JP2000099136A - Network controller, equipment controller, and network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically register the information on newly added equipment in a network controller and to display the control screen of the equipment on the network controller. SOLUTION: Each controller 101 for every equipment 114 to be controlled holds control information 113 including display screen data for controlling the equipment 114, and when the equipment 114 is connected through the controller 101 to a network 103, the control information is automatically distributed inside the network 103. A network controller 102 automatically registers the automatically distributed information of novel equipment in a network information storage part 123.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network system and a network control device to which a large number of devices are connected, and to a device control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a system in which a plurality of devices are connected, a control screen for controlling each device includes:
It is prepared by creating a control man-machine interface screen assumed in advance using dedicated editing software and storing it in a network control device used by an operator. When the actual system operates, after the system is started, a control screen stored in the network control device is displayed on the display screen, and the operator is connected to the system while referring to this screen. Controls and monitors equipment. In other words, in conventional systems, control screens are created in a form that assumes the overall state of the system in advance, and when a new device is added, the entire currently used control screen is manually re-edited. Then, it is necessary to add control information on the new device.

On the other hand, a control system using the WWW (World Wide Web) for a control screen is gradually being announced (Wozny, MJ et al., Computer Science in the man).
ufacturing, Communications of the ACM February (1
996) Vol. 39, No. 2, pages 34-45). These W
In the WW system, each device control device holds a control screen based on WWW. In this way, even if the information of the device is not prepared in the network control device in advance, the information can be obtained by reading the information held in the connected device. However, in order to obtain information about a newly connected device, it is necessary to connect via a network, and network information about a newly added device must be manually registered in a network control device. .

[0004]

In the above prior art, when a new device is connected, it is necessary to manually edit the control information of the network control device. In a system having a large number of components, it is very complicated. Processing must be performed. Therefore, the present invention solves this complication, and even when a device constituting a network is newly added, a network capable of displaying a control screen of the device without manually registering the device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control device and a device control device, and a network system using those devices.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a network information storage unit for holding control information of a device connected to a network, and information registered in the network information storage unit. And a control unit for creating and displaying a control image using the control unit. In the network control device of the present invention, the control unit includes a unit that detects that the device is connected to the network via the device control device that controls the device, and a device control device that controls the device that has detected the connection. A registration unit that acquires control information of the device and registers the acquired control information in the network information storage unit in association with the connected device.

[0006] The control information includes address information of a file defining a control screen for controlling the device, and the control unit preferably includes means for displaying the control screen based on the address information. With this configuration, the network control device can display a control screen corresponding to the device using the address information, so that the management and control of each device can be performed collectively.

[0007] Further, the registration means adds a flag indicating that the device is a newly connected device to the control information and registers the control information in the network information storage unit. It is desirable to display a list of only newly connected devices. If you do this,
The user can easily recognize the addition of the device.

Further, in the present invention, as a device for notifying the network control device of the present invention of device control information, there is provided a device control device for controlling a device to be controlled, the device control device comprising: There is provided an equipment control device including a control information storage unit and a control unit that notifies control information to the network when the equipment is connected to the network via the equipment control device.

Note that the notification to the network control device is:
It may be performed by automatic distribution by broadcast, or an instruction from the outside may be received and notified to this instruction.

According to the present invention, there is provided a network control device according to the present invention, and a communication line to which the network control device is connected, wherein at least one device is connected to the communication line via the device control device according to the present invention. A network system connected to the network is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, there is also provided a machine-readable storage medium holding a program for realizing each unit of the network control device or the device control device of the present invention.

[0012]

According to the present invention, a control device for each device connected to a network holds control information including display screen data for controlling the device, and the device is connected to the network via the control device. , The control information is automatically distributed in the network. The network control device that has received the automatically distributed information automatically registers the information in the network information, and displays a control screen based on the registered information. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

A. System Configuration A network 103 to which the network control apparatus 102 of this embodiment sets its configuration is, as shown in the system configuration diagram of FIG. It is constituted by being connected by. Network control device 102
Are connected to the network 103, and when a new control target device 114a is connected to the network,
This device receives the control information from the device control device 101a connected to the device 114a, and adds the setting of the new device 114a to the component device information of the network using the control information.

In the present embodiment, each device such as a rolling mill, a rotating machine, and a machine tool constituting the plant system is set as the control target device 114. As shown in the hardware configuration diagram of FIG. 14, the device control device 101 and the network control device 102 in the present embodiment are respectively a central processing unit (CPU) 1011, 1021 and a main storage device 10.
12, 1022, input devices 1013, 1023, output devices 1014, 1024 and external storage devices 1015, 10
25. Note that the input devices 1013 and 1023 of the present embodiment include a touch panel or a mouse and a keyboard, but are not limited to this configuration. Further, the output devices 1014 and 1024 of the present embodiment
Is constituted by a liquid crystal image display device, but another image display device such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) may be used. Input device 1013 and output device 1014 of the device control device 101
May be omitted if unnecessary.

The device control device 101 is used to operate the device 114 to be controlled.
And is usually installed near the controlled device 114.

The network control device 102 is used by an operator to monitor the system status based on information from the plurality of device control devices 101 and to instruct the device control device 101 to operate the device 114 to be controlled. And is usually placed in a central monitoring and control room.

The network 103 is a communication line that connects the plurality of device control devices 101 and the network control device 102 and mediates the exchange of information between the device control device 101 and the network control device 102.

(1) Apparatus control apparatus 101 The apparatus control apparatus 101 comprises a control unit 112, a control information storage unit 113, and a network connection unit 111. In this embodiment, each of these units 111 to 113 stores a program stored in advance in a storage medium (not shown) of the external storage device 1015 and read into the main storage device 1012,
The present invention is realized by execution by the central processing unit 1011, but the present invention is not limited to the means of realizing such software and a general-purpose processor. For example, each part 1
Each of the units 111 to 113 may be realized by a specific hardware device including hard wired logic for executing the processes of 11 to 113 or a combination of a programmed general-purpose computer and a specific hardware device. There is no particular limitation on a storage medium that previously stores a program for implementing each of the units 111 to 113, as long as it is an information recording medium that can be machine-readable by an information processing apparatus. The program can be distributed by using a movable medium such as a disk or a magnetic disk.

The control information storage unit 113 stores the control target device 1
Control screen information used when the user controls 14;
Information for the control unit 112 to control the control target device 114 in accordance with a user operation is stored. The control unit 112 controls the device control apparatus 101 using the control screen information stored in the control information storage unit 113 and the data held in the control library for the control target device 114. The network connection unit 111 is connected to the network 1
An interface unit for transmitting / receiving information to / from the server 03.

The control information storage unit 113 has a storage area for holding the control screen information described above. As shown in FIG. 2, the control screen information storage area 200 includes a storage area 201 for a name of a control target device, a storage area 203 for screen data describing a plurality of display screens for controlling the control target device, Screen data address 202 (in this embodiment, a URL (Universal Resource L including a network address of a computer) which is the address of a screen (top display screen) for which access is first accepted among the screen data.
ocator)).

Here, the image data held in the screen data storage area 203 includes display network information of a plurality of screens and a tree structure between the display screens (a tree structure in which the top display screen is at the top of the tree). HTML (Hyper Te
xt Markup Language) and HT
And a library group for describing an operation used in the ML description. In HTML documents,
When a predetermined display area is selected, it can be described that another HTML file associated with the selected area is displayed.

(2) Network control device 102 The network control device 102 includes a network connection unit 121,
It comprises a control unit 122, a network information storage unit 123, a display unit 125, and an input unit 124. In this embodiment, these units 121 to 124 are connected to the external storage device 1.
025 storage medium (not shown),
The program read into the main storage device 1022 is realized by the central processing unit 1021 executing the program. However, the present invention is not limited to the realization means using such software and a general-purpose processor. For example, each part 121
Each of the units 121 to 125 may be realized by a specific hardware device including hard-wired logic for executing the processes of to 125 or a combination of a programmed general-purpose computer and a specific hardware device.
There is no particular limitation on a storage medium that previously stores a program for implementing each of the units 121 to 125, as long as it is an information recording medium that can be machine-readable by an information processing apparatus. The program can be distributed by using a movable medium such as a disk or a magnetic disk.

The network information storage unit 123 is means for holding network information including information on each device 114 for centrally managing each controlled device 114 constituting the network 103. The control unit 122 includes:
The network control device 102 is controlled using the network information stored in the network information storage unit 123 and the control screen information received from the device control device 101 via the network 103. The display unit 125
This is a means for displaying an image on the output device 1024 in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 122. The input unit 124 is a unit that receives an external input via the input device 1023 and notifies the control unit 122 of the content. Net connection part 1
Reference numeral 21 denotes an interface unit for transmitting / receiving information to / from the network 103.

As shown in FIG. 3, a network information storage area 300 provided in the network information storage unit 123 for holding network information is provided for each device control device 101 connected to the network 103. A storage area 301 for a name of a device controlled by the device 101, a storage region 302 for an address of screen data used for setting the device, and whether or not the device 114 is newly connected to the network 103. Storage area 303 for the new flag shown in FIG.

The device name storage area 301 and the screen data address storage area 302 store control screen information 2 stored in the control information storage unit 113 in each device control apparatus 101.
The information received from the device control apparatus 101 via the network 103 for the device name 201 and the screen data address 202 is stored.

B. Processing Flow (1) Registration Processing As shown in FIG. 8, when the control unit 112 of the device control apparatus 101 detects that the apparatus is connected to the network 103 (step 801), the control screen information storage of the control information storage unit 113 is performed. The device name and the screen data address of the information held in the area 200 are broadcast to the network 103 via the network connection unit 111 (step 802).

The network controller 102 that has received the broadcast information registers the received information in the network information storage area 300 as shown in FIG. That is, the network connection unit 121 of the network control device 102 monitors the state of the network 103, and when broadcast data comes (step 901), outputs the information to the control unit 122. Therefore, the information broadcast by the device control apparatus 101 is transmitted to the network connection unit 12 in the network control apparatus 102.
1 and the contents (device name and screen data address) are output to the control unit 122 (step 90).
2). Upon receiving this, the control unit 122 stores the received data in the network information storage area 300 in the network information storage unit 123. That is, the control unit 122
Secures an area for a new device control apparatus 101 in the network information storage area 300, and stores the received device name information and screen data address in the device name storage area 301 and the screen data address storage area 302. (Step 903). Here, if the same device name as the received device name has already been registered in the network information storage area 300 (step 905),
"-N" is added after the newly stored device name in step 903 (step 905). As a result, all registered device names can be made unique. N is the number of registered devices 114 having the same name. In the present embodiment, the device name is made unique within the network information storage area 300 by adding the order of registration. However, the device name may be made unique by other information such as the registration time. This makes it possible to distinguish between a newly registered device and a registered device. Finally, the control unit 122 sets the flag “1” indicating “new state” in the new flag storage area 303 of the area newly secured in step 903 (step 90).
6). Through the above processing, the device control apparatus 101 newly connected to the network can be automatically registered.

The "new state" indicates that the newly registered device has not yet been displayed in the list display.
When the registration information of the device in the new state is displayed by the newly registered device list display processing, the new flag is set to “0”, and the state becomes the “registered state”.

There are several methods for detecting the connection of the device control apparatus 101 to the network 103 in step 901. Any of the methods may be used. As an example, two kinds of methods will be described.

A. In this method, the network connection unit 111 detects the connection of the device control apparatus 101a by periodically monitoring the state of the network 103. If the device control device 101a is not connected to the network 103, a signal having a frequency corresponding to the device control device 101a specified by the network protocol cannot be detected among the electric signals flowing through the signal lines of the network 103. For this reason, the network connection unit 111 can detect whether or not the specific device control apparatus 101a is connected to the network 103 by detecting the presence or absence of the signal or measuring the voltage in the electric wire. When detecting that the device control apparatus 101a is connected to the network 103, the network connection unit 111 notifies the control unit 112 of the detection. Upon receiving this, the control unit 112 performs the above-described broadcast operation. This method uses the device control device 1
01 can be automatically registered simply by connecting it, and no special connection operation by the user is required.
This is preferable because the operation is simple.

B. In this method, the control unit 112 receives an input instructing a process of notifying the connection to the network control device 102 from the outside (user) via the input device 1013, After connecting the device control apparatus 101 to the network,
Have the user indicate the notification. Upon receiving the notification instruction, the control unit 112 broadcasts that the connection to the network 103 has been made. This method is effective when the user wants to explicitly specify the operation.

(2) Registration Deletion Process As in the registration process described above, upon detecting that the device control device 101 has been disconnected from the network, the control unit 122 of the network control device 102 stores the network information in the network information storage unit 123. The information of the disconnected device registered in the area 300 is deleted.

The disconnection of the device control apparatus 101 from the network can be detected in the same manner as in the connection detection method described above. That is, the net connection unit 1
11 periodically monitors the state of the network 103 to detect a device that does not receive a signal predetermined according to the device or does not respond to a broadcast response request, or When the disconnection is notified from the device control apparatus 101 to the network control apparatus 102 at the time of disconnection, the disconnected apparatus can be detected.

(3) List Display Processing When the newly connected device control device 101a is registered in the network information storage unit 123 of the network control device 102 as described above, the network control device 10
The second control unit 122 controls the network information storage area 300
An HTML file having the contents shown in FIG. 15 is created based on the information in the HTML file.
4 is displayed on the display screen of the image display device 1024 by the browser.
Is displayed, and an input is waited for.

FIG. 10 shows the flow of the HTML document creation process of the control unit 122 at this time. First, the control unit creates and opens a new listening list HTML file (step 1).
001), the header string (<htm
l> to <body> tag) (Step 10)
02). Next, the control unit 122 determines the number of the anchor tags (<) based on the information held in the device name storage area 301 and the screen data address storage area 302 by the number of the device control devices registered in the network information storage area 300. a hre
f = "screen data address"> device name </a><br>) and output to a file is repeated (step 100)
3, 1004), and finally, a character string in the footer part (an anchor tag (<a href = "xxx.c") for linking to a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program for processing a new list.
gi "> new list </a><br>) and </ body> and </ html>) to a file and close the file (step 100
5). Here, the file name of the CGI program is xxx.cgi.

The HTML document shown in FIG. 15 will now be described. On the screen displayed by the browser based on this document, as shown in FIG. 4, the character strings “device A” 402 and “device B” specified in the anchor tag are displayed.
403, “Device C” 404, and “Device List” 405 are displayed, and each character string is linked to the address or file specified by the anchor tag. When any of these character strings 402 to 405 is selected (clicked) on the display screen with the cursor 401, the control unit 122 executes the content of the file at the linked address using the browser. That is, when “device A” 402 to “device C” 403 are selected, the registered screen data addresses URL-1, URL-1,
-2, the top screen of the control screen information in the control information storage unit in each control device designated by URL-3 is displayed. When the “new list” 405 is selected, the control unit 122
Is a CG for creating a new list in the network controller 102.
Execute the I program (xxx.cgi).

(4) New List Display Processing FIG. 1 shows the flow of processing by the CGI program for creating a new list.
It is shown in FIG. When the “new list” 405 is selected on the device list display screen 400, the control unit 122 firstly follows the character string (<html> tag to <body > Tag) to H
Output to a TML file (step 1101). Next, the control unit 122 sets the network information storage area 300
For all records registered in the (step 1
102), if the new flag is “1” (step 11)
03), an anchor tag (<a href="screen data address"> device name </a><br> based on information held in the device name storage area 301 and the screen data address storage area 302.
>) (Step 1104) and output the new flag storage area 303 in the network information storage area 300.
(Step 1105) is repeated, and finally the character string in the footer portion (device list display H
Anchor tag for link to TML file (<ah
ref = "yyy.html"> back </a><br>) and </ body> and </ html
>) (Step 1106). Here, the file name of the device list display HTML file is yy
y.html.

FIG. 6 shows an HTML document output to the HTML browser program executed by the control unit 122 by the processing according to the CGI program. FIG. 7 shows an example of a new device list display screen 700 displayed by the HTML document. In the network information shown in FIG. 3, since the newly registered device is only “device A”, the character string “device A” 701 linked to the screen data address URL-1 and the device list display HTML file Is displayed as a character string "return" 702 linked to.

(5) Device control screen display processing Device list display screen 400 or new device list display screen 70
When the character string “device A” 402 is selected at 0, the control unit 122 outputs the control screen data corresponding to “device A” 114a according to the description of the HTML file (yyy.html) defining this screen. By accessing the address (URL-1), the screen data stored in the screen data storage area 203 of the control screen information storage area 200 is acquired, and the control screen 500 of the device A is used by using the data (see FIG. 5). )
Is displayed on the display screen of the output device 1024.

That is, the control unit 122 sends the address “U
RL-1 ", the address of the device control device 101 to be accessed on the network 103 is checked, and the device control device 101 is requested to transfer the screen data specified by the URL to the network control device 102. I do. In response to this request, the control unit 112 in the device control apparatus 101 responds to the request by displaying the control screen data (HT
ML file) from the control information storage unit 113,
It is transferred to the requesting network control device 102. The network control device 102 reads out the transferred screen data (HTML file) using an HTML browser, and displays the control screen 500 (FIG. 5) corresponding to the device A on the display unit 125. The user selects the display screen 50
0 can be used to monitor the state of “device A” 114, and the input unit 124 can be used to instruct “device A” 114.

The display screens in this embodiment are linked to each other as shown in FIG.
The link can be followed using the link function of.

Further, on the control screen 500, the configuration diagram of the device A is displayed as a clickable map. When each element constituting the device A is clicked, as shown in FIG. The control screen 510 is displayed. This child control screen 510 also includes a configuration diagram of the element as a clickable map,
When the display of a component constituting the element is clicked, a control screen 520 including a configuration diagram of the component is displayed. As described above, in the present embodiment, the control screen of the device has a tree structure according to the configuration of the device.

[0043]

According to the present invention, since the control screen of the added device is automatically registered, there is no need for the user to create a new screen when a new device is connected. Also, just by connecting the control target device and its control device,
Since the control screen is automatically registered, the device can be controlled and managed immediately after connection. Further, by indicating what has been newly added, it is possible to allow the user to easily understand the change of the devices constituting the network and the contents thereof. The present invention automatically registers and deletes devices, and can easily display a control screen corresponding to each device, so that a plant or the like that needs to control various devices in a batch is required. Especially suitable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram illustrating a network system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure of a control screen information storage area.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure of a network information storage area.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a screen display example for displaying a list of devices constituting a network.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a control screen of a device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a screen display example for displaying a list of devices newly registered in the network.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a screen display example for displaying a list of devices newly registered in the network.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a network connection process of the device control apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing network information registration processing in the network control device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process of creating a device list display HTML document.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an HTML document creation process for displaying a list of newly registered devices.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a tree structure of a device control screen.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a tree structure formed by links between display screens.

FIG. 14 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating a network system according to an embodiment;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a device list display HTML document.

[Explanation of symbols]

101, 101a: device control device, 102: network control device, 103: network, 111: network connection unit, 112: control unit, 113: control information storage unit, 11
4, 114a: control target device, 121: net connection unit,
122: control unit, 123: network information storage unit, 1
24 input unit, 125 display unit, 200 control screen information storage area, 201 device name storage area, 202 screen data address storage area, 203 screen data storage area,
300: network information storage area, 301: device name storage area, 302: screen data address storage area, 30
3: New flag storage area, 400: Device list display screen
401 ... cursor, 402 to 405 ... character string, 500 ...
Device control screen example, 510 ... device element control screen, 520 ...
Parts control screen, 600: example of HTML document for displaying new device list, 700: example of new device list display screen, 701 to 70
2. Character string 1011 CPU 1012 Main storage device 1013 Input device 1014 Output device 101
5 external storage device, 1021 CPU, 1022 main storage device, 1023 input device, 1024 output device, 1
025: External storage device.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04Q 9/00 361 (72) Inventor Yukihiro Kawamata 7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Pref. Hiroshi Kobayashi, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroshi Kobayashi 5-2-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside Omika Plant, Hitachi, Ltd.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A network information storage unit for holding control information of a device connected to a network, a control unit for creating and displaying a control image using information registered in the network information storage unit. A control unit that detects that a device is connected to a network via a device control device that controls the device; and the device control device that controls the device that has detected the connection. A control unit for acquiring the control information of the above, and registering the acquired control information in the network information storage unit in association with the connected device. 2. The control information includes address information of a file defining a control screen for controlling the device, and the control unit includes means for displaying a control screen based on the address information. A network control device characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. The registration unit adds a flag indicating that the device is a newly connected device to the control information, and registers the control information in the network information storage unit. A network control device, further comprising: means for displaying a list of only newly connected devices with reference to a flag. 4. A machine-readable storage medium holding a program for realizing the network information storage unit and the control unit according to claim 1. 5. A device control device for controlling a device to be controlled, comprising: a control information storage unit for holding control information of the device to be controlled; and the device connected to a network via the device control device. A control unit for notifying the network of the control information. 6. An apparatus control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said notification is performed by automatic distribution by broadcast. 7. The apparatus control unit includes: means for receiving an external instruction; and means for receiving the instruction when receiving the instruction.
A device control device, further comprising: 8. A machine-readable storage medium holding a program for realizing the device control unit according to claim 5. 9. The network control device according to claim 1, wherein:
A network system comprising: a communication line connected to the network control device; and at least one device is connected to the communication line via the device control device according to claim 5.