JP2011107957A - Application execution method and unification control device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an application execution method and a unification control device, allowing facilitation of the operation control of a plurality of devices that serve as control targets. <P>SOLUTION: The unification control device 10 includes, as a device component 14 device control components A15, B16 control devices A21-B32; and communication components 17, 18 for receiving instructions of the device control components A15, B16 and transmitting/receiving data to/from device controllers 20, 30. An application execution part 11 executes a device-control application and generates request information to the devices A21-B32; an application I/F 12 converts the request information, based on the information of a definition DB 13a and a function library 12a; and the device component 14 controls the devices A21-B32, in accordance with the converted request information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an application execution method and a unified control apparatus for controlling a plurality of device controllers that perform control depending on hardware using a common componentized program.

  Conventionally, when communication is performed between device controllers that control devices (devices) to be controlled, each process that performs control based on hardware is made into components, thereby enabling interconnection and reusability between components. High control system can be constructed. For example, in the componentized control system described in Patent Document 1, the command interface, the input interface, and the output interface that communicate with the device controller are modularized (componentized). Of these modules, the command interface module performs command communication with the device controller to be controlled, and the input interface module and output interface module perform data communication.

JP 2005-196427 A

  Since the conventional control system is configured as described above, the processing for performing the control based on the hardware is made into a component, but a high-level unified control device that organically operates a plurality of device controllers is provided. When constructing a control system, the operation program generally needs to be implemented as an external program that uses a group of components, and there is a problem that it takes time and effort. In addition, when there is a system configuration change such as newly adding a device controller to the control system, it is likely that an external operation program needs to be reworked, which takes time and effort.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and simplifies operation control of a plurality of devices to be controlled by having both a distributed object mechanism and a componentization mechanism. An object of the present invention is to provide an application execution method and a unified control device that realize the above.

  An application execution method according to the present invention includes a componentization step for generating a device component for mediating transmission / reception of data between an application and a device controller according to request information generated based on a predetermined rule, and executing the application The application execution step for generating request information for the device, the component invocation step for converting the request information for the device generated in the application execution step based on a predetermined rule, and the device component in the component invocation step A component processing step for executing a process for realizing the request according to the received request information and transmitting / receiving data to / from the device controller to control the device. It is intended.

  In the application execution method according to the present invention, the componentization step generates a device control component for executing a process for realizing the request according to the request information generated based on a predetermined rule for each device type. And a communication componentizing step for generating for each device controller a communication component that transmits and receives data to and from the device controller in response to an instruction from the device control component. The device control component corresponding to the request information converted in the step is converted into a device control component processing step for executing processing for realizing the request and a component converted in the component call step. Communication component corresponding to the information and has a communications component processing step of transmitting and receiving data to and from the device controller in response to an instruction from the device control component.

  The unified control apparatus according to the present invention executes an application for controlling a device and generates request information for the device, an application interface unit for converting the request information for the device based on a predetermined rule, According to the request information converted by the application interface unit, a device component that executes processing for realizing the request and transmits / receives data to / from the device controller to control the device is provided.

  The unified control apparatus according to the present invention includes a device control component prepared for each device type, in which the device component executes processing for realizing the request according to request information generated based on a predetermined rule, and device control It has a communication component prepared for each device controller that receives data from the component and transmits / receives data to / from the device controller.

  According to the present invention, a device component for mediating transmission / reception of data between an application and a device controller executes processing for realizing a request according to request information generated based on a predetermined rule, and Since devices are controlled by sending and receiving data between them, it is only necessary to prepare device components corresponding to the devices, and application execution methods that can simplify control even for devices of different types and unification A control device can be provided.

  According to this invention, the device component prepared for each device type executes processing for realizing the request according to the request information generated based on a predetermined rule, and prepared for each device controller. Since the communication component receives data from the device control component and sends / receives data to / from the device controller, prepare a device control component for each device type and a communication component for each device controller. In other words, it is possible to provide an application execution method and a unified control device that can simplify the control even for devices of different types.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the unified control apparatus 10 which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining an example of operation | movement of the unified control apparatus 10 which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a unified control apparatus 10 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As an example for explaining the unified control apparatus, FIG. 1 shows a unified control apparatus 10 used for controlling a robot and controlling a robot system that manufactures products by assembling and processing parts. In this production line, a plurality of robot controllers (device controllers) 20 and 30 are installed, and the unified control apparatus 10 controls each robot controller as a whole. An application program for controlling a robot to be controlled is set in the unified control apparatus 10, and this application is executed to operate the robot for each manufacturing process, supply parts, and assemble products through temperature control. It will follow. For this purpose, the unified control apparatus 10 issues a data input / output request and an operation command to the device controllers 20 and 30 for each manufacturing process.

  The unified control apparatus 10 includes an application execution unit 11 that executes an application for controlling the device controllers 20 and 30, an application interface (hereinafter referred to as I / F) 12 that converts an instruction from the application execution unit 11 for the device component 14, It is composed of a definition data storage unit 13 that stores definition information for conversion, and a device component 14 that mediates between the application and the device controllers 20 and 30.

The application execution unit 11 includes each application for controlling the device controllers 20 and 30. By executing the application, a data output request and data to the devices A21 to B32 are transmitted to the device control components A15 and B16. Make an acquisition request. The application execution unit 11 outputs these request instructions to the application I / F 12 as arguments consisting of “logical name + parameter”, and calls and executes the corresponding device control component A15 or B16 in the application I / F 12. The logical name represents the position and type of the devices A21 to B32, and the parameter represents the content of the request.
In addition, the application execution unit 11 includes a collection data table 11a that holds collection data such as status information of the devices A21 to B32. The collected data table 11a is composed of a memory or the like.

  The application I / F 12 includes a function library 12a that stores common general-purpose functions (programs) regardless of the application, and a logical name from a definition database (hereinafter referred to as DB) 13a of the definition data storage unit 13 when the function is called. And definition information corresponding to the parameters is acquired. The definition information in the definition DB 13a includes device information corresponding to a logical name, data information corresponding to a parameter (for example, data type and data size information), and position information of each component in the device component 14. In addition, the operation definition information of the device control components A15 and B16 and the communication components 17 and 18 and the definition information such as the inter-port connection information are also registered. Mutual connections and the like are determined.

  The definition information of the definition DB 13a is generated as data in XML (Extensible Markup Language) format after being configured with a personal computer connected to a node different from the unified control device 10, for example. Reflected in the definition DB 13a.

  The application I / F 12 instructs to call the service function of the device control component for the device to be requested based on the definition information registered in the definition DB 13a with the logical name and parameters in the function called from the function library 12a ( For example, a remote procedure call).

  In the unified control apparatus 10, the application I / F 12 and the device component 14 are described in a language that conforms to a distributed object mechanism such as CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), and the application execution unit 11 and the device component 14. The application I / F 12 holds the common device component 14 regardless of the language of the application.

  The device component 14 includes device control components A15 and B16 and communication components 17 and 18. The device control component A15, device control component B16, communication component 17 and communication component 18 are implemented in the unified control apparatus 10 as components having data and command input / output interfaces (hereinafter referred to as data ports). The device control components A15 and B16 have an interface with the application, and are prepared for each device type. In this example, since there are two types (A and B) of devices (devices A21 and A31 and devices B22 and B32), a device control component A15 for devices A21 and A31 and a device control component B16 for devices B22 and B32 And prepare.

The device control component A15 has a process corresponding to each parameter set for the device A, executes various requests from the application according to the process according to the call of the application I / F 12, and via the data port as necessary. A communication instruction is issued to each communication component 17, 18.
In the device control component B16, processing corresponding to each parameter is set for the device B, and various requests from the application are executed according to processing according to the call of the application I / F 12, and if necessary, via the data port A communication instruction is issued to each communication component 17, 18.

  The communication components 17 and 18 communicate with the device controllers 20 and 30 and are prepared for each device controller that is a communication partner. In this example, since two device controllers 20 and 30 exist, a communication component 17 that performs communication corresponding to the communication method of the device controller 20 and a communication component 18 that performs communication corresponding to the communication method of the device controller 30 are prepared. To do.

The communication component 17 communicates with the device controller 20 as necessary or periodically according to the instructions of the device control components A15 and B16, and outputs various request instructions to the devices A21 and B22. Or the data output from 20 is collected.
The communication component 18 communicates with the device controller 30 as necessary or periodically according to the instructions of the device control components A15 and B16, and outputs various request instructions to the devices A31 and B32. Or the data output from 30 is collected.

  Note that data such as status information of the devices A21 to B32 collected by the communication components 17 and 18 from the device controllers 20 and 30 is output to the device control components A15 and B16 via the data port. The device control components A15 and B16 return the application return value to the application execution unit 11 and store it in the collected data table 11a.

  As described above, the unified control apparatus 10 independently implements a part that mediates communication processing between the application and the device as the device component 14. The interface between the device component 14 and the application is performed using a general-purpose function library 12a. Therefore, when a new device is added to the system, a component corresponding to the device is prepared and incorporated in the unified control apparatus 10, whereby various devices can be controlled with a unified mechanism.

Next, the operation of the unified control apparatus 10 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the operation of the unified control apparatus 10. In this example, it is assumed that device control components A15 and B16 and communication components 17 and 18 are already prepared in the device component 14.
First, an example in which a setting value is sent to the device A21 to be set will be described. The application execution unit 11 executes an application for a data setting request to the device A21, specifies the device A21 as a logical name, and outputs an argument specifying the data setting request and its setting value as parameters to the application I / F 12 (Step ST1, application execution step).

  Based on the argument, the application I / F 12 acquires definition information from the definition DB 13a, converts it into a call instruction for the device control component A15, and outputs it (step ST2, component call step). This call instruction includes information specifying the device A21 corresponding to the logical name, information on the data setting request corresponding to the parameter, and information on the setting value that is data to be set in the device A21.

The device control component A15 selects a setting service function corresponding to the call instruction, and executes a process of issuing a data setting request instruction to the device A21 to the communication components 17 and 18 as a process of the function (step ST3). Device control component processing step).
Upon receiving an instruction from the device control component A15, the communication component 17 outputs information requesting a data setting request to the device A21 to the device controller 20 (step ST4, communication component processing step).
The communication component 18 also receives the same instruction from the device control component A15. However, since the call instruction includes information specifying only the communication component 17, the communication component 18 executes processing according to the call instruction. There is nothing.

  Next, an example in which the status information of the device A21 is requested will be described. The application execution unit 11 executes an application for a data acquisition request to the device A21, specifies the device A21 as a logical name, and outputs an argument specifying the data acquisition request as a parameter to the application I / F 12 (step ST1). ).

  The application I / F 12 acquires definition information from the definition DB 13a based on the argument, converts it into a call instruction for the device control component A15, and outputs it (step ST2). This call instruction includes information specifying the device A21 corresponding to the logical name and data acquisition request information corresponding to the parameter.

  In the device control component A15, an acquisition service function corresponding to the call instruction is selected, and data acquisition processing is performed (step ST5). As the processing of the function, first, when the acquisition of the latest value is not requested (step ST6 “NO”), the device control component A15 acquires the data from the collected data table 11a (step ST10), and the return value of the application. To the application execution unit 11 (step ST9).

On the other hand, when an acquisition request for the latest value is made (step ST6 “YES”), the device control component A15 subsequently sends a data acquisition request to the device A21 to the communication components 17 and 18 as processing corresponding to the call instruction. Give instructions.
When receiving an instruction from the device control component A15, the communication component 17 outputs information requesting a data acquisition request to the device A21 to the device controller 20 and also acquires response data thereof and outputs the response data to the device control component A15 (step). ST7).
The device control component A15 stores the response data output from the communication component 17 in the collected data table 11a (step ST8), and returns it to the application execution unit 11 as a return value of the application (step ST9).

In parallel with the above processing, the communication component 17 outputs information requesting a data acquisition request to the device A21 to the device controller 20 at a fixed cycle data acquisition timing, acquires the response data, and acquires the device control component A15. (Step ST11).
The device control component A15 stores the response data output from the communication component 17 in the collected data table 11a (step ST12).
Steps ST3 to ST12 constitute a component processing step.

  In the above description, a robot system is used as an example of a system to which the unified control apparatus 10 is applied, a robot controller is used as an example of a device controller, and a robot is used as an example of a device. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Needless to say, the present invention is applicable to a system in which various devices are connected.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the devices A21 to B32 are connected to the device controllers 20 and 30, and data is transmitted to and received from the device controllers 20 and 30 to control the devices A21 to B32. An application execution unit 11 that executes an application for controlling the devices A21 to B32 and generates request information for the devices A21 to B32, and converts the request information into information in the function library 12a and the definition DB 13a. An application I / F 12 to be converted based on the device, and device control components A15 and B16 prepared for each of the device types A and B that execute processing for realizing the request according to the request information converted by the application I / F 12, Device control component A1 It transmits and receives data to and from the device controllers 20 and 30 in response to an instruction from the B16, was configured with a communication component 17, 18 is prepared for each device controller 20, 30. For this reason, since a program for controlling a device, a program for controlling communication, and a program having an interface between an application and a device controller can be componentized, a device component corresponding to the device may be prepared, and devices of different types may be prepared. However, it can be controlled easily with a unified mechanism. Programming is also easy. Furthermore, even when the system configuration is changed, a device control component corresponding to the device and a communication component corresponding to the device control may be added, which saves time and effort.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Unified control apparatus 11 Application execution part 11a Collected data table 12 Application I / F
12a function library 13 definition data storage unit 13a definition DB
14 Device component 15 Device control component A
16 Device control component B
17 Communication Component 18 Communication Component 20 Device Controller 21 Device A
22 Device B
30 Device Controller 31 Device A
32 Device B

Claims (4)

An application execution method of a unified control apparatus that connects to a device controller that controls a device, transmits and receives data to and from the device controller, and executes an application that controls the device,
A componentization step of generating a device component for mediating transmission / reception of data between the application and the device controller according to request information generated based on a predetermined rule;
An application execution step of executing the application to generate request information for the device;
A component invocation step for converting the request information for the device generated in the application execution step based on the predetermined rule;
A component processing step in which the device component executes processing for realizing the request according to the request information converted in the component calling step, and transmits and receives data to and from the device controller to control the device; An application execution method characterized by comprising: The componentization step is
A device control component forming step for generating, for each device type, a device control component that executes processing for realizing the request according to the request information generated based on a predetermined rule;
A communication component for generating a communication component for transmitting and receiving data to and from the device controller in response to an instruction from the device control component for each device controller;
The component processing steps are
A device control component processing step in which the device control component corresponding to the request information converted in the component call step executes a process for realizing the request;
The communication component corresponding to the request information converted in the component calling step has a communication component processing step of receiving and sending data to and from the device controller in response to an instruction from the device control component. The application execution method according to claim 1, wherein: A unified controller that controls a device by connecting to a device controller that controls the device, transmitting / receiving data to / from the device controller,
An application execution unit that executes an application for controlling the device and generates request information for the device;
An application interface unit that converts request information for the device based on a predetermined rule;
A device component that executes processing for realizing the request according to the request information converted by the application interface unit, and transmits and receives data to and from the device controller to control the device. Unified control device. The device component
A device control component prepared for each type of device, which executes processing for realizing the request according to the request information generated based on a predetermined rule;
The unified control apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a communication component prepared for each device controller that receives and sends data to and from the device controller in response to an instruction from the device control component.

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