JP2002091511A - Control system and recording medium recorded with program therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a control system capable of confirming the state of a device to be displayed by a controller by a terminal allocated to a remote place from a display such as a programmable display for control without preparing a client device or a server device to perform a special operation and providing a new display screen. SOLUTION: A host computer 16 for controlling a local control system 2 repeatedly generates image files showing screens presently displayed on the respective programmable displays 14 at prescribed timing and stores them in a public server 4. On the other hand, the public server 4 stores a group of the image files in a file storage part 41, transmits the image file according to the access from a client device 5 on the client device 5 via the Internet 3 and displays it on the client device 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of separating a control display device such as a programmable display device without preparing a terminal device or a server device for performing a special operation, and without creating a new display screen. The present invention relates to a control system capable of confirming a state of a device displayed on the control display device by a terminal device arranged in a place where the terminal device is located.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, programmable logic
The controller (hereinafter abbreviated as PLC) is, for example,
It is widely used as a control device for controlling various target systems such as a belt conveyor type automatic assembling machine. Further, in recent years, with the complexity of the target system, a plurality of PLCs have been used in cooperation with each other. The display of data from each PLC or the control instruction to the PLC is performed not only by a display device arranged in the vicinity of the PLC or the like, but also, for example, by installing the display device at a location away from these display devices. In some cases, a control system is constructed so that the control host computer can display or operate the computer.

Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG.
In the conventional control system 501, the PLC 503 is positioned as the center of control, and each PLC 503 includes:
A device 521 of the target system 502 and a programmable display 505 for performing display and control instructions are connected. Further, the PLC 503 includes another P
An LC 503 and a control host computer 507 are connected via a serial cable 504, and the PLC 50
3 and the control host computer 507 and each PLC
The transfer of control data between the PLCs 503
3 using the communication function.

In the above configuration, the programmable display 505 performs display / control based on screen data. The screen data is configured by combining a tag indicating a correspondence relationship between an area on the screen and an address of a device corresponding to display and input in the area, and is performed by the image processing unit 572 of the control host computer 507. After being created, it is distributed to each programmable display 505.

On the other hand, a display processing unit 571 of the control host computer 507 communicates with the PLC 503 to receive data indicating the state of the target system 502, displays the screen according to the state, and responds to a user's input. The control data is sent to the PLC 503, and the target system 502 is controlled according to the control data. Similarly, the programmable display 505 displays / displays the status of the target system 502 while communicating with the PLC 503.
Control.

Here, the control host computer 507
Is different from the programmable display 505 in the application and the installation location, so that both the hardware configuration such as the CPU and the memory map and the software configuration such as the operating system are different. Therefore, the display processing unit 571 of the control host computer 507 displays / displays based on the screen data of the programmable display 505.
It cannot be controlled and a dedicated display screen is drawn. In addition, for example, in order to confirm what is displayed on the dedicated display screen, such as the display content of the programmable display 505, the programmable display 505 is required.
I went to the location where I was checking.

[0007]

However, the control system having the above configuration is basically a closed system,
For example, a problem arises in that the state of the control system cannot be monitored from a general-purpose computer located at a remote place.

In many cases, a general-purpose computer is different from the programmable display 505 in hardware and software configuration. Therefore, in order to monitor the state of the control system from a remote place, a monitoring program for the general-purpose computer is used. In addition, creating a monitoring screen for a remote location increases the time and effort required to create and create a program. If these monitoring programs and monitoring screens are not installed in advance, the state of the control system cannot be monitored. Therefore, installation is troublesome especially when the monitoring user moves frequently.

In addition, even if the above monitoring screen is installed, for example, a certain programmable display 50
Even if the status of devices other than the devices that can be displayed on the above monitoring screen, such as the status of the device displayed only in 5, needs to be monitored urgently, the status of the new device is monitored unless a new monitoring screen is created. Can not do it. Therefore, when the user monitors the status of the device from a remote location, the devices that can be monitored are limited.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to prepare a server device or a terminal device for performing a special operation and to create a new display screen. Another object of the present invention is to realize a control system capable of confirming a state of a device displayed on the control display device by a terminal device arranged at a place distant from the control display device such as a programmable display device.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control system, comprising: an image file showing a screen displayed by a control display device for displaying a state of a device; Generating means for repeatedly generating at a predetermined timing; communication means capable of communicating with a server device for publishing the image file related to the control display device to a terminal device connected via a network; Storing the image file generated by the generating means repeatedly through the means and storing the image file in a storage area corresponding to the control display device related to the image file among the storage means provided in the server device Means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium in which a program for operating one or a plurality of computers is recorded as the generation unit, the communication unit, and the storage unit. When the program is read from a recording medium and executed by one or a plurality of computers, the computer operates as the generation unit, the communication unit, and the storage unit according to claim 1.

In the above configuration, when the generation means repeatedly generates an image file showing the screen of the control display device, the storage means stores the image file in the storage means of the server device through the communication means. The data is stored in a storage area corresponding to the display device. On the other hand, when the terminal device is connected via the network, the server device transmits the image file to the terminal device.

Here, the image file stored in the storage means of the server device is generated by the generation means and the storage means at a predetermined timing, for example, at a predetermined time interval, when an abnormality occurs, or when the state of the device is changed. Has been updated. Further, the image file that the server device discloses to the terminal device shows the display screen of the control display device. In particular, even if the terminal device does not have the monitoring program installed, it can be displayed without any problem. Further, since the image file is created in the control system so as to show the screen of the control display device drawn to display the state of the device, the screen for displaying the state of the control system on the terminal device is displayed. The terminal device can display the status of the control system even though the image is not newly created.

Further, since the terminal device is connected via a network such as the Internet, the status of the device can be displayed without any trouble even if the location of the terminal device is far from the location of the control display device. it can. Further, since the server only publishes the image file received from the communication means of the control system to the terminal, a server similar to a normal WEB server which publishes a page created by a user can be used.

As a result, the terminal device does not need to create and install a monitor screen for the terminal device or a monitor program for the terminal device, irrespective of the hardware configuration, the software configuration, or the access location. In addition, a screen displayed by the control display device is displayed on the screen of the terminal device, so that the user of the terminal device can be notified of the state of the device.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
The following is a description based on FIG. That is, the control communication system 1 according to the present embodiment is a system that can refer to a screen similar to a programmable display arranged near the control target from a remote place. For example, as shown in FIG. A programmable logic controller (PLC) 12 as a control device for controlling the device 11a of the target system 11, and a programmable device capable of controlling input and screen display based on screen data determined by combining processing instruction words (tags) An image showing a screen of each programmable display 14 that can be connected to the local control system 2 via the Internet (network) 3 and a local control system (control system) 2 including a display (control display device) 14 and the like. A public server device that publishes a group of files (server device)
And a client device (terminal device) 5 connectable to the public server device 4 via the Internet 3.

The public server device 4 according to the present embodiment includes a file storage unit (storage means) 41 in which image files indicating respective display screens are stored in storage areas corresponding to the respective programmable displays 14, It communicates with the control system 2 to receive the image file of each programmable display 14 and to store the file
1, an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server 42 stored in a storage area for each programmable display 14
In response to a request from the client device 5, the requested image file of the programmable display 14 is read out from the file storage unit 41 and, for example,
(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) A web server 43 for transmitting an image file to the client device 5 using a protocol such as a protocol is provided.

The client device 5 is, for example, a general-purpose personal computer, and is realized by, for example, general-purpose browser software and has a browser 51 capable of displaying an image file. The browser 51 communicates with a device connected to the Internet 3 and can display the received image file.
In addition, the browser 51 can transmit HTML (HyperText) from an arbitrary server device using a protocol such as HTTP, for example.
You can also receive and view hypertext documents, such as Markup Language (Markup Language) files.

On the other hand, in the local control system 2, each programmable display 14 is connected to the PLC 12 via the serial cable 13, and in many cases, in the vicinity of the target system 11,
1 operator. The programmable displays 14 are connected to each other by a network 15 including a local area network such as Ethernet (trademark: Xerox Corporation). Further, a control host computer 16 is connected to the network 15. In the present embodiment, the control host computer 16 corresponds to one or more computers described in the claims.

Here, in the local control system 2 according to the present embodiment, unlike the conventional control system 501 (see FIG. 6) in which each PLC intervenes in communication processing in the local control system 2, the local control system 2 And an HMI (Human Machine Interface)
), The programmable displays 14 with sufficient computing power are configured to handle most of the communication, and each programmable display 14 is unique to the type of PLC 12 connected to it. The dedicated protocol and the common protocol in the network 15 are converted, and the communication between the programmable controller 14 and the control host computer 16 and the PLC 12 is relayed. Thereby, the programmable display 14 and the control host computer 16 can communicate with each other via the network 15 using the common protocol regardless of the type of the PLC 12 connected to the other programmable displays 14. As a result, compared to the control system 501, the P
The LC 12 is easily mixed in the local control system 2.

The programmable display 14 according to the present embodiment is a display that performs an input receiving operation and a screen display operation based on screen data that defines a display / control operation. The screen data includes a display tag indicating a correspondence between a region on the screen and a device address corresponding to display in the region, and a correspondence between a region on the screen and a device address corresponding to input in the region. Tags such as input tags to be displayed. Further, in the present embodiment, each tag in the screen data can be associated with at least one of the unit screens.

The programmable display device 14 extracts display tags related to the currently displayed unit screen from screen data stored in advance, and, at predetermined intervals, associates each display tag with the display tag. Reads the contents of the device address to be displayed, and displays, in a specified area on the screen, for example, a figure in an expression format, such as a part figure corresponding to the read value, according to the contents of the device address and specified by the display tag. . On the other hand, the programmable display 1
4 receives, for example, an input operation on a touch panel (not shown), the programmable display 14 searches the screen data for an input tag corresponding to the currently displayed unit screen and matching the input operation. The input tag is instructed to the PLC 12 connected to the serial cable 13, or to the PLC 12 connected to another programmable display 14 via the network 15, the programmable display 14 and the serial cable 13. The content of the indicated device address is changed according to the input result. Thereby, the programmable display 14
The state of the device indicated by the screen data can be displayed in a display position indicated by the screen data in an expression format indicated by the screen data, or can be controlled according to an input operation indicated by the screen data.

The device address A is an address for specifying a device to be controlled.
The programmable display 14 or P
2 shows one area of a storage device provided in the LC 12 or the control host computer 16 or the like. Further, the device may be a memory in which data manually input from an input device such as an operation input unit or a barcode reader is stored. The acquisition / change of device status is
It may be instructed each time, or the programmable display 14
A cache may be prepared in the device, and at the time of acquisition / change, access to the cache may be made, and communication may be performed at predetermined time intervals or at predetermined events to synchronize with the entity of the device address.

On the other hand, the control host computer 16
Are a display processing unit 31 for performing monitoring control of the entire local control system 2, a common protocol IF unit 32 connected to the network 15, and each of the programmable display units 14 via the common protocol IF unit 32 and the network 15.
And a server unit 33 that responds to requests from the display processing unit 31 and the like. In many cases, the target system 1
1, the status of the PLC 12 or the programmable display 14 can be displayed and controlled.

The control host computer 16
Is provided with an image processing unit 34 for creating screen data of the programmable display 14 and a screen data memory 35 for storing the created screen data, and regulates the display / control operation of each programmable display 14. After the screen data is created (corrected) collectively by the drawing processing unit 34,
It is distributed to each programmable display 14 via the server 33, the common protocol IF 32 and the network 15.

Here, as described above, the screen data is configured by combining a tag indicating a correspondence between an area on the screen and an address of a device corresponding to display or input in the area, The drawing processing unit 34 displays, for example, a palette of tags, prompts the user to select a tag in the palette and place a desired tag on the screen. In addition, the drawing processing unit 34 displays the arranged tags at the designated coordinates, and adjusts the coordinates of the tags in accordance with a user's operation such as drag and drop. Further, the drawing processing unit 34 prompts the user to input a device address associated with the input tag or the display tag. As a result, the user of the control host computer 16 sends the
, The tags can be arranged at desired positions on the screen, and at the same time, the screen data can be created simply by associating each tag with the address of the device.

Therefore, the display and operation of each programmable display 14 can be determined (changed) more easily than in the case where the display program of the programmable display 14 is modified, and the user of the local control system 2 (the control host computer 16 User) of the target system 11
, The skill of the operator of the programmable display 14, or the user's preference.

In addition, the control host computer 16 according to the present embodiment is provided with a predetermined timing, for example, when a predetermined time interval or a device state is changed.
An image file generating unit (generating means) for generating an image file showing a display screen of the programmable display 14
36, an FTP client (communication means) 37 for transmitting the generated image file to the public server device 4 via the Internet 3,
A schedule management unit (storage means) 38 for instructing generation and transmission of an image file is provided for both members 36 and 37.

Upon receiving an instruction from the schedule management unit 38, the image file generation unit 36, for example,
The screen data of the programmable display 14 is read from the screen data memory 35, and the programmable display 1 is read.
4, display tags related to the currently displayed unit screen are extracted from the screen data in substantially the same manner as when the display is performed based on the screen data. Further, via the server unit 33,
In addition to acquiring the state of the device indicated by each display tag, it is possible to generate an image file in which the state of the device is drawn in the display position indicated by each display tag in the display format indicated by each display tag. Thereby, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, an image file showing the same screen as when the programmable display 14 displays on the screen based on the screen data can be created. If the image file shows a screen having the same contents as the screen of the programmable display 14, for example,
A predetermined image conversion process may be performed, such as changing the resolution according to the assumed resolution of the client device 5 or the like.

The FTP client 37 includes, for example, data for accessing the public server device 4 such as a telephone number of a provider and an address of the public server device 4 used when connecting to the Internet 3, for example,
Data for authenticating itself in the public server device 4 such as an account name and a password in the public server device 4 are stored. When a transmission instruction is received from the schedule management unit 38, the FTP server 42 of the public server device 4 You can log in to

Further, the FTP client 37 sends an FTP server 42
Can store an image file in an area determined according to the programmable display 14 in the storage area of the file storage unit 41 to which writing to the FTP client 37 is permitted. For example, if the file name of the image file is "i
mage.png ", and when instructed to transfer an image file related to the programmable display device 14 which can be specified by the character string" GP1 ", the FTP client 37 transmits the FTP file in the file storage unit 41. Assuming that the highest directory accessible by the client 37 is the root directory, for example, "put / images / GP1
For example, the image file is transmitted to the directory corresponding to the programmable display 14 by transmitting a command of “/image.png” to the FTP server 42 of the public server device 4.

On the other hand, the file storage unit 41 stores an HTML file for referring to an image file showing each screen for each programmable display 14, and a URI (Universal Content) corresponding to each programmable display 14 is stored.
ersal Resource Identifier) can refer to each HTML file.

Each member 31 to 38, 41 shown in FIG.
43 and 51, arithmetic means such as a CPU is a ROM
And a functional block realized by executing a program stored in a storage unit such as a RAM or the like, and controlling an input / output unit such as a touch panel or a liquid crystal display device, or a communication circuit such as an interface circuit. Therefore, a computer having these means simply reads a recording medium (for example, a CD-ROM or the like) on which the above program is recorded, and executes the program. 4 and the client device 5 can be realized. In particular, the browser 51 of the client device 5 can be realized by general-purpose browser software preinstalled in many computers. Therefore, these computers can be installed without installing special programs
It can operate as the client device 5. In addition, for example,
If a program for downloading a program via the serial cable 13, the network 15, the Internet 3, or another communication path is installed in the computer in advance, the computer is connected to the computer via the communication path. Programs can also be distributed.

In the above configuration, step 1 shown in FIG.
In the following (abbreviated as S1 in the following), the user of the local control system 2 operates the drawing processing unit 34 of the control host computer 16 to check the actual situation of the target system 11 and the proficiency of the operator of the programmable display 14. Alternatively, screen data is created / modified according to the user's preference. Further, the created screen data is delivered to the programmable display 14 after it is confirmed that the screen operates normally, for example, by simulation or a connection test. In S2, the programmable display 14 displays the data according to the screen data. And start accepting operations.

Here, since the optimum screen is also influenced by the taste and the proficiency, it cannot be uniquely determined and is often changed relatively frequently. However, as described above, in the present embodiment, the user of the local control system 2 (the control host computer 16) can generate screen data with a combination of tags, so that these requests can be flexibly responded to and the optimal state Can be kept.
Further, since the control can be performed collectively by the control host computer 16, the screen data can be easily managed as compared with the case where the management is performed in many places in parallel.

In the control host computer 16, when the above-mentioned predetermined timing is reached (YES in S 11), the schedule management unit 38 sends an image showing the screen of the programmable display 14 to the image file generation unit 36. An instruction to generate a file is issued to generate an image file (S12). Also, S13
, The FTP client 37 accesses the public server device 4 (FTP server 42) according to the instruction of the schedule management unit 38.

On the other hand, in S14, the public server device 4 compares the combination of the account and password stored in advance with the combination received from the local control system 2, for example. Authenticate the user. If the authentication is successful, the image file is transmitted from the local control system 2 to the public server device 4 in S15, and stored in the area of the file storage unit 41 corresponding to the programmable display 14. The processes in S11 to S15 are repeated every time the schedule management unit 38 instructs, and the image file group in the file storage unit 41 of the public server device 4 is updated at predetermined timing.

In S21 shown in FIG. 4, the client device 5 accesses the URI corresponding to the programmable display 14 of the public server device 4 (the WEB server 43) via the Internet 3, for example.
Programmable display 1 of a local control system 2
4 is displayed, the web server 4
3 confirms whether the identification number and the password received from the client device 5 are a predetermined combination or not, and the display of the screen is permitted to the client device 5 or its user. Authentication is performed, and access from the client device 5 that is not permitted is rejected.

Upon confirming that the client device 5 is authorized, the WEB server 43 reads the HTML file of the URI from the file storage unit 41 at S22 and transmits the HTML file to the client device 5 via the Internet 3. I do. In the above HTML file,
For example, a character string to be displayed with reference to an image file indicating the screen of the programmable display 14 such as an IMG element is included. Thereby, when displaying the HTML, the browser 51 of the client device 5 requests the public server device 4 to transmit the image file,
The received image file can be displayed (S23).

Here, the content of the image file is
The screen is updated at a predetermined timing by repeating the processing of S11 to S15 described above, and shows the screen of the programmable display 14 at the immediately preceding update timing. Therefore, even if the display is performed as shown in FIG. 2 after a certain update timing, the state of the device at the update timing is displayed as shown in FIG. 5 after the next update timing. As a result, the user of the client device 5 can grasp the current state of the devices in the local control system 2 by displaying the browser 51.

In the above description, the control host computer 16 is provided with the image file generating unit 36, and the image file generating unit 36 acquires the state of the device while referring to the screen data to create an image file. Although the case has been described as an example, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an image file generating unit 36 may be provided in the programmable display 14, and the FTP client 37 of the control host computer 16 may transmit the image file generated by the image file generating unit 36 to the public server device 4.

In any case, since the image file generator 36 creates an image file based on the screen data for the programmable display 14, the client device 5 can refer to the image file even though the image file can be referred to by the client device 5. The user of the local control system 2 does not need to create data for creating a screen for the client device 5 separately from the screen data. The image file can be displayed by the browser 51 of the client device 5. As a result of these, in particular, a monitoring screen for the client device 5 and a monitoring program for the client device 5 are created, and the status of the local control system 2 is notified to the user of the client device 5 without installing the monitoring program on the client device 5. it can.

In addition, the publishing server device 4 only publishes the image file received from the local control system 2. Therefore, a WEB server provided in a normal provider can be used, and an ASP (Application Security) can be used.
(rvice Provider), there is no need to prepare a server device capable of executing a special program. As a result, a system that can disclose the screen of the programmable display 14 can be easily realized.

In the above description, the case where the image file is transmitted from the local control system 2 to the public server device 4 using the FTP protocol has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, another protocol such as the HTTP protocol may be used. May be transmitted. However, FTP
The protocol is widely used when transferring a file to be published to a server device of a provider that publishes a WEB page. With a server device of a normal provider, the FTP protocol can be used without preparing a new program. Can be transferred. In the FTP protocol, H
Unlike the TTP protocol, the success or failure of the transfer can be determined, so that when the transfer fails, it can be retransmitted.

Further, in the control communication system 1 according to the present embodiment, the programmable display device 14 is provided from the public server device 4 provided separately from the local control system 2 to the client device 5 connected via the Internet 3. Publish an image file showing the screen of. Therefore, even if an unauthorized access is attempted, the unauthorized access is concentrated not on the local control system 2 but on the public server device 4.

In transmitting and receiving the status of the device, the communication partner of the local control system 2 is limited to the public server device 4. It is easy to improve the confidentiality of the communication path between the server and the public server device 4.

As a result, the client device 5 connected to the Internet 3 uses the programmable display 14
Despite being able to refer to this screen, unauthorized access to the local control system 2 can be prevented. Further, even if the operation of the public server device 4 is hindered due to unauthorized access, the local control system 2 controls the control target without any hindrance, but only hinders the distribution to the client device 5. it can. As a result, a more secure control communication system 1 can be realized.

In addition, when data is made public on the Internet 3, not only the above-mentioned measures for preventing unauthorized access, but also
Since different skills are required from the management and maintenance of the local control system 2, such as setting for constant connection to the Internet 3 and selection of the communication capacity with the Internet 3, each user is required to have a public server in the local control system. When installing the apparatus, each user needs to train technicians who are proficient in these skills.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since each local control system 2 only needs to communicate with the specific public server device 4 via the Internet 3, setting and communication capacity selection are easy. As a result, each user does not need to train a technician who is familiar with the Internet 3 and can concentrate on only the management and maintenance of the local control system 2, so that the burden on each user can be reduced.

The public server device 4 requires a technician who is proficient in the Internet 3. However, since the number of users of each local control system 2 is smaller than in the case where the users are trained separately, the control communication is required. The number of engineers in the entire system 1 can be reduced. Further, since the public server device 4 publishes the image file of each user, it is possible to reduce the trouble in managing and maintaining the disk capacity, the communication capacity, and the like as compared with the case where each user publishes the image file separately.

In particular, since the amount of data communication with the Internet 3 changes according to the number of accesses, when the public server device 4 is accessed from an unspecified number of terminal devices, it is necessary to predict the necessary communication capacity. Is extremely difficult. However, in the present embodiment, since the public server device 4 publishes the image file of each user, even if the communication capacity is set with the same ratio margin as in the case where the image files are separately installed, the public server device 4 has a different capacity. Also, the margin of communication capacity (data communication amount) increases. Therefore, even if the data traffic related to a certain user suddenly increases due to an increase in the number of accesses to an image file by a certain user, the data traffic related to another user will not increase unless the data traffic related to another user increases. Can absorb the increase. As a result, it becomes easier to set the communication capacity as compared with the case where the public server devices are separately provided.

In addition, the data published by the public server device 4 to the client device 5 is an image file showing the screen of the programmable display 14, and the device state cannot be controlled from the client device 5. Therefore, even if the user of the client device 5 that can connect to the public server device 4 via the Internet 3 succeeds in unauthorized access, the user cannot control the state of the device in the local control system 2 and the local control system 2 can be kept safe.

In the above example, an HTML document has been described as an example of a file that refers to an image file. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an XML (eX
Any document that can refer to an image file, such as a tensible Mark-up Language) file, can be used. Also,
The image file may be directly specified by the URI. In the above example, the case where the image file generation unit 36 generates the entire screen of the programmable display 14 as one image file has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. A file may be generated and published together with a document that refers to these image files. Also, the image file generation unit 3
6 generates an image file showing only a portion that cannot be expressed in a text format, such as, for example, a portion in an animation display, of the entire screen of the programmable display device 14. For example, a portion that can be displayed may be described in a document referencing the image file in a text format, and both the created document and the image file may be transmitted to the public server device 4. In any case, the local control system 2 repeatedly generates an image file showing the screen of the programmable display 14, and
The same effect can be obtained by transmitting the image file to the public server device 4.

[0055]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control system comprising:
As described above, a generating unit that repeatedly generates an image file indicating a display screen of the control display device at a predetermined timing, and an image file generated by the generating unit are repeatedly transmitted to be provided in the server device. Storage means for storing the image file related to the control display device via the network from the server device to the terminal device, the storage device storing the image file related to the control display device related to the image file. It is a configuration that is made public.

As described above, the computer-readable recording medium according to claim 2 stores a program for operating one or a plurality of computers as the generation means, the communication means, and the storage means according to claim 1. When the program is read from a recording medium and executed by one or a plurality of computers, the computer operates as the generation unit, the communication unit, and the storage unit according to claim 1.

According to the above configuration, the image file stored in the server device indicates the display screen of the control display device, and is updated at a predetermined timing by the generation unit and the storage unit. Regardless of the hardware configuration, software configuration, or access location, and especially without creating and installing a monitoring screen for a terminal device or a monitoring program for a terminal device, The screen displayed on the display device is displayed so that the user of the terminal device can be notified of the device state.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1, showing an embodiment of the present invention, is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a control communication system.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen of a programmable display and a client device in the control communication system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation when an image file is stored in a public server device in the control communication system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation when an image file is made public from a public server device to a client device in the control communication system.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a display screen of the programmable display device and the client device in the control communication system.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional example, and is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a control system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Local Control System (Control System) 3 Internet (Network) 4 Public Server (Server) 5 Client (Terminal) 11a Device 14 Programmable Display (Control Display) 16 Control Host Computer (Computer) 36 Image File generation unit (generation unit) 37 FTP client (communication unit) 38 Schedule management unit (storage unit) 41 File storage unit (storage unit)

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Claims (2)

[Claims] A generating means for repeatedly generating, at a predetermined timing, an image file showing a screen displayed by a control display device for displaying a state of a device, and a terminal device connected via a network. A communication device capable of communicating with the server device that publishes the image file related to the control display device, and repeatedly transmits the image file generated by the generation device via the communication device to the server device. A control system, comprising: a storage unit that stores the image file in a storage area corresponding to the control display device related to the image file. 2. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for operating one or a plurality of computers is recorded as the generation means, the communication means and the storage means according to claim 1.