JP2001282501A - Programmable display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain paperless operation by obtaining information on a manual or the like from a programmable display device. SOLUTION: The programmable display device 1 has a display processing part 17 for performing the display processing of a user screen for displaying the state of a target system or the like and a browser 18 for reading wed contents in a host computer 9 connected to Internet 7. The web contents can be read with the browser 8 in a production site where the display device 1 is installed. The display function (display task) of the display processing part 17 and the reading function (reading task) of the browser 18 can be switched by a user's request on a multitask OS. Thus, ever when the display device 1 is in an on-line state displaying the operation state of a PLC 3 or the like, the browser 18 is started and a manual or the like can be read as the web contents.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a programmable display device which provides an environment in which contents provided via the Internet can be browsed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A programmable display is an operation display having a dot display screen, an operation input switch, an interface with a host controller, a program memory for controlling operation input on the screen, and the like. is there. Generally, a programmable display performs a graphic display, so that it can be provided with functions such as an operation panel, a switch, and an indicator light, and various monitors for management such as an operation status of a control target device and work instructions, It has a function as a terminal for inputting setting values for devices, and is used in a wide range of applications.

For this reason, programmable displays have been installed not only in production sites but also in various facilities and equipment. Further, since the programmable display device is provided with a display unit and an operation unit integrally and is reduced in size and weight, installation of the programmable display device is less restricted and easy to introduce.

[0004]

On the other hand, at the production site or the like, when the maintenance of the apparatus is performed, the manual of the apparatus may be referred to. However, since paper dust is generated in a clean room such as a semiconductor factory, a conventionally bound manual cannot be brought in. For this reason, only special manuals, such as a manual laminated and a manual made of plastic paper, could be brought into the clean room so that paper dust was not generated.

It is also conceivable that a personal computer on which a manual is installed is set on site or brought in. However, for this purpose, it is necessary to prepare a computer and secure a place for installing the computer, which may affect the production cost.

[0006] On the other hand, in such a production site, a programmable display as described above is often installed for monitoring and operating the apparatus. Such a programmable display includes a manual for the apparatus. There is no function that can provide such information.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a programmable display which can easily obtain information such as a manual even at such a production site. I have.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a programmable display device according to the present invention has a display function for displaying the operation status of a controlled device, and a display function for controlling the operation of the controlled device. A programmable display device having an operation function of performing an operation, in which an address of a host device connected to a network is inquired of an address registration destination, and information stored in the host device corresponding to the address can be read and browsed. It is characterized by having a browsing means for converting into a state.

In the above arrangement, the browsing means inquires the address registration destination of the address of the host device storing the content to be browsed, for example, in the form of a domain name or the like.
When the address registration destination returns the address, the browsing unit accesses the host device corresponding to the address, and transmits desired information to an HTML (HyperText Markup Language).
ge) Read in the form of a document, etc., and convert it to a state that can be browsed. As a result, desired contents and the like can be browsed on the display unit (display) of the programmable display.

In the above-mentioned programmable display,
It is preferable to include a switching unit that switches between processing for realizing the display function and processing for realizing the browsing function by the browsing unit. In this way, by switching between the two processes by the switching unit, for example, when the operation of the control target device is displayed by the processing of the display function, when an alarm is displayed on the screen due to an abnormality of the control target device, By switching to the processing of the browsing function, it is possible to realize the processing for the alarm with online information.

Alternatively, in the above-described programmable display, the programmable display is connected to a common network, and a logical port for the common network is:
It is preferable that the display function and the browsing function of the browsing unit are provided independently. By making the logical ports independent in this way, it is possible to connect the display function and the browsing function to individual partners using one line.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The programmable display 1 according to the present embodiment has an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU, and controls the operation of each unit of the programmable display 1 by these. Further, the programmable display 1 includes a CPU 11,
Memory unit 12, interface unit (I / F in the figure) 1
3, 14, an input unit 15, a display unit 16, a display processing unit 17, and a browser 18.

The CPU 11 performs various kinds of data processing in order to perform processing such as display control of a user screen by a display processing unit 17 described later and browsing by a browser 18. The memory unit 12 includes a RAM, a ROM, a flash ROM, a VRA
A memory such as M is provided to store a user screen created by a drawing editor (not shown) and to provide a work area for various arithmetic processing.

The interface unit 13 is a LAN (Loca
l Area Network) 3 and a modem 4.

In the LAN 3 as a common network,
A DNS (Domain Name System) 5, a host computer 6, another programmable display 1, and the like are connected. The DNS 5 as an address registration destination is a database server that associates a domain name in the LAN 3 with an IP address. The host computer 6 is a computer device that has a server function of providing various services such as a database and also provides browsing contents.

The modem 4 is connected to the Internet 7 via a public communication line (not shown) by a dial-up connection method. The Internet 7 also has DNS
8, a host computer 9 and the like are connected. The DNS 8 as an address registration destination is a database server that associates a domain name on the Internet 7 with an IP address. The host computer 9 is a computer device that provides contents for browsing.

On the other hand, the interface unit 14
3 is connected to a dedicated network 10 for communication with the network 3. The PLC (programmable logic controller) 21 communicates via the dedicated network 10.
Data is exchanged between the display and the programmable display 1.

The input section 15 is constituted by an input device such as a touch panel for inputting on the display surface of the display section 16. For this reason, the display unit 16 is configured by a flat display element such as a liquid crystal panel or an EL panel.

The user memory 12 is a memory for storing a user screen created by the user with the above-mentioned drawing editor, and is composed of a flash ROM or the like.

The display processing unit 17 causes the display unit 16 to draw a user screen using a VRAM or the like based on the above-mentioned user screen. In the user screen, the above-described components and tags are combined with a background screen imitating the target system. In the user screen configured as described above, parts and tags move according to the operation of the input / output devices 22 and 23 connected to the PLC 21, and the operation status of the input device 22 and the output device 23 is visually recognized. Has been

The browser 18 is connected to the host computer 6 having an IP address and connected to the Internet 7.
9 is software for browsing the content stored in the content. The browser 18 is, for example, an HTTP (Hy
per Text Transfer Protocol) from a server device (not shown) connected to the Internet 7 in HTML.
A document such as a document is received and displayed on the display unit 16 in a browsable form. In addition, DNS5.8
When the DNS 18 is inquired about the domain name, the access order is set in the browser 18 so that the DNS 5 is first inquired, and if the IP address is not returned from the DNS 5, the DNS 8 is subsequently inquired.

The programmable display 1 includes a display processing unit 1
In order to simultaneously process the display function by the browser 7 and the browsing function by the browser 18 as tasks, as shown in FIG.
OS) 31 is installed. Display task 32
The browsing task 33 is executed on the operating system 31. The display task 32 and the browsing task 33 are assigned logical ports 34 and 35 divided by the LAN 3, respectively. Then, the display task 32 is connected to the LAN 3 as the programmable display 1 via the logical port 34 to which the logical port number “8080” is assigned, for example. On the other hand, the viewing task 33
Is connected to the host computer 9 on the Internet 7 via the logical port 35 to which the logical port number "8010" is assigned, or is connected to the DNS.
5 is connected to a host computer 6 on the LAN 3.

Each of the logical ports 34 and 35 is secured by a packet. DT (data packet), RR
(Receivable packet), CR (call request packet), CQ
In all packets used in the network layer such as (recovery request packet), not only the destination address but also the logical port number is written in the header. As a result, the packet itself specifies the logical ports 34 and 35.

As described above, the divided logical port 34.
By assigning 35 to the display task 32 and the browsing task 33, transmission paths are individually secured in the logical ports 34 and 35. Therefore, the display task 32
The browsing task 33 is connected to the host computers 6.9 while being connected to another terminal via the LAN 3. As a result, the display task 32 and the browsing task 33 are respectively connected to the individual counterparts.
Communication function is greatly improved.

The display task 32 and the browsing task 33 can be switched between each other. In a normal multitask OS, tasks are forcibly and periodically switched, but in the operating system 31, the two tasks 32 and 33 are switched in response to a user request. The switching is performed, for example, by operating a touch switch 36 as a switching unit provided on a user screen displayed on the display unit 16 of the programmable display 1.

By such task switching, for example, when an alarm is displayed on the user screen displayed on the programmable display 1 due to an abnormality in the target system or the like while the PLC 3 is operating, browsing from the display task 32 is performed. Switching to task 33 activates the browser screen. As a result, it is possible to check how to deal with an alarm on the browser screen in the online manual and perform necessary operations.

The browsing process by the browser 18 is executed as follows.

First, when the browser 18 accesses the DNS 5 via the LAN 3 and inquires of a desired domain name, the DNS 5 searches whether the domain name is registered. DNS5 is the IP corresponding to the domain name.
When the address is confirmed, it is returned to the browser 18. Upon acquiring the IP address, the browser 18 accesses a host device such as the host computer 6 corresponding to the IP address and requests browsing of the content. In response, the host device transmits an HTML document of the content to the browser 18. Then, in the programmable display device 1, when the browser 18 acquires the HTML document, the browser document is translated and provided for browsing.

If the above domain name has not been registered in the DNS 5, the browser 18 inquires the DNS 8 of the above domain name through a dial-up connection via the modem 4. Similarly, the DNS 8 searches whether or not the domain name is registered and, when confirming the IP address corresponding to the domain name, returns it to the browser 18. The browser 18 accesses a host device such as the host computer 9 corresponding to the acquired IP address and requests browsing of the content. In response, the host device transmits an HTML document of the content to the browser 18. And the programmable display 1
Then, when the browser 18 acquires the HTML document, the HTML document is translated and provided for browsing.

As described above, by using the browser 18, it is possible to browse the contents of the host device connected to the LAN 3 or the Internet 7. Therefore, not only the contents in the company or factory where the LAN 3 is built, but also the contents provided on the Internet 7 can be browsed from the programmable display 1.

As a result, when browsing a manual or the like becomes possible as described above, paperless operation can be achieved. In particular, even in a clean room such as a semiconductor manufacturing factory, if the programmable display 1 is installed, it is not necessary to bring in manuals at all. Also,
For example, if an intranet is constructed in the same factory or facility, from the site where the programmable display 1 is installed,
Necessary information can be obtained without installing a personal computer for browsing.

[0033]

As described above, the programmable display of the present invention has a display function for displaying the operation status of the controlled device and an operation function for performing an operation for controlling the operation of the controlled device. And a browsing means for inquiring the address registration destination of the address of the host device connected to the network, reading information stored in the host device corresponding to the address, and converting the information into a browsable state. .

Thus, desired contents and the like can be browsed on the programmable display. Therefore, paperless operation can be easily achieved by using a programmable display installed at a production site or the like and obtaining information such as manuals online without using a separate computer for viewing. It has the effect of being able to.

Further, the above-mentioned programmable display device is provided with switching means for switching between processing for realizing the display function and processing for realizing the browsing function by the browsing means. When the operation of the control target device is displayed by the processing of the function, when a certain operation is required, information on the operation can be obtained by the processing of the switched browsing function. Therefore, there is an effect that the operability of the programmable display can be further improved.

Alternatively, the programmable display device is connected to a common network, and a logical port for the common network is provided independently for the display function and the browsing function by the browsing means. The display function and the browsing function can be respectively connected to individual partners using a line. Therefore, there is an effect that the communication function of the programmable display can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a network system including a programmable display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a communication system divided into a display task and a browsing task executed by the programmable display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Programmable display 3 LAN (Common network) 5.8 DNS (Address registration destination) 6.9 Host computer (Host device) 17 Display processing part 18 Browser (Browsing means) 22 Input device (Control target device) 23 Output device ( Control target device) 32 Display task 33 Viewing task 34/35 Logical port 36 Touch switch (switching means)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kentaro Iekkoya 8-2-252 Nanko-Higashi, Suminoe-ku, Osaka-shi Digital Co., Ltd. -2-52 Digital Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 5B069 AA01 CA19 5B089 GB04 JA22 LB14 MC08

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A programmable display device having a display function for displaying an operation status of a control target device and an operation function for performing an operation for controlling the operation of the control target device, the host device being connected to a network. A programmable display device comprising: a browsing unit for inquiring of an address of a device to an address registration destination, and reading information stored in a host device corresponding to the address and converting the information into a browsable state. 2. The programmable display according to claim 1, further comprising switching means for switching between processing for realizing said display function and processing for realizing a browsing function by said browsing means. vessel. 3. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the programmable display device is connected to a common network, and a logical port for the common network is provided independently for the display function and the browsing function by the browsing means. The programmable display device according to 1.