JP2009271572A - Control system development support device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control system development support device for intelligibly displaying the association between processes. <P>SOLUTION: This control system development support device 1 for creating the control program of a control system for executing a plurality of operation processes by combining program blocks as unit programs for achieving each operation process is configured to create a control block from each program block corresponding to each operation process in order to integrate the program blocks of the processes in which the same information is set, and to display a control system flow showing the dependency of the control blocks and a process flow showing the dependency of the operation processes by associating them with each other. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a control system development support apparatus that supports development of a program for operating a control system constituted by control devices.

  Control systems that create complex products such as semiconductor products and liquid crystal substrates are complicated and large in size because the programs that operate the control equipment are complicated. It takes. Therefore, for example, as in the techniques disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, a technology for describing the dependency and execution order of product processing processes in a process flow, and designing a control device and creating a program by the process flow. Has been proposed.

JP-A-8-203794 Japanese Patent No. 3852194

  The technique of describing the dependency and effective order of processing processes in the process flow is effective for designing the process flow. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to understand the relationship between processes such as an object processed by a control system developed based on the process flow and the flow of data from the flow of the process flow. For example, even in the case of a control system with a simple configuration in which a workpiece is reciprocated many times between two processing machines by the action of a single transfer machine and processing is performed by the processing machine, Since each process is set for each processing by the processing and processing by the processing machine, it is composed of a large number of processes. As a result, two processing machines are formed from the process flow composed of such a large number of processes. And it is not easy to read the processing relevance of one transporter.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to obtain a control system development support apparatus that displays the relationship between processes in an easily understandable manner.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention creates a control program for a control system that executes a plurality of work processes by combining program blocks that are unit programs that realize each work process. A control system development support apparatus, which sets program block setting information, which is information for setting program block information having setting information consisting of at least one item relating to a program block, for each work process, and dependency relations between the work processes. Setting information storage unit for storing process flow setting information that is information to be performed in advance, control blocks corresponding to the respective program block information set in the program block setting information, and items designated in advance Program blocks with the same setting information If there is a plurality of block information, a control block generation unit that integrates each control block corresponding to the plurality of program block information into one control block, and a dependency relationship between work steps set in the process flow setting information Control system flow generation unit for deriving the dependency relationship between the control blocks based on the control flow, the dependency relationship between the work processes set in the process flow setting information, and between the control blocks derived by the control system flow generation unit And a control system flow display management unit that displays the dependency on the display device in association with the work process and the control block.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to obtain a control system development support device that easily displays the relationship between processes.

  Embodiments of a control system development support apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of a control system development support apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, a control system development support apparatus 1 includes an input unit 2, a display unit 3, a process flow program management unit 4, a control system flow management unit 5, and a control unit 6 that controls each of these processing units. Is provided.

  The input unit 2 is an input interface used when data necessary for creating a control system flow is set in the control system development support apparatus 1. For example, a keyboard or a pointing device such as a mouse is used as the input unit 2. The display unit 3 has a function of displaying a data input screen necessary for creating a control system flow, a created control system flow, a process flow, and the like, and is configured by a display device such as a liquid crystal display.

  The process flow program management unit 4 handles a program created for each process, which is a unit of processing in the control system, in units of program blocks, and manages dependency relationships between program blocks. The process flow program management unit 4 causes the display unit 3 to display a display for creating process flow setting information describing the dependency relationship between program blocks, and writes the input dependency relationship into the process flow setting information. Program block setting management for causing the flow setting management unit 41 and a display for setting program block setting information, which is setting information for each program block, to be displayed on the display unit 3 and writing the input setting information to the program block setting information And a process flow program setting information storage unit 43 for storing the created process flow setting information and program block setting information.

  The process flow setting information may be text format data, diagram format data, or other format information as long as the dependency relationship between program blocks is defined. In the first embodiment, the process flow setting information is displayed on the display unit 3 as graphic data in which program blocks are represented by rectangles and dependencies are represented by drawing lines having arrows from the program blocks to the program blocks. Shall be displayed. Here, it is assumed that materials for these graphics are prepared in advance and are set by the user placing these graphics in a desired shape via the input unit 2.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen on which the process flow setting management unit 41 displays the process flow setting information on the display unit 3. On the process flow setting screen 100, program blocks A and B are set as program blocks 101 representing one unit of processing. An arrow 102 indicating a dependency relationship is drawn from the program block A toward the program block B.

  The dependency relationship between program blocks may indicate a sequential execution order relationship between program blocks, for example, SFC (Sequential Function Chart). The relationship of passing to the program block may be shown. For example, the arrow 102 in FIG. 2 may indicate that the program block B is executed after the execution of the program block A, or the data obtained by executing the program block A is transferred to the program block B. May be used. In addition, a condition for execution transition and a condition for data transfer may be set for the dependency relationship.

  The program block setting information is setting information for setting setting information for creating a program of each program block for each process. The items of the setting information may be, for example, a name of a work machine that realizes a process, a program name of an allocation program, a variable used in the allocation program, and a comment regarding a program block. The number of items may be plural.

  The control system flow management unit 5 is a processing unit that generates and stores a control system flow from the process flow setting information created by the process flow program management unit 4, and includes a control block generation unit 51 and a control system flow generation unit 52. And a control system flow setting storage unit 53 and a control system flow display management unit 54.

  The control block generation unit 51 acquires the program block setting information stored in the process flow program setting information storage unit 43, examines the setting information of items designated in advance in the program block, and the program in which the same information is set If there are blocks, one control block corresponding to them is generated. When there is no other program block in which the same information is set, the control block generation unit 51 generates one control block corresponding only to the program block. The control block generation unit 51 stores control block information obtained by collecting information about the generated control blocks in the control system flow setting storage unit 53.

  The control system flow generation unit 52 derives the control system flow by deriving the dependency relationship between the control blocks generated by the control block generation unit 51 based on the process flow setting information stored in the process flow program setting information storage unit 43. It is generated and stored in the control system flow setting storage unit 53.

  The control system flow display management unit 54 displays the control system flow stored in the control system flow setting storage unit 53 so that the correspondence between the process flow displayed by the process flow setting management unit 41 can be understood. To display.

  Next, a control block generation procedure and a control system flow generation processing procedure in the control system development support apparatus 1 having such a configuration will be described in order.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control block generation processing procedure in the control system development support apparatus of the first embodiment. Process flow setting information shown in FIG. 5 and program block setting information shown in FIG. 6 for the control system to be developed shown in FIG. 4 by the process flow setting management unit 41 and the program block setting management unit 42 in advance. It is assumed that the process flow program setting information storage unit 43 is in a state of being stored. In the program block setting information 110 in FIG. 6, the assigned program name and the used variable name are set as items of setting information, and information of each item described above is set for each program block. For example, the program block “MoveStoA” is set in the program block “Transport Robot (Start → A)”, and “arm open” and “arm position information” are assigned as variable names used in “MoveStoA”. .

  First, the control block generation unit 51 acquires program block setting information from the process flow program setting information storage unit 43 (step S1), and generates control blocks corresponding to all program blocks (step S2). In the example of FIG. 6, since there are seven program blocks, seven control blocks are set to correspond to each.

  Next, in order to determine a control block to be integrated, the control block generation unit 51 sequentially confirms the setting contents of all the program blocks. First, the control block generation unit 51 determines whether there is a program block that has not been extracted (step S3). When there is a program block that has not been extracted (step S3, Yes), the control block generation unit 51 extracts one program block that has not been extracted (step S4) and has not compared it with the extracted program block. It is determined whether or not there is a program block (step S5). If there is a program block that has not been compared (step S5, Yes), these program blocks are compared and two program block setting information is designated in advance. It is determined whether or not there is duplicate information in the item being checked (step S6).

  When there is the same information between the compared program block setting information (step S6, Yes), the control block generating unit 51 integrates the control blocks corresponding to the two compared program blocks into one control block (step S7). ), The process proceeds to step S5. In step S6, when there is no overlapping information between the compared program block setting information (step S6, No), the process proceeds to step S5.

  In step S5, when there is no program block that is not compared with the extracted program block (step S5, No), the control block generation unit 51 does nothing and moves to step S3 to search for an unextracted program block. . If it is determined in step S3 that there is no program block that has not been extracted (No in step S3), the control block generation process is terminated. The generated control block and the correspondence between the control block and the program block are stored in the control system flow setting storage unit 53.

  Here, assuming that the variable names used are designated in advance, the program blocks “transport robot (Start → A)”, “transport robot (A → B)”, “transport robot (B → C)” Then, the usage variable “arm open” overlaps, and the “transfer robot (B → C)” and “transfer robot (C → End)” overlap the usage variable “arm close”. Therefore, by integrating the control blocks allocated to these program blocks into one, finally four control blocks as shown in FIG. 7 are generated. In FIG. 7, the name written in the control block indicates the name of the program block corresponding to the control block.

  The information duplication confirmation performed in step S6 may be performed based on the information of the designated item by accepting designation of the item of the setting information to be confirmed from the input unit 2. For example, at the start of the control block generation process, the user selects “assigned program name” or “used variable name” in the program block setting information 110, and in step S6, based on the information of the item selected by the user. Check for duplicates. In the case of this example, if the user selects “used variable name”, the control block shown in FIG. 7 is generated. However, if “assigned program name” is selected, there is no duplicate setting. Seven control blocks corresponding to are generated.

  Next, the control system flow generation unit 52 generates a control system flow by combining the created control blocks. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of generating a control system flow in the control system development support apparatus of the first embodiment.

  First, the control system flow generation unit 52 acquires process flow setting information from the process flow program setting information storage unit 43 (step S11). Then, the control system flow generation unit 52 extracts all the dependency relationships between the program blocks in order to set the dependency relationship between the control blocks. That is, the control system flow generation unit 52 determines whether or not there is an unextracted program block dependency relationship (step S12). If there is a dependency relationship between program blocks that have not been extracted (step S12, Yes), the control system flow generation unit 52 extracts one dependency relationship (step S13), and the dependency relationship is set 2 It is determined whether or not the control blocks to which one program block is assigned are integrated (step S14). When the control block is a separate control block (step S14, Yes), this dependency is set between the control blocks (step S15), and the process proceeds to step S12.

  If the control blocks are integrated in step S14 (step S14, No), the control system flow generation unit 52 proceeds to step S12 and determines whether there is another dependency that has not yet been extracted. When the control system flow generation unit 52 finishes extracting all the dependency relationships (No at Step S12), the control system flow generation unit 52 ends the control system flow generation process.

  Here, the control system flow generation unit 52 sets the direction of the dependency relationship set in step S15 according to the direction of the dependency relationship set between the program blocks. For example, when the dependency relationship between “conveying robot (Start → A)” and “processing machine A” is extracted from the dependency relationships set in FIG. 5, “conveying robot (Start → A)” and “ When the control block corresponding to the “processing machine A” is confirmed, since it is a different control block, a dependency relationship is set between the control blocks. The direction of the dependency relationship is set in accordance with the direction between the program blocks, from the control block corresponding to “Conveying robot (Start → A)” to the control block corresponding to “Processing machine A”.

  When another dependency relationship is already set when setting the dependency relationship, a plurality of dependency relationships may be set, or a plurality of the same settings may not be set. The generated dependency relationship is stored in the control system flow setting storage unit 53. In the example, when the dependency relationship is set between the control blocks shown in FIG. 7, the control system flow shown in FIG. 9 is generated and stored in the control system flow setting storage unit 53.

  The control system flow generated by the control block generation unit 51 and the control system flow generation unit 52 is displayed on the display unit 3 by the control system flow display management unit 54. The control system flow display management unit 54 simultaneously displays the process flow and the control system flow on the display unit 3 in a form in which the correspondence between the program block of the process flow and the control block of the control system flow is known.

  FIG. 10 shows an example in which a control system flow corresponding to the process flow is displayed by the control system flow display management unit 54. Since the program block name is written in the control block, the correspondence between the program block and the control block can be grasped.

  In this example, as an example of displaying the correspondence between the program block and the control block, the name of the program block is displayed on the control block. However, the correspondence can be displayed in a separate list format, or the control block can be displayed. When selected, the corresponding program block may be displayed in a pop-up. Further, when a program block is selected, the corresponding control block may be highlighted.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, a control block is created from each program block corresponding to each work process so as to integrate program blocks of processes in which the same information is set, and between control blocks. Since the control system flow indicating the dependency relationship is displayed in association with the process flow indicating the dependency relationship of the work process, it is possible to obtain a control system development support apparatus that easily displays the relationship between the processes. As a result, the user can grasp the program blocks related to each program block used in the process flow, so that design efficiency and debugging efficiency are improved.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
Next, a control system development support apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the second embodiment of the control system development support apparatus according to the present invention. The control system development support apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment has a configuration in which a control system classification information management unit 7 is added to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1 of the first embodiment. Here, description of the same components as those in Embodiment 1 is omitted, and only the added control system classification information management unit 7 will be described.

  The control system classification information management unit 7 further includes a control system classification information setting unit 71 and a control system classification information storage unit 72.

  The control system classification information setting unit 71 sets the type of work process and information related to each type as control system classification information in order to classify part or all of the work process in the control system for each type. And stored in the control system classification information storage unit 72. The control system classification information setting unit 71 prompts the user to input control system classification information, and may be set to be input from the input unit 2 or may import information held by other software Thus, the control system classification information may be used. 4, the process flow setting information of FIG. 5 and the program block setting information 110 of FIG. 6 are stored in the process flow program setting information storage unit 43, and the input / output signals shown in FIG. The table will be used as control system classification information. The input / output signal table 120 defines input / output variables for each unit constituting the control system.

  Next, a control block generation procedure in the control system development support apparatus 1 having such a configuration will be described. Note that the processing procedure of the control system flow generation unit is the same as that in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted. FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for generating a control block in the control system development support apparatus of the second embodiment.

  First, the control block generation unit 51 acquires program block setting information from the process flow program setting information storage unit 43 (step S21), and generates control blocks corresponding to all program blocks (step S22). In the example of FIG. 6, since there are seven program blocks, seven control blocks are set to correspond to each.

  Next, the control system classification information shown in FIG. 12 is acquired from the control system classification information storage unit 72 (step S23). Among the acquired control system classification information, the type and what is used as the classified information may be specified by software, or may be selected by the user. Here, “unit name” in the input / output signal table 120 is treated as a type, and “variable name” is treated as classified information.

  Subsequently, a type is extracted one by one from the acquired control system classification information, and an operation of integrating control blocks corresponding to program blocks classified into the extracted type is performed. First, the control block generation unit 51 determines whether or not there is a type that has not been extracted (step S24). If there is a type that has not been extracted (step S24, Yes), one type that has not yet been extracted. Extract (step S25). Then, the control block generation unit 51 selects all the program blocks in which the classified information corresponding to the extracted type is set in the program block setting information, and integrates all the selected program blocks (step S26). Then, the process proceeds to step S24. In step S24, when there is no type that has not been extracted (step S24, No), the control block generation unit 51 ends the control block generation process.

  Here, when the type “robot” is extracted from the input / output signal table 120, the variables “slider appearance”, “slider limit”, “arm close”, “arm open” included in the “robot” In the program block setting information 110, the program blocks “transport robot (Start → A)”, “transport robot (A → B)”, “transport robot (B → C)”, Since “transfer robot (C → End)” is held as a variable name to be used, the corresponding control blocks are integrated into one. Since there is only one program block having the variable names held by the remaining types “processing machine A” and “processing machine B”, control blocks are not integrated. As a result, four control blocks as shown in FIG. 7 are finally generated. In FIG. 7, the name written in the control block indicates the name of the program block corresponding to the control block.

  According to the second embodiment, since the control block integration processing using the control system classification information independent of the program block setting can be performed, the degree of freedom is higher than that of the control system development support device of the first embodiment. A high control system flow can be generated. Also, as shown in the input / output signal table shown in FIG. 12, the data necessary for creating the control system can be used as it is, so that no extra man-hours are required for creating the control system flow. Get better.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
Next, a control system development support apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described. The control system development support apparatus according to the third embodiment is characterized in that a plurality of control system classification information can be set in the control system development support apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  That is, the control system classification information storage unit 72 can store a plurality of control system classification information. Here, the input / output signal table 120 shown in FIG. 12 and the program allocation table 130 shown in FIG. 14 are stored as control system classification information. The program assignment table 130 describes the names of programs to be executed by the control devices, and treats “control device names” such as CPU1 as types, and “program names” such as ProcessB and ProcessC as classified information. .

  Then, when the control block generation unit 51 generates the control block, the control system classification information to be used can be selected, and the control system classification information selected in advance is acquired in step S23 in FIG. Use. For example, when the process flow setting information of FIG. 5 and the program block setting information 110 of FIG. 6 are stored in the process flow program setting information storage unit 43, when the input / output signal table 120 is selected, FIG. When the program allocation table 130 is selected, the control system flow shown in FIG. 15 is generated. The user can switch and display these control system flows depending on the application.

  Further, the control system flow setting storage unit 53 may have means for storing a plurality of control system flow settings, and the control system flow display management unit 54 may display a plurality of control system flows on the display unit 3. For example, different control system flows corresponding to the same process flow created based on different items of setting information and stored in the control system flow setting storage unit 53 are displayed simultaneously. Similarly, different control system flows corresponding to the same process flow created based on different system classification information are displayed simultaneously. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a display example in which two control system flows corresponding to the same process flow are displayed. Moreover, you may enable it to name the produced | generated control system flow so that each can be distinguished when displaying a some control system flow.

  According to the third embodiment, since a plurality of control system flows generated by different control block generation methods can be displayed, the user can more specifically determine the relationship between the processes in the process flow.

  As described above, the control system development support apparatus according to the present invention is suitable for application to a control system development support apparatus that supports development of a program for operating a control system constituted by control devices.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system development support device according to a first embodiment. It is a figure explaining an example of the process flow setting information displayed on a display part. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a control block generation processing procedure in the control system development support apparatus according to the first embodiment. It is a figure explaining an example of the control system used as development object. It is a figure which shows an example of process flow setting information. It is a figure which shows an example of program block setting information. It is a figure explaining the created control block. 5 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of generating a control system flow in the control system development support apparatus of the first embodiment. It is a figure explaining the produced | generated control system flow. It is a figure explaining the example of a display in which the control system flow corresponding to a process flow is displayed. It is a figure which shows the structure of the control system development assistance apparatus of Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a figure explaining the example of the input-output signal table used as control system classification information. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a control block generation processing procedure in the control system development support apparatus of the second embodiment. It is a figure explaining the example of the program allocation table | surface used as control system classification information. It is a figure explaining the produced | generated control system flow. It is a figure explaining the example of a display in which two control system flows corresponding to the same process flow are displayed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control system development support apparatus 2 Input part 3 Display part 4 Process flow program management part 5 Control system flow management part 6 Control part 7 Control system classification information management part 41 Process flow setting management part 42 Program block setting management part 43 Process flow program Setting information storage unit 51 Control block generation unit 52 Control system flow generation unit 53 Control system flow setting storage unit 54 Control system flow display management unit 71 Control system classification information setting unit 72 Control system classification information storage unit 100 Process flow setting screen 101 Program Block 102 Arrow indicating dependency 110 Program block setting information 120 I / O signal table 130 Program allocation table

Claims (6)

A control system development support apparatus that creates a control program for a control system that executes a plurality of work processes by combining program blocks that are unit programs for realizing each work process,
Program block setting information, which is information for setting program block information having setting information consisting of at least one item related to a program block for each work process, and process flow setting information, which is information for setting a dependency between the work processes, , And a setting information storage unit for storing in advance,
When a plurality of program block information having the same setting information for a predetermined item is set while setting a control block corresponding to each program block information set in the program block setting information, the plurality of program blocks A control block generator that integrates each control block corresponding to the information into one control block;
A control system flow generator for deriving a dependency relationship between control blocks based on a dependency relationship between work processes set in the process flow setting information;
The dependency between the work processes set in the process flow setting information and the dependency between the control blocks derived by the control system flow generation unit are displayed on the display device in association with the work process and the control block. A control system flow display management unit
A control system development support apparatus comprising: The control block generation unit receives an input for selecting an item to be specified, and when there are a plurality of program block information having the same setting information content of the selected item, each control block corresponding to the plurality of program blocks , Into one,
The control system development support apparatus according to claim 1. A control system development support apparatus that creates a control program for a control system that executes a plurality of work processes by combining program blocks that are unit programs for realizing each work process,
Program block setting information, which is information for setting program block information having setting information consisting of at least one item related to a program block for each work process, and process flow setting information, which is information for setting a dependency between the work processes, , And a setting information storage unit for storing in advance,
A classification information storage unit that stores in advance work process classification information that is information for classifying the work processes;
When a plurality of control blocks corresponding to each program block information set in the program block setting information is set, and there are a plurality of program block information of work processes classified into the same type by the work process classification information, A control block generator that integrates control blocks corresponding to a plurality of program block information into one control block;
A control system flow generation unit for deriving a dependency relationship between control blocks based on a dependency relationship between work processes set in the process flow setting information;
The dependency between the work processes set in the process flow setting information and the dependency between the control blocks derived by the control system flow generation unit are displayed on the display device in association with the work process and the control block. A control system flow display management unit
A control system development support apparatus comprising: The classification information storage unit stores a plurality of work process classification information,
The control block generation unit receives an input for selecting work process classification information to be used from among the plurality of work process classification information, and a plurality of control blocks respectively corresponding to each program block information set in the program block setting information When there are a plurality of program block information of work processes classified into the same type by the selected work process classification information, control blocks corresponding to the plurality of program block information are integrated into one control block. To
The control system development support apparatus according to claim 3. A control system flow setting storage unit for storing a plurality of sets of control blocks derived based on the same program block setting information and process flow setting information and dependencies between the control blocks;
The control system flow display management unit includes a dependency relationship between work processes set in the process flow setting information and a dependency relationship between the plurality of sets of control blocks stored in the control system flow setting storage unit. The work process and the control block are associated with each other and displayed on the display device.
The control system development support apparatus according to claim 2 or 4, characterized by the above. The program block information item is:
At least one of a group consisting of a name of a work machine necessary for creating a program block from a work process, an assignment program to be executed by the work machine, a variable used by the assignment program, and remarks about the program block Including items,
The control system development support apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein

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