JP3328665B2 - Information retrieval system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention retrieves, for example, information required at a manufacturing site of an automobile factory, such as a manufacturing instruction for machining a product flowing on a line, from the manufacturing site. About the system. Here, the production instruction specifically refers to a production instruction for designating a welding location of a door of an automobile, and includes an instruction given to a human or an instruction given to a machine tool by a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a factory, as a method of transmitting manufacturing instructions for machining a product flowing on a line to a manufacturing site, the manufacturing instructions of all lines in the factory are centrally managed. There has been a method of transmitting necessary display information of a manufacturing instruction from an upper computer to an output device such as a lower computer and a monitor at a manufacturing site and displaying the information.

[0003]

However, in the conventional method, information such as a manufacturing instruction is sent from a higher-order computer to an output device such as a lower-order computer and a monitor on the site. At that time, necessary information was not obtained, and the upper computer had to manage when and what information had to be sent to which lower computer. Was hard to type.

Further, in the conventional method, a dedicated lower-level computer is used separately from a control device at the site, so that not only the space is taken up, but also a monitor mainly having a display function is used as an output device. For example, when a program for a machine tool or the like is received as a manufacturing instruction, a program or the like must be input to a machine tool on the site while looking at a display screen, resulting in a problem that the operation is troublesome.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and searches information such as a manufacturing instruction from data registered in a host computer in response to a request from a manufacturing site, thereby making it possible to search for the site. It is an object of the present invention to provide a system which can obtain necessary information when necessary. In addition, by using a programmable logic controller (hereinafter referred to as PLC) in the field as a lower-level computer, space can be reduced,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system capable of directly outputting a production instruction such as a program to a machine tool, and further improving the efficiency of production activities in a factory.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a host computer, one or more PLCs connected to the host computer via a local area network (hereinafter, referred to as a LAN), and a host computer connected to the PLC. A system comprising an output device, the input / output device includes input means for inputting an item to be searched, and output means for outputting a search result, and the PLC includes a search item input from the input / output device. First storage means for storing
A second storage unit for storing a search result; and a control unit for controlling the input / output device, wherein the host computer registers data to be searched, and a first storage unit for the PLC. It reads the search item from, characterized in that it comprises a data retrieval means for retrieving an item in the appropriate said data registering means, and communication means for transferring the search results in the second storage means of the PLC.

[0007]

[0008]

According to the present invention, for example, an item to be searched, such as a manufacturing instruction, is input manually or by using a sensor from an input means at a manufacturing site, and the corresponding item is searched from data registered in a host computer. , The search result is L
The data is transferred to the AN and the PLC , which is a lower computer.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, which is a system using an input / output device in which an input device and an output device are integrated. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system for inputting a search item such as an order number and displaying a search result on an input / output device 1. FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an input / output device for inputting a search item such as a process number or an order number and outputting a search result. The input / output device has a CRT display screen having a touch panel. As shown in FIG. 2 is an input / output device 1
A communication unit 3 for communicating with the PLC 3 controls the input / output device 1 and communicates with the host computer 5.
LC, 4 is a bus-type LAN that mediates communication between the PLC 3 and the host computer 5, and 5 is a host computer having a data registration function, a data search function, and a communication function with the PLC 3, and stores information such as manufacturing instructions. It is assumed that the data is input to the host computer using the input screen of the database. FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram of the configuration of FIG. 1a is an input device for inputting a process number or an order number on a touch panel, 1b is an output device for displaying a search result on a CRT display screen, 3a is a PLC
3b is a RAM of the PLC 3 for storing search items and search results, and 3c is an RO of the PLC 3
M and 5a are CPs controlling all functions of the host computer 5.
U and 5b are RAMs of the host computer 5 for storing search items, search results, and registration data, and 5c is a ROM of the host computer 5. FIG. 4 shows the RAM 3b of the PLC 3.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of data in the device.

Next, the operation of the system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the initial state, a menu screen 6 as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the display screen of the input device 1 (step S1). When a search is performed when information such as a manufacturing instruction is required, a process number panel switch 7 is first pressed on a menu screen 6 shown in FIG. 3 (step S2) to input a search item, and a process number input screen 8 is entered. (Step S
3). Here, when the process number is input using the numeric input panel switch 9 (step S4), the process returns to step S1.
It returns to the menu screen 6 shown in FIG. Then, in order to input the order number of the product to be searched, the production instruction panel switch 10 is pressed (step S5), and the screen is switched to the order number input screen 11 (step S6), and the order number of the product desired to be searched is numerically input. An input is made using the panel switch 12 (step S7). Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the process number and the order number are written in the input data memory 16 in the RAM 3b of the PLC 3 (step S8), and thereafter, the CPU 3a stores the process number and the order number in the request area 17 in the same RAM 3b. The order number is moved (step S9). When the movement is completed, a switch (hereinafter, referred to as LR) shared by the host computer 5 and the plurality of PLCs, and the L included in the PLC 3
R is turned ON (step S10), and the host computer 5 receives the request, and receives the request area 1 of the PLC 3 concerned.
The process number and the order number are read from 7 and analyzed. Then, the host computer 5 searches for the corresponding item using the data search function (step S12), and the PLC 3
The search result is transferred to the answer area 18 in the data memory (step S13). Then, the host computer 5
Is turned on (step S14), and the P
The LC 3 receives the search result and moves the search result from the answer area 18 to the output data memory 19. At this time, according to the functions of the input / output device 1 and the communication unit 2, the search result is divided into characters and numerical values and moved to the output data memory 19 (step S15). When the distribution of the search results to the output data memory 19 is completed, the screen of the input / output device 1 is switched to the search result display screen 13 of FIG. 3 (step S1).
6) Display the search result (step S17). After that, the LR of the host computer 5 and the PLC 3 is turned off.
(Step S18) to prepare for the next search. When the stop key 14 of the touch panel switch on the screen 13 in FIG. 3 is pressed (step S19), the screen is switched again to the order number input screen 11 (step S6), and when the certain key 15 of the touch panel switch is pressed (step S20).
The screen is switched to the menu screen 6 (step S1). By these operations, a similar search can be performed again. According to this embodiment, the on-site worker obtains necessary information on the output screen 13 by inputting a search item when necessary, and the on-site worker can, for example, manually operate according to the manufacturing instruction on the screen 13. It is possible to appropriately operate machine tools and the like that must be performed by the user. .

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In place of the input / output device 1 of FIG. 1, identification information 23 such as a bar code attached to a product 22 flowing on a line is used. This system is provided with a sensor 20 for reading and a machine tool 21 for processing (for example, welding) the product 22. According to this system, the search item of the order number is automatically input to the PLC 3 when the sensor 20 reads the identification information. The subsequent search operation is the same as described above. That is, the order number input from the sensor 20 is written in the input data memory 16 of the PLC 3, and thereafter, the order number moves to the request area 17 in the same RAM 3b. When the movement is completed, the LR of the PLC 3 is turned ON, and the host computer 5 receives the
The process number and the order number set in the request area in advance are read from the request area 17. Then, the host computer 5 searches for the corresponding item using the data search function, and transfers the search result to the answer area 18 in the RAM 3b of the PLC 3. Thereafter, the LR of the host computer 5 is turned ON, and the PLC
3 receives the search result, moves the search result from the answer area 18 to the output data memory 19, and outputs the search result such as a program to the machine tool 21 which is an output device. Then, the LR of the host computer 5 and the PLC 3 is OF
F and prepare for the next search. According to this embodiment, the machine tool 21 can receive, for example, a program for designating a welding location of an automobile as a search result, and can directly output and control the machine tool without human intervention, thereby further increasing factory production. An efficient effect can be obtained.

[0012]

According to the present invention, the host computer does not need to manage when and to which PLC the necessary information has to be sent, so that the amount of information managed by the host computer can be reduced, and Not only is the task of inputting information such as manufacturing instructions into the computer easy, but also the person at the site can obtain the necessary information when needed. In addition, since a PLC used in a general factory is provided with a function as a lower-order computer, it is not necessary to newly install a special device, and the space can be reduced. Further, a machine tool or the like can be connected to the PLC, thereby making it possible to output a production instruction such as a program directly to the machine tool and control it.
As a result of the above, excellent practical effects can be obtained, such as the efficiency of factory production can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a display screen of an input / output device.

FIG. 4 is a memory table of a PLC RAM;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a system configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 input / output device 2 communication unit 3 PLC 4 LAN 5 host computer 7, 10, 14, 15 touch panel 16 PLC RAM input data memory 17 PLC RAM request area 18 PLC RAM answer area 19 PLC RAM Data memory for output 9, 12 Numerical input touch panel 20 Sensor 21 Machine tool 22 Product 23 Bar code

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-4-294454 (JP, A) OZSOYOGLU. G, Data base systems for programmable logic controllers, Lect Notes Comput Sci, Germany, April 24, 1990, VOL. 420, pages 183 to 199 (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 17/30 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A host computer comprising: a host computer; one or more programmable logic controllers connected to the host computer via a local area network; and an input / output device connected to the programmable logic controller. An input / output device for inputting an item to be searched;
Output means for outputting a search result, wherein the programmable logic controller has a first storage means for storing a search item input from the input / output device, and a second storage means for storing a search result. Control means for controlling the input / output device, wherein the host computer reads out a search item from a first storage means of the programmable logic controller and a data registration means for registering data to be searched, information retrieval system characterized by comprising: a data retrieval means for retrieving the appropriate fields, and communication means for transferring the search results in the second storage means of the programmable logic controller from the data register means.