JP5492573B2 - Device / PLC simulator device, method, and program having trace function - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for simulating a simulator connected to a programmable display and connected to the programmable display.

  The conventional programmable display can display and control the state of the connected device by connecting to the connected device, which is a programmable controller or a PLC temperature controller (temperature regulator), via a communication line.

  Here, there is a case where it is desired to sequentially trace (log) the execution state of the programmable display. For example, there is a case where a PLC temperature controller is connected as a connected device and it is desired to know the temperature course.

  In order to realize such a trace, conventionally, the trace function is set in the screen data for the programmable display using the trace function of the programmable display.

  For example, as shown in FIG. In the programmable display 29, the trace execution part 33 is provided in the main body program 30 for executing the screen data 31 for controlling the connected device (not shown). The trace execution unit 33 reads the execution trigger data 32 that specifies the memory to be traced, the conditions for the trace, the time interval, the number of times, etc. corresponding to the screen data 31, and based on the execution trigger data 32. Trace the internal memory contents. The trace execution unit 33 stores the contents of the traced internal memory in the internal buffer 34 and outputs the contents to the outside via an external connection medium 35 such as a CF (Compact Flash (registered trademark)) card.

  Conventionally, since the setting of the execution trigger data 32 cannot be changed on the programmable display 29, when the change is performed, new screen data 31 including the execution trigger data 32 is read from an external personal computer or the like. 29 had to be transferred.

  Here, by connecting a personal computer or the like to the programmable display device via a communication line, it is possible to communicate with the screen display software for the programmable display device or the connected device simulator software to transfer the screen data and simulate the operation. . Such a connected device simulator device for a programmable display (hereinafter referred to as a simulator device) includes a connected device memory (hereinafter referred to as a “pseudo memory”) that is constructed in response to a memory read / write request from the programmable display. The connected device is simulated by reading / rewriting the data. At this time, the simulator device displays a list of addresses (or variables) and their values in the simulated memory being simulated, and displays the addresses of the pseudo memory arbitrarily designated by the user through a GUI (graphical user interface). It has a function to read / write data. Further, the simulator device also has a function of incrementing the contents of the pseudo memory arbitrarily designated by the user in units / ranges / time arbitrarily designated. By using such a simulator function, it is possible to operate the programmable display while simulating a connected device (programmable controller) as if it were connected to the outside.

Even in the operation process of such a simulator device, there is a case where it is desired to sequentially trace the contents of the internal memory indicating the state of the programmable display and the pseudo memory indicating the state of the connected device for the purpose of debugging the screen data.

  When tracing a simulation operation while operating a programmable display using a simulator device in a conventional debugging operation, etc., conventionally tracing (logging) the simulation operation using a trace function implemented in the programmable display. Then, the operation of the programmable display was analyzed.

  However, in order to execute this trace function, various setting operations are required, and this setting operation is performed by editing the setting data using the drawing support software executed by a personal computer or the like for programming the programmable display. Therefore, it is necessary to download the setting data to the programmable display main body one by one along with predetermined screen data. Therefore, the setting operation of having to edit and download even a small amount of correction or change in this way is very complicated and takes a long time to download. Furthermore, since the conventional debugging work was carried out on the spot or at the customer, it took time to prepare the debugging equipment, and in some cases, it was necessary to stop the system for debugging.

  Some conventional drawing support devices have an emulator function for simulating and executing the movement of a programmable display. In this case, by linking the emulator functions of the simulator device and the drawing support device, it is possible to simulate the operation of the programmable display device without preparing an actual device of the programmable display device. However, such a conventional emulator function does not have a trace function. Therefore, the debugging work when the simulator function of the simulator device and the drawing support device are linked to each other largely depends on the intuition of engineers.

  As described above, the conventional simulator device does not have a pseudo memory state trace function. For this reason, when it is desired to trace arbitrary memory contents, it has been necessary to rely on the trace function of the programmable display. However, in this case, when you want to change the contents of the memory to be traced, it is necessary to change the setting of the screen data trace function. This requires a lot of work to transfer screen data from the simulator device to the programmable display. There was a problem that man-hours would occur.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to enable tracing of a simulation execution process of a programmable display device.

In one example, the control executed by the programmable display device connected to the connected device is realized as a simulator device that simulates a device memory that simulates a device memory specified at the time of control, and has the following configuration Have

The execution trigger data holding unit holds, for each necessary execution trigger, memory information for identifying the execution trigger and execution trigger data defining the execution condition.
The trace processing unit discriminates each execution trigger while sequentially reading each execution trigger data, reads out the memory states of the pseudo memory and the programmable display for each execution trigger, and sequentially outputs them as a trace result.

  According to the present invention, since the simulator device has a trace function such as a pseudo memory, the trace of an arbitrary memory can be easily performed without changing the screen data, so that the number of debugging steps can be reduced. .

  Further, according to the present invention, the trace result can be transmitted to the software for collecting data without using the external connection medium, so that the man-hours for collecting and confirming the trace result can be reduced. It becomes.

It is a whole block diagram of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of a programmable display. It is a functional block diagram of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of screen data. It is a memory block diagram in a programmable display. It is explanatory drawing of the communication operation of an internal memory area | region and an external memory area | region. It is an operation | movement flowchart which shows operation | movement of a trace process part. It is a figure which shows the data structural example of execution opportunity data. It is a figure which shows the example of a trace result. It is explanatory drawing of a prior art.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the programmable display device 1 corresponds to a programmable logic controller (hereinafter referred to as “PLC”), a connection device 3 that is a temperature controller, and a drawing support unit 4 that is a simulator device. Connected via the communication line 2. The drawing support unit 4 is realized by a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) 5 or the like.

  The connection device 3 such as a PLC or a temperature controller is generally realized by a memory for designating general-purpose work areas, control information, and the like by device names and addresses, and a function for controlling them. . The programmable display device 1 controls the connection device 3 by issuing an instruction conforming to a specific protocol to the connection device 3 via the communication line 2 by designating the above-described device name and address, etc. The state of the connected device 3 can be displayed.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the programmable display device 1 illustrated in FIG. 1. First, the programmable display device 1 includes a display 7 that is a display body and a touch panel 6 that performs various operations on the display body. In addition, the programmable display device 1 executes various control programs described below by executing a control program stored in the ROM 12 connected via the bus while using the RAM 13 similarly connected via the bus as a work area. A CPU 8 for realizing the control operation is provided. Further, a touch panel controller 9 for controlling the touch panel 6, a graphic controller 11 for controlling the display 7, and a communication controller 10 for controlling the communication interface 14 connected to the communication line 2 in FIG. Prepare.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the present embodiment. The display function by the programmable display 1 and the control function for the connection device 3 include a main body program execution unit 15 that executes a program relating to basic functions such as display control, and communication control corresponding to each specific protocol of the connection device 3. This is realized by the communication program execution unit 16 to be executed.

  For example, in FIG. 2, the main body program execution unit 15 and the communication program execution unit 16 are functions in which the CPU 8 executes a main body program corresponding to the main body program execution unit 15 stored in the ROM 12 and a communication program corresponding to the communication program execution unit 16. As realized.

  These programs are transferred from the drawing support unit 4 in the PC 5 to the programmable display device 1 via the communication processing unit 20 and the communication line 2 and registered in, for example, the ROM 12 (nonvolatile memory) in FIG. In particular, a communication program specific to each connected device 3 is read by the drawing support unit 4 from a communication program file stored in a hard disk storage device (not shown) in the PC 5 and is transmitted from the communication processing unit 20 via the communication line 2. And stored in the ROM 12 or the like in the programmable display 1.

  Moreover, the main body program execution unit 15 of the programmable display 1 performs operations of the programmable display 1 such as what display operation is executed, what kind of control is performed, and what kind of connection is performed. The prescribed screen data 17 is created using the drawing support unit 4 on the PC 5 and downloaded to the programmable display device 1.

  Here, for example, in the creation of the screen data 17 in the drawing support unit 4 on the PC 5, as shown in FIG. 4, a symbol image of each component such as a switch for receiving a user operation, a numerical display for displaying data, and the like. Is displayed on a display (not shown) on the PC 5 in units of screens. The user selects a desired part from the parts list, and the drawing support unit 4 moves it to an arbitrary position on the screen of the programmable display 1 displayed on the display (not shown) on the PC 5, and the part. Is associated with the control target memory such as the device name and address of the connection device 3 connected to the programmable display 1. As a result, the drawing support unit 4 creates the screen data 17 related to the above-described parts, stores the screen data 17 in a hard disk device (not shown) in the PC 5 and transfers it to the programmable display 1. In the programmable display device 1, when the main body program execution unit 15 reads the screen data 17, the control program corresponding to the part selected by the user is selected and activated. Then, the control program automatically displays the memory information to be controlled corresponding to the address of the designated device name on the display 7 (FIG. 2). In this way, by selecting a plurality of parts to be configured as control targets and placing them on the screen displayed by the drawing support unit 4, the information of the connected device 3 can be easily controlled / displayed.

The simulator unit 21 in the PC 5 displays memory information and communicates with the programmable display 1 based on the memory information for each screen stored in the screen data 17.
Now, as shown in FIG. 5, the RAM 13 (FIG. 2) in the programmable display 1 is dynamically updated based on the information in the internal memory area 28 reserved in advance and the external memory in the screen data being displayed. An external memory area 27 is secured. And communication is performed by the main body program execution unit 15 in the programmable display 1 and the simulator unit 21 in the PC 5 via the communication program execution unit 16 in the programmable display 1 and the communication processing unit 20 in the PC 5. The

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of communication processing between the programmable display 1 and the simulator unit 21.
When communication related to the internal memory area 28 is executed, as shown in FIG. 6A, an inquiry command as to whether the internal memory area 28 is read / written is transmitted from the programmable display 1 side, and the simulator unit The 21 side transmits a response command of “no request”, “write request”, or “read request” according to the memory information in the currently displayed screen. Here, the “write request” is a command transmitted when the value of an arbitrary memory is changed on the simulator unit 21, and prompts the programmable display 1 to change the value of the arbitrary memory. "Request" is a command for updating the display of the value of the internal memory area 28 in the screen currently displayed on the simulator unit 21, and the internal memory area 28 in the screen currently displayed on the programmable display 1 side. Require all values of. The programmable display 1 side returns a response to the request response from the simulator unit 21 side, receives the approval / non-approval response from the simulator unit 21 again, and ends the series of communications.

  When communication related to the external memory area 27 is executed, as shown in FIG. 6B, a read / write command for the external memory area 27 is transmitted from the programmable display 1 side, and a response from the simulator unit 21 is received. A series of communication is completed. When the simulator unit 21 is regarded as the externally connected device 3 and the value of the memory is changed on the programmable display device 1, a write command is transmitted.

  The communication program execution unit 16 mounted on the programmable display 1 has a general-purpose configuration that operates by switching to a unique communication program according to the connection device 3 set by the drawing support unit 4 on the PC 17. It is practical to keep it. In this case, the interface between the main body program execution unit 15 and the communication program execution unit 16 is ideally a general-purpose common interface that does not depend on the communication protocol unique to the connected device 3.

  In FIG. 1, the cooperative operation of the programmable display 1 and the connection device 3 is constructed by a command specified from the programmable display 1 to the connection device 3 via the communication line 2. Then, the control of the connected device 3 is executed as an operation on the device memory by the command. This means that if the programmable display device 1 and the connection device 3 can cooperate with each other by a command specified via the communication line 2, the connection device 3 does not need to be an actual device. Therefore, in this embodiment, a simulated device memory is prepared as a pseudo memory 22 shown in FIG. 3 in the simulator unit 21 on the PC 5 functioning as a simulator device. More specifically, the pseudo memory 22 is secured on a RAM (random access memory) (not shown) on the PC 5.

Then, when the simulation operation is executed in cooperation with the programmable display 1 and the simulator unit 21 on the PC 5, the following operation is executed.
That is, first, the communication selection unit 18 executed by the main body program execution unit 15 of the programmable display 1 selects the communication program execution unit 16 for communication with the simulator unit 21 on the PC 5. Thereby, the connection apparatus 3 which actually communicates with the programmable display 1 is changed to the simulator unit 21 on the PC 5. As a result, the programmable display 1 can be operated in a state where the programmable display 1 is connected to the actual device of the connection device 3.

  At this time, the programmable display device 1 has, in addition to the screen data 17, simulation setting data 19 that can be edited on the programmable display device 1 on a nonvolatile memory such as the ROM 12 (FIG. 2). Then, the programmable display device 1 determines the connection device 3 to be connected from the screen data 8, of which the connection device 3 that uses the simulator unit 21 is determined by the simulation setting data 19, and the communication selection unit 18 uses the connection device 3 and the simulator. The communication program execution unit 16 corresponding to the unit 21 is selected, and communication with each is executed.

The simulator unit 21 provides a means for easily displaying and changing the storage contents of the pseudo memory 22 such as a GUI (graphical user interface) for displaying and editing the storage contents of the pseudo memory 22. When the programmable display 1 starts operation, the pseudo memory area managed by the simulator unit 21 on the PC 5 is accessed by addressing the device memory with a command. Based on the screen data file 17 to be simulated and the screen that is actually displayed on the programmable display device 1, the simulator unit 21 performs pseudo memory 2.
2 is analyzed, and the stored contents of the pseudo memory 22 used on the screen are displayed as a list on the display.

  In this way, the operation of the screen data 17 downloaded to the programmable display 1 can be simulated on the PC 5 with the connection device 3 being pseudo-connected to the programmable display 1.

  Here, the simulator unit 21 can execute the simulation operation even when the programmable display device 1 is not connected to the PC 5. In this case, the programmable display emulator unit 26 in the PC 5 emulates the operation of the programmable display 1. And the simulator part 21 performs the simulation operation | movement with respect to the programmable display emulator part 26 by communicating with the programmable display emulator part 26 instead of the programmable display 1 via the communication processing part 20. FIG.

  The simulator unit 21 holds a pseudo memory 22 for simulating the device memory of the connection target device 3 to be simulated, and execution trigger data 24 for realizing a trace function on the simulator unit 21. The simulator unit 21 accesses the pseudo memory 22 in response to a read / write request from the programmable display 1 or the programmable display emulator unit 26 (see FIGS. 5 and 6). At the same time, the trace processing unit 23 in the simulator unit 21 transmits the contents of the pseudo memory 22 to the data collection execution unit 25 according to the execution trigger determined from the execution trigger data 24. This transmission process is realized, for example, as interprocess communication between a process that executes a control program corresponding to the simulator unit 21 and a process that executes a control program corresponding to the data collection execution unit 25. Alternatively, a configuration in which the trace result is output in a file format (for example, a spreadsheet file) that can be managed by the data collection execution unit 25 may be adopted.

  FIG. 7 is an operation flowchart showing a control operation for realizing the function of the trace processing unit 23 of FIG. This operation flowchart is realized as an operation in which a CPU (not shown) in the PC 5 executes a control program stored in a memory (not shown) in the PC 5.

In FIG. 7, first, an execution trigger event that is a timer elapsed event that occurs every predetermined time is detected (step S00). Thereby, the trace process is started.
First, it is searched whether or not the execution trigger data 24 exists in the data area of the execution trigger data (step S01).

Next, it is determined whether or not the execution trigger data 24 exists (step S02).
If the execution trigger data 24 does not exist and the determination in step S02 is NO, the trace process is terminated.

  If the execution trigger data 24 exists and the determination in step S02 is YES, the execution trigger condition is determined based on the execution trigger data 24 (step S03). It is determined whether or not to transmit to 25 (step S04).

If the determination at step S04 is not the current timing for data transmission and the determination at step S04 is NO, the process returns to step S01 to search for another execution trigger data 24.
If the present time is the data transmission timing and the determination in step S04 is YES, the memory information to be traced is sequentially searched in the data area of the pseudo memory 22 based on the execution trigger data 24, and the search is performed as a result. The written data is sequentially transmitted to the data collection execution unit 25 (step S05). After the data transmission, the next execution trigger data 24 is searched again (step S05 → S01).

  The execution trigger data 24 has a data configuration shown in FIG. 8, for example. As shown in FIG. 8, the execution trigger data 24 has a data structure in which, for example, memory information for identifying an execution trigger and a plurality of execution conditions can be set. In each entry, the value registered in the “start memory” field indicates the start address of the memory area traced on the internal memory area 28 or the external memory area 27 (see FIG. 5). For example, “PLC1: D00100” indicates the head address of the external memory area 27, “PLC1” is identification information of the device memory of the connection target device 3 to be simulated, and “D00100” is an address value. For example, “$ u00100” indicates the address value of the internal memory area 28. “Trigger memory” indicates a memory address serving as a trigger. The value registered in the “start time” indicates the time at which tracing of the entry should be started. The value registered in “Cycle” indicates the execution cycle length (seconds) of the period during which the trace is executed. The value registered in “number of data” indicates the number of data to be traced. A value registered in the “data format” indicates a data format such as a hexadecimal type (HEX), a decimal type (DEC), and a character string type (CHAR). The value registered in “data length” indicates the word length of one data. The value registered in “execution count” indicates the total number of times the trace is executed.

  Based on the execution trigger data 24 having the above data configuration example, the trace is executed, and as a result, in the format shown in FIG. The memory numerical value corresponding to the write request from the programmable display 1 or the programmable display emulator unit 26 and the memory numerical value tracing result written by the simulator unit 21 are output.

  As described above, when constructing an arbitrary system, conventionally, a developer traces an arbitrary memory when creating screen data 17 for a programmable display and performing debugging work. In addition, it has been necessary to change the screen data one by one. Moreover, even when it is desired to trace memory that is not actually displayed on the programmable display, it is necessary to change the screen data setting temporarily, which is very troublesome. On the other hand, in the embodiment described above, by adding a trace function such as the pseudo memory 22 to the simulator unit 21, it is possible to easily trace any memory without changing the screen data. Can be reduced.

  In addition, during the debugging work when building an arbitrary system, conventionally, when memory is traced on the programmable display side, data is taken into a personal computer via a media medium for external connection such as a CF card. There was a need. On the other hand, in this embodiment, by adding a memory trace function to the simulator unit 21, data can be aggregated by software of the data collection execution unit 25 on the same personal computer (PC5). It is possible to reduce the man-hours for counting and confirmation work.

1,29 Programmable display 1
2 Communication line 3 Connection device 3
4 drawing support department 5 PC
6 Touch panel 7 Display 8 CPU
9 Touch Panel Controller 10 Communication Controller 11 Graphic Controller 12 ROM
13 RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 Communication interface 15 Main body program execution part 16 Communication program execution part 17, 31 Screen data 18 Communication selection part 19 Simulation setting data 20 Communication processing part 21 Simulator part 22 Pseudo memory 23 Trace processing part 24, 32 Execution opportunity data 25 Data collection Execution unit 26 Programmable display emulator unit 27 External memory area 28 Internal memory area 30 Main body program 33 Trace execution unit 34 Internal buffer 35 External connection medium

Claims (4)

In a simulator device that simulates control executed by a programmable display device for a connected device connected thereto via a pseudo memory that simulates a device memory designated at the time of the control,
An execution timing data holding unit for holding memory information for identifying an execution timing and execution timing data for specifying an execution condition for each necessary execution timing;
A trace processing unit that determines each execution trigger while sequentially reading each execution trigger data, reads out the memory state of the pseudo memory and the programmable display for each of the execution triggers, and sequentially outputs a trace result;
A connected device simulator apparatus having a trace function. The data processing unit further includes a data transmission unit that transmits the trace result output by the trace processing unit in a format that can be processed by software for collecting data.
A connected device simulator apparatus having a trace function according to claim 1. In the simulator method of simulating the control executed by the programmable display device to the connected device connected thereto via a pseudo memory that simulates the device memory specified at the time of the control,
Holds memory information for identifying execution triggers and execution trigger data that defines execution conditions for each required execution trigger,
Each execution trigger is determined while sequentially reading each execution trigger data, and for each execution trigger, the memory state of the pseudo memory and the programmable display is read and sequentially output as a trace result.
A trace control method for a connected device simulator. The simulator that simulates the control executed by the programmable display device for the connected device connected thereto via a pseudo memory that simulates the device memory specified at the time of the control,
Holds memory information for identifying execution triggers and execution trigger data that defines execution conditions for each required execution trigger,
Each execution trigger is determined while sequentially reading each execution trigger data, and for each execution trigger, the memory state of the pseudo memory and the programmable display is read and sequentially output as a trace result.
A program for executing functions.