JP2003050698A - System and method for configuring picture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a machine maker to configure the picture of an NC device by preventing the increase of development man-hours, the increased inconvenience of picture handling, and the increase of the capacity of software associated with the picture. SOLUTION: The machine maker configures a picture tree not by the programming of C language but by a picture configuration simple setting editor 5 being a software tool for preparing a picture constitution definition file 4 described in a text format, and configures the picture tree by integrating only necessary pictures from among a picture component package 2. A picture displaying means 6 analyzes the stored picture constitution definition file 4, and allow a display device 7 to display the pictures based on the analyzed result.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a screen construction system and method for constructing a screen of an information processing apparatus.
The present invention relates to a screen construction system and method capable of independently constructing a screen displayed on a display operation panel of an NC device which is an information processing device supplied from an EM.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An NC device which is an information processing device for controlling the operation of a machine tool usually has a display operation panel as a user interface. FIG. 5 is a front view showing the appearance of the display operation panel of the NC device. As shown in FIG. 5, a display operation panel of the NC device is provided with a display screen 10 of the display device and various operation buttons. Below the display screen, operation buttons (f1 to f3) called function keys are arranged, and at the upper right of the display screen 10, operation buttons called process keys for switching the screen are arranged. . The process key is
There are a home key (HOME), an edit key (EDIT), a setup key (SET), an operation key (RUN), and the like. When these are pressed, the screens of the processes such as edit, setup, and operation are displayed on the display screen 10. Will be displayed in. Figure 5
Then, the screen of the editing process is displayed on the display screen 10.

The screen of each process such as editing, setup, and operation can be switched to a plurality of job screens. For example, the edit process has a plurality of job screens such as an edit screen, a list screen, and an input collation screen, and the screen of each job can be sequentially selected by pressing the edit key. . In FIG. 5, the screen of the edit job in the edit process is selected, and in the lower left part of the display screen 10, “edit” is selected and displayed from among “edit”, “list”, and “input collation”. .

As described above, the screen displayed on the display operation panel of the NC device is hierarchically constructed by some processes and jobs belonging to the processes. A screen tree is a systematic collection of the hierarchical structure of these screens. FIG. 6 shows an example of the screen tree.
According to this screen tree, HOME, EDIT, SE
By pressing the process keys such as the T and RUN keys, the edit process screen, the setup process screen, and the operation process screen are displayed, respectively. HOM
The E key is a key for returning to the home screen, and here, the edit job screen of the editing process corresponds to the home screen.

In the editing process, it is possible to switch to the respective job screens of the editing screen, the list screen and the input collation screen. Further, in this screen tree, the meaning of the function key is different for each job screen. For example, the F1 key serves as a "new / call" key on the edit job screen, but serves as a "list" key on the list job screen.
What the function keys currently mean is displayed just above the function keys on the display screen.
The numbers shown in each block are screen numbers assigned to each screen or function key. Each process, each job, and each function key is referred to by this screen number.

On the other hand, NC devices are often OEM-supplied by machine tool manufacturers to machine tool manufacturers who manufacture machine tools. In such a case, the display screen of the display operation panel of the NC device is generally capable of being independently constructed by the machine maker so that the characteristic of each machine maker can be exhibited.

However, even if the machine maker can independently construct the operation screen, the machine maker does not create the maintenance screen of the NC device, for example.
The NC device manufacturer builds these maintenance screens and provides them to the machine manufacturer along with the NC device. The machine manufacturer incorporates the screens created by the NC device manufacturer into the screen tree that is uniquely constructed by programming in the C language so that the operator can call those screens created by the NC device manufacturer.

However, programming in C language, etc.
Since a software developer having such programming knowledge is required and a great deal of development man-hours are required, it takes time for the machine builder to construct the screen tree.

Furthermore, the screens provided by the manufacturer of the NC device have already been made into a screen tree, and the machine manufacturer has added each screen tree to the screen tree that he or she builds independently. Therefore, as a result, even among the screens provided by the NC device manufacturer, unnecessary screens are incorporated in the screen tree constructed by the machine manufacturer, and the usability is deteriorated due to the mixture of similar screens. There was a problem such as an increase in the capacity of the screen related software.

[0010]

As described above, the conventional screen construction method for the NC device has the following problems. (1) Since a machine builder constructs an original screen tree by programming in C language, a great deal of development man-hours are required. (2) Since the screen tree provided by the NC device manufacturer is added as it is to the screen tree constructed by the machine manufacturer, the number of cases in which similar screens are mixed increases, the usability of the screen deteriorates, and the capacity of the screen-related software is increased. Will increase.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a screen construction system and method capable of preventing an increase in development man-hours, deterioration of screen usability, and an increase in capacity of screen-related software.

[0012]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has a display operation panel having a display device and a plurality of operation buttons, and a plurality of processes and jobs belonging to the processes. In the screen construction system of the information processing apparatus capable of switching the screen displayed by the display device by pressing each operation button based on the screen tree of the plurality of screens hierarchically constructed by The screen tree in which the packaged screen component package, the screen selected from each screen of the screen component package, and the screen created by the user are incorporated, and the screen of the screen incorporated in the screen tree A screen configuration simple setting editor that is a software tool for creating a screen configuration definition file in which information is described in text format. Wherein interprets screen configuration definition file, characterized in that it comprises a screen display means for selectively displaying the screen of the display device based on the screen configuration definition file to the described screens tree and screen information.

In the screen construction system of the present invention, a machine builder constructs a screen tree by a software tool for creating a screen configuration definition file described in a text format, not by programming in C language, and creates a screen component package. You can build a screen tree by incorporating only selected screens. Therefore, in the screen construction system of the present invention, it is possible to prevent an increase in development man-hours, a deterioration in screen usability, and an increase in the capacity of screen-related software.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a screen construction system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Figure 1
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the screen construction system of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the screen construction system according to the present embodiment includes an NC screen creation unit 1, a screen component package 2, a machine maker screen 3, and a screen configuration definition file 4.
, Screen configuration simple setting editor 5, and screen display means 6
And a display device 7.

The NC screen creation unit 1 is managed by an NC manufacturer and provides the NC screen N provided to the machine manufacturer.
1 to N3 are created. The screens N1 to N3 created by the NC screen creating unit 1 are packaged in the screen component package 2 and provided to the machine manufacturer. The machine maker screen 3 is a screen created by the machine maker. The screen configuration simple setting editor 5 is a software tool that operates on a personal computer or the like to create the screen configuration definition file 4 based on the NC maker screens N1 to N3 of the screen component package 2 and the machine maker screen 3. is there. The screen configuration definition file 4 stores screen information such as the panel type and key layout of the operation screen, the screen tree configuration, the function keys of the display screen, and the icons used for the keys. The screen display means 6 interprets the content based on the screen configuration definition file 4 and displays the operation screen on the display device 7. The screen display means 6 is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) of the NC device, and the display device 7 is the aforementioned display operation panel. Note that the NC maker screens N1 to N3 and the machine maker screen actually refer to computer-executable programs executed by the image display means in order to display those screens on the display device 7.

The provider of the NC device, together with the NC device,
The screen component package 2 and the screen configuration simple setting editor 5 are provided to the machine maker. The machine builder uses the screen configuration simple editor 5 to incorporate a necessary screen among the machine maker screen 3 and the NC maker screens N1 to N3 of the screen component package 2 into the screen tree of the screen configuration definition file 4. The screen configuration definition file 4 is completed, and the screen configuration definition file 4 and the machine maker screen 3 or NC in which the screen tree of the file is incorporated in the storage device of the NC device.
Store the manufacturer screen etc. The screen display means 6 of the NC device interprets the stored screen configuration definition file 4 and causes the display device 7 to display a screen based on the interpretation result.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation of creating the screen configuration definition file 4 in the screen configuration simple setting editor 5. First, the type of the display operation panel of the NC device and the layout setting process of the keys of the panel are performed (step 10).
0). There are various types of display operation panels for NC devices.
The key layout differs depending on the type. Therefore, the operator first selects the display operation panel as a premise for constructing the screen. Here, it is desirable that a panel can be selected from the panels displayed as samples and that the key layout can be freely defined.

Next, a screen tree setting process is performed (step 101). As shown in FIG. 2, the machine maker screen 3 and the NC maker screen are incorporated into the screen tree. Finally, the function key setting process of each screen is performed, and the comment of the function key and the icon file name displayed beside the comment M are registered (step 102). Then, the file in which the items set in the above steps are described is stored as the screen configuration definition file 4.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the screen configuration definition file 4 created by the screen configuration simple setting editor 5. The screen configuration definition file 4 is a text format file, and the screen tree to be constructed is the screen tree shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows the part of each process that describes the editing process. The description of the editing process is "BEGIN_PR
OCESS1 "Edit""and" END_PROCESS "
It is surrounded by and, and the name of the screen execution process to be called in each job, the comment and icon name to be displayed on each function key, etc. are defined therein. This file has a very general sequential description format, and even files that are not familiar with programming grammars such as C language can be easily described.

Further, in the screen construction system of this embodiment, the screen configuration simple setting editor 5 is
A software tool that operates on a system having a graphical user interface such as (registered trademark) may be used to further facilitate the creation of the screen configuration definition file 4.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of operations of the graphical screen configuration simple setting editor 5. Is a menu screen of the screen configuration simple setting editor 5, that is, the screen configuration creation tool. On this screen, two creation tool menus, "1. Operation panel selection screen" and "2. Screen tree configuration" are displayed. When "1. Operation panel selection screen" is selected (), the operation panel selection tool box of is displayed. Since various types of panels such as the panel size and the number of keys are displayed in this tool box, one desired panel is selected from the displayed panels ().

On the other hand, on the menu screen of "2.
When "Configure screen tree" is selected, the screen tree definition screen of the screen tree corresponding to the operation panel selected in is displayed. When the location on the displayed screen tree is clicked with the mouse (), the screen detail definition box () for setting the details of the screen set at that location is displayed. In this box, you can enter the screen number of the screen set in that location, screen processing name (~ .exe, etc.), key text name, icon file name displayed next to the text, etc. . In this box, the key text name is entered as text, and the icon file name is the key icon selection menu.

[0023]

[Equation 1] It is possible to select from. After setting all the screen details, press the definition completion key at the bottom right of the screen tree definition screen

[0024]

[Equation 2] A screen configuration definition file 4 as shown in FIG. 3 is generated and stored in the recording device of the personal computer.

As described above, in the screen construction system of this embodiment, the machine maker is a software tool for creating the screen configuration definition file 4 described in the text format, not by programming in C language. Build a screen tree with the simple configuration editor 5,
A screen tree can be constructed by incorporating only required screens from the screen component package 2. Therefore, in the screen construction system of the present embodiment, the development man-hours for constructing the screen tree can be reduced, similar screens are not mixed in the screen tree, the usability of the screen is improved, and the screen-related software is improved. The capacity can be reduced by optimizing the wear.

Although the screen construction system of this embodiment has been described as a screen construction system in an NC device, the present invention is not limited to this, and a display device and a display provided with a plurality of operation buttons are provided. Information that has an operation panel and that can switch the screen displayed by the display device by pressing each operation button based on a screen tree showing the correspondence between each operation button, multiple screens, and the components of each screen As long as it is a processing device and is an information processing device supplied by OEM, it can be applied to other than the NC device.

[0027]

As described above, in the screen construction system of the present invention, the machine builder does not use C language programming, but uses a software tool for creating a screen configuration definition file described in a text format. , And you can build the screen tree by incorporating only the required screens from the screen component package. Therefore, the screen construction system of the present invention can reduce the development man-hours for constructing the screen tree,
Similar screens are not mixed in the screen tree, the usability of the screen is improved, and the screen related software can be optimized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a screen construction system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an operation of creating a screen configuration definition file in the screen configuration simple setting editor of the screen construction system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen configuration definition file created by a screen configuration simple setting editor of the screen construction system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of operations of a graphical screen configuration simple setting editor of the screen construction system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing an appearance of a display operation panel of the NC device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen tree.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 NC screen creation section 2 screen parts package 3 Machine maker screen 4 Screen configuration definition file 5 Screen configuration simple setting editor 6 screen display means 7 Display 10 Display screen 100, 101, 103 steps

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. Based on a screen tree of a plurality of screens, which has a display device and a display operation panel on which a plurality of operation buttons are arranged, and is hierarchically constructed by a plurality of processes and jobs belonging to the processes. A screen component package in which a plurality of screens are packaged, and each screen of the screen component package, in a screen construction system of an information processing device capable of switching the screen displayed by the display device by pressing each operation button. To create a screen configuration definition file in which the screen selected from the above, the screen created by the user, and the screen information of the screen to be included in the screen tree are described in text format. The screen configuration simple setting editor, which is a software tool, interprets the screen configuration definition file and A screen construction system, comprising: a screen tree described in the definition file and screen display means for switching and displaying the screen of the display device. 2. The screen construction system according to claim 1, wherein the type of arrangement of the display device and each operation button on the display operation panel can also be set in the screen configuration definition file. 3. The screen construction system according to claim 1, wherein the screen configuration simple editor is a software tool utilizing a graphical user interface. 4. A screen tree having a plurality of screens hierarchically constructed by a plurality of processes and jobs belonging to the processes, the display operation panel having a display device and a plurality of operation buttons. In the screen construction method of the information processing device capable of switching the screen displayed by the display device by pressing the operation buttons, a step of packaging a plurality of screens as a screen component package, and each of the screen component packages. A screen configuration definition file in which the screen selected from the screens, the screen tree in which the screen created by the user is incorporated, and the screen information of the screen incorporated in the screen tree are described in text format. A step of creating with a simple setting editor, and the screen display means to interpret the screen configuration definition file. And a step of switching and displaying the screen of the display device based on the screen tree and the screen information described in the screen configuration definition file. 5. The screen construction method according to claim 4, wherein the type of arrangement of the display device and each operation button on the display operation panel can also be set in the screen configuration definition file. 6. The screen construction method according to claim 4, wherein the screen configuration simple editor is a software tool that uses a graphical user interface.