DE112019007840T5 - Programmable controller - Google Patents

Abstract

A programmable controller (1) comprises a memory unit (20) and a controller emulation unit (13). The storage unit (20) stores firmware and a control program to be executed by an emulated programmable controller and hardware information required for emulating the hardware of the emulated programmable controller. The controller emulation unit (13) emulates a hardware operation in the emulated programmable controller based on the hardware information. The control emulation unit (13) runs the firmware (211a) and the control program (221a) on the emulated hardware. The firmware and hardware information stored in the memory unit (20) can be modified in accordance with the emulated programmable controller.

Description

Area

The present invention relates to a programmable controller using a virtualization technique.

background

Programmable controllers, which are typically controllers used to control devices in manufacturing plants, execute device control programs created by users such as device manufacturers. A programmable controller is often replaced due to a malfunction or upgraded with a new product. Program specifications vary from product to product. For this reason, a new product that replaces a programmable controller cannot use the product to be controlled that was used before the replacement. It is therefore necessary to modify the control program for use with the new product.

Patent Document 1 discloses a process control device employing a virtualization technique for use in a control system for process control. Virtualization is a technique for running software intended for an existing system on new hardware. The process control device described in Patent Document 1 includes, on hardware, a virtualization unit operated in place of the hardware. In the process control device described in Patent Document 1, an operating system is reinstalled in the virtualization unit while keeping a used operating system functional. In addition, the same control program is installed and used as the control program on the newly installed operating system. The operation of the control program on the operating system used is compared with the operation of the control program on the newly installed operating system, whereby it is determined whether the control program works normally on the newly installed operating system. When the control program works normally on the newly installed OS, the newly installed OS is used, but when the control program does not work normally on the newly installed OS, the newly installed OS is stopped.

list of citations

patent literature

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-5258

short description

Technical problem

When replacing a programmable controller with another programmable controller, it is desirable that a control program executed in the previous or pre-replacement programmable controller is executed by the other or post-replacement programmable controller without any change of the control program. In programmable controllers, there are usually many different types of hardware architectures and many different types of firmware, i. h System software installed for various products. This means that in many cases the PLC used before the replacement and the PLC used after the replacement differ from each other in terms of hardware architecture and firmware. In the case of applying the process control device described in Patent Document 1 to the programmable controller used after replacement, the virtualization unit for emulating hardware needs to be modified for each programmable controller used before replacement. In particular, when the instruction set architecture of the emulated programmable controller differs from the instruction set architecture of the hardware in the controller that controls the virtualization unit, instruction set-level emulation is inevitable and different types of virtualization units must be specified. One possible approach to solving this problem is to provide programmable controllers comprising multiple types of virtualization units that emulate different hardware devices. Unfortunately, a problem with such a method is that it requires an enormous number of product types.

The present invention was made in view of the foregoing, and an object of the present invention is to provide a programmable controller which can use a control program of a previous programmable controller without modifying the control program and from the hardware and firmware of the previous programmable controller to be dependent if the previous programmable controller is replaced.

solution to the problem

In order to solve the problem and achieve the object described above, a programmable controller according to the present invention includes a memory unit and a controller emulation unit. The storage unit stores firmware and a control program to be executed by an emulated programmable controller and hardware information required for emulating the hardware of the emulated programmable controller. The controller emulation unit emulates the operation of the hardware in the emulated programmable controller based on the hardware information. The controller emulation unit runs the firmware and control program on the emulated hardware. The firmware and hardware information stored in the memory unit can be modified in accordance with the programmable controller being emulated.

Advantageous Effects of the Invention

A programmable controller according to the present invention allows a control program of a previous programmable controller to be used without modifying the control program and depending on the hardware and firmware of the previous programmable controller when replacing the previous programmable controller.

character list

• 1 12 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a programmable controller according to a first embodiment.
• 2 Fig. 12 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the relationship between blocks involved in the execution of a control program in the first embodiment.
• 3 Fig. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the control emulation unit and a storage area.
• 4 FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an emulation process performed in a programmable controller according to the first embodiment.
• 5 12 is a diagram showing an example of a method for converting a virtual programmable controller output into a real programmable controller output according to the first embodiment.
• 6 12 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a programmable controller according to a second embodiment.
• 7 FIG. 14 is a timing chart schematically showing an example of adjustment of the timing of an input/output update according to the second embodiment.
• 8th FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an emulation process in a programmable controller according to the second embodiment.
• 9 12 is a diagram showing an example of a method for converting a virtual output generated by emulation into a real output of a programmable controller according to the second embodiment.
• 10 12 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a programmable controller according to a third embodiment.
• 11 12 is a diagram showing an example of a method for converting a virtual output generated by emulation into a real output of a programmable controller according to the third embodiment.
• 12 14 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a programmable controller according to a fourth embodiment.
• 13 FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of timing when switching between multiple control emulation units operating on the same computing unit.

Description of Embodiments

In the following, a programmable controller according to embodiments of the present invention is described in detail with reference to the figures. It is noted that the embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of this invention.

The following embodiments are described using an example in which a The "post-swap" programmable controller emulates the operation of a "pre-swap" programmable controller when the "pre-swap" programmable controller is replaced. The "pre-replacement" programmable controller is therefore intended to be replaced with a programmable controller according to one of the embodiments of the present invention. In the following description, a programmable controller according to one of the embodiments is simply referred to as “programmable controller”, and a programmable controller to be replaced is referred to as “pre-replacement programmable controller”. Further, a virtualized “pre-exchange programmable controller” during the simulation of an operation of the “pre-exchange programmable controller” in the programmable controller is hereinafter referred to as “virtual controller”. In addition, the "pre-replacement programmable controller" is one of the emulated programmable controllers.

First embodiment

1 12 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a programmable controller according to the first embodiment. A programmable controller 1 includes an arithmetic unit 10, a memory unit 20, a communication interface unit 30 and an I/O interface unit 40. The arithmetic unit 10, the memory unit 20, the communication interface unit 30 and the I/O interface unit 40 are connected via a bus 50 connected to each other.

The processing unit 10 is a microprocessor or chipset that is configured according to a predetermined hardware architecture. The computing unit 10 is also referred to as a microcomputer. The computing unit 10 includes a virtualization unit 11. The virtualization unit 11 is a functional unit that emulates an execution environment in which a control program for a hardware device of another type of programmable controller 1 is executed on the programmable controller 1 hardware.

The virtualization unit 11 comprises a management unit 12, a control emulation unit 13, a mapping information generation unit 15 and a memory mapped I/O (input/output) area 14.

The management unit 12 is a functional unit that manages software executed by the computing unit 10 . In the first embodiment, the management unit 12 is an operating system (OS) having a scheduling function that allows multiple pieces of software to be executed in parallel.

The controller emulation unit 13 is a functional unit that emulates the hardware operation in a pre-swap programmable controller. The controller emulation unit 13 is also a functional unit that reads firmware and a control program to be used by the pre-exchange programmable controller from the storage unit 20 and executes the read firmware and the read control program on an emulated hardware. The pre-exchange programmable controller emulated by the controller emulation unit 13 is the virtual controller. The controller emulation unit 13 executes the firmware, executing instructions using hardware information (described later) related to the pre-replacement programmable controller, and emulating an operation of peripheral devices via the microcomputer in the pre-replacement programmable controller. The control emulation unit 13 also executes a control program on the firmware.

The memory mapped I/O area 14 is an area for virtualizing an input to and an output from the peripheral device via the microcomputer, the input and output being performed when the control emulation unit 13 emulates the firmware and the control program. In one example, memory mapped I/O region 14 is a virtualized input/output control register that resides in the programmable pre-swap controller microcomputer. Addresses are assigned to the memory mapped I/O area 14 as an emulated memory area.

The mapping information generation unit 15 is a functional unit that generates input/output mapping information that matches an input/output number of an input/output port of the programmable controller 1 with an input/output number of an input/output port of the pre-exchange programmable control linked. The mapping information generation unit 15 stores the generated input/output mapping information in the input/output mapping information storage unit 24 of the storage unit 20. In an example, the mapping information generation unit 15 generates the input/output mapping information such that the input -/Output number in the pre-swap programmable controller corresponds to the I/O number of programmable controller 1.

Referring to the I/O number of the control program, in an example, the mapping information generation unit links 15 also the input/output number in the control program, i.e. the input/output number in the pre-exchange programmable controller, with an input/output number of the programmable controller 1.

The storage unit 20 includes a firmware storage unit 21, a control program storage unit 22, a hardware information storage unit 23, and the input/output mapping information storage unit 24. The storage unit 20, which is a device that stores data stored therein can overwrite, is a non-volatile storage device such. B. a hard disk unit or a solid state drive (SSD). In addition, the storage unit 20 may include a volatile storage device such as random access memory (RAM) to load a program therein or temporarily store data therein when the computing unit 10 performs processing.

The firmware storage unit 21 is a functional unit for storing firmware to be executed by the pre-replacement programmable controller. Note that the pre-swap programmable controller is one of the emulated programmable controllers. It is further noted that the firmware storage unit 21 stores the firmware in a binary data format. The control program storage unit 22 is a functional unit for storing the control program to be executed by the pre-exchange programmable controller.

The hardware information storage unit 23 is a functional unit for storing the hardware information required for emulating the hardware of the pre-replacement programmable controller. The hardware information includes hardware configuration information that depends on the hardware device of the pre-swap programmable controller that the controller emulation unit 13 emulates. The hardware configuration information includes a memory map, an instruction emulation method, a register configuration, emulation processing at each register manipulation, and the like.

The input/output mapping information storage unit 24 is a functional unit for storing the input/output mapping information. The input/output mapping information is information associating an input/output number assigned to an input/output terminal of the input/output interface unit 40 of the programmable controller 1 with an input/output number assigned to an input /out port is assigned to the virtual controller. The I/O number associated with an I/O port of the virtual controller corresponds to the I/O number associated with an I/O port of the pre-swap programmable controller. The input/output mapping information is used in converting an input/output number in the memory mapped I/O area 14 into an input/output number of an input/output port of the actual input/output interface unit 40 when the control emulation unit 13 accesses the memory mapped I/O area 14.

The communication interface unit 30 is connected to a user interface 70 . The user interface 70 is a device external to the programmable controller 1. The user interface 70 is a device that can access the memory unit 20 of the programmable controller 1. FIG. The user interface 70 is e.g. B. an information processing device such as a personal computer. The user interface 70 can store the firmware, the control program, the hardware information and the input/output mapping information in the storage unit 20 and the firmware, the control program, the hardware information and the input/output mapping information already stored in the storage unit 20 are deleted from the storage unit 20. The user interface 70 is a device that can receive a result of the automatic assignment of the input/output mapping information and allow a user to check the result. The user interface 70 is also a device that can change the content of the input/output mapping information. For example, a user can connect an input/output port of the programmable controller 1 by viewing the input/output mapping information through the user interface 70 . A user can also modify the I/O mapping information with the user interface 70 if the connection of an I/O port is to be changed.

The hardware information and firmware define the operating environment of the programmable pre-swap controller. Accordingly, the firmware and hardware information indicating the operating environment of the programmable pre-swap controller to be emulated are written into the storage unit 20 by the user interface 70 and executed by the virtualization unit 11, thereby emulating a desired operation of the programmable pre-swap - to allow control.

The input/output interface unit 40 includes input ports 41, output ports 42 and an input/output control unit 43. One of the input ports 41 is connected to an input device via a wire. Examples of the input device include a switch, a sensor, and a rotary encoder. One of the output ports 42 is connected to an output device via a wire. Examples of the output device include a relay, a valve, and an actuator. The input terminals 41 are assigned sequential numbers indicating input numbers from "0" to "N" (where N is any natural number). The output terminals 42 are assigned consecutive numbers indicating output numbers from "0" to "N". It is noted that in 1 an input number "i" is represented as "input i" (where i is a natural number from 0 to N) and an output number "i" is represented as "output i". In 1 For example, the input terminal 41 with the input number "0" is connected to a switch 81, and the output terminal 42 with the output number "0" is connected to a lamp 91. The input ports 41 and the output ports 42 are also referred to collectively as input/output terminals herein, and an input device and an output device are also referred to collectively as input/output device herein.

The input/output control unit 43 is a functional unit that controls the forwarding of data between the memory mapped I/O area 14 and the input/output devices via the input ports 41 and via the output ports 42 . Concretely, the I/O control unit 43 performs I/O update processing together with the control emulation unit 13 when the input port 41 or the output port 42 is accessed. The input/output update processing is processing that transmits calculated output information to an output device via the output terminal 42 and receives input information from an input device via the input terminal 41 .

Even if 1 illustrates a case where one input device and one output device are connected to the programmable controller 1, the number of the input devices and the output devices connected to the programmable controller 1 is not limited. Accordingly, a number of input devices and a number of output devices can be connected to the programmable controller 1 .

In some cases, the type of connection between the input/output ports of the pre-exchange programmable controller and the input/output devices may be different from the type of connection between the input/output ports of the programmable controller 1 and the input/output devices . In such a case, the input/output mapping information associating the input/output numbers assigned to the input/output pins of the programmable controller 1 with the input/output numbers assigned to the input/output pins of the programmable controller 1 is used Assigned to pre-exchange control. The controller emulation unit 13 accordingly converts the destination of the output information from the virtualized output destination in the memory mapped I/O area 14 into the actual output destination of the programmable controller 1 using the input/output mapping information. Further, the controller emulation unit 13 converts the virtualized input source in the memory mapped I/O area 14 into the actual input source in the programmable controller 1 to receive input information.

2 Fig. 12 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the relationship between blocks involved in execution of a control program in the first embodiment. The control emulation unit 13, the firmware 211a and a control program 221a are each shown here as a block.

The firmware 211a is provided as a file in a binary data format executable by the programmable pre-swap controller microcomputer.

The controller emulation unit 13 is an instruction set simulator (ISS) capable of decoding a binary file representing the firmware 211a and executing the binary file with software. Furthermore, the control emulation unit 13 is designed as a process on the administration unit 12 . Even if the control emulation unit 13 is specifically described here as an ISS for executing the firmware 211a for hardware with a different instruction set architecture, a hardware function with equivalent functionality can also be used instead of the control emulation unit 13 . Alternatively, if firmware 211a is to be executed for hardware with the same instruction set architecture, controller emulation unit 13 may be configured to execute firmware 211a directly through a controller emulation unit 13 process.

The control program 221a is provided in the form of data converted into a format that can be executed by the programmable pre-swap controller. The data format and the method of executing the control program 221a vary depending on the programmable controller. Possible execution methods include a method that allows the firmware 211a to execute the control program 221a using an interpreter, a method that provides the programmable controller with dedicated hardware that can execute the control program 221a directly, and a method that combines these two methods combined. In the first embodiment, an interpreter is used that allows the firmware 211a to directly interpret and execute the control program 221a. As in 2 As shown, execution of the firmware 211a on the controller emulation unit 13 causes the logic to execute the control program 221a to be executed, thereby allowing the control program 221a to be executed.

3 Fig. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the control emulation unit and a storage area. 3 shows the control emulation unit 13, a memory area 310 emulated by the control emulation unit 13, and a memory space 350 assigned to a process of the control emulation unit 13.

The memory area 310 includes memory addresses allocated to a read only memory (ROM) area, a RAM area, and the memory mapped I/O area 14 included in the virtual controller. The memory mapped I/O area 14 is a register area for the peripheral device via the microcomputer in the pre-swap programmable controller.

In the memory space allocated to a process of the controller emulation unit 13, there are the control program 221a, which has been converted into an execution code for the programmable controller 1, the firmware 211a in a binary data format, hardware information 231 and input/output mapping information 241.

The hardware information 231 and the input/output mapping information 241 about the pre-replacement programmable controller and the control program 221a and the firmware 211a to be executed by the emulated programmable controller are stored in the memory space 350 allocated to a process of the controller emulation unit 13 provided. The control program 221a is the result of the conversion of the control program 221 in the memory area 310 into an execution code for the programmable controller 1. The firmware 211a is the result of the conversion of the firmware 211 in the memory area 310 into a binary data format. The control program 221a, the firmware 211a, the hardware information 231 and the input/output mapping information 241 are referenced by the control emulation unit 13 or updated with a new value if required.

In the input/output mapping information 241, the input numbers assigned to the input ports 41 of the programmable controller 1 are assigned to the input numbers of the input ports of the virtual controller. Thus, the input numbers of the input ports 41 in the programmable controller 1 are associated with information identifying the assigned virtual controller and with the input numbers of the input ports in that virtual controller. In addition, in the input/output mapping information 241, the output numbers assigned to the output terminals 42 of the programmable controller 1 are assigned to the virtual controller. Thus, the output numbers of the output ports 42 in the programmable controller 1 are associated with information identifying the assigned virtual controller and with the output numbers of the output ports of that virtual controller.

In order to emulate the operation of a computing unit comprising a central processing unit (CPU), the control emulation unit 13 has a virtual program counter 131 and a virtual general-purpose register 132 . The actual form of the virtual program counter 131 and the virtual general-purpose register 132 is individual data in a process of the controller emulation unit 13. The virtual general-purpose register 132 stores all data resulting from the calculation performed in the controller emulation unit 13.

The virtual program counter 131 is data for specifying an address in the memory area for which the control emulation unit 13 is executed. The virtual program counter 131 is therefore data that indicates the memory area 310 that the control emulation unit emulates. The control emulation unit 13 interprets and executes the firmware 211 at the address contained in the virtual program counter 131 . The actual form of the firmware 211 is the firmware 211a in the storage space 350 allocated to a process of the control emulation unit 13. Accordingly, the control emulation unit 13 converts the address stored in the virtual program counter 131 into an address in the storage space 350 and then reads data of the actual firmware 211a in binary data format from memory location 350.

A logic for interpreting the firmware 211a in binary data format as a command and executing this firmware 211a and the processing for emulating this command interpreted by the logic are stored in the hardware information 231 . Accordingly, the control emulation unit 13 emulates an instruction based on the hardware information 231.

When the execution of the firmware 211a causes access to the memory mapped I/O area 14 in the emulated memory area 310, processing for emulating the corresponding hardware operation is performed by software. The emulation processing for the peripheral device via the microcomputer is stored in the hardware information 231, and the control emulation unit 13 thus emulates a hardware operation related to accessing the memory mapped I/O area 14 based on the hardware information 231. Further, when the corresponding hardware operation is related to controlling the input/output from the programmable controller 1, the controller emulation unit 13 refers to the input/output mapping information 241 to obtain information about a corresponding one of the actual input ports 41 and the actual output ports 42 in accordance with the mapping specified in the input/output mapping information 241 or output. For example, the control emulation unit 13 converts the I/O number of the virtual I/O port to be accessed into the I/O number of the actual I/O port, and then receives input information from the actual I/O port 41 or outputs information to be output to the actual output terminal 42. This is because the memory mapped I/O area 14 calculated by the controller emulation unit 13, which is one in the pre-exchange programmable controller, performs a conversion to the I/O number of the register for the actual I/O control required, which is performed in the programmable controller 1.

The operation of a programmable controller 1 configured as described above will be described below. 4 12 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of emulation processing performed in a programmable controller according to the first embodiment.

When the arithmetic unit 10 generates the control emulation unit 13 in the form of a process on the management unit 12, the control emulation unit 13 reads from the storage unit 20 the hardware information 231 and the input/output mapping information 241 about the programmable pre-replacement controller and the firmware 211a and the control program 221a to be executed by the pre-exchange programmable controller, and loads the pieces of information 231, 241 and the firmware 211a and the control program 221a that have been read into the memory (step S11).

Next, the control emulation unit 13 sets the virtual program counter 131 to a firmware start address, which is the address for starting the firmware 211 (step S12). In an initial state, the control emulation unit 13 sets the address for an instruction fetch to the firmware start address in the emulated memory area 310.

Thereafter, the control emulation unit 13 converts the firmware start address set in the virtual program counter 131 to the address of the firmware 211a loaded in the memory into a binary data format, and decodes and executes an instruction of the firmware 211a at this address (step S13) . This process is called decoding microcomputer instructions. Here, microcomputer instructions are various types of instructions including general operations, logical operations, floating point operations, branch instructions, compares, memory transfers, no operations (NOP), and privileged instructions, and the control emulation unit 13 performs the processing for emulating these types of instructions. Note that privileged instructions include commands for manipulation of control registers, interrupt level changes, supervisor call instructions, and the like.

For example, assume that the microcomputer of the pre-exchange programmable controller has an instruction “ADD R1, R2, #100”. This command causes an operation to "store a result of adding the value of register R2 and an immediate value of 100 to register R1". The control emulation unit 13 of the virtualization unit 11 carries out corresponding processing according to this command and stores the result in the virtual general-purpose register 132.

Next, the control emulation unit 13 determines whether the command to be executed is a memory access command (step S14). When the command to be executed is not a memory access command (No in step S14), the control emulation unit 13 refers to the hardware information 231 and executes processing of the command to be executed (step S15). This process is referred to as microcomputer instruction emulation processing.

Alternatively, when the command to be executed is a command to access the memory (Yes in step S14), the control emulation unit 13 determines whether the address to be accessed is the memory mapped I/O area 14 (step S16). If the address to be accessed is not the memory mapped I/O area 14 (No in step S16), the microcomputer instruction emulation processing of step S15 is performed. When the address to be accessed is the memory mapped I/O area 14 (Yes in step S16), the control emulation unit 13 refers to the hardware information 231 and performs hardware emulation processing about the peripheral device corresponding to the processing of the to be executed command (step S17). This processing is referred to as microcomputer peripheral device emulation processing. At this time, the controller emulation unit 13 emulates the hardware operation in accordance with the hardware information 231. In addition, in the case of accessing a register for the I/O control of the programmable controller 1, the control emulation unit 13 mirrors the information input or the information output about the actual I/O output port in accordance with the input/output mapping information 241 reflected. Specifically, the control emulation unit 13 refers to the input/output mapping information 241 and then outputs the information to the output device or receives the information from the input device via the input/output control unit according to the mapping in the input/output mapping information 241 43 entered information.

Thereafter, or after step S15, the control emulation unit 13 sets the virtual program counter 131 to the address corresponding to the next command of the firmware 211 (step S18), and the process returns to step S13.

5 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method for converting a virtual programmable controller output into a real programmable controller output according to the first embodiment. This example is based on the assumption that the output control to be performed in the programmable pre-exchange controller is performed using an output control register 341; that the output control register 341 is a register mapped to an address "0x10001000" of the emulated memory area 310; and bits "b0" through "b15" correspond one-to-one to the output terminals of the pre-swap programmable controller output numbers.

For example, to turn "ON" the output port with issue number "1" in the programmable pre-swap controller, the first bit of the output control register 341 should be set to "1".

If the firmware on the control emulation unit 13, i. H. of the virtual controller, for example, performs the processing for turning on the output ports having the output numbers “1” and “2”, the controller emulation unit 13 performs hardware emulation processing for the output control register 341 . That is, the control emulation unit 13 performs a virtual output to a virtual register 141 in the memory mapped I/O area 14 corresponding to the output control register 341 . Then, the first bit "X1" and the second bit "X2" of the virtual register 141 are set to "ON". Since the output control register 341 is a register for controlling input/output from the programmable controller 1, the result of hardware emulation processing is output to an actual input/output control register 441 of the programmable controller 1 with reference to the input/output mapping information 241 . Accordingly, based on the contents of the input/output control register 441, the input/output control unit 43 performs control to turn on or off the input ports 41 or the output ports 42.

The input/output mapping information 241 from 5 concatenate the output numbers "0", "1" and "2" of the programmable controller 1 with the output numbers "2", "1" and "0", respectively, of the virtual controller emulated by the controller emulation unit 13. When the values of the output numbers "0", "1" and "2" of the virtual controller are "0", "1" and "1", respectively, the values of the output terminals 42 with the output numbers "0", "1" and "2" set to "1", "1" or "0". Each of the values of the output ports with the issue numbers “3” and higher in the virtual controller is similarly set to the output port 42 with the corresponding issue number of the programmable controller 1 with reference to the input/output mapping information 241 . In the example of 5 the issue numbers "3" and higher in the virtual controller are all "0".

In the first embodiment, the control emulation unit 13 decodes and simultaneously executes an instruction of the firmware 211a so as to emulate this instruction. If the command a In addition, if the command to access the memory mapped I/O area is 14, the hardware is also emulated at the same time. After the completion of one emulation command, the control emulation unit 13 continues the emulation at the same time as executing the next command. Here, the emulation processing for each command referred to in the execution of the firmware 211a and the hardware emulation processing in the case of accessing the memory mapped I/O area 14 are contained in the hardware information 231, the firmware 211 and the hardware information 231 can be modified via the communication interface unit 30. By exchanging the firmware and hardware information, the emulated programmable controller can be swapped out if desired. In addition, the input/output mapping information 241 referred to when an input/output terminal of the programmable controller 1 is accessed in hardware emulation processing can be changed manually by the user so that the correspondence between the virtual inputs and Outputs in the virtual controller emulated on the controller emulation unit 13 and the actual inputs and outputs of the programmable controller 1 can be changed as desired.

It should be noted that the first embodiment has been described using an example in which the firmware directly interprets and executes the control program in the pre-replacement programmable controller. In the case of emulating a programmable controller including dedicated hardware for executing the control program, hardware information for emulating this dedicated hardware is given to thereby emulate the execution of the control program.

In the first embodiment, the firmware 211, the control program 221 and the hardware information 231 are exchangeable, and the input/output mapping information 241 via the communication interface unit 30 is modifiable. However, the programmable controller 1 may also include an interface for connecting a storage medium on which this information is stored, and reading data from the storage medium through this interface and performing an emulation operation. Examples of the storage medium include a Secure Digital (SD) memory card, a Compact Disc (CD)-ROM, a Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc (DVD)-ROM, a Blu-ray (registered trademark) Disc (BD) ROM, a CompactFlash (registered trademark) card and a Floppy (registered trademark) disk.

Second embodiment

6 12 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a programmable controller according to the second embodiment. The differences from the first embodiment are described below. Further, elements that are identical to elements in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

In the second embodiment, the controller emulation unit 13 further has the functionality to estimate the time required to execute an instruction of the firmware in the programmable pre-exchange controller, the timing of the start of the I/O update operation in the programmable pre - exchange control and inform an I/O timing adjustment unit 431 (described later) of the result. Specifically, each time the controller emulation unit 13 decodes and executes an instruction instruction of the firmware 211a, the controller emulation unit 13 estimates an instruction execution time, which is the time for actually executing the instruction in the pre-exchange programmable controller. The control emulation unit 13 then calculates a cumulative instruction execution time obtained by summing up the instruction execution times from the time the last I/O update operation was completed. Then, when an I/O update register is accessed, the controller emulation unit 13 uses the cumulative instruction execution time at that time to estimate the time of completion of the scan processing that the control program in the pre-exchange programmable controller executes, i. H. to estimate the actual start time of the I/O update operation. The control emulation unit 13 outputs the estimated time of the start of the I/O update operation to the I/O timing adjustment unit 431 .

The input/output control unit 43 of the programmable controller 1 also includes the input/output timing adjustment unit 431. The input/output timing adjustment unit 431 has the functionality of the point in time at which the input/output - update is performed in the programmable controller 1 equates to the time when the I/O update is performed in the pre-replacement programmable controller. The I/O timing adjustment unit 431 keeps the I/O control unit 43 in a waiting state until at the time of starting the I/O update processing estimated by the control emulation unit 13, and allowing the I/O control unit 43 to perform the I/O update processing at the time of starting the I/O update operation.

7 12 is a timing chart schematically illustrating an example of I/O refresh timing adjustment according to the second embodiment. In 7 the upper portion illustrates an operation performed in the pre-exchange programmable controller, and the lower portion illustrates an operation performed in the controller emulation unit 13 . As shown in the representation of the operation in the pre-swap programmable controller, the programmable controller generally repeats scanning 511 to execute the control program and I/O update 521 to receive information received from a external input device, or to output information, ie a calculation result, to an external output device. This allows controlling devices and the like.

The pre-replacement programmable controller is believed to be an obsolete type with low computational speed. In this case, a scan operation 512 on the controller emulation unit 13 is completed earlier than a scan operation 511 on the pre-swap programmable controller. In this case, the input/output timing adjustment unit 431 of the second embodiment specifies a timing adjustment time 532 that is in 7 after scanning 512 on the controller emulation unit 13 . This sets the I/O update 522 on the controller emulation unit 13 so that the I/O update 522 starts at the same time as the I/O update 521 on the pre-swap programmable controller. As a result, input from a device to be controlled and output to that device occur at the same timing as a real device.

8th 12 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an emulation process performed in a programmable controller according to the second embodiment. It is noted that in the following, the differences from the flowchart described in the first embodiment 4 be explained.

After step S11, the control emulation unit 13 initializes the cumulative command execution time (step S31). The procedure then continues with step S12.

After step S15, the control emulation unit 13 estimates an instruction execution time for an emulated instruction in the pre-exchange programmable controller and adds the estimated instruction execution time to the cumulative instruction execution time at that time (step S32). The cumulative command execution time to which the command execution time is added represents a new cumulative command execution time. The procedure then advances to step S18.

When the address to be accessed is the memory mapped I/O area 14 of step S16 (Yes in step S16), the control emulation unit 13 determines whether the address to be accessed is the I/O - update register (step S33). When the address to be accessed is not the I/O update register (No in step S33), the control emulation unit 13 performs hardware emulation processing on the corresponding register (step S34). The procedure then continues with step S32.

Alternatively, when the address to be accessed is the I/O update register (Yes in step S33), the control emulation unit 13 obtains the cumulative instruction execution time at that time and estimates from the cumulative instruction execution time the start time of the I/O Update operation in the emulated real programmable controller (step S35). Next, the control emulation unit 13 outputs the estimated start time of the input/output update operation to the input/output timing adjustment unit 431 (step S36). Then, the control emulation unit 13 is placed in a waiting state until receiving a notification of the completion of performing the I/O update from the I/O timing adjustment unit 431 (step S37).

After receiving the start time of the input/output update operation, the input/output timing adjustment unit 431 adjusts the start time of the input/output update processing (step S38). The input/output timing adjustment unit 431 then determines whether the current time has reached the start time of the input/output update processing (step S39). If the current time has not yet reached the start time of the input/output update processing (No in step S39), the input/output timing adjustment unit 431 is placed in a waiting state.

Alternatively, when the current time has reached the start time of the input/output update processing (Yes in step S39), the input/output timing adjustment unit 431 allows the input/output control unit 43 to perform the input/output update processing to perform. The input/output control unit 43 thus performs the input/output update processing that receives input information or sets output information (step S40). Then, the input/output timing adjustment unit 431 notifies the control emulation unit 13 of the completion of performing the input/output update processing (step S41).

When the control emulation unit 13 receives the notification of completion of performing the I/O update operation from the I/O timing adjustment unit 431 (step S42), the procedure returns to step S31.

Although the above description relates to a method in which each time a microcomputer instruction is executed, the control emulation unit 13 estimates the instruction execution time for the same instruction in a real device that corresponds to the microcomputer instruction and the time for scanning in the real device estimates using the cumulative instruction execution time, another time estimation method can also be used. For example, the time for scanning in a real device can be estimated by estimating the command execution time on a command-by-command basis of the control program 221 and using the cumulative command execution time thereof.

9 12 is a diagram showing an example of a method for converting a virtual output generated by emulation into a real output of a programmable controller according to the second embodiment. An output operation in which values are set in the virtual register 141 corresponding to the output control register 341 described in the first embodiment and the set values are reflected in the real output will be described below.

When the issue control register 341 is accessed in the firmware 211a executed by the controller emulation unit 13, a virtual issue is issued to the virtual register 141 like the issue to the issue control register 341 in the pre-swap programmable controller. The virtual issue assumes the connection of the programmable pre-swap controller with the input/output devices and their hardware configuration. Accordingly, in the case of an input/output from an input/output terminal of the actual programmable controller 1, the output is converted according to the connection of the programmable controller 1 with the input/output devices and their hardware configuration. The issue numbers in the virtual issue are converted to the actual issue numbers with reference to the I/O mapping information 241 . In the second embodiment, the control emulation unit 13 calculates an input/output update start time “A” with reference to the cumulative instruction execution time 435. In this case, therefore, the timing at which the output information is to be output from the actual output ports 42 is calculated. The actual output values and the input/output update start time “A” obtained in this operation are stored in the input/output timing adjustment unit 431 . At the start time "A", the input/output timing adjustment unit 431 informs the input/output control unit 43 that the timing of the start of the input/output update has come, and the input/output control unit 43 outputs every single piece of output information.

In the second embodiment, the controller emulation unit 13 estimates the instruction execution time required for an instruction executed by the controller emulation unit 13 to be executed in the emulated actual programmable controller, and further estimates the cumulative instruction execution time. In addition, when the address to be accessed after the instruction to be executed is the I/O update register, the controller emulation unit 13 estimates the start time of the I/O update processing in the emulated actual programmable controller using the cumulative instruction execution time. Using this input/output update operation start timing, the input/output timing adjustment unit 431 adjusts the timing at which the programmable controller 1 performs the input/output update processing. This is advantageous in that the timing at which the programmable controller 1 performs the I/O update corresponds to the timing in the actual programmable controller being emulated.

Third embodiment

10 12 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a programmable controller according to a third embodiment. The following are the differences from the first embodiment described. Further, elements identical to elements in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

In the third embodiment, the programmable controller 1 includes a plurality of computing units 10A and 10B. The computing units 10A and 10B comprise virtualization units 11A and 11B, respectively, which are similar to the virtualization unit described in the first embodiment. The programmable controller 1 accordingly includes a number of virtualization units 11A and 11B. As with the arithmetic unit 10 of the first embodiment, the virtualization unit 11A includes a management unit 12A, a control emulation unit 13A, a memory mapped I/O area 14A, and a mapping information generation unit 15A. Similarly, the virtualization unit 11B comprises a management unit 12B, a control emulation unit 13B, a memory mapped I/O area 14B and a mapping information generation unit 15B. With this configuration, the programmable controller 1 can emulate multiple pre-swap programmable controllers. This means that the firmware 211a runs on the virtualization unit 11A and the control program 221a runs on the firmware 211a. The firmware 212a is executed on the virtualization unit 11B and the control program 222a is executed on the firmware 212a. It is noted that in 10 two computing units 10A and 10B are shown, but three or more computing units can also be provided.

With such a configuration, the hardware information storage unit 23 stores the hardware information corresponding to the control emulation units 13A and 13B included in the virtualization units 11A and 11B. Further, the firmware storage unit 21 stores the firmware 211a and the firmware 212a corresponding to the control emulation units 13A and 13B included in the virtualization units 11A and 11B, and the control program storage unit 22 stores the control programs 221a and 222a corresponding to those in the virtualization units 11A and 11A 11B correspond to control emulation units 13A and 13B. The input/output mapping information storage unit 24 stores a piece of input/output mapping information common to the plurality of control emulation units 13 .

In 10 a switch 82 is connected to the input port 41, which has the input number "60", and a magnetic switch 92 is connected to the output port 42, which has the output number "60".

in the in 10 In the programmable controller 1 shown, the arithmetic unit 10A executes the control program 221a and the arithmetic unit 10B executes the control program 222a. The control programs 221a and 222a control the external input and output devices.

In the example of 10 For example, the input ports 41 having input numbers from "0" to "59" and the output ports 42 having output numbers from "0" to "59" are controlled by the control program 221a. In addition, the input ports 41 with input numbers from “60” to “139” and the output ports 42 with output numbers from “60” to “139” are controlled by the control program 222a.

The control emulation units 13A and 13B each operate in FIG 4 in the manner described in the first embodiment, the control emulation units 13A and 13B operate independently of each other. In the example shown, the hardware of the programmable controller 1 comprises a plurality of arithmetic units 10A and 10B, each of the different control emulation units 13A and 13B being operated in parallel on the corresponding arithmetic unit 10A and 10B. However, if the hardware of the programmable controller 1 contains only one computing unit 10, the virtualization unit 11 can have a plurality of controller emulation units 13A and 13B and switch their operations in time-division multiplexing. In this case, the control emulation units 13A and 13B perform the processing while the control emulation units 13A, 13B are time-divisionally switched.

11 12 is a diagram showing an example of a method for converting a virtual output generated by emulation into a real output of a programmable controller according to the third embodiment. When the control emulation unit 13A accesses the I/O interface unit 40, that is, when the hardware that performs I/O control, as in the processing in step S17 of FIG 4 accessed by firmware, an output is made to the output ports 42 with corresponding actual issue numbers with reference to the input/output mapping information 241.

Note that the I/O mapping information 241 differs from 11 from the input/output mapping information 241 from 4 differentiate. Although the arithmetic unit 10 emulates a single virtual controller in the first embodiment, the arithmetic units emulate one 10A and 10B, two virtual controllers in the third embodiment. Therefore, the field "mapping of the virtual controller" of the input/output mapping information 241 contains either the virtual controller A emulated by the computing unit 10A or the virtual controller B emulated by the computing unit 10B.

An example will now be described in which the firmware 211a running on the control emulation unit 13A accesses actual input/output ports. The output control register 341 is similar to the register described in the first embodiment. The output control register 341 is an output control register contained in an emulated actual programmable controller, the bits of which correspond to the respective output numbers of that programmable controller.

When a write operation is performed on the first bit and the second bit of the output control register 341 on the control emulation unit 13A, corresponding hardware emulation processing is performed. That is, the control emulation unit 13</b>A performs a write operation on the first bit and the second bit of the virtual register 141 in the memory mapped I/O area 14 , which register corresponds to the output control register 341 . With reference to the input/output mapping information 241 , the control emulation unit 13A reflects the result of the writing operation in the actual output ports 42 . In the input/output mapping information 241, the issue numbers from “0” to “59” are assigned to the “virtual controller A” emulated by the controller emulation unit 13A, and the issue numbers “0”, “1” and “2” of the programmable controller 1 are concatenated with the corresponding virtual register output numbers “2”, “1” and “0” on the controller emulation unit 13A. The control emulation unit 13A sets the values for the output terminals 42 having the output numbers "0", "1" and "2" to "1", "1" and "0", respectively, and outputs these values to the actual input/output control register 441 . It should be noted that even when the control emulation unit 13B accesses the actual input/output ports, the actual input/output ports are accessed based on the allocation indicated in the input/output mapping information 241 .

As described above, the input/output operations of the plurality of control emulation units 13A and 13B are emulated with reference to the input/output common mapping information 241 . As a result, the input ports 41 having the input numbers from "0" to "59" and the output ports 42 having the output numbers from "0" to "59" are controlled by the control program 221a. In addition, the input ports 41 having the input numbers from "60" to "139" and the output ports 42 having the output numbers from "60" to "139" are controlled by the control program 222a. By changing the input/output mapping information 241, the relationship between the plurality of control emulation units 13A and 13B in relation to the actual input ports 41 and the actual output ports 42 can be changed.

It is noted that the above description has been made using an example where the inputs and outputs of the controller emulation units 13A and 13B are assigned to one of the actual input ports 41 and the actual output ports 42 of the programmable controller 1, respectively. However, when an input and an output need to be connected between the control emulation units 13A and 13B, the control emulation units 13A and 13B can be configured so that these inputs and outputs are internally connected. In this case, a method can be used in which, for example, an input/output relationship between the control emulation units 13A and 13B is previously described in the input/output mapping information 241, and when one of the control emulation units accesses an output that is compatible with the connected to another of the control emulation units, the output result of which is reflected in the corresponding input of the other of the control emulation units using inter-process communication.

In the third embodiment, the programmable controller 1 includes a plurality of controller emulation units 13A and 13B, the controller emulation units 13A and 13B emulating the respective operations of different pre-replacement programmable controllers. As a result, a number of existing control programs 221a and 222a can be integrated on the hardware of a single programmable controller 1 and executed at the same time.

Fourth embodiment

12 12 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a programmable controller according to the fourth embodiment. The differences from the first and third embodiment are explained below. Furthermore, elements with the elements of the first and third embodiment are identical in shape are given the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

Similar to the third embodiment, the programmable controller 1 includes a plurality of controller emulation units 13A and 13B. In the third embodiment, the programmable controller 1 is configured to include a plurality of physically different computing units 10A and 10B, the computing units 10A and 10B having their controller emulation units 13A and 13B. The programmable controller 1 of the fourth embodiment is configured to include a single arithmetic unit 10, and the virtualization unit 11 in the arithmetic unit 10 has the plurality of controller emulation units 13A and 13B. In this case, the arithmetic unit 10 allows the plurality of control emulation units 13A and 13B to be time-divisionally switched as described above.

In 12 a rotary encoder 83 is connected to the input terminal 41 with the input number "0", and the switch 82 is connected to the input terminal 41 with the input number "60". The lamp 91 is connected to the output terminal 42 with the edition number "0", and the magnetic switch 92 is connected to the output terminal 42 with the edition number "60".

The input/output control unit 43 of the programmable controller 1 further comprises a unit for detecting high-priority events 432. The unit for detecting high-priority events 432 has the functionality to detect the occurrence of an event which is linked to an interrupt program which should be given preferential treatment during the emulation processing of the plurality of control emulation units 13A and 13B, and to transmit to the arithmetic unit 10 an event notification indicating the occurrence of the event. An event associated with an interrupt program that should be given preferential treatment is hereinafter referred to as a high-priority event.

The management unit 12 of the arithmetic unit 10 further includes a switching unit 121. The switching unit 121 is a functional unit that switches between control emulation units upon receipt of an event notification from the high-priority event detection unit 432, so that a control emulation unit that executes an interrupt program due to the occurrence of a should execute an event with high priority, also executes this interrupt routine during the operation of a control emulation unit that is different from the control emulation unit that should execute the interrupt routine.

The programmable controller 1 generally has the functionality to execute a rapidly running interrupt program as a reaction to the occurrence of a specific event. Examples of such an event are a rising or falling edge of an input signal, a change in a pulse counter value, and an internal timer increment. An interrupt program that is triggered by these events has a higher priority than a control program that is currently being executed and must be able to react very quickly.

When the two control emulation units 13A and 13B operate in the same computing unit 10, a high-priority event that should be handled by the control emulation unit 13B may occur during the operation of the control emulation unit 13A. In this case, the control emulation unit 13B does not perform the interrupt processing corresponding to the high-priority event until the time allotted to the control emulation unit 13A has elapsed. This reduces the responsiveness of the interrupt program.

In order to increase the responsiveness when an event with a high priority occurs, the fourth embodiment provides that the input/output control unit 43 has the high-priority event detection unit 432 and the management unit 12 has the switching unit 121 .

An example of occurrence of an interrupt will now be described. The following description is based on the assumption that the control emulation unit 13B executes an interrupt program when the pulse number of the rotary encoder 83 reaches a preset target value.

The condition for reporting a high priority event is set in the high priority event detection unit 432 . A high priority event is an event that requires priority execution of an interrupt program when that event occurs. The condition specified here is that "the number of pulses for the input terminal 41 with the input number "0" has reached a predetermined setting value". How the firmware 211a and the firmware 212a emulated on the controller emulation units 13A and 13B determine the condition depends on the hardware specifications of the programmable controllers to be emulated by the controller emulation units 13A and 13B. The following Description is based on the assumption that the controller emulation unit 13A emulates the programmable controller that has a special hardware device for counting pulses. The firmware for the programmable controller with the specific hardware device accesses a register of the specific hardware device. Accessing this register causes the control emulation unit 13A to perform hardware emulation processing. In hardware emulation processing, the input number "0" for which pulse monitoring is required and the number of pulses to be used as an event condition are set in the high-priority event detection unit 432 .

When the set high-priority event condition is satisfied, the high-priority event detection unit 432 notifies the switching unit 121 of the occurrence of the event. The switching unit 121 brings hardware register information stored in the virtual general-purpose register 132 on the control emulation unit 13B, which is to handle the event with high priority, to the status at the time of occurrence of the event. When the control emulation unit 13B, which is to handle the event with high priority, is not in operation, the switching unit 121 switches between the control emulation units 13A and 13B operated on the arithmetic unit 10.

13 FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of timing when switching between multiple control emulation units operating on the same computing unit. In this diagram, the upper portion shows the operating state of the control emulation unit 13A, and the lower portion shows the operating state of the control emulation unit 13B. Also, time is shown on the horizontal axis.

When no high-priority event has occurred, the control emulation units 13A and 13B are operated to time-divisionally switch between the units 13A and 13B based on a certain operation period. In 13 the control emulation unit 13A first executes processing in an execution period 551, and then the control emulation unit 13B executes processing in the execution period 552. The control emulation unit 13A executes the processing in the next execution period 553, and in the period 553 at time t1, a high-priority event 560 occurs. The high-priority event 560 means here that a pulse counter value of the rotary encoder 83 reaches a target value. The high-priority event detection unit 432 detects the occurrence of the high-priority event 560 and transmits to the switching unit 121 an event notification indicating the occurrence of the high-priority event. After receiving the event notification, the switching unit 121 switches the processing from the control emulation unit 13A to the control emulation unit 13B so that the control emulation unit 13B can also be operated in the execution period 553 in which the control emulation unit 13A is in operation. The control emulation unit 13B then executes an interrupt program corresponding to the high-priority event.

In this process, an allocated interrupt program execution time 570, i. H. the time span for the execution of the interrupt program, calculated on the basis of a specific algorithm. Alternatively, the allocated interrupt routine execution time 570 may be implemented by modifying the firmware 212a itself to add a hook at the point of termination of the interrupt routine so that the termination of interrupt routine execution can be detected. The addition of a hook eliminates the need to anticipate when the interrupt program will finish executing; in this case there is no need to calculate the allocated interrupt program execution time 570 . When the assigned interrupt program execution time 570 has elapsed, the switching unit 121 switches the processing so that the control emulation unit 13A performs the processing. Then, the hardware register information in the execution period 554 is restored to the status at the time when the high priority event 560 occurred, and the control emulation unit 13A performs the processing.

Although the high priority event detection unit 432 has been described as a functional block with pulse counting functionality, it should be noted that the embodiment is not so limited. For example, the high priority event detection unit 432 may be configured to have multiple functions to detect other events such as a rising or falling edge of an input signal.

In the fourth embodiment, the programmable controller 1 includes a high-priority event detection unit 432 that detects a high-priority event, and a switching unit 121 that switches processing to one of the controller emulation units 13A and 13B to perform interrupt processing. when a high priority event is detected becomes. This enables forced switching to one of the control emulation units 13A and 13B to execute an interrupt program when a high-priority event occurs, whereby responsiveness to a high-priority event can be increased when the multiple control emulation units 13A and 13B are on the same arithmetic unit 10 are operated.

In addition, the second embodiment described above can be combined with the third and fourth embodiments. As a result, the timing at which the I/O update is performed for the programmable controller 1 can be equated with that of the emulated real programmable controller.

The configurations described in the foregoing embodiments are merely examples of various aspects of the present invention. These configurations can be combined with another known technology, and also part of the configurations can be omitted and/or modified without departing from the gist of the present invention.

Reference List

1

programmable controller;

10, 10A, 10B

unit of account;

11, 11A, 11B

virtualization unit;

12, 12A, 12B

administrative unit;

13, 13A, 13B

control emulation unit;

14, 14A, 14B

memory mapped I/O area;

15, 15A, 15B

mapping information generation unit;

20

storage unit;

21

firmware storage unit;

22

control program storage unit;

23

hardware information storage unit;

24

input/output mapping information storage unit;

30

communication interface unit;

40

input/output interface unit;

41

input port;

42

output port;

43

input/output control unit;

50

Bus;

70

user interface;

81, 82

Switch;

83

encoder;

91

Lamp;

92

magnetic switch;

121

switching unit;

131

virtual program counter;

132

virtual general purpose register;

211, 211a, 212a

firmware;

221, 221a, 222a

control program;

231

hardware information;

241

input/output mapping information;

431

input/output timing adjustment unit;

432

High priority event detection unit.

QUOTES INCLUDED IN DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents cited by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Patent Literature Cited

• JP 2015005258 [0004]

Claims (6)

Programmable controller that includes: a storage unit for storing firmware and a control program to be executed by an emulated programmable controller and hardware information required for emulating the hardware of the emulated programmable controller; and a controller emulation unit for emulating a hardware operation in the emulated programmable controller based on the hardware information,wherein the control emulation unit runs the firmware and the control program on the emulated hardware, and the firmware and hardware information stored in the memory unit is modifiable in accordance with the emulated programmable controller. Programmable controller after claim 1 further comprising: input/output ports connected to an input device and an output port; and an input/output control unit for controlling input and output of information to and from the input/output ports, the storage unit further storing input/output mapping information showing a correspondence relationship between input to and output from define the input/output ports and virtual inputs/outputs when the controller emulation unit executes the firmware and the control program, and the controller emulation unit converts the virtual inputs/outputs into the input to and the output from the inputs when the firmware and the control program are executed. /Output ports with reference to the I/O mapping information. Programmable controller after claim 2 further comprising a communication interface unit, connected to an external device, capable of modifying the relationship between the input to and output from the input/output ports and the virtual input/output defined in the input/output mapping information. Programmable controller after claim 2 or 3 further comprising: an input/output timing adjustment unit for adjusting the timing of actual input to and output from the input/output ports of the virtual input/output performed by the input/output control unit, wherein the controller emulation unit, when the emulated programmable controller is emulated in accordance with the firmware and the control program, estimates an execution time required for the emulated actual programmable controller to execute the control program, and based on the execution time, a start time for the input and Estimates output by the emulated actual programmable controller, and the I/O timing adjustment unit keeps the I/O controller in the waiting state to perform the control until the start timing is reached, and allows the I/O controller to Start time allows input and output to and from the in/out to control input connections. Programmable controller according to one of Claims 1 until 4 wherein the control emulation unit comprises a plurality of control emulation units, and wherein the storage unit has the firmware and the control program to be executed by each of the control emulation units and the hardware information. Programmable controller after claim 5 further comprising: a switching unit that switches hardware emulation processing in the emulated programmable controller performed by the controller emulation units; and a high-priority event detection unit for detecting an event associated with an interrupt processing, wherein the high-priority event detection unit upon detection of the occurrence of a high-priority event notifies the switching unit of the occurrence of the high-priority event, wherein the high-priority event is an event that requires the interrupt processing to be performed preferentially, and the switching unit controls switching between the control emulation units so that the interrupt processing associated with the high-priority event is performed.

Images