JP7283875B2 - Numerical controller - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a numerical controller, and more particularly to a numerical controller that optimizes the program acquisition request order.

There are numerical controllers that can run multiple programs simultaneously. A unit of operation controlled by a numerical controller according to a program is called an operation unit. An operating unit may also be referred to as an operating system, or simply a system.

FIG. 1 shows the flow when each operating unit acquires a program. A program is stored in a storage medium. Each operation unit requests the data acquisition request controller to transfer the program from the storage medium. The data acquisition request control unit acquires the program from the storage medium and hands it over to each operation unit. Each operation unit develops the obtained program in a memory and operates.

There are two types of operating units. An operation unit that actually performs machining (hereinafter referred to as a machining operation unit) and an operation unit that controls peripheral axes such as a table, workpiece exchange, loader axis, back drill and tool exchange as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (hereinafter , peripheral driving unit). Since the machining operation unit is an operation unit closely related to accuracy, it must be operated more stably than the peripheral operation units. However, in rare cases, the program transfer request for each machining operation may be blocked by the program transfer request for each peripheral operation. That is, depending on the timing, the transfer of the program for each machining operation may be delayed due to the transfer of the program for each peripheral operation. This may lead to a decrease in throughput and a decrease in processing accuracy. In order to avoid such a situation, it is desirable to perform control such that program transfer relating to a specific operation unit (machining operation unit) is preferentially processed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a situation in which program transfer blockage occurs. There is an upper limit to the number of simultaneous program transfers for hardware or software reasons. For example, the upper limit number of slots for processing program transfers depends on the hardware buffer size and the like. Since the data acquisition request control unit cannot simultaneously respond to the number of program acquisition requests exceeding the upper limit, as indicated by the x mark in FIG. Occasionally, a situation arises that requires a hold.

Patent Literature 1 describes a numerical controller capable of giving priority to program transfers. Patent Literature 2 describes a numerical controller capable of processing program transfer requests from a plurality of operating units.

JP-A-3-189705 JP-A-4-068407

However, neither of Cited Documents 1 and 2 discloses the idea of controlling the priority of program transfer requests among a plurality of operation units, nor a specific technique for realizing the idea.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a numerical controller that optimizes the order of responses to program acquisition requests.

A numerical control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is a numerical control apparatus having a plurality of operation units that are controlled simultaneously by receiving transfer of a program stored in a storage medium and simultaneously operating a plurality of programs. a prior request receiving unit for receiving program transfer requests from each of said operating units; a standby buffer for temporarily storing said program transfer requests; and a data transfer for determining said program transfer requests to be preferentially transferred. a priority operation unit determination information storage unit that stores priority operation unit determination information that is at least one condition of speed, data acquisition frequency, and data acquisition time; and from the standby buffer based on the priority operation unit determination information, A request adjustment unit that determines a high-frequency allocation operation unit, which is the program transfer request to be preferentially transferred, and a data acquisition request control unit that transfers the high-frequency allocation operation unit with the highest priority. .
A numerical controller according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the priority operation unit determination information includes information based on past operation data of the numerical controller and its analysis data.
A numerical controller according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the priority operation unit determination information includes information based on a current operating state of the numerical controller.
A numerical controller according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the priority operation unit determination information includes information that a user designates a program to be preferentially transferred.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a numerical controller that optimizes the order of responses to program acquisition requests.

It is a figure which shows the operation|movement of the conventional numerical controller. It is a figure which shows the conventional problem. It is a figure which shows the conventional problem. It is a figure which shows the conventional problem. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration example of the numerical controller 1; FIG. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the conventional numerical controller. It is a figure which shows the operation|movement of the conventional numerical controller. 2 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the numerical controller 1; FIG. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing the operation of the numerical controller 1; FIG. It is a figure which shows the operation|movement of the conventional numerical controller. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing the operation of the numerical controller 1; FIG. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing the operation of the numerical controller 1; FIG. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing the operation of the numerical controller 1; FIG.

The numerical controller 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention solves the above problem by optimizing the order of program requests as shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic hardware configuration diagram showing essential parts of the numerical controller 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The numerical control device 1 is a device that controls industrial machines including machine tools. The numerical controller 1 has a CPU 11 , a ROM 12 , a RAM 13 , a nonvolatile memory 14 , a bus 10 , an axis control circuit 16 , a servo amplifier 17 and an interface 18 . A servo motor 50 and an input/output device 60 are connected to the numerical controller 1 .

The CPU 11 is a processor that controls the numerical controller 1 as a whole. The CPU 11 reads the system program stored in the ROM 12 via the bus 10 and controls the entire numerical controller 1 according to the system program.

The ROM 12 stores in advance system programs for executing various controls of industrial machines such as machine tools.

The RAM 13 temporarily stores calculation data, display data, data input by the operator via the input/output device 60, programs, and the like.

The nonvolatile memory 14 is backed up by, for example, a battery (not shown), and retains the stored state even if the power supply of the numerical controller 1 is cut off. The nonvolatile memory 14 stores data, programs, etc. input from the input/output device 60 . The programs and data stored in the non-volatile memory 14 may be developed in the RAM 13 during execution and use.

The axis control circuit 16 controls the motion axes of the industrial machine. The axis control circuit 16 receives the movement command amount of the axis output from the CPU 11 and outputs the movement command of the operating axis to the servo amplifier 17 .

The servo amplifier 17 drives the servo motor 50 in response to the axis movement command output from the axis control circuit 16 .

A servo motor 50 is driven by the servo amplifier 17 to move the motion axis of the industrial machine. The servomotor 50 typically incorporates a position/speed detector. The position/velocity detector outputs a position/velocity feedback signal, which is fed back to the axis control circuit 16 to perform position/velocity feedback control.

Although only one axis control circuit 16, one servo amplifier 17, and one servomotor 50 are shown in FIG. For example, two sets of the axis control circuit 16, the servo amplifier 17, and the servo motor 50 are prepared when controlling two axes, a master shaft and a slave shaft.

The input/output device 60 is a data input/output device having a display, hardware keys, etc., and is typically an MDI or an operation panel. The input/output device 60 displays information received from the CPU 11 via the interface 18 on the display. The input/output device 60 passes commands, data, and the like input from hardware keys and the like to the CPU 11 via the interface 18 .

A characteristic functional configuration of the numerical controller 1 according to the present embodiment is shown in comparison with the functional configuration of a conventional numerical controller.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a conventional numerical controller. A conventional numerical controller has a standby buffer that receives a program transfer request from each operating unit, and a data acquisition request control unit that transfers a program from a storage medium to an operating unit in the order in which program operation requests arrive in the standby buffer. As shown in the flow chart of FIG. 7, the conventional numerical controller immediately starts program transfer processing in an empty processing slot at the time of receiving the program transfer request. If there are no empty slots at that time, the program transfer request is rejected. Therefore, depending on the timing, as shown in FIG. 6, while the requests of the peripheral operation units 2 and 3 are being processed, there is no choice but to reject the request of the machining operation unit 1 (indicated by the x mark in the figure). ) can occur.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of the numerical control device 1 according to this embodiment. The numerical controller 1 includes, as processing units for realizing the characteristic operations of the present invention, a prior request reception unit 101, a standby buffer 102, a request adjustment unit 103, a data acquisition request control unit 104, a priority operation unit judgment information storage unit A part 105 is provided. The operation of these processing units will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Advance request receiving unit 101 receives a program transfer request from each operating unit and temporarily stores it in standby buffer 102 . As a result, the program transfer request enters a waiting state (S101).

The request adjusting unit 103 determines the priority of executing the program transfer request based on the priority operating unit determination information stored in the priority operating unit determination information storage unit 105 .

The priority operation unit determination information includes, for example, the following information.
・User setting ・Whether it is a program name (or program number, etc.) with a high (or low) frequency of acquisition specified in advance by the user.
・Does the program exist in a folder or memory area specified in advance by the user for storing programs with high (or low) acquisition frequency?
・Operating state ・Are programs that are known in advance to be frequently acquired (or low) being executed?
・Does the operation unit use a function whose frequency of acquisition is known to be high (or low)?
・Whether the program is acquired using a high-speed storage medium or communication method, that is, the data transfer rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold (or a low-speed storage medium, that is, the data transfer rate is less than the predetermined threshold).
・Past driving data and its analysis data ・When the program was driven in the past, was the data acquisition frequency or time equal to or greater than (or less than) a predetermined threshold value?

The request adjustment unit 103 determines whether or not the program requested in the data transfer request stored in the standby buffer 102 corresponds to the program designated by the priority operation unit determination information. If applicable, increase (or decrease) the acquisition frequency of the program in that operating unit. That is, the program transfer process is started preferentially (or inferiorly) compared to other operation units.

For example, programs that are known to have a high (or low) frequency of acquisition include, for example, programs containing minute line segments, pulse data, and the like. The request adjustment unit 103 determines whether the program requested in the data transfer request stored in the standby buffer 102 is such a program. For example, in the case of a program including a minute line segment as a command, the request adjustment unit 103 performs processing to increase the program acquisition frequency of the operation unit that requested this program.

Further, for example, when the program requested in the data transfer request stored in the standby buffer 102 is stored in a low-speed storage medium whose data transfer speed is less than a predetermined threshold, the request adjustment unit 103 Processing is performed to increase the program acquisition frequency (priority) of the operation unit that requested this program.

An operation unit for which the request adjustment unit 103 has performed the process of "increasing the program acquisition frequency" is referred to as a high-frequency allocation operation unit. On the other hand, an operation unit that was once a high-frequency allocation operation unit and for which the request adjuster 103 has performed the process of "reducing the program acquisition frequency" is no longer called a high-frequency allocation operation unit. The request adjusting unit 103 forcibly transfers the program transfer request from the high-frequency allocation operation unit in the processing slot the next time an empty processing slot occurs (even if there is a first-arriving program transfer request). to run.

The data acquisition request control unit 104 executes the program transfer request according to the priority decided by the request adjustment unit 103 . That is, the program transfer request is retrieved from the standby buffer 102, and the next available processing slot is used to acquire the requested program from the storage medium and transfer it to the operating unit. If there is an operation unit assigned with high frequency, that operation unit is transferred with the highest priority, and the other operation units are transferred as frequently as possible. If there is no high-frequency assigned operation unit, all operation units are transferred with equal frequency.

An operation example of the numerical controller 1 according to the present embodiment will be described in comparison with a conventional numerical controller using FIGS. 10 to 13. FIG. In this example, it is assumed that the number of processing slots that can be used simultaneously for program transfer processing is two.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an operation example of program transfer processing by a conventional numerical controller. The horizontal axis of the graph indicates time (one square corresponds to one control cycle). In this example, program transfer requests are generated periodically in the order of operation units 3→2→1. Assuming that the transfer processing of the operation units 2 and 3 each requires three control cycles, depending on the timing, as shown in FIG. can occur.

11 and 12 are diagrams showing an operation example of program transfer processing by the numerical controller 1 of the present embodiment. In this example as well, program transfer requests are generated periodically in the order of operation unit 3→2→1. The program transfer request is temporarily stored in the standby buffer 102, and the high-frequency allocation operation unit is determined by the request adjuster 103. FIG.

FIG. 12 shows an operation example when there is no high-frequency allocation operation unit. In this case, empty slots are assigned to all operating units as frequently as possible. The star in the figure indicates a priority operation unit, that is, an operation unit in which data transfer is executed when an empty slot occurs next time. The request adjustment unit 103 determines the priority operation unit so that the program transfer process is executed as frequently as possible for each operation unit.

FIG. 11 shows an operation example when there is no high-frequency allocation operation unit. In this case, empty slots are assigned with the highest priority to the frequently assigned operation units. Empty slots are assigned to other operating units as often as possible. As indicated by white arrows in the figure, when a high frequency allocation operation unit occurs, the priority operation unit at that time is forcibly changed to the high frequency allocation operation unit. When the transfer processing of the high-frequency allocation operation unit ends, the priority operation unit is returned to its original state (priority operation unit before change).

According to the present embodiment, the request adjustment unit 103 determines the high frequency allocation operation unit based on the priority operation unit determination information, and the data acquisition request control unit 104 transfers the high frequency allocation operation unit with the highest priority. As a result, it is possible to preferentially operate an operation unit or the like that has an important influence on accuracy, thereby improving accuracy and throughput.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the data acquisition request control unit 104 performs transfer by allocating processing slots as frequently as possible for operation units other than the high-frequency allocation operation units. As a result, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of operation units in which the program cannot be obtained.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified as appropriate without impairing the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, one operating unit is selected as the frequently assigned operating unit. However, for example, the request adjustment unit 103 may be configured so that the priority of the transfer process can be evaluated in a plurality of stages by, for example, weighting each piece of priority operation unit determination information. In this case, the data acquisition request control unit 104 performs transfer processing in order from the operation unit with the highest priority.

1 numerical controller 11 CPU
12 ROMs
13 RAM
14 non-volatile memory 18 interface 10 bus 16 axis control circuit 17 servo amplifier 50 servo motor 60 input/output device 101 advance request reception unit 102 standby buffer 103 request adjustment unit 104 data acquisition request control unit 105 priority operation unit determination information storage unit

Claims (4)

A numerical controller having a plurality of operation units controlled simultaneously by simultaneously operating a plurality of programs upon receiving transfer of a program stored in a storage medium,
a pre-request receiving unit that receives a program transfer request from each of the operating units;
a standby buffer that temporarily stores the program transfer request;
priority operation unit determination information storage for storing priority operation unit determination information which is at least one of data transfer speed, data acquisition frequency, and data acquisition time for determining the program transfer request to be preferentially transferred; Department and
a request adjuster that determines, from the standby buffer, a high-frequency allocation operation unit, which is the program transfer request to be preferentially transferred, based on the priority operation unit determination information;
and a data acquisition request control unit that transfers a high-frequency allocation operation unit with the highest priority. 2. The numerical controller according to claim 1, wherein the priority operation unit determination information includes information based on past operation data of the numerical controller and its analysis data. The numerical controller according to claim 1, wherein the priority operation unit determination information includes information based on a current operating state of the numerical controller. 2. The numerical controller according to claim 1, wherein the priority operation unit determination information includes information indicating a program to be preferentially transferred by a user.

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