JP2016001376A - Programmable controller system, and support device of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To discriminate and delete unnecessary identification information, in a system for storing and managing history information of identification information of a PLC program on a support device side.SOLUTION: Whenever a compiler unit 22 compiles a source code 26 of an updated program to create a machine language object 27, an identification information creating unit 23 creates corresponding unique identification information. An identification information managing unit 24 additionally stores the identification information in history information 11, creates corresponding download information 12, and then updates it as necessary. The identification information managing unit 24 discriminates unnecessary identification information on the basis of the download information, and deletes this identification information from the history information 11.

Description

  The present invention relates to a system or the like that can update a program without stopping the operation of an operating programmable controller.

Conventionally, for example, Patent Literature 1 proposes a method for safely updating a program by online change.
The invention of Patent Document 1 is an invention that can update a program of the PLC after confirming that the program is suitable for a change to a running PLC (controller). For this purpose, when the source code of an arbitrary update program is compiled in the support device, unique identification information corresponding to the machine language object generated thereby is generated and additionally registered in the list (identification information management table). Then, when downloading the latest machine language object to the PLC, it obtains the current identification information of the PLC, determines whether or not it is registered in the list, and permits the download only if it is registered To do.

  In the invention of Patent Document 1, in particular, a program is copied from an arbitrary support device to another support device for backup or the like, and then an updated version of this program is created and downloaded to the PLC in another support device. The situation is assumed.

  In the invention of Patent Document 1, as a method for safely updating a PLC program without stopping the controller, unique identification information generated every time the updated version program is compiled on the support device side is included in the history including the generation. Store and manage as information (list above). Then, it is determined whether or not to permit the download of the updated program to the controller depending on whether or not the identification information of the program stored and executed on the controller side exists in the list on the support apparatus side.

JP 2013-168031 A

  Here, FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 3 and the like, there is one PLC, but there may be a plurality of PLCs. In addition, the plurality of PLCs may be configured to execute the same program (however, the versions may be different). An example thereof is shown in FIG.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 8, the list 101a of the support apparatus 100A includes identification information “0000-0000” (generation 1), identification information “0000-0001” (generation 2), and identification information “0000-0002” (generation 3). ) Is stored. Here, it is assumed that the generation 2 program has been copied to the other support apparatus 100B. In the support apparatus 100B, an updated version program based on this copy program is created, and '0001-0003' is assigned as identification information. Accordingly, the list 101b of the support apparatus 100B includes identification information “0000-0000” (generation 1), identification information “0000-0001” (generation 2), identification information “0001-0003” (generation), as shown in the figure. 3) is stored.

  On the other hand, in the figure, four PLCs 110 (110a, 110b, 110c, 110d) are shown. Here, it is assumed that the program is downloaded from all the PLCs 110 from the support device 100A. In the illustrated example, it is assumed that a generation 3 program is stored in the PLC 110a, a generation 1 program is stored in the PLC 110b, and a generation 2 program is stored in the PLCs 110c and 110d. Accordingly, the identification information held by each PLC 110 is ‘0000-0002’ for the PLC 110a, ‘0000−0000’ for the PLC 110b, and ‘0000−0001’ for the PLCs 110c and 110d, as shown.

  In the state shown in the figure, when the support device 100A tries to download a program to all four PLCs 110, first, regarding the PLC 110a, the identification information '0000-0002' is the list 101a of the support device 100A. However, since this is the latest generation (generation 3), it is determined that downloading is not necessary. In addition, regarding the PLC 110b, the identification information “0000-0000” is present in the list 101a of the support apparatus 100A, and therefore downloading is permitted. Also, regarding the PLCs 110c and 110d, the identification information “0000-0001” is present in the list 101a of the support apparatus 100A, so that the download is permitted.

  On the other hand, in the state shown in the figure, when the support device 100B tries to download a program to all four PLCs 110, first, regarding the PLC 110a, the identification information “0000-0002” is stored in the support device 100B. Since it does not exist in the list 101b, downloading is not permitted. On the other hand, regarding the PLC 110b, since the identification information “0000-0000” exists in the list 101b of the support apparatus 100B, the download is permitted. Also, regarding the PLCs 110c and 110d, the identification information “0000-0001” is present in the list 101b of the support apparatus 100B, so that the download is permitted.

  If the support device 100B downloads the latest program (program of identification information “0001-0003”) of its own device to all the PLCs 110b, 110c, and 110d that are permitted to download, the program is updated thereafter. The support device 100A is not permitted to download the PLCs 110b, 110c, and 110d. On the other hand, the support device 100B is not permitted to download the PLC 110a thereafter. Therefore, in this example, thereafter, the program update of the PLCs 110b, 110c, and 110d is performed by the support apparatus 100B, and the program update of the PLC 110a is performed by the support apparatus 100A.

  In other words, after that, the PLCs 110b, 110c, and 110d are targets of program update by the support apparatus 100B, but the PLC 110a is not a target of program update by the support apparatus 100B. After that, the PLCs 110b, 110c, and 110d are not subject to program update by the support device 100A, but the PLC 110a is subject to program update by the support device 100A.

  In the invention of Patent Document 1, for example, as described above, at the time of online program update, the identification information is used to determine whether the controller is a program update target, thereby ensuring the continuity of the update program. To do.

  In the conventional technique of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the support device side manages each piece of identification information related to the program to be updated as history information including the generation (the list), and at the time of online program update, the controller side Whether or not the controller is the target of program update by the support device is determined based on whether or not the identification information of the downloaded and operating program exists in the history information on the support device side. .

  Here, in the prior art of Patent Document 1, each time a PLC program (in particular, each updated version) is compiled, unique identification information is generated and associated with the program. For this reason, if a user compiles multiple times after performing an online program update until the next program update (download), the identification information increases each time. It is the latest identification information, and identification information compiled in the middle is useless. However, even if it is useless, it remains in the history information.

  Furthermore, in the conventional technology, when the controller updates the program online, the identification information downloaded to the controller is overwritten with new identification information. The list (history information) stored and managed on the support apparatus side will be enlarged as the online program update is left on the list.

  In addition, as described above, whether or not an arbitrary controller is a program update target is determined by searching the history information. Therefore, the enlargement of the history information simply compresses an empty area in the support device. In addition to the problem that the program is updated, the processing time of the online program update is not stable and gradually increases.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent the history information on the support device side from being enlarged by discriminating and deleting unnecessary identification information in the system that stores the history information of the identification information of the PLC program on the support device side. Therefore, it is to provide a programmable controller that realizes stable online change, a support device thereof, and the like.

The programmable controller system of the present invention is a programmable controller system having a support device and a plurality of controllers, and the support device has the following configuration.
Compile means for compiling the controller program and generating corresponding unique identification information every time an arbitrary program that is a program for the controller or an updated version program thereof is created;
History information storage means for storing history information for generation management of the identification information;
Download information storage means for storing download information to each controller related to the controller program corresponding to the identification information in association with the identification information of the history information;
Unnecessary information deleting means for determining unnecessary identification information in the history information based on the download information and deleting the identification information from the history information.

  According to the programmable controller system of the present invention and its support device, in the system that stores the history information of the identification information of the PLC program on the support device side, the history on the support device side is determined by determining and deleting unnecessary identification information. Prevents information bloat and enables stable online changes.

It is a schematic block diagram of the programmable controller system of this example. It is a functional diagram of a programmable controller system. It is a figure which shows the example of a state transition of management information. It is a specific example of management information. It is a flowchart figure of the update process of the download information at the time of compilation. It is a flowchart figure of the update process of the download information at the time of the program update of PLC. It is a figure explaining the example which uses the number of controllers as download information. 10 is a configuration / data example of a programmable controller of Patent Document 1.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the programmable controller system of this example.
In this description, the programmable controller may be referred to as a PLC or simply a controller.

The illustrated programmable controller system includes a support device 10 and each PLC 1 (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d).
Although only one support device 10 is shown here, a plurality of support devices 10 may exist as shown in FIG.

The processing functions of the support device 10 and each PLC 1 are shown in FIG. 2 and will be described later. Here, the information stored in the support device 10 and each PLC 1 is shown and described.
That is, first, similarly to the above-described Patent Document 1, an arbitrary generation of a program is downloaded from the support apparatus 10 together with its identification information and stored in each PLC 1. Such a program for a controller is referred to as a PLC program or the like. However, even when the program is simply referred to as a program, it basically means a PLC program.

  Similarly to Patent Document 1, the support device 10 corresponds to this PLC program every time a machine language object is generated by compiling the source code of an arbitrary PLC program (an arbitrary initial program or an updated program thereof). The identification information to be generated is generated and additionally stored in the list (the history information 11 shown in the figure). At that time, a generation is given. The generations are given in the order of 1, 2, 3,..., For example, and the smaller the number, the older the generation, and the largest number at any point in time means the latest generation.

  Unique identification information is created at the time of new creation and update for an arbitrary program, and this identification information is associated with a generation and additionally stored in the history information 11. As a result, the history information 11 stores each identification information 11b associated with each generation 11a as shown in the figure. In other words, the history information 11 can be said to be information for generation management of identification information.

Basically, the latest generation PLC program at an arbitrary time point is downloaded to an arbitrary PLC 1 together with its identification information.
Such generation management of identification information itself may be the same as that of Patent Document 1, but in this example, download information 12 shown in FIG. 1 is further stored and managed. In the illustrated example, this is associated with each generation 11a (each identification information 11b) of the history information 11 and the download state of each PLC 1 related to the program of that generation (in this example, “used”, “in use”). , “Unused”) is stored and managed. That is, for each generation program, it is stored for each controller whether the state is “used”, “in use”, or “unused” at that time.

  Note that it may be considered that there is download information 12 corresponding to each PLC 1. That is, the download information 12 shown in the figure may be regarded as a collection of such download information 12 for each PLC 1.

  Here, “unused” means that the program of the identification information 11b is scheduled to be downloaded at the next update of the controller. However, if a new update program is generated before being downloaded, it is “used” without being downloaded. Details will be described later.

Further, “in use” means that the controller is currently operating with the program of the identification information 11b held in the controller.
The “used” means that the program of the identification information 11b is not downloaded to the controller after that time.

The generation / update process of the download information 12 and the process of deleting unnecessary information from the history information 11 using the download information 12 will be described later with reference to FIG.
If it demonstrates roughly, the assistance apparatus 10 will update management information (history information 11 and download information 12) at any time at the time of compilation or download implementation. When the download status of all the controllers becomes “used” with respect to the identification information 11b of a generation, the identification information 11b of that generation is regarded as the identification information of the old generation that is no longer necessary. Make sure to delete it. At that time, not only the identification information but also the download state corresponding to the identification information may be deleted together. Details will be described later.

  Further, the support device 10 can uniquely identify each PLC 1 by an identification ID (for example, a MAC address). For example, “PLC-ID” 13b in the controller information 13 shown in the figure is an example of the identification ID.

  Here, the support apparatus 10 may store and manage the controller information 13 illustrated. The controller information 13 includes a PLC name 13a and a PLC-ID 13b. The PLC-ID 13b is an example of the identification ID as described above. The PLC name 13a is, for example, an arbitrary name given to each PLC1. Each PLC 1 stores its own identification information (PLC-ID) in advance. For example, the support device 10 acquires the PLC-ID from each PLC 1 and stores the PLC-ID in the PLC-ID 13 b of the controller information 13, and generates an arbitrary name and stores it in the PLC name 13 a. This PLC name 13a is also used for the download information 12 as shown.

FIG. 2 is a functional diagram of the programmable controller system.
In this system, the support device 10 operating on a computer such as a personal computer is connected to each PLC 1 by a communication line (not shown) so that data can be transmitted and received between them. In addition, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted, some control object apparatus is connected to each PLC1.

  The support apparatus 10 includes various functional units such as a user interface function unit 21, a compiler unit 22, an identification information generation unit 23, and an identification information management unit 24. The support device 10 also includes a calculation processor such as a CPU / MPU (not shown) and a storage device such as a hard disk and a memory, and a predetermined application program is stored in the storage device in advance. Processing functions to be described later of the various functional units are realized when the arithmetic processor (not shown) reads and executes the application program.

It should be noted that when simply described as a program in this description, it basically means the PLC program (control program).
The support device 10 also has a display screen, an input device, and the like.

  The user interface function unit 21 has a function for assisting the user in creating a source code 26 of a desired PLC program. Since this function itself is an existing function that has been well known in the past, it will not be described in detail here, but generally, the user interface function unit 21 displays a predetermined editing screen (not shown) on the display. Then, the user is made to create a source code 26 of a desired PLC program on the editing screen. A user operates an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse to create source code 26 of an arbitrary program. The created program / source code 26 is stored in the storage device (not shown).

  The PLC program is created by creating an arbitrary new program or an updated version (an upgraded version or the like) of an existing program. This method is mainly related to each updated program. For example, the user creates the updated version of the source code 26 by opening a file of the existing source code 26 and making a desired change by the function of the user interface function unit 21. . Such an updated version of the program source code 26 is compiled by the compiler unit 22.

  The compiler unit 22 converts the source code 26 created by the user into a machine language object 27 that operates on the target (PLC1). In this conversion (compilation) process, an address is assigned to each variable. Such a compilation process itself is a general existing technique, and is not particularly described here.

  The compiler unit 22 further assigns unique identification information to the PLC program every time the compilation is performed, as in the invention of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1. The identification information generation unit 23 generates this identification information. The machine language object 27 is downloaded to the PLC 1 by the communication function unit 25 together with the identification information. However, before that, as in Patent Document 1, the operation of the updated version program is checked / verified in another environment (a verification system different from the actual system), and the updated version program (its machine) is verified. It is desirable that only the word object 27) can be downloaded to the PLC 1.

  The meaning and generation method of the unique identification information is the same as in Patent Document 1 and will not be described in detail. However, the same identification information includes not only one support device 10 but also other support devices 10. Is never generated.

  The identification information generated by the identification information generation unit 23 is additionally stored in the history information 11. Since this history information 11 corresponds to the identification information management table 30 in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it will not be described in detail in particular, but it stores identification information corresponding to each updated version of an arbitrary program, This is for generation management of each identification information.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, for example, the history information 11 stores the identification information 11b, and the identification information 11b is associated with a “generation” 11a. The “generation” 11a is a generation management number assigned to each identification information 11b. In this example, as shown in the figure, the initial value is set to “1”, and is incremented by +1 each time a new record is added. To do. Therefore, the identification information 11b having the smallest "generation" 11a number is identification information generated corresponding to the oldest (first version) program.

Such generation / management of the history information 11 is executed by the identification information management unit 24.
Such generation / management of the history information 11 itself may be the same as that of the above-described Patent Document 1, but the support apparatus 10 of this example further generates and stores download information 12 in association with the history information 11. The Management of the download information 12 is also executed by the identification information management unit 24. Although not shown in FIG. 2, the identification information management unit 24 may further generate and manage the controller information 13 shown in FIG.

  For example, the identification information management unit 24 stores the download information 12 for each PLC 1 related to the updated version program corresponding to the identification information in association with the identification information 11b of the history information 11. Also, the download information 12 is updated. The management information storage unit 30 shown in the figure stores such management information (history information 11 + download information 12).

The download information 12 is, for example, a download state described later (“in use”, “unused”, “used”), but is not limited to this example, and may be the number of controllers described later.
For example, the identification information management unit 24 determines unnecessary identification information 11b in the history information 11 based on the download information 12, and deletes the unnecessary identification information 11b from the history information 11. Although not described one by one, basically, when unnecessary identification information 11b is deleted, information on the generation 11a is also deleted. Further, the corresponding download information 12 may be deleted together.

  For example, when the identification information management unit 24 determines that the program of the identification information 11b is “not currently in use and will not be downloaded in the future” for all the controllers based on the download information 12, the identification information 11b is determined as the unnecessary identification information. For example, in an example described later, for any identification information 11b in the history information 11, when the corresponding download information 12 (download state) is all “used” which will be described later, the identification information 11b Although this is regarded as unnecessary identification information, it is not limited to this example.

  In the processing function of the identification information management unit 24, the processing function that determines and deletes unnecessary identification information 11b in the history information 11 described above is referred to as an unnecessary information deletion function. Is called a state update function.

  For example, when the state update function adds the identification information to the history information 11 as an arbitrary PLC program (particularly an updated version program) is compiled, the download state corresponding to the identification information 11b is displayed. All the new “unused” and all the existing “unused” are “used”.

  The download information 12 is not limited to the download state example. For example, the download information 12 may be, for each identification information, the number of PLCs 1 (assumed to be the controller number 51 shown in FIG. 7 described later) that are regarded as currently holding and operating the program of the identification information. . However, since the other support apparatus 10 may change the program of the PLC 1, the controller number 51 is not always correct. That is, the number of PLCs 1 that actually hold and operate the program of the identification information may be smaller than the number 51 of controllers.

For example, when the controller number 51 corresponding to the arbitrary identification information 11b becomes zero, the unnecessary information deletion function determines the identification information 11b as the unnecessary identification information.
Further, although not shown or described in particular, the support device 10 may further have substantially the same function as that of Patent Document 1. For example, when the identification information stored in the PLC 1 is acquired from the PLC 1 to be downloaded of an arbitrary PLC program (particularly, the updated version program), and the acquired identification information is not included in the history information 11 It may have a function that does not permit downloading of the updated program.

  Note that the process of confirming that “the acquired identification information is included in the history information 11” is that the program currently held and operated in the PLC 1 to be downloaded is the program to be downloaded (the latest version of the program). It can be said that it is a process for determining whether or not it corresponds to an ancestor. In other words, it can be said that it is a process for determining whether or not the latest version of the program corresponds to a descendant of the program of the PLC 1 to be downloaded. Note that the update of the program is equivalent to generations from an ancestor to a descendant, and the descendant is required to take over the contents of the ancestor.

  2 will be briefly described. The PLC 1 includes various function units such as a communication function unit 41 and a program execution management function unit 42. Here, the PLC 1 also includes an arithmetic processor such as a CPU / MPU (not shown) and a storage device (not shown) such as a memory, and a predetermined application program is stored in the storage device in advance. Processing functions to be described later of the various functional units are realized when the arithmetic processor (not shown) reads and executes the application program.

  The storage device (not shown) stores identification information 43, machine language object 44, and the like. The PLC 1 executes, for example, the machine language object 44 to control, for example, a control target device (not shown). Further, in this example, similarly to Patent Document 1, it is assumed that the update of the machine language object 44 is performed during operation without stopping the PLC 1.

Since the configuration / processing operation of the PLC 1 may be the same as that of Patent Document 1, a part thereof will be briefly described below.
The communication function unit 41 is a function unit that performs data transmission / reception and the like with the support apparatus 10 via the communication line (not shown). In particular, when the machine language object 27 with the identification information is downloaded, the identification information Is overwritten and stored as new identification information 43, and this machine language object 27 is stored as a new machine language object 44 in the storage device (not shown) or the like.

As in Patent Document 1, the support device 10 reads the identification information 43 as necessary, and performs download permission determination or the like.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state transition example of the management information (history information 11 + download information 12).

In FIG. 3, for the sake of simplicity, the download information 12 indicates only the download information 12 corresponding to one arbitrary PLC 1.
First, when the source code 26 of a new program that is not an updated version is created, identification information is assigned during the compilation process, and this identification information is registered in the history information 11 as generation '1'. At the time of new registration in the history information 11, the download state corresponding to the newly registered identification information 11b is set to “unused” for all the PLCs. As described above, FIG. 3 shows only one PLC 1. For example, in the example of FIG. 1, all four PLCs 1 a to 1 d are “unused”.

  As described above, “unused” means that the program of the identification information 11b is scheduled to be downloaded at the next update of the PLC 1, but in the example of FIG. Before the above, the case where the program is updated is shown. In this case, the identification information ‘0000-0001’ is registered in the history information 11 as the generation ‘2’ when compiling the updated program. Furthermore, “unused” is registered in the download information 12 corresponding to this. Further, in the download information 12 of the existing generation (here, only generation “1”), “unused” is changed to “used”.

  As described above, “used” means that the program will not be downloaded to the PLC 1 thereafter. There may be a program that is “used” without being downloaded to the PLC 1.

  It is assumed that the next program update of the PLC 1 is performed in the above state. This is arbitrarily designated by the user, for example, but is not limited to this example. Therefore, in this example, the updated program of the generation “2” is downloaded to the PLC 1 together with the identification information “0000-0001”. Accordingly, the download information 12 corresponding to the identification information “0000-0001” is changed from “unused” to “in use”.

  After that, every time a new updated program is created, new identification information is additionally registered in the history information 11 together with a new generation along with the compilation process. It is assumed that the download information 12 associated with 11b is “unused”. Further, the download information 12 of the existing generation that is “unused” is changed to “used”.

  Further, every time the program of the PLC 1 is updated, the latest generation update program at that time (in other words, the update program in which the download information 12 corresponding to the identification information 11b is “unused”). ) Together with the identification information is downloaded to the PLC 1, and the download information 12 is changed from “unused” to “in use”. Further, the download information 12 of the old generation that has been “in use” until then is changed from “in use” to “used”.

  In the illustrated example, after the update program of the generation '2' is downloaded to the PLC 1, the update program is created many times on the support device 10 side, and management information (history information 11+ as described above) is created each time. It is assumed that the download information 12) has been updated. In the meantime, the program update of the PLC 1 is not performed.

  Thus, as shown in the figure, the download information 12 corresponding to the generation '2' remains in the “in use” state, and corresponds to the latest generation 'm' identification information '0000-000m'. The download information 12 to be used is “unused”, and for all other generations, the download information 12 is “used”.

  In this state, when the program update of the PLC 1 is performed, the download information 12 of the generation “2” is changed from “in use” to “used”, and the download information 12 of the generation “m” is changed to “ It will be changed from “Unused” to “In Use”.

  Thereafter, when an updated version program of generation “m + 1” is created, the download information 12 corresponding to the latest generation “m + 1” identification information “0000-000m + 1” is “unused” for all the controllers. Will be.

  As described above, the transition of the download information 12 shown in FIG. 3 is shown for only one arbitrary controller, but in practice, the download information is similarly transitioned for the other controllers. . Then, by determining whether or not the download information 12 of all the controllers is “used” for each generation, it is determined whether or not the identification information of that generation can be deleted. That is, when the download information 12 corresponding to an arbitrary generation is “used” for all the controllers, the information regarding this generation is deemed unnecessary and is deleted. For example, as described above, the records of the generation 11a and the identification information 11b that are to be deleted are deleted from the history information 11. Thereby, the data amount of the history information 11 can be reduced. However, the present invention is not limited to this example, and the record corresponding to the deletion target identification information 11b in the download information 12 may be deleted together. Thereby, the data amount of management information can be reduced.

  For example, when the management information (history information 11 + download information 12) is in the state shown in FIG. 4, for example, it is determined that the generation “1” is a deletion target. Thereby, for example, the identification information (0000-0000) of the generation “1” and the corresponding download information 12 (all “used”) are deleted. Thereby, the data amount of management information can be reduced.

  Further, even if the information of the generation “1” is deleted from the history information 11 in the state shown in the figure, no problem occurs in the operation of the invention of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1. In the case of the invention of Patent Document 1, basically, what is required is “in use” and “unused” information. Therefore, in the state of the example of FIG. There will be no problem. Note that, in the example of FIG. 4, for example, when even generation “2” is deleted, there is no problem with the PLCs 1a, 1b, and 1d, but there is a problem with the PLC 1c.

  Here, in the support device 10, as described above, the management information is updated for each compilation process or when the program update (download) of an arbitrary PLC 1 is performed. This will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  The update process of the download information 12 at the time of compiling is generally set to “unused” for the newly registered identification information 11b as described in FIG. On the other hand, “unused” is changed to “used”. In this case, since the newly generated identification information is registered in the history information 11 and affects all the controllers, it is necessary to perform the above process on all the controllers.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of download information update processing during compilation.
Note that at the start of the illustrated process, it is assumed that the update of the history information 11 accompanying the compilation process has already been executed. Accordingly, new identification information 11b is added to the history information 11, but the download information 12 corresponding to the new identification information 11b is in an unregistered state. In this state, execution of the process of FIG. 5 is started.

  In the process of FIG. 5, every time any one piece of identification information 11b is read from the history information 11 (step S11), the process of steps S12 to S19 is repeatedly executed with this as a processing target.

  First, it is determined whether the identification information 11b to be processed is the new identification information added this time (step S12). This can be determined because, for example, the download information 12 corresponding to the new identification information 11b is not yet registered as described above, but other methods may be used.

  When the identification information 11b to be processed is the new identification information (step S12, YES), the download information 12 corresponding to the identification information 11b is set to “unused” for all the PLCs 1 (step S12). S13, S14). And it returns to step S11 and determines the next process target. However, if the processing has been executed for all generations (step S15, YES), this processing ends.

  On the other hand, when the processing target is existing identification information (step S12, NO), one of the download information 12 corresponding to the processing target identification information 11b is read (step S16), and the downloaded download information is read out. When 12 (download state) is “unused” (step S17, YES), this “unused” is changed to “used” (step S18), and the process proceeds to step S19. On the other hand, if the read download state is other than “unused” (in the case of “in use” or “used”) (NO in step S17), the process proceeds to step S19 without performing anything. .

  If there is unprocessed download information 12 in the download information 12 corresponding to the identification information 11b to be processed (NO in step S19), the process returns to step S16 and the above process is repeated. When the process is executed for all the download information 12 to be processed (step S19, YES), the process proceeds to step S15.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of download information update processing when updating an arbitrary PLC program.
When downloading an arbitrary program to an arbitrary PLC 1, as described above, the download state corresponding to the latest generation identification information in the download information 12 related to the download target PLC 1 changes from “unused” to “ Change to “In Use”. Further, in the download information 12 related to the PLC 1, the download state corresponding to the identification information of the program being operated on the PLC 1 is changed from “in use” to “used”.

  Further, as described above, in this case, only the download information 12 related to the download target PLC 1 is the update target. For this purpose, for example, the controller information 13 is used to specify the target controller by an identifier (for example, a MAC address) read from the target controller, and the download information 12 related to the target controller is set as the update target.

  In accordance with this example, in the processing example of FIG. 6, first, the controller to be processed is identified by reading the identifier (for example, the PLC-ID) from the PLC 1 to which the program is to be downloaded (step S21).

  Then, it is determined whether or not the PLC 1 to be downloaded is a new controller (step S22). For example, if the read identifier is not registered in the controller information 13, it is regarded as a new controller. Of course, in this case, the download information 12 relating to this controller does not exist.

As a result, when the download target is a new controller (step S22, YES), the processing of the following step S23 is executed.
In the process of step S23, for example, first, the read identifier is registered in the PLC-ID 13b of the controller information 13. At that time, registration is performed in association with the arbitrarily generated PLC name 13a. Furthermore, the download information 12 relating to the new controller is newly created using the PLC name 13a. The download information 12 is, for example, “unused” only for the latest generation at that time, and all other generations are “used”. Here, for example, “1a” in the PLC name 13a means “PLC1a” in the download information 12.

  When the processing in step S23 is executed, the latest generation identification information 11b is read from the history information 11 (step S27), and the download state of the latest generation in the download information 12 related to the download target PLC 1 is set to “unused”. To “in use” (step S28).

  Although not particularly illustrated, a process for downloading the updated version program corresponding to the identification information read out in step S27, that is, the latest updated program at the present time, together with the identification information to the PLC 1 to be downloaded. Etc. are also executed.

  On the other hand, when the PLC 1 to be downloaded is not a new controller (step S22, NO), the PLC name 13a corresponding to the identifier read from the controller information 13 is acquired and the corresponding download information 12 is specified. (Step S24). If the acquired PLC name 13a = “PLC1c” is assumed, the download information 12 in the second column from the right in the figure is specified in the example of FIG.

  Then, the identification information is read from the PLC 1 to be downloaded, and it is determined whether or not it is registered in the history information 11 (step S25). Although not particularly shown, if it is not registered in the history information 11, downloading is not permitted as in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1. Thus, for example, this process is interrupted / terminated without moving to step S26.

  On the other hand, if the read identification information is registered in the history information 11, after confirming that the download state corresponding to this identification information is “in use”, this “in use” is changed to “used”. (Step S26). Thereafter, the processes in steps S27 and S28 are executed, and this process is terminated.

If the download state corresponding to the read identification information is not “in use”, for example, an error display is performed, but the present invention is not limited to this example.
Although the programmable controller system of this example has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, in the example described above, whether or not all the download states corresponding to the identification information are “used” is the determination method related to the deletion of the identification information, etc. The determination method is not limited to this example. For example, whether or not the controller number 51 shown in FIG. 7 has become “0” may be a determination method related to deletion of identification information or the like. This will be described below with reference to a specific example of FIG.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 7, the controller number 51 is stored and managed in association with each generation (each identification information) of the history information 11. The controller number 51 may be regarded as another example of the download information 12. That is, it is assumed that one example of the download information 12 is the above-described download state (“used”, “used”, “unused”), and another example of the download information 12 is the number of controllers 51 illustrated. It doesn't matter.

  The number of controllers is, for example, “NULL” in the initial state, and becomes “1” when the program of the generation (identification information) is downloaded to the PLC 1 for the first time. That is, when a program of an arbitrary generation (identification information) is downloaded to the PLC 1, if the number of controllers in that generation is in the NULL state, the controller is set to “1”, and if it is not NULL, the number of controllers is incremented by +1.

  Therefore, after the controller becomes “1”, the controller number 51 is incremented by +1 each time the program of that generation (identification information) is downloaded to the PLC 1. On the other hand, every time the processing corresponding to step S26 is performed, the controller number 51 of the generation (identification information 11b) is decremented by -1. That is, the controller number 51 corresponding to each generation (identification information 11b) means the number of PLCs 1 that are considered to hold and operate the program of that generation (identification information) at any given time. It will be.

  Accordingly, the identification information 11b of the generation whose controller number 51 becomes zero is determined to be the identification information of the old generation that is no longer necessary, and is deleted. At this time, information on the corresponding number of controllers 51 may be deleted together.

  As described above, the method may be various. Basically, based on the download information 12, the program of the identification information 11b is “not currently used and will not be downloaded in the future” for all the controllers. When the determination is made, the identification information 11b and the like may be regarded as unnecessary identification information and deleted. The download information 12 includes, for example, the download state and the number of controllers 51, but is not limited to these examples.

  Alternatively, when downloading a program to an arbitrary controller, if the download is not permitted by the determination process of Patent Document 1, the download information 12 related to this controller may be deleted. In this case, the program update and the like of this controller should be performed by another support apparatus 10, and information about this controller is no longer necessary.

  As described above, in the programmable controller system of the present method, for example, the support device indicates a download state (unused, in use, used) to each controller for each generation-managed identification information. Download information is stored and managed, and the download information is updated each time a new update program is compiled or each time the update program is downloaded to an arbitrary controller. Then, the identification information of the generation whose download status of all the controllers is “used” is deleted.

  According to such a programmable controller system of this method and its support device, a system that can update a program without stopping a running controller by managing a history of unique identification information generated for each compilation The identification information can be determined and deleted as it becomes unnecessary. As a result, the history of identification information can be prevented from increasing, so that unstable operations such as heavy operation are eliminated, and comfortable operability is provided without causing any additional anxiety to the user. can do.

1 (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d) PLC (programmable controller)
10 Support device 11 History information 11a Generation 11b Identification information 12 Download information 13 Controller information 13a PLC name 13b PLC-ID
21 user interface function unit 22 compiler unit 23 identification information generation unit 24 identification information management unit 25 communication function unit 26 source code 27 machine language object 30 management information storage unit 41 communication function unit 42 program execution management function unit 43 identification information 44 machine language Object 51 Number of controllers

Claims (9)

A programmable controller system having a support device and a plurality of controllers,
The support device includes:
Compile means for compiling the controller program and generating corresponding unique identification information each time an arbitrary program that is a program for the controller or an updated version program thereof is created;
History information storage means for storing history information for generation management of the identification information;
Download information storage means for storing the download information to each controller related to the controller program corresponding to the identification information in association with each identification information of the history information;
Unnecessary information deletion means for determining unnecessary identification information in the history information based on the download information and deleting the identification information from the history information;
A programmable controller system comprising:   When the unnecessary information deleting means determines, based on the download information, that the controller program corresponding to the identification information is not currently used and will not be downloaded in the future, the identification The programmable controller system according to claim 1, wherein information is the unnecessary identification information. The download information is information indicating which state is “in use”, “unused”, or “used” for each controller for each identification information,
The programmable information according to claim 2, wherein the unnecessary information deleting unit determines the identification information as the unnecessary identification information when all the states corresponding to arbitrary identification information are “used”. Controller system.   The “unused” indicates that the controller is scheduled to be downloaded at the next program update of the controller, the “used” indicates that the controller is in use, and the “used” indicates that the 4. The programmable controller system according to claim 3, wherein the programmable controller system indicates that no data is downloaded to the controller.   The support device is state update means for updating the state, and adds the identification information to the history information as the controller program is compiled, and the state corresponding to the identification information 5. The programmable controller system according to claim 3, further comprising a state updating unit that sets all of the existing “unused” to “used”, and sets all the existing “unused” to “used”. The download information is, for each identification information, the number of controllers that are considered to be currently holding and operating a controller program corresponding to the identification information,
The programmable controller system according to claim 1, wherein the unnecessary information deleting unit determines the identification information as the unnecessary identification information when the number of controllers corresponding to arbitrary identification information becomes zero. . The support apparatus further includes a download unit that downloads the controller program together with the identification information to an arbitrary controller,
The controller is
Storage means for storing the downloaded controller program and its identification information;
Program execution means for executing a controller program stored in the storage means;
The programmable controller system according to claim 1, wherein the programmable controller system includes: The support device includes:
The identification information stored in the storage means of the controller to be downloaded of the controller program is acquired, and if the acquired identification information is not included in the history information, the download by the download means is permitted. 8. The programmable controller system according to claim 7, further comprising permission means for disabling. The support device in a programmable controller system having a support device and a plurality of controllers,
Compile means for compiling the controller program and generating corresponding unique identification information each time an arbitrary program that is a program for the controller or an updated version program thereof is created;
History information storage means for storing history information for generation management of the identification information;
Download information storage means for storing the download information to each controller related to the controller program corresponding to the identification information in association with each identification information of the history information;
Unnecessary information deletion means for determining unnecessary identification information in the history information based on the download information and deleting the identification information from the history information;
An apparatus for supporting a programmable controller system, comprising: