JP3264199B2 - Operation device for FA equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation device of an FA device for switching the display of character data on a display panel of an operation panel of the FA device to the display of character data in a different language.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Factory Automation (FA)
(ion) The operation panel of the device is generally provided with a display panel, and displays messages necessary for the operation of the FA device. Since the operator performs various switch operations in accordance with the message, the display language used on the display panel must be understood by the operator. In the past, most of FA equipment of overseas export specifications had a language set in advance so as to be displayed in English as a common language or to be displayed in a specific language of a destination.

[0003] However, the labor market is becoming borderless, and in some regions, the nationality of workers working in the same company is not always unitary as in the past, and multinationalization is advancing. In order to cope with this situation, FA for overseas specifications
There is known a device in which display contents of an operation panel are stored in advance in a plurality of languages including a specific language of a destination, and a display is performed in a desired language by a selection operation of a display language.

In such a conventional display language selecting device,
It was necessary to operate a display language selection switch on the operation panel to newly display a display language selection screen.
Then, the display language is changed by selecting a desired language again from the displayed screen.

[0005]

The language selection operation is frequently performed. Particularly in local operator training when starting up FA equipment for overseas export on site, very high frequency language selection is required. In general, the instructors of the equipment manufacturers are not necessarily familiar with the local language. Therefore, communication is often performed through display on a display panel. For this reason, whether or not this display is performed smoothly is a very important factor in communication.

However, in the conventional language selection device,
As described above, since the language is selected again on the language selection screen, the user must go through the language selection screen before the desired language is displayed. This language selection screen is an operationally necessary screen when a specific language type is selected from many language types. However, when only a limited language that can be understood by the instructor and the local operator is to be selected, the language selection screen is not necessarily required. This is because, when the language is already limited, the display of other languages is not necessary.

[0007] The appearance of such unnecessary screens at a high frequency is a time loss for both the instructor and the local operator, and contributes to mental frustration. For this reason, there has been a demand for an operation device for an FA device that allows a display language to be more easily selected by a one-touch switching operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an operating device for an FA device in which a display language can be selected instantaneously.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided an operating device for an FA device, comprising: display means for displaying drawing data and character data; storage means for storing the character data in a plurality of languages; and character data to be displayed. Operating apparatus for an FA device, comprising: a language selecting means for selecting a language of the selected language; and display control means for reading character data corresponding to the selected language from the storage means and displaying character data corresponding to a language to be displayed. Wherein the language selection means selects a plurality of languages in advance from among the plurality of languages, and selects one of the plurality of limited languages as a display language. Language switching means

[0010]

According to the present invention having the above structure, character data displayed on the display panel is stored for a plurality of languages, and there is a possibility of being used as a display language from the plurality of languages. By preliminarily selecting some high languages, the display languages can be instantaneously switched on the display screen by the language switching means without passing through the language selection screen.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1A and 1B are explanatory diagrams showing examples of display screens of an operation device of an FA device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a control system of the operation device of the FA device. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing switching of the screen of the operating device of the FA device, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing switching of the language of the operating device of the FA device, and FIG.
It is a flowchart which shows the language setting of the operation device of apparatus A.

First, an example of a display screen will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b). FIG. 1A shows an example displayed in Japanese, and FIG. 1B shows an example displayed in a foreign language (English). 1 (a) and 1 (b), reference numeral 1 denotes an operation panel surface. The operation panel 1 has a display panel 2 and a plurality of function keys 3 arranged thereon. In the present embodiment, the display panel 2 uses a touch panel. Display panel 2
Are provided with a plurality of different frames 4, 5, 6,.... The character data 4a, 5a, 6a or 4b, 5b, 6b allocated to each of the frames 4, 5, 6,... Is displayed. Touch keys are set inside the frames 4, 5, 6,... Of the display panel 2, and the frames 4, 5, 6,.
By touching the inside, a command corresponding to the display content is input or the screen is switched to the next screen according to the display content.

The icons 7a and 7 on the display panel 2
“b” displays the abbreviation of the language that is limitedly selected as the display language. 1A and 1B, JP is an icon indicating Japanese and EN is an icon indicating English. At this time, icons displayed in color (encircled by wavy lines in FIG. 1) (JP icons in the example of FIG. 1A and EN icons in the example of FIG. 1B) are currently displayed as languages. Represents the selected language. That is, it means that Japanese is selected as the display language in FIG. 1A and English is selected as the display language in FIG. 1B. The language in which these icons are displayed can be instantaneously switched on the operation panel without going through the language selection screen. This switching is performed by pressing a function key 3, for example, F1, which is set as a language switching means. It is performed by

The limited selection of the language is not limited to two types, and more than two types can be limited. When three or more languages are limitedly selected, the order of switching at the time of language switching (the order selected as the display language)
Is set in advance. That is, every time the language switching function key 3 is pressed, another type of language is selected as a display language in accordance with the setting order, and character data of the language is displayed.

Next, the configuration of the control system of the operation device of the FA device will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 20 denotes an operation unit, which comprises a display 21 and a touch panel 22. The display 21 is a CRT, LCD, or the like, and is connected to the CPU 25 via the CRT interface 23. The display 21 displays a frame or character data constituting a screen at a designated position according to a command from the CPU 25.
The touch panel 22 is integrated with the display 21,
Touch keys are formed at positions (usually inside the frame) specified by the display screen. The touch panel 22 is connected to the CPU 25 via the communication interface 24.
When a touch operation is performed on each touch key on the touch panel 22, a command corresponding to the display content of the corresponding portion is issued by the CPU 2.
5 is input.

The CPU 25 controls writing and reading of data in storage means such as a ROM 26 and a RAM 27 described below. The CPU 25 also performs display control for selectively displaying display data based on these stored data. The ROM 26 stores programs necessary for the display process. As will be described later, data on the limited selected language is written into the RAM 27 as needed, and is used for screen display. An FD 28 is a floppy disk drive, and records operation data of the apparatus. The HD 29 is a hard disk drive, which stores all data required for switching the display language. The data written to the RAM 27 is HD2
9 is read.

Next, the screen data 30 will be described with reference to (Table 1).

[0018]

[Table 1]

The screen data 30 is a collection of data necessary for displaying a screen for each screen. Therefore, the screen data 30 is prepared for the required number of display screens. As shown in (Table 1), screen data 30 includes frame number 31, type 32, and display position data (X1, Y1, X
2, Y2) 33, a character number 34 and a color 35. The frame number 31 is a number corresponding to each frame on the screen shown in FIG. The type 32 indicates the type of whether the display target is a simple frame or a touch key functioning as a switch.

The display position data 33 indicates the coordinate values and the size of the frame on the screen to be displayed. The character number 34 is a number assigned to a specific meaning of the character data to be displayed. That is, the same character number is assigned to the same meaning content regardless of the language type. Color 3
Reference numeral 5 denotes a color used for display on the screen. The screen data 30 is stored in the HD 29, and stored in the RAM 2 when necessary.
7 and used for screen display. Next (Table 2)
The character data 40 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0021]

[Table 2]

The character data 40 is composed of a combination of a character number 34 and a language. As described above, the character number 34 is a number assigned to a specific meaning content.
As shown in (Table 2), for example, Japanese "automatic driving" character data and English "Auto operation"
On ”character data has the same character number 10002
Is given. Accordingly, by specifying the character number 34 and the language, one corresponding character data 40 is specified. These character data 40 are usually stored on an HD or the like. When the language is limited by the language selection operation,
Character data 40 corresponding to the corresponding language is written to RAM 27. Then, it is read out from the RAM 27 as needed and used for screen display. Next, the language selection data 50 will be described with reference to (Table 3).

[0023]

[Table 3]

On the operating device of the FA device, the language selection data 50 includes the language type list data 5 that can be limitedly selected.
1. Limited language data 52 limitedly selected as a switching target and selected language data 53 currently selected as a display language are defined. The language type list data 51 indicates the languages that can be displayed, that is, the languages in which the display contents are stored and can be selected.
Reference numeral 2 denotes a language that is limitedly selected from the languages registered in the language type list data 51 and can be switched by a function key operation on the operation panel. In the example of (Table 3), Japanese and English are limitedly selected. The selected language data 53 is currently selected as the display language and indicates the language currently displayed. Of the language selection data, the languages registered in the limited language data 52 and the selected language data 53 are always displayed as icons 7a and 7b on the screen as shown in FIG. Next, the font data 60 will be described with reference to (Table 4).

[0025]

[Table 4]

Font data is data used for displaying characters. (Table 4) shows a configuration example of font data. JIS second and second standards are used as Japanese display fonts. By including special symbols, almost all European languages based on the alphabet can be covered. In addition, fonts for different languages, such as Hangul, are included as needed.

The operation device of the FA device has the above-described configuration, and the processing flow will be described below with reference to a flowchart. First, with reference to FIG. 3, a flow of screen switching will be described. This flow is a process performed when a necessary screen is called when the device is activated, or when the screen is changed according to work. At the time when this flow is started, the character data 40, the font data 60 and the like have already been read into the RAM 27.

First, when a function key 3 or a touch key corresponding to a screen switching operation is pressed in ST1, screen data corresponding to this operation is read (ST1).
2). Next, a screen is drawn based on the screen data 30.
Graphic drawing of lines, points, and the like is performed (ST3).
Next, touch keys are arranged according to the screen data 30, touch keys are displayed on the screen, and output codes of the touch keys are set (ST4). Next, the selected language data 53 is referred to, the language selected as the display language is determined (ST5), and characters are displayed with reference to the character data 40 corresponding to the language of the selected language data 53 (ST6). ST7). The language that has been limitedly selected is also displayed as an icon on the screen. Thus, the screen display is completed, and thereafter, touch key input and language switching input become possible. In this embodiment, two kinds of limited languages, language 1 and language 2, are limitedly selected.

Next, a flow showing language switching will be described with reference to FIG. This operation is to select another display language from the limited languages described above.

First, at step ST1, function keys 3 corresponding to the language switching means on the display panel are displayed.
Starts when is pressed. Next, in ST2, the language to be displayed next is determined. That is, if the language is currently displayed in language 1, language 2 is newly selected (ST3), and if the language is currently displayed in language 2, language 1 is newly selected (ST4). Based on this result, in ST5, only the character display of the language which has become the new display language is performed again with reference to the screen data currently read. As described above, by operating the function key 3 for language switching on the operation panel once, the required display language is switched without passing through the language selection screen.

Next, a flow showing the language setting will be described with reference to FIG. In this operation, the language is limitedly selected from the languages described in the language type list data 51, and the language limited data 52 is created. In the present embodiment, an example in which two types of language 1 and language 2 are limitedly selected will be described.

First, this flow starts when the function key 3 corresponding to the language setting operation is pressed in ST1. First, the current screen data 40 is held in ST2. Next, a language setting screen is displayed (ST
3). On this screen, language type list data 51 that can be limitedly selected from the language selection data 50 (see Table 3) is displayed. Next, two kinds of languages, language 1 and language 2, are limitedly selected from the language types (ST4, ST5). With this operation, the font data 60 of the language 1 and the language 2 is loaded (ST6), and the character data 40 of the language 1 and the language 2 are loaded (ST7). In this loading, the data stored in the HD 29 or the like is stored in the RAM 2
7 is read. When the selected language is Japanese or English, font data may be stored in the ROM in advance.

Next, in ST8, the screen returns to the screen before the language setting. Next, the currently displayed language is determined with reference to the selected language data 53 (ST9). If the display language has not been selected, the language that has been initially selected is registered in the selected language data 53. The screen data 40 is displayed again based on the result of this determination (ST10, ST11). In this case, the currently read screen data 30 is referred to, and the character data 40 is read.
Only reappears.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in this embodiment, touch keys are used, but a general switch may be used. Further, two or more types of languages may be limited in advance.

[0035]

According to the present invention, character data to be displayed on the display panel is stored for a plurality of languages, and a language type to be displayed is limited and selected from among the plurality of languages. With regard to the language type, when the language is switched, only the character data is redisplayed in the switched language, so that the display language can be instantaneously switched on the operation panel without passing through a language selection screen.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of an operation device of an FA device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is an example of a display screen of an operation device of the FA device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Explanatory diagram showing

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system of an operation device of the FA device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing switching of screens of the operation device of the FA device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing switching of languages of the operation device of the FA device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a language setting of the operation device of the FA device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Operation panel surface 2 Display panel 3 Function key 20 Operation part 21 Display 22 Touch panel 25 CPU 27 RAM

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G05B 19/04-19/05 G06F 3/14-3/153 340

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A display unit for displaying drawing data and character data; a storage unit for storing the character data in a plurality of languages; a language selecting unit for selecting a language of the character data to be displayed; A display control unit for reading character data corresponding to the language from the storage unit and displaying the character data corresponding to the language to be displayed, wherein the language selection unit includes the plurality of languages. Characterized in that it comprises means for previously selecting a plurality of languages from a limited number of languages, and language switching means for selecting any one of the plurality of limitedly selected languages as a display language. Equipment operating device.