JP5772639B2 - Design support device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a design support apparatus.

  In general, in a plant control and monitoring system centering on a steel plant or the like, a control device receives an operation signal from a HMI (Human Machine Interface) device having an operation screen via a network, and the control device is operated based on the operation signal. There is something that controls. In a control and monitoring system to which such an HMI device is applied, the HMI device becomes multifunctional in order to flexibly respond to various requirements for plant control and monitoring by the operator, and accordingly, screen specifications. Has also increased.

  For example, in a control / monitoring system equipped with an HMI device used in a steel plant, the designer who designs the screen of the HMI device has over 10,000 display parts and tens of thousands of operation signals displayed on the screen. It is necessary to register the HMI interface signal such as the display signal and the like, and a means for improving the efficiency of the design work has been desired. In addition, HMI system design work including assignment of HMI interface signals requires extensive experience and knowledge of the designer, including screen configuration and control device configuration. Only a limited number of designers can perform this design work. Could not do.

  In the control / monitoring system having such a configuration, it is necessary to accurately transmit an operation signal and a display signal between the control device and the HMI device. For that purpose, a display on the screen displayed by the HMI device is required. In addition to associating parts with operation signals and display signals, operation signals and display signals such as operation signal and display signal memory names and memory addresses of operation signals and display signals stored in the control device and HMI device are transmitted and received. It is necessary to appropriately manage information for doing so.

  Therefore, by accurately generating information for sending and receiving operation signals and display signals between the control device and the HMI device connected via the network, the work time and work mistakes of the design work by the designer are greatly increased. Conventionally, a design support apparatus aiming at reduction is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

JP 2009-230572 A JP 2011-081430 A

  By the way, in general, the design of the HMI system is roughly divided into the following four steps. First, as a first stage, the designer draws a screen plan of a plant control monitoring screen to be displayed on the HMI device using a general-purpose drawing tool or handwriting, and expresses the name, color, and arrangement of the display components. Next, as a second stage, the designer creates a specification that defines variable specifications for operation display on the plant control monitoring screen while referring to the screen plan that has been drawn.

  In the subsequent third stage, the designer assigns and registers addresses and variable names for operation signals and display signals transmitted and received between the HMI device and the plant control device, corresponding to the output side and the input side. I will do it. Then, as a fourth stage, the plant control monitoring screen software, the HMI interface program, and the HMI interface variable definition are produced based on the screen plan, specifications, and variable assignments thus created.

  Here, when an existing HMI device is replaced with a new HMI device and updated, the display contents and operation specifications of the plant control monitoring screen in the HMI device are not changed from the existing ones, and the existing ones are to be followed. Because the hardware of the new HMI device is different from that of the existing one, even if the existing plant control monitoring screen software is transferred to the new HMI device as it is, it may not operate normally.

  In such a case, if there is an existing specification of the plant control monitoring screen software when the existing HMI device is manufactured, the plant control monitoring screen software that operates on the new HMI device can be created according to the specification. However, in particular, in an HMI apparatus having a long elapsed time since installation, there is a possibility that specifications of existing plant control monitoring screen software do not exist.

  In such a case, it is necessary to start from the first stage and the second stage of the HMI system design process described above. In the HMI system that has been enlarged as described above, the plant control monitoring used in the existing HMI system is performed. There is a problem that it is necessary to restore the specifications of the existing HMI system while decoding the screen software, which requires a great deal of labor and time.

  In particular, not only the specifications of the plant control monitoring screen software do not exist, but also the designer who can decode the programming language used in the description of the plant control monitoring screen software, or the existing HMI system instruction manual does not exist This problem becomes even more prominent when there is no mark.

  However, the conventional design support apparatus as described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 mainly contributes to labor saving, efficiency, and accuracy improvement in the third stage of the HMI system design process described above. Therefore, it is impossible to solve the above-mentioned problem that a huge amount of labor and time are required for the first stage and the second stage.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and it is necessary to decode the plant control monitoring screen software used in the existing HMI apparatus, and to restore the screen specifications and screen images from the software. A design support apparatus that can contribute to efficiency improvement is obtained.

  In the design support apparatus according to the present invention, an HMI apparatus that displays a screen and generates and transmits an operation signal based on an operation of the screen by a user is connected to the HMI apparatus via a communication network, To control display of the screen in an HMI system having a plant control device that receives the operation signal and generates a display signal for displaying a display component on the screen and transmits the display signal to the HMI device Is a design support apparatus that supports the design of the plant control monitoring screen software, which is described in the program definition library that stores in advance a set of program language definitions describing the plant control monitoring screen software, and the plant control monitoring screen software. The contents are decoded while referring to the program definition library. And a screen software decoding means for outputting a screen software extracts information on the screen software extracts information has a structure in which information about the display part to be displayed on the screen is included at least.

  In the design support apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to contribute to the efficiency improvement of the decoding work of the plant control monitoring screen software used in the existing HMI apparatus and the restoration work of the screen specifications and the screen image from the software. There is an effect.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the plant control apparatus and HMI apparatus which concern on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the variable definition table for HMI interfaces which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the design assistance apparatus main body which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the number display method commentary list which the design assistance apparatus main body which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention outputs. It is a figure which shows the example of the color display method description list which the design assistance apparatus main body which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention outputs. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen specification document which the design assistance apparatus main body which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention outputs. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen image which the design assistance apparatus main body which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention outputs. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the design assistance apparatus main body which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen image which the design assistance apparatus main body which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention outputs. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the design assistance apparatus main body which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen image which the design assistance apparatus main body which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention outputs. It is the figure which expanded the A section in FIG. 11 which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is the figure which expanded the B section in FIG. 11 which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention.

  The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts, and redundant description thereof will be simplified or omitted as appropriate.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIGS. 1 to 3 relate to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing configurations of a plant control device and an HMI device, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an HMI interface variable definition table. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the design support apparatus main body, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a numerical display method explanation list output from the design support apparatus main body, and FIG. 5 is a color display method explanation list output by the design support apparatus main body. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen specification document output from the design support apparatus main body, and FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen image output from the design support apparatus main body.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a plant control apparatus that controls operations of various plant devices constituting the plant. The plant control device 1 outputs control signals to various plant devices and controls the operations of these plant devices. The operation state of each plant device to be controlled is detected by a sensor or the like, and the detected value of the sensor is output from each plant device to the plant control apparatus 1 as a feedback signal.

  An HMI (Human Machine Interface) device 2 is communicably connected to the plant control device 1 via a communication network 3. The HMI device 2 is positioned as a host device of the plant control device 1, and provides an interface (intermediation) when a person performs plant control via the plant control device 1.

  The HMI device 2 requires a screen display unit 2a for displaying information necessary for plant control and monitoring to a person who operates the HMI device 2, and instructions necessary for the HMI device 2 For example, an input unit 2b such as a keyboard or a mouse for inputting various information is provided.

  The operator of the HMI apparatus 2 inputs information necessary for plant control by operating the input unit 2b while confirming the display on the screen display unit 2a. Then, the HMI device 2 generates an operation signal based on the information input to the input unit 2 b, and transmits the generated operation signal to the plant control device 1 via the communication network 3.

  The plant control device 1 generates and transmits a control signal to each plant device based on the operation signal received from the HMI device 2 via the communication network 3, and controls the operation of each plant device. In generating the control signal, a feedback signal sent from each plant device is also used.

  The plant control device 1 also generates a display signal from the feedback signal sent from each plant device, and transmits the display signal to the HMI device 2 via the communication network 3. Based on this display signal, the HMI device 2 displays various types of information regarding the state of the plant necessary for the plant monitoring control on the screen display unit 2a.

  The function of controlling the screen display content of the screen display unit 2a of the HMI device 2 is provided by the plant control monitoring screen software 2c provided in the HMI device 2. The plant control monitoring screen software 2c is stored in advance in a ROM (not shown) provided in the HMI device 2, for example. In the execution, first, the plant control monitoring screen software 2c is loaded into a RAM (not shown) provided in the HMI device 2.

  The screen display content control function of the screen display unit 2a is realized in the HMI device 2 by executing the plant control monitoring screen software 2c loaded in the RAM by the CPU (not shown) of the HMI device 2.

  The screen display content control function of the screen display unit 2a specifically includes, for example, display parts that represent the components of each plant device, display parts such as buttons and numerical input fields, etc. According to the function of displaying with a predetermined attribute (color, size, etc.) at a predetermined position, the function of updating the display content of the screen display unit 2a based on the received display signal, and the operation content of the input unit 2b A function for updating the display content of the screen display unit 2a and a function for generating an operation signal based on the operation content for the display component displayed on the screen display unit 2a via the input unit 2b are included.

  The plant control monitoring screen software 2c is a program configured by combining control commands and the like for realizing various functions included in the screen display content control function of the screen display unit 2a as described above.

  On the other hand, the plant control apparatus 1 is provided with a control program for controlling the control operation. For example, after the control program stored in advance in the ROM is loaded into the RAM, the plant control apparatus 1 is not illustrated. By being executed by the CPU, a control function in the plant control device 1 is realized.

  Of these control functions, the program in charge of the functions related to the exchange of various signals (operation signals, display signals, etc.) with the HMI device 2 is the HMI interface program 1a which is a part of the control program. The variable definition setting used in the HMI interface program 1a is the HMI interface variable definition 1b.

  The HMI interface variable definition 1b is a definition of a tag variable used for a display signal transmitted to the HMI device 2 and an operation signal received from the HMI device 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the HMI interface variable definition 1b has at least variable name, data type, value, comment, and read / write attribute information. Among these, the variable name used is a name that is uniquely identifiable among the defined variables. The comment stores an arbitrary character string that explains what the variable is used for.

  The plant control device 1 generates a display signal for instructing the HMI device 2 to display based on a feedback signal sent from each plant device. When the display signal is generated, the detection value included in the feedback signal is stored in a variable. For each type of detection value included in the feedback signal, a variable to be stored is defined in the HMI interface variable definition 1b. Is defined.

  That is, in the process of executing the HMI interface program 1a, each detected value included in the feedback signal is stored in a variable according to the HMI interface variable definition 1b. Then, a display signal including the variable in which the value is stored is generated and transmitted to the HMI device 2.

  In the HMI device 2, when the display signal transmitted from the plant control device 1 is received, the value of the variable included in the display signal is written to the corresponding tag variable. The plant control monitoring screen software 2c performs processing using this tag variable, and the display content of the screen display unit 2a is updated based on the received display signal. Specifically, for example, color change display, numerical value display, graph display, and the like of the display component are performed.

  On the other hand, in the HMI device 2, when the operator performs an input operation on the input unit 2b, an operation such as pressing a button or inputting a numerical value into the field is performed on a display component such as a button or a field displayed on the screen display unit 2a. When the button is pressed, the selection value corresponding to the button press and the input value to the field are written into the tag variable assigned to the operated display component. Then, the HMI device 2 generates an operation signal including the tag variable in which the value is written in this way, and transmits the operation signal to the plant control device 1.

  In the plant control device 1, the content of the operation signal transmitted from the HMI device 2 is written in the corresponding variable in accordance with the definition in the HMI interface variable definition 1b. Then, in the HMI interface program 1a, a control signal generation process or the like according to the content of the operation signal sent from the HMI device 2 is performed by referring to the content of the variable.

  FIG. 3 shows the design support device main body 4 that analyzes the contents of the plant control monitoring screen software 2c of the HMI device 2 and generates and outputs various products for supporting the design work of the plant control monitoring screen software 2c. The configuration is shown. The design support apparatus main body 4 is premised on the configuration of the HMI system having the plant control apparatus 1 and the HMI apparatus 2 described so far, but exists independently of these systems.

  First, the screen software decoding means 5 provided in the design support apparatus body 4 decodes the contents of the plant control monitoring screen software 2c and outputs the screen software extraction information 7.

  In the design support apparatus body 4, a set of program language specification definitions describing the plant control monitoring screen software 2c is stored in advance as a program definition library 6. The definition of the program language stored in the program definition library 6 includes semantic rules for defining the kind of reserved words used in control statements and the meanings thereof, and how to combine each word. Yes.

  When the source code of the plant control monitoring screen software 2c is input, the screen software decoding means 5 uses the program definition library 6 to decode the contents described in the plant control monitoring screen software 2c. The decoding result is output as screen software extraction information 7.

  The screen software extraction information 7 includes information on display components displayed on the screen display unit 2a by the plant control monitoring screen software 2c. Specifically, for example, when the display component is a fixed drawing, a variable drawing, or a fixed drawing, the figure used, the character used, the value used, the size, the display position, In the case of a variable drawing such as a display color, information such as a name, a comment, a used figure, a used character, a used numerical value, a size, the number of digits, a display position, a variable color, and a corresponding variable. Further, for each display component, information on display function type, presence / absence of operation (touch) function, operation signal capture variable (address), operation signal output variable (address), and display signal input variable (address) is also included.

  The screen software extraction information 7 generated by the screen software decoding means 5 is stored and stored in the design support apparatus main body 4.

  As described above, the HMI device 2 and the design support device main body 4 are separately independent, but the input of the plant control monitoring screen software 2c can be carried from the HMI device 2 to the plant control monitoring screen software 2c. It can be performed by appropriately using a conventionally well-known method, such as once copying to a storage medium and inputting the plant control monitoring screen software 2c copied from the storage medium to the design support apparatus main body 4.

  Further, in decoding the plant control monitoring screen software 2c in the screen software decoding means 5, the HMI interface variable definition 1b may be input and used together. Of the information included in the HMI interface variable definition 1b, the comment may contain an explanatory text about the contents of each variable used. By referring to the explanatory text, for example, the designer Etc. can more easily understand the contents of variables.

  Therefore, when there is a comment about a variable, it is preferable to include it in the screen software extraction information 7 as much as possible, and the variable definition 1b for the HMI interface is useful as an information source for comments about the variable. .

  The comment list creation means 8 provided in the design support apparatus main body 4 creates a comment list 9 that explains the contents of the plant control monitoring screen software 2 c based on the screen software extraction information 7.

  The screen software extraction information 7 is a data format that is not suitable for human understanding as it is because the content described in the plant control monitoring screen software 2c is extracted as it is. Therefore, the explanation list creation means 8 processes and outputs the screen software extraction information 7 so that the description contents of the plant control monitoring screen software 2c can be easily understood.

  The explanation list 9 is one of the deliverables output from the design support apparatus main body 4, and is further classified into a number display method explanation list 9a and a color change display method explanation list 9b. Specific examples of the configurations of the number display method explanation list 9a and the color change display method explanation list 9b are shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the number display method explanation list 9a. This number display method explanation list 9a is an arrangement of various attributes of display parts that display numbers. As described above, the number display method explanation list 9a includes the management number, name, full-width / half-width of display character, display variable, display position (X coordinate, Y coordinate), display direction, number of display digits, decimal point position, character. Contains information such as size and character magnification.

  Among these, the management number is a number automatically assigned to each display component in order to uniquely identify the display component. The display variable is a variable name associated with each display component, and indicates which variable value is used as a numerical value displayed on the display component.

  FIG. 6 shows a specific example of the color change display method explanation list 9b. This color change display method explanation list 9b is an arrangement of various attributes of the display components that undergo color change display. As described above, the color change display method explanation list 9b includes information such as a management number, a name, a display variable, a display position (X coordinate, Y coordinate), a component type, a component name, and a color change method (pallet number). Yes.

  Among these, the management number and the display variable are the same as those in the number display method explanation list 9a described above. In addition, the color changing method designates display colors before and after the color change. As for this color changing method, a color palette preset for display colors before and after color changing may be prepared and the number of the color palette to be used may be designated.

  Further, the explanation list 9 may further include information such as presence / absence of an operation (touch) function and an address of a display variable.

  The output format of the explanation list 9 (number display method explanation list 9a, color change display method explanation list 9b) is a CSV (Comma Separated Value) format, a tab-delimited format text file, XML (extensible Markup Language), or the like. ), Etc., and file formats of commercially available spreadsheet applications are used as appropriate.

  By using such a general-purpose format or a file format of a commercial spreadsheet application, the convenience of the explanation list 9 can be improved.

  The screen specification restoration means 10 provided in the design support apparatus main body 4 restores the screen specification 12 that defines the operation / display method of the plant control monitoring screen in the HMI device 2 based on the screen software extraction information 7. .

  In the design support apparatus main body 4, a set of definitions such as rules, styles, and terms for creating the screen specification 12 is stored in advance as a specification definition library 11. The screen specification restoration means 10 restores and outputs the screen specification 12 from the screen software extraction information 7 while referring to the specification definition library 11.

  FIG. 6 shows a specific example of the screen specification 12 which is one of the deliverables restored by the screen specification restoring means 10 and output from the design support apparatus main body 4 in this way. As described above, the screen specification 12 includes the management number, the type of display component, the name (comment), the color changing method, the display position (X coordinate, Y coordinate), the name of the variable to be displayed, and the address of the variable to be displayed. Contains information. Further, numerical display specifications (number of digits), character display specifications (number of characters), and the like may be included.

  Among these, the types of display components include, for example, touch operation area setting components, color change components, reshape components, position change components, numerical display components, graph display components, character display components, and the like. The specification of the color change method specifies, for example, the signal off color and the on color, and the palette number may be specified in the same manner as the color change display method explanation list 9b described above. When specifying the palette number, it is necessary to define a color palette for color change separately.

  As for the output format of the screen specification 12, as in the case of the explanation list 9, the CSV format, the tab-delimited text file, the general-purpose format such as XML, and the file format of a commercially available spreadsheet application, etc. It can be used as appropriate.

  In addition, regarding the specification definition library 11, the rules, styles and definitions to which the screen specification 12 should comply are generally changed or improved as needed. Therefore, the rule / definition specification definition library 11 to be complied with by the screen specification 12 to be restored is prepared and used. In addition, when it is desired to change the compliance rule of the screen specification 12 output from the design support apparatus body 4, it is only necessary to change the specification definition library 11, and the format of the screen specification 12 can be flexibly changed and supported. can do.

  The screen image restoration means 13 provided in the design support apparatus body 4 restores the screen image 15 of the plant control monitoring screen in the HMI device 2 based on the screen software extraction information 7.

  In the design support apparatus main body 4, information on a set of various display components constituting a plant control monitoring screen in the HMI device 2 is stored in advance as a screen display component library 14. Then, the screen image restoration means 13 faithfully restores the actual plant control monitoring screen in the HMI device 2 with the specified color in the plant control monitoring screen software 2c from the screen software extraction information 7 while referring to the screen display component library 14. Output as a screen image 15.

  FIG. 7 shows a specific example of the screen image 15 which is one of the deliverables restored from the screen image restoration means 13 and output from the design support apparatus main body 4 in this way. Thus, elements such as a touch operation unit, a figure, a numerical value, a character, a graph, and a display color are restored in the screen image 15.

  As the output format of the screen image 15, for example, various general-purpose file formats in the raster image format and various general-purpose file formats in the vector format can be used. A file format of a commercially available image editing application may be used.

  The design support apparatus main body 4 configured as described above is a plant control monitor for controlling the screen display contents in the screen display unit 2a of the HMI apparatus 2 on the premise of the configurations of the plant control apparatus 1 and the HMI apparatus 2 described above. Screen software decrypting means 5 for decrypting the contents described in the screen software 2c and generating screen software extraction information 7 is provided.

  Then, the design support apparatus body 4 outputs, from the screen software extraction information 7 as the intermediate product, the explanation list 9, the screen specification 12 and the screen image 15 that support the design of the plant control monitoring screen as a product. The comment list creating means 8, the screen specification restoring means 10, and the screen image restoring means 13 are further provided.

  Therefore, when trying to design the plant control monitoring screen software that follows the display contents and operation specifications of the plant control monitoring screen of the existing HMI device 2, the plant control monitoring screen software 2c of the existing HMI device 2 is designed as a design support device. By inputting into the main body 4, the explanation list 9, the screen specification 12 and the screen image 15 reflecting the plant control monitoring screen of the existing HMI device 2 can be obtained.

  The designer can easily understand the contents of the existing plant control monitoring screen software 2c by referring to the explanation list 9. If it becomes easier to understand the contents of the existing plant control monitoring screen software 2c, for example, of the functions realized by the existing plant control monitoring screen software 2c, the functions that can be followed by the updated HMI device 2 and the following functions It is possible to easily determine the function that is impossible, that is, the old function that should be replaced with the latest function.

  Further, it is possible to grasp the actual state of the plant control monitoring screen from the screen image 15 without directly photographing the screen display unit 2a even when the existing HMI device 2 has no screen printing function. it can. Furthermore, the screen specification 12 can be diverted as a screen specification for the plant control monitoring screen software 2c used in the updated HMI device 2, and the time required for designing the screen specification can be greatly reduced. it can.

  As described above, in the design support apparatus configured as described above, the efficiency of the decoding operation of the plant control monitoring screen software used in the existing HMI apparatus and the efficiency of the operation of restoring the screen specifications and the screen image from the software. It can contribute to improvement. Therefore, even if system designers, HMI graphic screen designers, and control program designers related to plant control monitoring screens with little knowledge of existing HMI devices are in charge of work, the design time is reduced and the risk of malfunctions is reduced. The effect of can be obtained.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
8 and 9 relate to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the design support apparatus main body, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a screen image output from the design support apparatus main body. It is.

  The second embodiment described here is for adjusting the display color, display position, etc. of the display component in the screen image restored by the screen image restoration means in the configuration of the design support apparatus main body of the first embodiment described above. A screen image adjusting means is additionally provided.

That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the design support apparatus main body 4 has the display color (including the screen background color) and the display color of the screen image restored from the screen software extraction information 7 by the screen image restoration means 13. Screen image adjusting means 16 for adjusting the display position / display size to an arbitrary one designated by the designer is provided. The output from the screen image adjusting means 16 becomes the screen image 15 that is finally output from the design support apparatus body 4.
Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  Since the display color specified by the plant control monitoring screen software 2c is determined in consideration of the visibility when displayed on the screen display unit 2a of the HMI device 2, the restored screen image 15 is printed in particular. Visibility in cases is not always good.

  Therefore, for example, by changing the background color of the restored screen image from black to white, changing the text color from white to black, or changing the light color to a dark color, more visibility is achieved. An improved screen image 15 can be obtained.

  In addition to the display color, the arrangement (position and size) of the display components can be edited, so that the screen image adjustment unit 16 can use the screen image restoration unit 13 as a base to design the designer. However, since the color and arrangement of the display components can be changed, the output screen image 15 can be directly used as a screen plan for the new HMI device 2, for example.

  Here, the case where both the display color and the display position of the display component in the restored screen image can be adjusted and edited has been described, but the object of adjustment and editing is the display color or display position of the display component. Only one of them may be used.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
10 to 12 relate to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the design support apparatus main body. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen image output from the design support apparatus main body. 12 is an enlarged view of portion A in FIG. 11, and FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of portion B in FIG.

  In the third embodiment described here, the management assigned to each display component in the screen specifications restored by the screen specification restoration means is added to the configuration of the design support apparatus main body in the first and second embodiments. An operation display specification adding unit 17 is additionally provided to additionally display an operation (touch) range based on the number and the screen specification on the screen image restored by the screen image restoration unit.

That is, as shown in FIG. 10, in the design support apparatus body 4, the screen image restored from the screen software extraction information 7 by the screen image restoration means 13 is restored from the screen software extraction information 7 by the screen specification restoration means. Operation display specification adding means 17 is provided for outputting a screen image 15 obtained by additionally superimposing information on the screen specifications.
Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  A specific example of the screen image 15 output from the design support apparatus main body 4 via the operation display specification adding means 17 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 11 is an overall view of the screen image 15 to which the operation display specification information is added by the operation display specification adding means 17. FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of part A in FIG. 11. The screen specifications 12 of each display component are displayed at predetermined positions (here, the upper left corner) of each display component in the screen image 15. A management number display 18 is added.

  FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of part B in FIG. As shown in FIG. 13, the management number display 18 in the screen specification 12 of each display component is added to a predetermined position (upper left corner) of each display component in the screen image 15 as in FIG. Yes. Further, an operation target area 19 such as a mouse or a touch panel for each display component in the screen image 15 is added and displayed.

  In this way, by adding the management number display 18 and the operation target area 19 to the screen image restored by the screen image restoration means 13, the definition is made in the screen specification 12 restored by the screen specification restoration means 10. It is possible to easily determine which display component on the screen image 15 is associated with the individual operation / display specifications. Conversely, it is possible to easily know what operation / display specification definition is made in the screen specification 12 for the display component on the screen image 15 restored by the screen image restoration means 13.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Plant control apparatus 1a HMI interface program 1b Variable definition for HMI interface 2 HMI apparatus 2a Screen display part 2b Input part 2c Plant control monitoring screen software 3 Communication network 4 Design support apparatus body 5 Screen software decoding means 6 Program definition library 7 Screen software Extracted information 8 Explanation list creation means 9 Explanation list 9a Numeric display method explanation list 9b Color change display method explanation list 10 Screen specification restoration means 11 Specification definition library 12 Screen specification 13 Screen image restoration means 14 Screen display component library 15 Screen Image 16 Screen image adjusting means 17 Operation display specification adding means 18 Control number display 19 Operation target area

Claims (8)

An HMI device that displays a screen and generates and transmits an operation signal based on an operation of the screen by a user;
A plant control device that is connected to the HMI device via a communication network, receives the operation signal, generates a display signal for displaying a display component on the screen, and transmits the display signal to the HMI device. In a HMI system, a design support apparatus that supports design of plant control monitoring screen software for controlling display of the screen,
A program definition library for storing in advance a set of program language definitions describing the plant control monitoring screen software;
Screen software decoding means for decoding the contents described in the plant control monitoring screen software with reference to the program definition library and outputting as screen software extraction information,
The design support apparatus, wherein the screen software extraction information includes at least information about display components displayed on the screen.   The screen software decoding means further uses the HMI interface variable definition used in an HMI interface program for controlling transmission and reception of the operation signal and the display signal between the HMI device and the plant control device, The design support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: decoding content described in the monitoring screen software and outputting the content as the screen software extraction information.   2. An explanation list creating means for creating an explanation list for presenting contents described in the decrypted plant control monitoring screen software based on the screen software extraction information. The design support apparatus according to any one of 2 above.   The explanation list includes a number display method explanation list that includes information on attributes of display parts that display numbers, and a color change display method explanation that includes information on attributes of display parts that are subjected to color change display. The design support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein at least a list is included. A specification definition library that pre-stores a set of rule definitions to which a screen specification that defines the content displayed on the screen should comply;
5. A screen specification restoring unit that restores the screen specification while referring to the specification definition library based on the screen software extraction information. The design support apparatus according to the above. A screen display component library for storing in advance information on a set of display components displayed on the screen;
The screen image restoration means for restoring a screen image displayed on the screen while referring to the screen display component library based on the screen software extraction information. The design support apparatus according to any one of 5.   7. The design support apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising screen image adjusting means for adjusting at least one of a display color and an arrangement of display components in the screen image restored by the screen image restoring means. . Operation display specification adding means for adding the screen specification information output from the screen specification restoring means to the screen image restored by the screen image restoring means,
6. The screen specification information added to the screen image by an operation display specification adding unit includes at least one of a management number and an operation target area for uniquely specifying a display component. The design support apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, which is dependent.

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