JP2008021154A - Operation screen editing method for control indicator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate design and manufacture of an operation screen, and to shorten a time required for the design and manufacture, and to reduce labors in editing work. <P>SOLUTION: This operation screen editing method of a display unit for control includes: a first step for selecting tag cross reference from a tool menu of an edit screen, and for calling the dialog window of the tag cross reference, and for displaying it on the edit screen; a second step for inputting a tag as the object of retrieval in the called dialog window with the tag name, and for displaying a list showing which screen has the object using the tag; and a third step for executing the selection operation of the list, and for jumping to the screen at the reference destination. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a control display in which an operation screen is composed of a plurality of associated screens, and each screen is composed of a combination of one or more objects and one or more tags for each object. This relates to the operation screen editing method.

  A programmable display is widely used as a control display as an HMI of a control system. Such a control display device communicates with a programmable logic controller (PLC) that controls the device to display / control the state of the device, and the operation and operation when displaying the state of the device on the screen. The operation when controlling the state of the device in accordance with the operation screen is specified based on the operation screen data created by the operation screen editing device (drawing tool) such as the control host computer and then installed on the control display. (Patent Document 1). The operation screen is composed of a plurality (several hundreds) of associated screens (also referred to as unit screens), and each screen is a base screen and one or more objects (operations) arranged on the base screen. Component) and one or a plurality of tags for each operation component.

  The display for control uses an input device in which a liquid crystal display panel is mounted at the bottom of the touch panel to form a display screen. The user can control the display based on the display on the control display. While grasping the state of the device, etc., the touch panel is operated to input a control instruction to the device on the control display.

  Such control displays often employ a GUI (graphical user interface) as the HMI, and the display screen is composed of a touch panel and a display panel such as a liquid crystal display element, and software is pre-installed using a microcomputer. The operation screen data is designed and manufactured using. An operation component for operating the device is displayed on the control display. The user operates the device by operating the operation component displayed on the control display. The operation component displayed on the control display can be defined as an HMI (Human Machine Interface) component that forms an interface between the device and the user. Properties (attribute information) such as display color, font, caption, etc. are set in the HMI component. Property setting for the HMI component can be performed by calling a property setting dialog on the editing screen and operating the called property setting dialog with a mouse or a keyboard.

  A tag is used in designing and manufacturing the operation screen on the control display device described above. The control indicator displays / controls based on the operation screen. The operation screen data consists of a combination of tags that indicate the correspondence between the area on the screen and the address of the device corresponding to the display or input of the HMI component in the area. , Delivered to each control display. The control display unit acquires the contents of the device address by communicating with the PLC through the tag, and displays the state of the device in an area on the screen according to the content.

  The operation screen is composed of a plurality of screens (unit screens), and these screens can be switched. For each screen, for example, the background (base screen) that does not change the display content, and HMI parts that change the display state such as the shape, color, and blinking state, such as switches, lamps, and meters, are arranged on the base screen. Formed. The tag includes a tag name and tag information. Detailed description of tag information is omitted. The tag is data necessary for communicating with a PLC or the like to display the state of the device in an area on the screen. On the other hand, the same tag is often used for HMI parts displayed in each screen. In addition, this tag often needs to be changed, such as correction, during drawing and after drawing.

  A change in the tag of an HMI component on one screen affects the HMI component on another screen. Therefore, in the design and production (drawing) of the operation screen, these tags are registered in a database (tag name database) with a list of tag names and tag information for each tag name, and from the registered tag name database, or In general, a tag cross reference (tag reference) function is provided to search for which HMI component of which screen the tag is used, and this tag cross reference is referred to.

However, in the above-mentioned tag cross reference, in order to search which HMI component of which screen has the same tag as a certain tag, take note of the number of the screen using the tag, etc. Accordingly, the tag cross reference is referred to by inputting the screen number, and such a tag cross reference is one of the factors for spending time in designing and producing the screen data, which is inconvenient.
JP 2005-031876 A

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is that it is possible to select and display which screen among the plurality of screens constituting the operation screen the HMI parts using the same tag are used by simple operation. It is possible to visually confirm which part the tag is used on the screen, to facilitate the design and production of the operation screen, shorten the time required for the design and production, and reduce the labor for editing. That is.

  In the control display according to the present invention, the operation screen is composed of a plurality of associated screens, and each screen is composed of a combination of one or more objects and one or more tags for each object. In the operation screen editing method of the control display, the first step of calling the tag cross-reference dialog window on the editing screen to retrieve which screen the tag of the arbitrary screen is used is called. A second step of displaying a list indicating on which screen an object using the tag to be searched is present in the dialog window; and a third step of selecting the list and jumping to a reference screen. It is characterized by executing.

  In a preferred mode, the first step is to select a tag cross reference from the tool menu on the editing screen and call up a tag cross reference dialog window.

  In the preferred mode, the second step is to input a tag to be searched by the tag name in the dialog window and display a list indicating on which screen an object using the tag exists.

  A preferred mode is to provide a tag name input field in the dialog window.

  A preferred embodiment is to display a check box for designating classification by tag name in the dialog window.

  In a preferred embodiment, the list is composed of a plurality of list parts, and each list part displays at least a screen number, a screen name, an object type, and an object name, and selects one of the list parts. It is a jump display of the reference destination screen.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to immediately display on which screen the HMI component using the same tag is used, making it easy to design and manufacture the operation screen, and reducing the time required for the design and manufacture. It is possible to reduce the labor in editing work.

  Hereinafter, an operation screen editing method for a control display according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a block configuration of a control system using a control display in which an operation screen edited by the editing method of the embodiment is incorporated, FIG. 2 shows a block configuration of the control display, and FIG. FIG. 4 shows a block configuration of the external PC 1 as a drawing tool. FIG. 1 shows a control host computer (external PC) 1, a control display 2, a programmable logic controller (PLC) 3, and a target system 4 including one or more devices. Thus, a control system for controlling the plurality of target systems 4 installed in the factory is constructed.

  As the external PC 1, a normal control system PC equipped with a desktop, a keyboard and a mouse can be used. The external PC 1 includes a CPU, a hard disk drive, an interface unit, and a display unit (not shown) on the desktop as a control system PC. In addition to controlling the operation of each part of the external PC 1 according to the program stored in the memory or hard disk drive by the CPU, the CPU also controls communication with the control display 2, and the hard disk drive controls the OS, various drivers, and application programs. And the like, and the interface unit can communicate with the control display 2.

  The control display 2 is a control display such as a programmable display as a HMI device or a panel computer. This control display is a control display equipped with a dot display screen, an operation input switch, an interface with the PLC 3, a program memory for control such as operation input on the screen, and the like. In addition to providing a function for displaying the operation panel 2a such as an operation panel, a switch, and an indicator light on the operation screen 2a, various monitors for management such as device operating status and work instructions, It has a function as a terminal for inputting setting values for the device via a touch panel. The display for control 2 is installed with a display program for executing the above functions. This installation can be performed from the external PC 1. The control display 2 performs a display operation according to the display program. The control display 2 is connected to a PLC 3 that controls the target system 4.

  The control display 2 has substantially the same configuration as that of a personal computer, and in order to display the operation screen 2a, a touch panel device 2b (touch panel and touch panel controller) and a display device 2c (display panel and display panel controller) are provided. Prepare. In the touch panel device 2b, a touch panel (not shown) has a large number of electrode wirings arranged in a crossing manner between transparent laminated panels. By applying pressure (touching) from the top of the laminated panel with a pen tip or a fingertip, The vertical electrode wiring and the horizontal electrode wiring immediately below the pressing point are in contact with each other, and the coordinate value of the touch position can be specified from the combination of the numbers of the contact wirings on the touch panel. In the display device 2c, a display panel (not shown) is covered in close contact with the touch panel, and an instruction by a pressing operation on the touch panel is captured by the touch panel controller and subjected to coordinate analysis, and the fingertip during initial setting or during driving is started. Various manual operations are possible. The display panel controller controls the display of the operation screen 2a on the display panel.

  In the control display 2, an operation component (HMI component) 2d for displaying the operation status of the target system 4 or operating the target system 4 is displayed on the operation screen 2a. Each HMI component 2d has various properties such as various shapes, colors, characters, and fonts. This HMI component forms an interface between the target system 4 and an operator, and corresponds to each device constituting the target system 4.

  The control display 2 further includes a memory 2e such as a RAM, ROM, flash ROM, and VRAM, a CPU 2f that is arithmetic processing, an input device 2g, and an interface (I / F) 2h with an external PC 1 or PLC 3. These control the operation of each part of the control display 2. The control display 2 can perform various data processing for the CPU 2f to perform display control of the operation screen 2a, protocol conversion, and data distribution. The control display 2 can draw the operation screen 2a using a memory 2e such as a VRAM based on the operation screen 2a created by the external PC 1.

  A sequence program is installed in the PLC 3. This sequence program can be installed by the external PC 1. The PLC 3 performs a required control operation on the target system 4 according to the sequence program. The PLC 3 has a circuit unitized for each required individual function such as a CPU unit 3a, a memory unit 3b, a power supply unit 3c, an I / O unit 3d, a communication unit 3e, and various high-function units, and each unit is required. Accordingly, the functions achieved as a whole in the PLC 3 can be changed by connecting them in parallel so that they can be appropriately increased or decreased. In addition, the storage location of various information input or output to the target system 4 is a passive component such as a level meter or limit switch provided on the target system 4 to be controlled or displayed, or an active component such as a relay or a motor. A word device is designated for word data, and a bit device is designated for bit data such as on / off information. On the other hand, by setting a device name specific to the model in advance, necessary data that can be specified by specifying the device name is stored in the memory unit.

  The target system 4 includes sensors, relays, and other devices. Data indicating the status of the device is input from the target system 4 to the PLC 3. The PLC 3 can transmit the data to the control display 2 and to the external PC 1 via the control display 2.

  As described above, the external PC 1 can function as a drawing tool for designing and producing the operation screen of the control display 2 in addition to the function as the host computer in the control system. Note that the drawing tool may be constituted by a separate personal computer instead of the external PC 1, and operation screen data drawn by this drawing tool may be transferred to the control display 2. Alternatively, the drawing software may be stored in the control display 2 so that the drawing software can be installed in the external PC 1. This drawing software is in GUI format, for example, X-WINDOW of Macintosh, MS-Windows (registered trademark), UNIX (registered trademark). These GUIs can provide an interface through which a user can operate a computer with a feeling close to a real work environment.

  The design of the operation screen includes arrangement of HMI parts, property setting, property change, and the like. The external PC 1 can perform display design using built-in drawing software or drawing software installed from the recording medium 5. This drawing software is software for configuring a desired screen using HMI parts such as a switch, lamp, numeric keypad, meter display, graph display, tag setting function, drawing function, text input function, and the like. The HMI component includes not only a single function but also a composite component having a plurality of functions, for example, a composite switch, a counter, a timer, and the like. These parts are registered in a library format so that they can be arranged in the editing area by operations such as drag and drop. The operation screen data created by the external PC 1 is transferred to the control display 2. In this case, the operation screen data created by the external PC 1 is transferred to the control display 2 as a data format that can be read by the control display 2.

  The control display 2 stores the operation screen data in a file format that can be stored in the memory 2e such as a flash memory, and reads it as necessary when the screen is displayed. Further, in order to save the operation screen data as a backup file, the control display 2 converts the operation screen data stored in the memory 2e into a backup file format and is detachable from the control display 2. It can be stored on a medium. As this recording medium, for example, a memory card is suitable. The control display 2 displays each part and figure on the screen according to the operation state of the device 4 based on data exchanged with the PLC 3 when the PLC 3 is in operation.

  The external PC 1 displays an editing screen 10 shown in FIG. 5 or later as a drawing tool when a user edits the drawing on the operation screen. A function for creating an operation screen using the editing screen 10 will be further described.

  When the external PC 1 functions as a drawing tool, the external PC 1 includes a display unit 1a, a screen data creation unit 1b, a tag setting unit 1c, a screen data storage unit 1d, a screen data management unit 1e, and a data communication unit 1f.

  The display unit 1a performs various display operations.

  The screen data creation unit 1b creates and corrects the operation screen.

  The tag setting unit 1c sets various tags. Here, the screen data creation unit 1b performs drawing arrangement such as circles and straight lines, placement of objects such as switches and lamps, and setting of various tags, and synthesizes them to create screen data necessary for control.

  The screen data storage unit 1d stores various created data.

  The screen data management unit 1e manages the created screen data.

  The data communication unit 1f downloads the created screen data on the control display 2 side.

  The screen data creation unit 1b can input various events related to an object drawing operation using an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard in order to create or modify an operation screen. The screen data creation unit 1b executes various types of processing, such as input event processing, menu processing, keyboard processing, mouse processing, toolbar processing, drawing processing, window processing, command processing, display processing, and the like. There is. The input event processing performs menu processing, keyboard processing, mouse processing, toolbar processing, window processing, drawing processing, and the like in accordance with various input events. In the drawing process, an input event generated in the drawing area of the editing screen is processed. In the window processing, scrolling, enlargement / reduction, switching, etc. of the window displayed on the editing screen are performed according to an input event. In the command processing, a command is executed in accordance with an input event, and an object included in the editing screen is drawn. Command processing can be realized by software operating on the OS of the external PC 1. The display unit 1a displays an edit screen according to the above processing, and displays objects on the edit screen.

  FIG. 5 shows an editing screen 10 of the drawing tool. On the editing screen, a menu bar 12 is displayed at the top. The menu bar 12 includes File (file), Edit (edit), View (display), Tool (tool), Object (object), Screen (screen), Database (database), SetUp (setup), Panel (panel), Menu items of Window (window) and Help (help) are included. When a desired menu item is selected, a pull-down list is opened and a list of commands included in the item is displayed. Select a desired command from the command list and execute it. In the embodiment, the list of commands is not shown.

  A toolbar 14 is displayed below the menu bar 12. When an icon included in the toolbar 14 is clicked, a desired command can be activated.

  The tool bar 14 includes a tool bar for selecting a tag cross reference. FIG. 5 shows a state in which a tag cross reference is selected from Tool.

  The editing screen 10 further includes a navigation window 16. The navigation window 16 includes a preview unit 18 and a setting operation unit 20. The preview unit 18 previews the screen and the background screen. The setting operation unit 20 can display a final state in which three screen elements of a screen, a background screen, and a background color are combined on the same drawing area.

  On the editing screen, a drawing area 22, an object list area 24, a parts list area 26, and an object help area 28 are arranged. In the object list area 24, objects such as lines, squares, buttons, etc. used for drawing editing are listed. The parts list area 26 lists parts (not shown) such as buttons, labels, input areas, scales, switches, radio boxes, menus, and separators used for drawing editing. In the drawing area 22, an object selected and pasted from the object list area 24 by drag and drop or the like is displayed. The objects in the object list area 24 have predefined attributes (functions). For the object displayed in the drawing area 22, specific attribute values (shape, size, function, etc.) are set by editing in the drawing area 22. An operation screen is created by combining objects on the drawing area 22.

  With reference to FIG. 5 and subsequent figures, an operation screen editing method on the display screen of the external PC 1 as a drawing tool having the above-described configuration will be described. In this operation screen editing, drawing software is started, an HMI project is read on the editing screen, and a screen for which a certain tag of the read HMI project is used is searched.

  First, as shown in FIG. 5, when a tag cross reference (TagCrossReference) is selected from the Tool menu, a tag cross reference dialog window 40 is called as shown in FIG.

  The dialog window 40 includes ReferenceType (reference type) and TagName (tag name). ReferenceType (reference type) includes SortbyScreenName / No. There are a check box of (classification by screen name / number) and a check box of SortbyTagName (classification by tag name), and classification by tag name is performed by selecting a check box of SortbyTagName (classification by tag name). Further, the tag name (tag name) can be input with the name of the tag to be searched. Further, this window 40 shows a list for tag cross-reference. This list is displayed in order of Screen No. in the horizontal column. (Screen number), ScreenName (screen name), ObjectType (object type), and ObjectName (object name), which are displayed in a tag cross-reference composed of rectangular boxes arranged vertically and horizontally.

  Then, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, for example, when “M3” is entered in TagName (tag name), ScreenNo. (Screen number) is “2” “2” “22” “26” “27” “28” “29”, and ScreenName (screen name) is a menu, menu, connected, beautiful destination, easy destination, fast destination, leading destination, AlarmAction, Pushbutton to ObjectType (object type), ShowPopupWin, Pushbutton, Pushbutton, Pushbutton, Pushbutton, Pushbutton, Pushbutton4 to ObjectName (object name), ShowPopupWin, Pushbutton1, Pushbutton4, Pushbutton4, Pushbutton4, Pushbutton4 display Is done.

  According to this tag cross-reference, a tag to be searched for is input by its tag name in the called dialog window 40, and a list indicating on which screen an object that uses the tag is displayed.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 9 to FIG. 11, the screen number of the reference destination (the screen number is “22” in FIG. 9, the screen number is “26” in FIG. 10, and the screen number is “28” in FIG. 11). The list portion corresponding to is clicked with a mouse or the like or double-clicked to jump to the selected reference screen with the screen numbers “22”, “26”, “28”, and the reference destination screen is displayed. Is displayed. The HMI part having the tag name can be visually confirmed on the jumped reference destination screen.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a block configuration of a control system including a control display capable of implementing an operation screen editing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the control display. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation screen of the control display. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a block configuration of the external PC 1 as a drawing tool. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an edit screen for explaining the tag cross reference. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which the tag cross reference window is called on the editing screen. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a tag name is input to the tag cross reference. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which a tag cross reference is displayed by inputting a tag name. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state of jumping to the screen number “22”. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a state of jumping to the screen number “26”. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state of jumping to the screen number “28”.

Explanation of symbols

1 External PC
2 Control display 2b HMI component 3 PLC
4 Device 10 Edit screen 40 Tag cross-reference window

Claims (6)

  Operation screen editing of a control display composed of a plurality of screens associated with each other and each screen comprising a combination of one or more objects and one or more tags for each object In the method, in order to search for which screen a tag of an arbitrary screen is used for, a first step of calling a tag cross-reference dialog window on the editing screen, and a tag to be searched in the called dialog window A second step of displaying a list indicating on which screen an object using the object is present, and a third step of selecting the list and jumping to a reference destination screen. To edit the operation screen of the display.   The method of claim 1, wherein the first step is to select a tag cross reference from a tool menu on the edit screen to call a tag cross reference dialog window.   The second step is to input a tag to be searched with the tag name in the dialog window and display a list indicating on which screen an object using the tag is present. 3. An operation screen editing method for the control display device according to 2.   2. The operation screen editing method for a control display device according to claim 1, wherein a tag name input field is provided in the dialog window.   5. The operation screen editing of a control display device according to claim 1, wherein the second step further displays a check box for designating a classification based on a tag name in the dialog window. Method.   The list is composed of a plurality of list parts, and at least a screen number, a screen name, an object type, and an object name are displayed on each list part, and a reference destination is selected by selecting one of the list parts. 6. The method of editing an operation screen of a control display device according to claim 1, wherein the screen is jump-displayed.

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