DD291862A5 - METHOD FOR AUTOMATED PRODUCTION OF AN AUTOMATED CONTROL METHOD FOR AUTOMATED SYSTEMS - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for the automated production of an automatic control method from incomplete or redundant specifications by means of a digital computer for automated systems of a method class using stored process objects and templates. According to the invention, the object is achieved by automatically constructing frames in memory from descriptive specifications, filling up existing gaps with suitable stored process objects, and using redundant specifications for testing the recognized method. In the absence of error, a control method and a test environment are automatically generated using a class-dependent template. The production process learns from the mesz values of past applications. {Procedure; automated production; automatic control procedure; automated system; Process class; Process template; Exam; Specification; Digital computer; Test environment; Learn}

Description

Title of the invention

Method for the automated production of an automatic control method for automated systems.

Field of application of the invention

The method is advantageously applicable to computer-aided automated systems of a defined class of similar automation tasks, to provide, from an incomplete and partially redundant (redundant) specification of a control method (operations, operands, and their order), directly or in several steps, a computer control procedure produce.

The method for the automated production of control methods can also be used for the automated production of products. Thus, incomplete product specifications of a product class can be used to generate complete control programs for a corresponding automated production.

Characteristic of the known state of the art

A continuous automation of the development of control methods should be impossible today according to the prior art (for example, Rechentechnik / Datenverarbeitung 26 (1989) 8, p.

By using artificial intelligence systems and automated knowledge processing, complex design tasks will be automated in the future. This aim is served by research without any practical solutions known in the field of reference (see Puppe, F .: Introduction to Expert Systems - Berlin, Heidelberg, Paris, Tokyo, New York: Springer, 1988).

On the other hand, it is known that clearly and completely specified method, z. B. from procedural specifications, etc. by transformations / translations on computers (host computer) generate executable control methods for computer (target computer).

Known methods use for the production of methods (in a production phase on the host computer) and for the use of the method in automated systems (in the payload phase on the target computer) identical or different, near or distant computers and stored process elements, including error checking steps.

It is known that product and process knowledge can be stored and processed by means of frames in computers (Pötschke, P., J. Lunze: Artificial Intelligence and Automation Technology - Berlin: Verlag Technik, 1989).

Object of the invention

The aim of the invention is to produce by a method on a conventional computer much faster and in better quality, an automatic control method (and thus automatic controls) and to avoid the deficiencies of the prior art described. This is especially true in cases of incomplete and superfluous descriptive specifications (not the procedural steps - the how, but the behavioral characteristics of the procedure - the what - are given). Gaps in the specification designate missing statements about objects, relations and functions in existing structures; they are to be automatically filled with suitable, stored and reusable process objects of the class of the control method after an adaptation process. By using even the superfluous specifications, it is possible to produce and validate correct procedures with greater certainty. The method uses frequency measurements of past applications to make its operation more efficient in evaluating past uses (the method "learns").

Explanation of the essence of the invention

The invention solves the problem of providing an efficient method for the automated production of a control method (operators, operands and their order) for automated systems of a class of control methods from incomplete and redundant descriptive specifications, including testing steps and use of stored procedural objects. In addition, measurements of past process uses are to be used for its improvement. As is known, produced automated control methods of a defined class of similar automation tasks can be clearly described by features and relations (descriptive specification). Conversely, under certain conditions, the automation process can be automatically generated from predetermined, even incomplete (incomplete) characteristics.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by the use of descriptive specifications (patterns) with the sequence of steps: input threshold, recognition step, completion step (with pattern comparison) and validation step, generation step of the method (and possibly a user manual, a test environment) and possibly with process adaptation. Descriptive specifications preferably consist of characteristic test examples (patterns) which have been provided with markings and can thus be automatically decomposed into significant sample parts. The steps include:

1st input step

The following are entered: descriptive specifications in the form of characteristic and clearly marked test samples (samples) for the automatic control method, which only partially (incompletely) describe them, additional test specifications (redundant specifications), and the class of the control method and constraints for the Completion of the incomplete specification.

2nd detection step

The entered specifications are transformed into corresponding frames containing the control information (with operators, operands and their order) and test values for the later generation of the control method and the test environment.

3. Verification step

If objects are missing in the frames for later generation (gaps), an attempt is made to complete these frame gaps with process objects (default objects, defaults) present in a stored set of process objects with their application conditions. Validation step:

It is tested whether all the entered specifications and test specifications have equality of the corresponding frame objects. In case of inequality, an error flag is set. If the error flag is set, the method terminates after the cause of the error has been output.

4. The search for suitable process objects for the gap filling is determined by entered boundary conditions. The number Vj of the process objects found per frame gap j is counted. If all permissible process objects have been screened and the number of matching frames found is Vj = 0, an error flag is set.

If Vj = 1, appropriate variable assignments are made and the frame gap is filled with the values of the found process object.

If Vj> 1, an attempt is made to additionally obtain a clear assignment with the frames determined from the redundant specifications, otherwise an error flag is set.

5th generation step

If no error flag has been set, an automatic control method is generated by generating the procedural text parts with their operations, operands and their order from the frames using assigned functions and under control of a stored structure (preferably as an ordered tree or template) to the finished process text and stored, this process being determined by the input class of control methods and the host and target computers used.

6. Generating step of the operating instructions

If a corresponding control value is present in memory and no error flag has been set, an operating manual for the automatic control method is generated by generating the text blocks of the operating instructions from the frames by means of assigned functions and these under the control of a stored structure structure of the manual (preferably as an ordered tree or template) to the finished instruction and stored, this process being determined by the input class of the control method and the host and target computers used.

7. Generation step of the test environment

If a corresponding control value is present in the memory and no error flag has been set, the width of test examples contained in the frame are used to generate a test environment on the selected target computer with which it can be automatically checked by comparison on the target computer c produced automatic control method as the entered Testbeispieie behaves.

8. Process adaptation

If a corresponding control value is present in the memory, the number of process objects used for filling gaps (in the completion step) is counted per process object and stored permanently from an input time. In the case of later filling of gaps, the search for suitable stored process objects uses the stored number as priority (the largest first) or, before the gap filling, makes a corresponding sorting of the process objects according to the type of the control method.

embodiment

The invention is explained below with reference to two exemplary embodiments (the examples are greatly simplified for reasons of space):

Example 1:

For an automated system, a binary control procedure is required whose behavior is incompletely described by the following descriptive specification in the form of a table (sample 1) and entered into the host computer:

♦ ia> i #.

The input variables are highlighted, the result sizes are marked in bold. The ♦ mean start characters per line, # the end of the line.

The class of the control method is entered by a parameter (the class includes, for example, the binary operations NOT, OR, AND, identity =). As a constraint for the completion, a value is input that input result constants are each in one line and the lines are independent from each other. the frame:

EXAMPLE_NR = 1

PROC_CLASS = BOOLE

LINE = 1

IN_FIELD_NR = 1

IN TYPE = BINARY

IN-VALUE = 1

OUT-FIELD-NR = 1

OUT TYPE = BINARY

OUT_VALUE = O

OPERATION =?

In the completion step, an attempt is made to fill in the missing entry for the operation (picture gap) by searching for a 2-digit operation in the given set of operations of the selected class of the control method. The operation NOT is found. It is further checked whether this NOT operation fills the relevant frame gap after corresponding variable assignments from the frame. Thus, the number of found process objects for the gap 1, so V1 = 1, and the corresponding frame gap is filled with dom operation name NOT (filled).

Similarly, from pattern 1, the remaining operations for filling the frame are recognized for the other two lines of the descriptive specification. This results in the right-wing operations:

IN-VALUE OUT-VALUE OPERATION

O 1 O AND

10 1 OR

The detected operations can not be validated because no test specification has been entered for control (validation step). Since no error flag has been set, the generation of the control method / procedural text for the specified target computer (which executes the input / output operations READ (), WRITE () and the result statement: = and NOT, OR, AND) according to a stored template, takes place in the generation step, which prescribes a sequence of the procedural text modules for input, processing, output per specified line. The text modules are generated with assigned functions from the frames. The generated process text sounds, for example:

(The variables E1, E2, E3, E4, E5 and A1, A2, A3 are BINARY, the values O and 1 are permissible) READ (ED, ...

A1: = N0TE1; ...

WRITE (AD;

READ (E2, E3); ...

A2: = E2ANDE3; ...

WRITE (A2);

READ (E4, E5); ...

A3: = E4ANDE5; ...

WRITE (A3);

The dots indicate more parts of the process, eg. As for the positioning of input / output, resulting from the respective frames.

If a corresponding control value has been entered to generate a user manual, a user manual is produced by For example, the name entered as the control value for the method produced is entered at the intended locations of the text template.

If a corresponding control value for generating a test environment has been entered, an addition / modification to the above process text is generated from the frame, which generates the input values from the pattern instead of the READ operation:

E1: = 1; E 2: = O, E3: = 1, E5: = O and after calculating the values for A 1, A2, A3, check whether the following applies according to the specified pattern 1: A1 = OandA2 = 0andA3 = 1.

If the control word for the process adaptation is present, the number of process objects used in the filling is further counted per method object for the class of the control method and stored in each case, that is for the

OPERATION COUNTER

NOT 1 ^%

AND 1

OR 1

Identity 0

For future completions, the indentity would last be tested for this class of control procedure (because it is the smallest frequency of use).

Belsplel'2

(This example differs from Example 1 by an additional test specification):

Predetermined z. B. another pattern 2, which differs from pattern 1 by other value assignments

The recognition and completion step leads to the same result (same operations). This is determined during the derivation step (pattern 2 is superfluous for specification, it is used for automatic check against pattern 1).

Another type of test specification is when the operations specified by example in Example 1 are additionally indicated directly

LINE OPERATION

1 NOT

2 OR

3 AND.

This test specification yields, according to the method, a test pattern deviating from the frame identified from the pattern 1 (different operations for lines 2 and 3), therefore an error flag is set and the method terminates with an error message indicating the cause of the error.

Claims (8)

A method for the automated production of an automatic control method for automated systems, the production being carried out with a digital computer (host computer) for a possibly different digital computer (target computer), and using interactively stored or stored specifications of the control system and automatic production control values, and that stored process objects are used, and that three separate interfaces are set up (1. for the input of the specifications and the control values (production interface on the host computer), 2. for the use of the automatic control method (user interface on on the target computer) and 3. for the construction and adaptation of the method (adaptation section parts on the host computer), characterized in that preferably descriptive specifications in the form of characteristic and clearly marked test examples (sample) f the automatic control method which only partially (incompletely) describes it, and additional test specifications (redundant specifications) which are used to automatically check the descriptive specifications and the methods produced, as well as the class of the control method and constraints for completing the incomplete specification be entered (input step). 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the input specifications are transformed into corresponding frames and stored, which contain the control information (with operators, operands and their order) and test values for the later generation of the control method and the test environment, and that this Transformations are determined by the input class of the control method. (Detection step). 3. The method according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that, if missing in the frames objects for later generation (gaps), an attempt is made to fill this frame gap with process objects (standard objects, defaults) for the input class of the control method, wherein the procedural objects are stored with their conditions of use (completion step), and it is further tested whether all of the entered specifications and test specifications equality of the corresponding frame objects and that in case of inequality an error flag is set, and that at a set error flag, the method after issuing the cause of the error aborts (validation step). 4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the search for matching process objects for the gap filling is determined by the class of control methods and input boundary conditions, and that the number Vj of the yes frame gap j found (matching) process objects is counted, and that if all permissible process objects were screened and the number of found matching frames j = 0, an error criterion is set ^r ke, and that if Vj = 1, corresponding to variable assignments are made and the frame gap is filled with the values of the method object found, and that, if Vj <1, an attempt is made to obtain an unambiguous association with Vj = 1 in addition to the frames determined from the redundant specifications, otherwise an error flag is set. 5. The method according to claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, if no error flag was set, an automatic control method is generated by the procedural text parts are generated with their operations, operands and their order from the frames respectively by means of associated functions and under the Control of a stored structure structure (preferably as an ordered tree or template) to the finished Verfahrensstexl be put together and stored, this process being determined by the input class of the control method and the host and target computer used (generation step). 6. The method according to claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, if there is a corresponding control value in memory and no error flag has been set, an operating manual for the automatic control method is generated by the text modules of the operating instructions generated from the frames respectively by means of associated functions be and this under the Steuerui ι a stored structure structure of the manual (preferably as an ordered tree or template) put together to the finished instructions and This process is determined by the input class of the control method and tlie computer used (generation step of the operating instructions). 7, Method according to claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, if there is a corresponding control value in memory and no error flag has been set, the values of test examples contained in the frame are used to generate a test environment on the selected target computer, with the On the target computer can be checked automatically by comparison, whether the produced automatic control method behaves like the input test examples (generation step of the test environment). 8. The method according to claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, if a corresponding control value is present in the memory, from an input date in each case the number of filling the gap (in the completion step) process objects used per process object is counted and permanently stored, and that at later filling of gaps, the search for suitable stored procedural objects, the stored assigned number is used as a priority (the largest first) (method adaptation).