display 13.

  The connection accepting unit 103 has a function of accepting designation of a point on the display 13 connected via the input unit 11 from the user and sending the coordinates of the designated point to the connecting unit 104 and the generating unit 105. Here, the point is specified by clicking on the display 13 with the mouse, the start point and the end point are determined in the clicked order, and the information indicating the start point or the end point is added to the clicked coordinates and transmitted. When a plurality of connections are designated, information indicating the start point and the end point is added to the clicked coordinates each time two points are clicked, and transmitted to the connection unit 104.

The connection unit 104 reads the coordinate table from the storage unit 12, obtains the center coordinates of the interface serving as the start point and the end point based on the coordinate table and the coordinates received from the connection reception unit 103, and connects and displays the coordinates Is sent to the module display unit 102, and the connection relationship between the module to be connected and the interface is stored in the connection table of the storage unit 12.
When the generation unit 105 receives an instruction to register a control program from the user via the input unit 11, the generation unit 105 reads the device object table and the connection table from the storage unit 12, and the output value of the output interface related to the connection is an input related to the connection A control program corresponding to each module is combined to generate a new control program so as to be an input value of the interface. Also, it has a function of recording the generated control program in the device object table as a new module.

  The simulation unit 106 receives an instruction from the user via the input unit 11 to execute the control program for the device object connected on the screen, reads the connection table that defines the device object table and the connection relationship from the storage unit 12, and connects It has a function of executing a control program in which a control program corresponding to each module is combined based on the table connection relationship.

When the control program for the device object connected on the screen by the simulation unit 106 is executed by the simulation unit 106, the connection width changing unit 107 performs a predetermined operation on the connection object via the input unit 11, and It has a function of changing and displaying the type of the connection object in accordance with the output data value in the output interface of the connection object.
There are two types of connection objects: an object with a standard connection width (hereinafter referred to as “standard width”) and an object with a connection width wider than the standard width. An object with a connection width wider than the standard width is displayed when the output data in the connection exceeds the threshold when the user performs a predetermined operation on the connection object, and the two types of connection objects are stored in advance as object information. The threshold value is determined by the user. The predetermined operation is an operation of clicking a connection object with a mouse, for example.

  When a control program is executed by the simulation unit 106 and the user performs a predetermined operation on the connection object via the input unit 11, the graph display unit 108 displays output data on the connection object on which the operation has been performed. It has a function to display a time series graph based on it. Note that this predetermined operation is, for example, an operation of double-clicking a connection object with a mouse.

The program display accepting unit 109 has a function of sending a signal indicating the instructed device object to the program display unit 110 when a predetermined operation is performed on the device object displayed on the screen via the input unit 11 from the user. . The predetermined operation is, for example, an operation of double-clicking the device object with a mouse.
The program display unit 110 receives a signal indicating a device object from the program display reception unit 109, reads the control program for the device object from the device object table in the storage unit 12, and loads the control program in the frame of the device object on the screen. It has a function to display.
<Data>
Hereinafter, the table data stored in the storage unit 12 will be described.

FIG. 2A is a diagram showing a configuration and example contents of the interface table 300.
The interface table 300 is a table in which interfaces, color levels, and object graphics are associated with each other as shown in FIG. The table is registered in advance by the user, and is read by the module display unit 102 when the module display unit 102 displays a device object.

Here, the interface 301 distinguishes the input / output variables in the control program from the input interface and the output interface, and distinguishes each interface when there are a plurality of identical interfaces in one module. In the present embodiment, the interfaces are numbered as input 1 and input 2.
The color level 302 indicates the display color of the interface, and for the sake of convenience of description, the color density is represented by a level. When there are a plurality of the same interfaces in one module, each interface is distinguished by color shading.

An object graphic 303 represents a graphic representing an interface to be displayed on the screen. In this embodiment, the input interface is represented by graphic 1 (rectangle) and the output interface is represented by graphic 2 (circular).
Next, FIG. 2B is a diagram showing a configuration and example contents of the device object table 400.
The device object table 400 is a table in which a module name 401, an object name 402, a number (input) 403, a number (output) 404, and a program 405 are associated as shown in FIG.

  The table is registered in advance by the user, and the number (input) 403 and the number (output) 404 are obtained by analyzing the program registered in advance by the user to determine the number of input / output variables in the module. Each number may be registered in the table, or when the design support apparatus 200 has a data analysis function, data analysis is performed for each registered program to automatically obtain the number of input / output variables. The obtained number may be stored.

Here, the module name 401 indicates the identifier of the control program stored by the user.
The object name 402 is an object name of the program execution device corresponding to the stored control program.
The number (input) 403 and the number (output) 404 indicate the number of input / output variables in each stored control program.

A program 405 indicates a control program corresponding to the program execution device to be designed.
Next, FIG. 2C is a diagram showing a configuration and example contents of the coordinate table 500.
The coordinate table is a table in which the module name 501 is associated with the module frame coordinates 502, the input / output 503, and the input / output coordinates 504 as shown in FIG.

Here, the module name 501 indicates the module name corresponding to the object name arranged in the work area from the library on the screen via the input unit 11 by the user.
The module frame coordinates 502 indicate the coordinates of two points of an object placed in the work area when the work area on the screen is an XY plane. The device object is rectangular and has a uniform size. The coordinates of these two points are diagonal coordinates (lower left and upper right) when the coordinates dragged and dropped into the work area are the center coordinates of the rectangle.

An input / output 503 indicates an input / output interface to be displayed in a rectangle of a specified device object, and each input / output interface is represented by a number for each input / output of each module. For example, in the case of module 1, since the number (output) 404 of the device object table is 2, the input / output 503 is output 1 and output 2.
Input / output coordinates 504 are coordinates of the input / output interface displayed in the rectangle of the device object, and indicate relative coordinates in the coordinates of the device object corresponding to the input / output interface.

Next, FIG. 2D is a diagram showing a configuration and example contents of the connection table 600.
The connection table 600 is a table in which the start point module 601, the output interface 602, the end point module 603, and the input interface 604 are associated with each other as shown in the figure, and defines the connection relationship of modules specified by the user. It is.
Here, the start point module 601 indicates the module name of the device object including the coordinates of the interface on the connection start point side among the device objects to be connected displayed on the screen.

An output interface 602 is an output interface serving as a starting point of a connection designated by the user, and indicates an interface including coordinates clicked with a mouse.
The end point module 603 indicates the module name of the device object including the coordinates of the interface on the end point side of the connection designated by the user, like the start point module 601 described above.
Similar to the output interface 602, the input interface 604 shows an interface including coordinates that become the end point of the connection clicked by the user.
<Operation>
Next, the operation of the design support apparatus 200 having the above-described configuration will be described.

  The design support apparatus 200 receives an instruction to display a device object to be designed from the user via the input unit 11, and then receives an input / output interface connection instruction of the object, and connects each interface of the module according to the instruction. A process of defining the relationship, connecting and displaying each interface of the device object, a process of executing a simulation of the control program according to the definition according to an instruction from the user, a process of storing the module generated according to the definition, Processing for switching to the connection width change mode, processing for displaying output data in a graph, and processing for displaying a program to be designed from the user corresponding to the device object are performed.

Each operation will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4 showing the operation of the design support apparatus 200.
(Connection / definition processing)
When the selection receiving unit 101 receives an operation of dragging and dropping a plurality of object names displayed in the library on the screen from the user into the work area of the screen via the input unit 11, the work area dragged and dropped The upper coordinates are calculated, and the coordinates and the module name corresponding to the device object are sent to the module display unit 102 (step S01 in FIG. 3).

  Following step S01, the module display unit 102 reads the number of input / output variables of the module received from the device object table 400, and calculates the frame coordinates of the device object with the received coordinates as the center coordinates based on the object information. The position coordinates of each input / output interface are calculated, and the position coordinates of the interface are recorded in the coordinate table 500. Also, the color of the input / output interface is determined based on the interface table 300, and the device object and the input / output interface are drawn at the calculated coordinates on the work area (step S02 in FIG. 3).

Next, when the connection receiving unit 103 receives an instruction to connect the input interface and the output interface of the device object displayed in the work area from the user via the input unit 11, the connection receiving unit 103 calculates the instructed coordinate, The start point and end point information is added and sent to the connection unit 104 and the generation unit 105 (step S03 in FIG. 3).
Subsequent to step S03, the connection unit 104 obtains the connection start point module and output interface coordinates, the end point module and input interface coordinates based on the received coordinates and the coordinate table 500, and records them in the connection table 600. In addition, the connection unit 104 sends an instruction to display a connection object between the input / output interfaces of the connection table 600 to the module display unit 102. The module display unit 102 reads the connection table 600 and the coordinate table 500 and inputs / outputs the connection. A space between the coordinates indicating the interface is drawn with a connection object having a standard width (step S04 in FIG. 3).

(Simulation execution)
Next, when it is determined in step S05 that the simulation unit 106 has received a button press for instructing program execution from the user via the input unit 11 (step S05: Y), the simulation unit 106 determines that the connection table 600 and the device object The table 400 is read, and the control program of the start point module and the end point module is combined and executed so that the data of the output interface of the start point module in the connection table 600 is substituted for the input interface data of the end point module (step S06 in FIG. 3).

(Connection width change processing)
Subsequently, when the connection width changing unit 107 determines that the connection object displayed in the work area of the display 13 is clicked from the user via the input unit 11 during execution of the control program (step S07: Y in FIG. 4), The connection width change unit 107 determines whether the output data exceeds the threshold every time the output interface data connected by the connection object is output. If the output data exceeds the threshold, the connection width is wider than the standard width. The object is displayed (step S08 in FIG. 4).

(Graph display processing)
Subsequently, during execution of the control program, when the graph display unit 108 determines that the connection object displayed in the work area via the input unit 11 has been double-clicked by the user (FIG. 4, step S09: Y), the graph display unit 108 generates and displays a graph with time on the horizontal axis and data values on the vertical axis based on the output interface data of the double-clicked connection object (step S10 in FIG. 4).

  Next, in step S11, when the connection width changing unit 107 and the graph display unit 108 accept the pressing of the end button from the user via the input unit 11 (step S11: Y in FIG. 4), the connection width changing unit 107 is connected. When the processing for changing the width is finished, the graph display unit 108 finishes displaying the graph (step S12 in FIG. 4), and when the pressing of the end button is not accepted in step S11 (step S11: N), the process returns to step S07. .

(Program display processing)
Returning to step S05 in FIG. 3, the simulation unit 106 does not accept the button press to instruct execution (step S05: N), and the program display accepting unit 109 is displayed in the work area via the input unit 11. Is determined to have been double-clicked by the user (step S13: Y in FIG. 3), a signal indicating the double-clicked device object is sent to the program display unit 110. The program display unit 110 reads the module of the device object received from the device object table 400, displays the program of the module in the frame of the device object, and the input / output interface of the device object and the program corresponding to the interface An arrow connecting the input / output variable in the middle is displayed, and the process returns to step S05 (step S16 in FIG. 3).

(Module registration process)
Next, when the generation unit 105 receives a registration button press from the user via the input unit 11 (FIG. 3, step S13: N, step S14: Y), the generation unit 105 stores the device object table 400 and the connection table 600. The control program of each module is generated by combining the control program of each module so that the output data of the start module of the connection table 600 is read and assigned to the input variable of the end module to be connected, and the module name and object corresponding to the generated control program The name is received from the user via the input unit 11, the generated control program is associated with the module name and the object name, recorded in the device object table 400 of the storage unit 12, and the process returns to step S05 (step S15 in FIG. 3).

Also, in step S14 of FIG. 3, when the generation unit 105 determines that the registration button has not been pressed by the user (step S14: N), the process returns to step S05.
<Operation example>
Next, the operation will be described using the examples of FIGS. 5 to 7 in accordance with the operation flow of FIGS. 3 and 4 described above.
First, the design support apparatus 200 displays the library 50, the work area 70, the Start button 61, the Stop button 62, and the registration button 63 in FIG. 5A on the screen of the display 13, and is registered in the library 50 by the user. A list of object names in the device object table 400 is displayed.

  When the selection receiving unit 101 receives an operation of dragging and dropping the object names “device 1”, “device 2”, and “device 3” of the library 50 to the work area 70 using a mouse from the user, the “device 1”, The central coordinates of “device 2” and “device 3” are read, and a signal indicating the module corresponding to the object name is sent to the module display unit 102 from the coordinates and the device object table 400 (FIG. 2B) (FIG. 3). Step S01).

  Next, the module display unit 102 calculates the frame coordinates of the objects of “device 1”, “device 2”, and “device 3” with the received coordinates as the center coordinates, and the number (input) 403 of the device object table 400, The input / output coordinates of each interface for the device object are determined according to the number (output) 404 and are recorded in the module frame coordinates 502 and the input / output coordinates 504 of the coordinate table 500 shown in FIG. Also, the colors and graphics corresponding to each interface in the interface table 300 shown in FIG. 2A are read, and the interface graphics are displayed in the device object (step S02 in FIG. 3).

  For example, in the case of the object 73 of “device 2”, in the device object table 400, the module corresponding to the object name of device 2 is module 2, the number of input variables is 3, and the input interface of each input variable is Input 1, input 2, and input 3 are defined. From the interface table 300, all input interfaces are represented in the device object 73 as a graphic 1 (rectangle), and the color of each input interface is blue 1 (light blue) for input 1, blue 2 (blue) for input 2, and blue for input 3 Displayed in 3 (dark blue). Similarly for the output variable, the output 1 of the module 2 is displayed in the device object 73 as a graphic 2 (circular) and red 1 (light red).

Next, when the connection receiving unit 103 receives an operation of sequentially clicking the output 1 of the object 71 of the device 1 and the input 1 of the object 73 of the device 2 from the user in FIG. 5 (a), the clicked coordinates are calculated. Then, the start point and end point information is added to the coordinates, and a signal indicating the coordinates is sent to the connection unit 104 and the generation unit 105 (step S03 in FIG. 3).
The connection unit 104 reads the coordinate table 500 (FIG. 2 (c)), calculates a start point module and output interface, an end point module and an input interface corresponding to the received coordinates, and displays a connection object between the interfaces. Also, based on the coordinates received from the connection receiving unit 103 and the coordinate table 500, the output 1 of the module 1 and the input 1 of the module 2 are recorded in the connection table 600 (FIG. 2 (d)), and the other coordinates are also the same. The module and the interface are recorded in association with each other (step S04 in FIG. 3). In this example, in FIG. 5B, the output 1 of the module 1 corresponding to the device object 71 and the input 1 of the module 2 corresponding to the device object 73 are connected by the connection unit 104, and the connection object 74 is displayed. . The other interfaces are similarly connected, and the connection objects 75 and 76 are displayed.

Next, for example, programs corresponding to the object 71 of the device 1, the object 72 of the device 3, and the object 73 of the device 2 shown in FIG. 5B are frames 710, 720, and 730 showing the objects of FIG. The operation (step S05: Y in FIG. 3) when the user presses the Start button 61 (FIG. 5 (b)) instructing program execution will be described.
First, the correspondence between the interface of each module and the input / output variables in the module will be described with reference to FIG.

In Fig. 7 (b), Out1 and Out2 in the frame 710 of the device 1 correspond to the output 1 and output 2 of the module 1 in order, Out1 in the frame 720 of the device 3 corresponds to the output 1 of the module 3, and the device In1, In2, and In3 in the second frame 730 correspond to input 1, input 2, and input 3 of module 2 in this order.
The simulation unit 106 reads the program of the module 1, the module 2, and the module 3 corresponding to each device object from the connection table 600 (FIG. 2 (d)) and the device object table 400 (FIG. 2 (b)). Instructions for substituting Out1, Out2 and Out1 of module 3 into In1, In2, and In3 of module 2 are inserted into module 1 and module 3, and the program of each module is executed (step S06 in FIG. 3).

  Next, when the user clicks one of the connection objects 74, 75, and 76 in FIG. 5B (step S07: Y in FIG. 4), the connection width changing unit 107 outputs the output 1 of the device object 71. 2 and when the output 1 data of the device object 72 exceeds the threshold value, the connection object when the threshold value is exceeded is displayed instead of the standard width connection object (FIG. 7 (a)) (step S08 in FIG. 4). ). Note that a connection object 471 in FIG. 7A represents a connection object when the threshold value is exceeded, and the connection object 472 indicates a value within the threshold range.

  Further, when the user double-clicks the connection object 76 in FIG. 5B during the program execution (step S09: Y in FIG. 4), the graph display unit 108 is output at the output 1 of the object 72 during the program execution. Based on the obtained data, a graph 272 is displayed in the work area 270 as shown in FIG. 6A (step S10 in FIG. 4). The graph 272 in FIG. 6A illustrates the case where the output 1 data of the module 3 corresponding to the device object 72 is 0 or 1, and the connection object 271 corresponding to the graph 272 is highlighted and displayed. To do.

Further, when the user presses the Stop button 62 (FIG. 4, step S11: Y), the simulation unit 106 ends the execution of the program, the connection width changing unit 107 ends the process of changing the connection object, and the graph display unit 108 ends the graph display (step S12 in FIG. 4).
Next, in step S05 of FIG. 3, when the user double-clicks the object of the device 2 of FIG. 5 (b) (step S05: N, step S13: Y of FIG. 3), the program display acceptance unit 109 A signal indicating the object is sent to the program display unit 110.

The program display unit 110 reads the program of the module 2 corresponding to the object of the device 2 from the device object table 400 (FIG. 2 (b)), and in the object 371 frame of the device 2 as shown in FIG. 6 (b). The program is displayed, and an arrow 372 connecting the input / output interface of module 2 and the input / output variables in the object 371 frame is displayed (step S16 in FIG. 3).
When the program corresponding to each device object shown in FIG. 5B has the contents shown in FIG. 7B described above, when the user presses the registration button 63 (FIG. 3, step S13: N, step (S14: Y), the generation unit 105 reads the program of the module 1, the module 2, the module 3, and the connection table 600 (FIG. 2 (d)) from the device object table 400 (FIG. 2 (b)). Create a new program by combining the programs of each module so that Out1, Out2 and Out1 of module 3 are assigned to In1, In2, and In3 of module 2, respectively, and the user inputs a new module name and object name. The program is received and recorded in the device object table 400 (step S15 in FIG. 3).
<Supplement>
The design support apparatus according to the present invention has been described above based on the embodiment. However, the design support apparatus can be modified as follows, and the present invention is not limited to the design support apparatus described in the above embodiment. is there.
(1) In this embodiment, the connection object is displayed as a connection object that is thicker than the connection object of the standard width only when the threshold value is exceeded, but the connection object width is changed according to the output data value. You may let them.
(2) In this embodiment, the graph is displayed for binary data whose output data is 0 or 1. However, not only when the data is binary, the graph may be displayed according to the number of bits of the output data. Good.
(3) In this embodiment, the color of the interface of the device object is displayed separately when there are a plurality of the same interface. However, among the input / output interfaces of the module selected by the user, Input / output interfaces having the same number of bits in the input interface may be displayed in the same color.
(4) In this embodiment, when the device object is double-clicked in the work area by the user, the program corresponding to the object is displayed in the frame of the device object, but the object name displayed in the library is specified. By doing so, the device object and its program may be displayed.
(5) In the present embodiment, the program display unit 110 displays the program corresponding to the object in the frame of the device object double-clicked by the user, and the input / output variables in the program and the input / output of the object The interface is displayed by a straight line, but the display mode for associating the input / output variable and the input / output interface is not limited to this. For example, the corresponding input / output variable and the interface may be displayed in the same color. Good.
(6) A program for causing a processor to execute each process (see FIGS. 3 and 4) in the design support apparatus can be recorded on a recording medium or distributed and distributed via various communication paths. Such recording media include IC cards, hard disks, optical disks, flexible disks, ROMs, and the like. The distributed and distributed program is used by being stored in a memory or the like that can be read by the processor, and the function of the design support apparatus described in the embodiment is realized by the processor executing the program. It becomes like this.
(7) Although the case where the module executes the program has been described in the present embodiment, the module such as a logic circuit may not be executed.

  The design support apparatus according to the present invention can be used for developing a new electronic apparatus by combining a plurality of modules, or for educating a control system for students and the like.

1 is a configuration diagram of a design support apparatus 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the structure and example of a table of the design support apparatus 200 which concern on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the design assistance apparatus 200 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the design assistance apparatus 200 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation example of the object display process of the design assistance apparatus 200 which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and a connection process. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation example of the graph display process of the design assistance apparatus 200 which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and a program display process. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation example of the connection width change process and module registration of the design support apparatus 200 which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Input part 12 Storage part 13 Display 100 Control part 101 Selection reception part 102 Module display part 103 Connection reception part 104 Connection part 105 Generation part 106 Simulation part 107 Connection width change part 108 Graph display part 109 Program display reception part 110 Program display part 200 Design support device

Claims (5)

A design support device that defines an association between a plurality of program execution devices that perform calculation based on input data and output data,
Display control means for displaying a design target graphic formed by distinguishing input and output from the program execution device;
Connection accepting means for accepting designation for connecting the input of one program execution device and the output of another program execution device;
Connection display means for connecting and displaying the input and output of the design object graphic according to the specification received by the connection reception means;
A design support apparatus comprising: definition means for defining a connection relationship of each program execution device in accordance with a designation received by the connection reception means. The program execution device executes a control program,
The design support device further includes:
Storage means for storing each control program;
The design support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising simulation means for executing a simulation of a control program corresponding to each program execution apparatus related to the connection so as to be linked according to the connection relation defined by the definition means. The simulation means further includes:
3. The design support apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a connection display change unit that displays the connection by changing a display mode of the connection according to an output value of each program execution device related to the connection. The program execution device executes a control program, and the design target graphic has a frame,
The design support device further includes:
Program display receiving means for receiving an instruction to display a control program corresponding to the design target graphic displayed by the display control means;
2. The design support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising program display means for displaying a control program corresponding to the design target graphic within a frame of the instructed design target graphic. A program for causing a device capable of executing a program to execute association defining processing between the program execution devices,
The defining process is:
A step of displaying a design target figure formed by distinguishing input and output from the program execution device;
Receiving a designation to connect an input of one program execution device and an output of another program execution device;
Connecting and displaying the input and output of the figure to be designed according to the designation received by the connection receiving means;
And defining a connection relationship of each program execution device according to the designation received by the connection receiving means.

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