JP3275018B2 - Automatic program generation method and device, and data input method and device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data input method and the like when a computer performs processing based on a combination of a plurality of input data. In particular, the processing of the computer is impossible or useless due to insufficient input data. preferably to avoid composed of the the data input method and apparatus and a program automatically generated
And a device therefor .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in an automatic control program generating device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-245305, when an outline of a target operation of a control target is given from an input device, the automatic generating device obtains knowledge relating to the target operation. The stored database is searched, transition conditions between target operations are determined using the searched knowledge, and a control program for executing control is automatically generated.

[0003]

When a target operation of a controlled object is input from an input device, it is necessary to input information such as control specifications for defining the operation of the controlled object to a computer. Conventionally, no consideration has been given to the input of the control information, and input of data that cannot be physically obtained has been permitted. For example, when inputting movement distance data of a device having a control target and arrangement position data of a member, if the member is arranged at the location, the device collides with the member and moves according to the movement distance data. Even for data that cannot be performed, input of the data is permitted. That is, conventionally, the input data is
Due to the combination, it is often impossible to know in advance that the data is physically unobtainable, and the computer often executes the automatic generation processing of the control program and finds the input data deficiency only after the processing becomes impossible. In such a case, it is necessary to input data again. Therefore, there is a problem that a certain degree of skill is required for inputting the control specifications, and there is a problem that the efficiency is deteriorated when an unskilled person handles the automatic program generation device.

[0004] When certain control information is input and it is known in advance that the information is input prohibition information, it is possible to notify an operator by issuing an alarm sound or the like. For example, in a word processor dedicated machine or the like, an alarm sound is often emitted when another operation command is input after a certain operation and the operation command is impossible or dangerous to execute. In a device such as a word processor dedicated device, an operation that cannot be performed in a certain situation or an operation that may cause all data to be lost when the operation is performed is known in a fixed manner. Is easy. However, for example, when inputting control specifications in order to create a control program for a plant, it is often the case that a combination of data permitted in one plant is not permitted in another plant due to restrictions such as its size,
There is a problem that a combination of data that cannot be input cannot be fixedly determined.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a data input method capable of prohibiting the input of a combination of data that cannot be obtained for each control object, an apparatus therefor, and an automatic program generation method.
And an apparatus therefor.

[0006]

The object of the present invention is to control a controlled object.
Information indicating the possible states of each device
A set of the status of each device among the multiple statuses that each device can take
Constraints for determining whether matching can be achieved
By using, data indicating the state of each device is input
Data that indicates the status of the device already entered
Data that cannot be combined with data
Warnings or data entry
Achieved by banning .

[0007]

When a state value that can be taken by a state quantity operated by a device or the like of a control object to be input of control information is input, it is determined whether or not a combination of state values cannot be realized. By making the determination, it is possible to eliminate the input of a control specification that cannot be actually realized.

[0008]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a control target according to a control specification input to the control information input device according to one embodiment of the present invention. The left side is a side view of the control target, and the right side is a front view thereof. The coil car transports the coiled material 60 (hereinafter referred to as “coil”) in the front-rear direction (the direction of the arrow in the side view).
And a lifter 23 that can move in the vertical direction (the direction of the arrow in the front view). This coil car takes out the coil 60 from the skid 61 which is a temporary storage place of the coil, moves it, and carries it to the reel 62.
The coil 60 is processed by the reel 62.

In this embodiment, by operating the bogie 22 in the present embodiment, the state quantity “bogie position” 24 is changed to
It is possible to take three state values of "skid position" 27, "position A" 28 and "reel position" 29.
By operating the lifter 23, the state quantity “lifter height” 26 of the coil car is changed to “rising end” 3.
5, "Transport height" 34, "Insertion height" 33, "Descent end"
It is possible to take 32 four status values. Further, by performing a predetermined operation in a state where the cart 22 and the lifter 23 of the coil car are in a certain state, the state quantity “transported article” 25 indicating the article on the coil car becomes “coil (available)” 30, “none”. 31 two state values can be taken.

The object to be controlled shown in FIG. 5 is formed by winding a steel plate to be rolled by a rolling mill, that is, a coil 60 by a skid 6.
The present invention relates to a device which is transported from No. 1 to a reel 62 for rolling, and when a computer automatically generates a control program for the device, it is necessary to input the control specifications of the control object from the input device to the computer.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an automatic program generating apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. The automatic program generation device according to the present embodiment includes a control logic input device 17 and a control execution program generation device 16 for a control object connected via a data bus 13. The control execution program generation device 16 In accordance with the control logic input from the input device 17 via the data bus 13, a control execution program for the control target is generated.

The control logic input device 17 includes an arithmetic unit 1 serving as control means for inputting control logic, an intermediate data storage unit 2 for holding intermediate information in the course of processing, and a procedure for processing executed by the arithmetic unit 1. Procedure storage unit 3 for storing
To the user, "state quantity", "state value", "unrealizable state combination", "constraint cancellation method"
A display device 4 for presenting information such as graphs and diagrams, a display device interface 5 for displaying the data processed by the arithmetic unit 1 on the display device 4, An input device 6 for inputting control logic and the like by designation, an input device interface 7 for converting information input by the input device 7 into data that can be processed by an arithmetic unit, storage devices 9 to 11, and these storage devices 9 ~ 1
And an external device input interface 8 for controlling data exchange with the external device 1.

The control target device configuration information storage device 9 is for holding the information including the device configuration information and layout information of input and output subject to control objects of the control logic.
Storage device 10 stores the restriction determination information, the state between the constraint condition storing apparatus 11, holds the combination of non-state realization of the states of input and output subject to control objects of the control logic I have. The solid lines with arrows in FIG. 2 indicate the data buses 12, 13, 14, and 15, and each part is represented by these buses 12, 13, 14, 15, and 15.
Thus, data communication can be performed with each other.

[0014] Figure 3 is a device configuration of a control object shown in FIG. 5, the state quantity is one description example representing the state values and their relationships, Oh a representation using the concept network <br/> You. FIG. 3 shows a relationship between an object (for example, 21) shown in a rectangle, an ellipse, or the like and an object represented by a line segment (for example, 40). The objects shown in FIG. 3 are “control object”, “device”, “state quantity”, “state value”, and “height”. For example, the “lifter” 23 indicates the “equipment” of the “coil car” 21, and the “lifter height” 26 indicates the “state quantity” of the “coil car” 21. In another example, “5
“000” 39 represents coordinates indicating the “height” of the state value “rising end”.

FIG. 4 is an example of description in which information on the layout of a control object is expressed in a frame format. In the frame 50, coordinates indicating the position of a structure related to the coil car, which is the control target, are described.

FIG. 6 is a description of a condition of a state that cannot be realized due to a restriction such as a physical positional relationship of an object constituting a control target stored in the restriction determination information storage device 10 shown in FIG. It is an example. In the figure, skid position constraint determination information 80 is shown.

Hereinafter, the skid position constraint determination information 80 shown in FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 and a coil car to be controlled. Here, in the example of the skid position constraint determination information 80 in FIG. 6, the state value of the state quantity “carried object” 25 is “coil (present)” 30 and the state value of the state quantity “bogie position” 24 is “skid position”. When the height of the state value of the state quantity “lifter height” 26 is lower than the height of the skid 61 in the case of “27”, the combination of those state values Because they collide, it indicates that they do not exist due to physical interference.

Here, in the description 80, “= *” is “an operator that becomes“ true ”when an equal object exists”, and the first conditional statement is a state quantity object “object” of the object “coil car”. This is true if “skid position” exists in the state value object of “cart position”. The third conditional statement is a state value object of the state quantity object “lifter position” of the object “coil car”, and the value of the “height” object is the “skid height” of the layout information of the control target. When the value is smaller than the value of the object, it indicates “true”.

FIG. 7 is a description example in the form of a constraint determination table for explaining the constraint between the state values of the controlled object held in the inter-state constraint condition storage device 11 shown in FIG. In the figure, “carriage position” 2 which is the state quantity of the coil car 21
4, it is described in a table format whether or not the combination of the state values of the “transported object” 25 and the “lifter height” 26 can be realized. For example, the state value of the state quantity “lifter height” 26 is “insertion height” 33, the state value of the state quantity “carried object” 25 is “coil (available)” 30, and the state value of the state quantity “carriage position” 24 is When the status value is “skid position” 27, “x” 70 indicating that a combination between these status values is not feasible is marked.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the outline of the whole processing of the control logic input of this embodiment. The processing of this embodiment is composed of a “creation of inter-state constraint conditions” 100 processing and a “control logic input” 200 processing. Below,
The procedure of the "process for creating inter-state constraint conditions" 100, which is the first process, will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 9, in a first step 101 of the “creation of inter-state constraint conditions” processing, control object device configuration information to be input to the control logic is transferred from the control object device configuration information storage device 9 to an external device input interface. 8 to the intermediate data storage unit 2. Next Step 10
In step 2, the constraint determination information stored in the constraint determination information storage device 10 is read into the intermediate data storage unit 2 via the external device input interface 8.

In the next step 103, the constraint determination table 7 shown in FIG. 7 is obtained from the state quantity and the object of the state value of the control object device configuration information read into the intermediate data storage unit 2.
The arithmetic unit 1 generates data including the state quantity and the state value of the 0 control object, and stores the data in the intermediate data storage unit 2. In the next step 104, one piece of determination information such as “Skid position constraint determination information” 80 in FIG. 6 is extracted from the constraint determination information read into the intermediate data storage unit 2, and further, Reference is made to the device configuration information of the control object as shown in FIG. In this case,
The combination of the "skid position" 27, the "coil", and the state value of the "insertion position" or the "falling end" corresponds. In step 105, it is determined whether there is a combination of the corresponding state values.
06, the combination of the corresponding state values in the constraint determination table 70
Set "x" to indicate that it is not feasible.

In step 107, it is determined whether there are any constraint determination conditions for which constraint determination has not been performed, and steps 104 to 1 are performed until all the constraint determination conditions have been determined.
Repeat step 06. When the determination is completed for all the constraint determination conditions, the process proceeds to step 108, where the intermediate data storage unit 2
Is output to the inter-state constraint condition storage device 11 via the external device input interface 8 with the information on the feasibility of all the combinations of the state values in the constraint determination table stored in the storage device.

Next, the details of the processing procedure of the control logic input processing 200 shown in FIG. 8 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 1 and the display examples of FIGS. First, in step 201, a control object constraint determination table 70 for inputting control logic stored in the inter-state constraint storage device 11.
(FIG. 7) is read into the intermediate data storage unit 2 via the external device input interface. In step 202, the “state quantity” and “state value” objects of the constraint determination table 70 are displayed on the display device 5 via the display device interface 5, as shown in a display example 73 in FIG. Step 2
At 03, the control logic is determined by the user selecting state values one by one for the state quantities displayed on the display device 5 and inputting them from the input device 6. At step 204, the constraint determination table 7 is obtained from the input information read into the arithmetic unit 1 from the input device 6 via the input device interface 7.
The constraint determination is executed with reference to the information of 0.

In the display example of FIG. 12, "coil" 74 is used as the state value of the state quantity "carried object", and "insertion height" 75 is used as the state value of the state amount "lifter height". Indicates the state specified by picking along with, and the selected rectangular frame is displayed in different colors.
When this combination of designated states, that is, "lifter height" is "insertion height" and "conveyed object" is "coil",
It is impossible to realize a combination of the state values in which the “cart position” is the “skid position”. This is retrieved from the constraint determination table 70.

In step 205, it is determined whether or not there is an unrealizable state. If an unrealizable state exists, the process from step 206 is performed. Step 2
At 06, an unrealizable state is displayed on the display device 5 via the display device interface 5. Display example 76 in FIG.
Is an example in which the state value “skid position” of the state quantity “trolley position” is displayed on the display device 5 as an unrealizable state. That is, when the state of FIG. 12 is selected, as shown in FIG. 13, the color change display of the impossible combination "skid position" is immediately performed, and the designation is prohibited (the color change display is not necessarily required. The designation may be prohibited, and when the “skid position” is designated by a mouse or the like, a warning sound or the like may be emitted to notify the designation prohibition.)

In step 207, it is determined whether an inquiry about a method for resolving a combination of state values that cannot be realized is made from the input device 6. If there is an inquiry, in step 208, the constraint determination table 70 is referred to. Then, search for a constraint elimination method. In this search, based on the priority given to the state quantity of the control target, a combination of achievable state values achieved by changing the state value of the state quantity having a lower priority is searched.

In step 209, the constraint solving method is displayed on the display device 5 via the display device interface 5. In the display example 78 of FIG. 10, when the state value “skid position” of the state quantity “trolley position” is in an unrealizable state, the state quantity “lifter height” having the lowest priority is resolved to eliminate this. This is an example in which the state value of “?” Should be set to “transport height” or “rising end” by changing the color of the corresponding portion. Step 2
In 10, it is determined whether or not the designation of the state value has been completed for all the state quantities of the control target object.
In step 211, the input control logic is output to the control execution program generation device via the external device input interface.

The control execution program generation device automatically generates a control program of the coil control device shown in FIG. 5 based on data obtained from the control information input device by a known method. In this case, since there is no contradiction in the data obtained from the control information input device, the automatic program generation processing does not become impossible in the middle, and efficient program generation becomes possible.

In the above description, the device configuration information of the control target is expressed in a format using a conceptual network. However, in actuality, any format can be used as long as the device configuration of the control target can be determined. May be. In addition, the inter-state constraint determination condition of the control target is expressed in the form of a restriction determination table, but may be expressed in any form as long as the restriction between the state quantities can be determined. Also, the display on the display device may be expressed in any form as long as it is found that the combination of the state values is not feasible.

According to this embodiment, when the control information is input, the display device displays all the state values of the state quantities of the control object, so that the user who makes the input can change the configuration of the control object or There is an effect that the control method can be easily understood. In addition, by displaying in advance a combination of state values of an unachievable control object, it is possible to prevent a user from inputting unrealizable control information beforehand,
It is not necessary to verify the input control logic by a method such as simulation, and the work efficiency can be improved. Further, by displaying a method for eliminating the combination of the state values of the control target that cannot be realized, the user can easily input desired control information. Furthermore, by separately holding the device configuration information of the control target and the general constraint determination information, it is possible to determine the restriction between states regardless of the control target.

[0032]

According to the present invention, a combination of a plurality of data that cannot be obtained for each control object is determined according to the data input, so that the operator can input the data efficiently, and the processing device can be configured based on the input data. Does not become impossible due to inadequate data when performing subsequent processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a control information input processing procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an automatic program generation device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating device configuration information of a control target stored in a control target device configuration information storage device in FIG. 2;

4 is a data configuration diagram showing a layout of a control target stored in a control target device configuration information storage device in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a control object.

FIG. 6 is a data configuration diagram showing constraint determination information held in a constraint determination information storage device in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a constraint determination table held in an inter-state constraint condition storage device in FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an overall schematic procedure of input data processing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating details of a procedure for creating inter-state constraint conditions illustrated in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a screen view displayed on the display device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a constraint determination table in a creation process.

FIG. 12 is a screen view displayed on the display device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 13 is a screen view displayed on the display device of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Operation part, 2 ... Intermediate data storage part, 3 ... Processing procedure storage part, 4 ... Display device, 5 ... Display device interface, 6
... Input device, 7 ... Input device interface, 8 ... External device input interface, 9 ... Control target part device configuration information storage device, 10 ... Constraint judgment information storage device, 11 ... Inter-state constraint condition storage device, 12-15 ... Data Bus, 16 ...
Control execution program generation device, 17 control information input device, 21 to 39 objects, 40 relationship between objects, 50 layout information, 60 coils, 61.
Skid, 62 ... reel, 70 ... constraint judgment table, 72, 7
3, 76 ... display example, 80 ... skid position constraint determination information.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshiaki Niibori 5-2-1 Omikacho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside the Hitachi, Ltd. Omika Plant (72) Inventor Hiroshi Wada 5-chome Omikacho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture No. 1 Hitachi, Ltd. Omika Factory (56) References JP-A-2-50223 (JP, A) JP-A-1-245305 (JP, A) JP-A-3-22104 (JP, A) Proceedings of the 5th Annual Meeting of the Scientific Society ", 1998, p. 105-108, Information Processing Society of Japan 43rd (late 1991) National Convention Lecture Papers, 1991-9, p. 2-51 to 2-52 (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 9/00

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. Using data indicating a plurality of states that can be taken by each device constituting a control target and a constraint condition for determining that a combination of data indicating the state of each device is not allowed, After the data indicating the status of at least one device is selected and before the data indicating the status of another device is input, the combination with the data indicating the status of the at least one device already input is A data input method comprising: obtaining data indicating the status of the other device that is not recognized; and displaying that the combination is not recognized with respect to the obtained data. 2. The data input method according to claim 1, wherein the data indicating the status of the other device, which is already allowed to be combined with the data indicating the status of the at least one device, is A data input method for displaying that the combination is recognized. 3. The data input method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of states that can be taken by each device are determined based on whether or not the data is not permitted to be combined with data indicating a state of the device already input. A data input method, wherein a determination is made based on a constraint determination table obtained from the data shown and the constraint condition. 4. Using data indicating a plurality of states that can be taken by each device constituting a control target and constraint conditions for determining that a combination of data indicating the state of each device is not permitted, The data indicating the status of at least one device that has already been input is not recognized, and the data indicating the status of another device that has not been input is determined. The combination is not recognized for the determined data. A data input device comprising means for displaying 5. The data input device according to claim 4, wherein the combination with data indicating the state of the at least one device is recognized, and the combination is recognized with respect to data indicating the state of another device which has not been input. A data input device comprising means for displaying the fact. 6. The data input device according to claim 4, wherein a combination of data indicating a plurality of states that can be taken by each device and data indicating a state of the device that has already been input and is obtained from the constraint condition is obtained. A data input device comprising storage means for holding a constraint determination table for determining whether data is not permitted. 7. A program automatic generation method for automatically generating a control execution program of a control target by inputting a state of each device constituting the control target.
A program automatic generation method characterized by automatically generating a program based on data input by the data input method according to any one of the above . 8. A program automatic generation apparatus for automatically generating a control execution program for a control target by inputting the state of each device constituting the control target.
Automatic program generating apparatus characterized by comprising a data input device, and means for automatically generating a program based on input data from the data input device according to any one of.