JPH01134673A - Method and device for displaying data of block chart - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically prepared data to express the connecting relation of constituting elements between divided drawings by displaying information, which express the connecting relation between the respective constituting elements to be obtained by the division of an image and the arranging area of the connected element, together with the border of the area. CONSTITUTION:An operating part 5a of an operation processor 5 executes a processing based on a processing procedure to be stored in a processing procedure storing part 5b. At first, a block chart to be displayed in a display device 1 is divided into the plural drawings according to a position on connection for which an operator instructs a coordinate. Next, the data concerning the connecting direction of a connecting line between the constituting elements of the divided block chart are prepared and added to the data of the element. next, the name of a drawing area and the edge point of the connecting line is set and added to the data of the elements, which are connected each other between the drawing areas. The data of the elements, which are prepared by the above-mentioned processing, are stored to a storage 7 and displayed to the display device 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application]
esign) technology, using computers interactively,
The present invention relates to a block diagram data display processing method and apparatus suitable for displaying image information describing logical connection relationships of constituent elements of a block diagram such as a logic diagram or a system diagram.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in order to display and process data of a block diagram using a computer interactively, an operator designates a position on a graphic display screen and selects components and their components as a data input means. A technique is used to create data that describes the logical connection relationships of the components by arranging line segments that connect the questions. Related devices of this type include, for example, U.S. Pat.
20061 is mentioned. Furthermore, in addition to the created data, a number is added to each drawing in advance, and as a technique to quickly search for the necessary drawing, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-21.7
837, and an apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-216004. Using these devices makes it possible to efficiently create and search data for each drawing.

On the other hand, there is an apparatus disclosed in US Pat. No. 3,533,086 that automatically creates a flowchart from a computer program. With this device, the number of steps in a flowchart that develops in each drawing is limited in advance, and for flowcharts where processing continues between multiple drawings, the connection relationships between each step that appear every predetermined number of steps are It is to be entered on the flowchart.

Further, as an apparatus for dividing and drawing a drawing based on image information of the drawing, there is an apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-31478. When displaying a large amount of image information that exceeds the display limit of the display device, this device divides the image information into arbitrarily shaped areas and displays them using the coordinates of the intersection of the area border and the image. It is suitable for storing values and extracting images spanning multiple regions when enlarging or reducing each region.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the device described in the above-mentioned Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-31478, for the components that have a connection relationship between the drawings obtained by division, Since information identifying the connection relationships among these components is not provided, it is necessary for the operator to input data representing the connection relationships between these components in advance through an input device. This device divides the data of the drawing that has already been created into multiple display areas or data storage devices, and displays or stores the data, and, for example, performs detailed designs and searches on the divided drawings. In this case, it was necessary for the operator to re-enter data representing the connection relationships between the divided, displayed, and stored components. Therefore, there is a problem in that the amount of input and operational burden on the operator increases.

Therefore, the operator uses the functions of this conventional device to switch between the work of designing and searching the divided drawings in detail and the work of inputting data representing the connection relationships between the components of the divided drawings. Therefore, it was necessary to use separate equipment or processing for each.

An object of the present invention is to provide a block diagram data display processing method and apparatus for automatically creating data representing connection relationships between components in drawings arbitrarily divided by an operator. .

[Means for Solving the Invention] According to the present invention, when the block diagram is divided into a plurality of drawing areas and the image information of the block diagram is processed, the image information specified by the operator on the image of the block diagram displayed on the display means is The image of the block diagram is divided based on multiple regions, and the connection relationships between the elements are determined for the mutually connected elements arranged in the first region and the second region obtained by the division. Adding first identification information representing the area and second identification information representing the area where the connected element is arranged, and displaying an image of the area together with the boundary of the area and the first identification information and the second identification information on the display means. It is characterized by displaying.

[Operation] In the present invention, in order to display and process the data of each divided drawing area, it is necessary to determine which end point of which drawing area the connection destination or connection source of the end point of the connection line between divided elements corresponds to. This information is created and stored as data, and when the information is displayed on a drawing, it is displayed along with each end point so that the connection relationships between the individual end points can be visually identified.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example will be described in which the block diagram data display processing method and apparatus according to the present invention are adopted in a control system block diagram designing apparatus described in US Pat. No. 4,455,619 and the like. In this example, when an operator interactively creates a control system block diagram using a control system block diagram design device, the operator divides the created control system block diagram at arbitrary positions and creates a detailed design. The configuration and operation when the present invention is used for processing to expand into multiple drawing areas will be explained.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a data display processing device in this embodiment. The arithmetic processing device 5 is
Arithmetic unit 5a, processing procedure storage unit 5b, input unit 5C1, image data output unit 5d, block diagram data search code output unit 5
e, a block diagram data input/output section 5f, a drawing area data search code output section 5g, a drawing area data input/output section 5h, and an intermediate data storage section 51. The arithmetic unit 5a sequentially calls the processing procedure according to the data display processing method of the block diagram stored in the processing procedure storage unit 5b, and executes processing based on the processing procedure. The image data storage device 3 stores coordinate data of a display area, which is image data output from the arithmetic processing device 5, and character data, which is display content. The image display control device 2 reads coordinate data of a display area to be displayed and character data from the image data storage device 3, and displays the characters and images on the display device 1. 4 is an input device; 6 is a block diagram data storage device;
7 is a drawing area data storage device. Said U.S. Patent 44
The processing performed by the control system block diagram design device described in No. 55619 is stored in the processing procedure storage section 5b, and the processing procedure is sequentially called and executed in the calculation section 5a. Through processing by the control system block diagram design device, a block diagram is constructed based on information input by the operator through the input device 4, and the result is displayed on the display device 1 and further stored in the block diagram data storage device 6. Ru.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the processing procedure according to the present invention executed by the arithmetic processing unit 5. As shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the processing procedure of this embodiment will be explained step by step in FIG. 2, and the operation of the data display processing device shown in the block diagram of this embodiment will be explained.

In FIG. 2, step (2) specifies the positions at which the block diagram created by the operator using the control system block diagram design device and displayed on the display device 1 is to be divided, based on information specified by the operator from the input device 4. This is the process of Step ■ is a process of creating data regarding connection directions of connection lines between elements of the block diagram divided by division. Step ■ is a process of creating data regarding the connection direction of connection lines between elements of the block diagram divided by division. The process of setting the names of the end points of the connection lines between the elements of the divided block diagram and adding them to the data of the elements that connect between the drawing areas, Step 2, is the process of storing the data of the divided drawing areas, Step 2 This is a process of displaying the divided drawing area on a display device.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a block diagram displayed on the display device of this device. Elements in the block diagram are connected to other elements by connection lines. In this figure, for example, element A is connected to element B and element F by a connecting line 14, and the relationship between them is expressed verbally.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data storage format regarding elements of the block diagram. In this example, each element included in the block diagram shown in FIG. 3 is stored in association with other connected elements. For example, element A is connected to element B and element F, and element B is connected to element C1 and element H.

In step ■ of Fig. 2, the block diagram is divided into multiple drawings according to the position on the connection line (positions 15, 16° 17 in Fig. 5) whose coordinates are specified by the operator using the input device 4 on the displayed block diagram. do. At this time, the position on the connection line may be indicated by a cursor appearing on the display screen using a coordinate indicating device such as a mouse. FIG. 5 shows instructions for dividing one block diagram into three drawing areas 18, 19, and 20 at division positions 15, 16, and 17 for the display example of the block diagram shown in FIG. 3. This is an example.

Next, in step (2) in FIG. 2, data regarding the connection directions of connection lines between the elements of the block diagram divided by the division is created and added to the data of the elements.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the storage format of data regarding the connection direction and division position of connection lines added to the data of the elements of the block diagram divided by the division as a result of the division by the operator shown in FIG. 5. It is something. In the embodiments of the present invention, only the storage format of data of elements to which data is added as the block diagram is divided will be described below. As shown in FIG. 6, in this example, the value of the data item "connection direction" is set to 0 or 1 only for a set of elements in which the connection direction of the connection line is defined. The value 1 for "Connection direction" is
This indicates that the connection is from the element with "element name" to the element with "connection element name", that is, the former element is the connection source and the latter element is the connection destination. A value of 0 for ``Direction'' indicates that the connection is in the opposite direction to the above,
In other words, the element with "element name" is the connection destination and the element with "connection element name"
This indicates that the element is the connection source.

As a result of the division by the operator shown in FIG. 5, for example,
There is no "connection direction" defined between element B and element A,
On the other hand, for element F, the connection direction in which element F is connected to element A is defined. Furthermore,
Regarding the split position of a connection line, the value of the data item "split position" is initially set to 1 for the pair of elements that are the connection source and connection destination of the split connection line, and the value of the data item "split position" is set to 1 each time a new split is created. The value obtained by incrementing the value by 1 is set as the value of the division position.

In this example, division positions are defined between element A and element F, between element B and element 1, and between element B and element H, respectively.

Next, in step (2), the names of the divided drawing areas and the end points of the connecting lines are set and added to the data of the elements that connect the drawing areas.

In the first half of step (2), first, the drawing number of the drawing area corresponding to the division of the block diagram specified in step (2) is defined. Next, select an element for which the value of the element data item r division position is 1 or more, and set the value (name) of the connection terminal name to r for the connection element whose value of connection direction is 1. Define using the value of ``split position''. FIG. 7 shows an example of the data storage format when the drawing number of the divided drawing area and the name of the end point of the connecting line are added to the element data. For example, element A is "drawing number". is included in drawing area 1, is the connection source of the connection line that connects element F across the drawing area, and its "connection terminal name" is T1. At this time, the connection terminal name JTI is a name created using the value 1 of "r division position of element A in FIG. 6". Similarly, "Connection terminal names JT2 and T3 are
They are created from values 2 and 3 of ``r division position'', respectively.

In the latter half of step (2), the drawing number and connection terminal name are added to the element data. First, define the same "connection terminal name" for the connection elements in which connection terminals are defined. Next, for a connected element with a "connection direction" of 1, define a "connection source drawing number" that is the same as the "drawing number" of the element, and
For connected elements whose “Connection direction” is 0, the “Drawing number” of the element
Define the same "connection destination drawing number" as. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the storage format of data added to element data as a result of the latter half of step (2). for example,
"Connection terminal name JTI" of element A is defined as "connection terminal name" of "connection element name" F, and "drawing number" 1 of element A is "connection source drawing number" of "connection element name" F. It is defined as. Similarly, the "Drawing number" of "Connected element name" F is set to "Drawing number" of element A.
is defined.

Through the processing of steps (1), (2), and (2) above, information on connection lines between a plurality of drawing areas resulting from the operator's arbitrary division of the block diagram is added to the element data.

Further, in step (2), data of the elements created by the processing in steps (2), (2) and (2) are stored in the drawing area data storage device 7. At this time, the element data may be classified and stored for each drawing area.

Finally, in step (2), the element data stored in the drawing area data storage device 7 is read and the display device 1 is read.
to be displayed. FIG. 9 shows an example of the display screen of the drawing area displayed on the display device 1. First, for elements included in the drawing area that have connection terminals, a connection line is drawn from the figure representing the element, and a figure (○ mark in FIG. 9) indicating the connection terminal is displayed at the end of the connection line. At this time, for a connection terminal whose connection direction is O, a connection line is drawn out from the left side of the element, and a figure (arrow in FIG. 9) indicating the connection direction is displayed from the connection terminal toward the element.

On the other hand, for a connection terminal whose connection direction is 1, a connection line is drawn out from the right side of the element and displayed as a figure indicating the connection direction from the element to the connection terminal. Next, near the connection terminal, “
The data of "connection terminal name" and "connection destination drawing number" or "connection source drawing number" are displayed as entry information. 9th
In the illustrated example, the entry information 21 indicates a drawing number. Similarly, entry information 22 is the connection terminal name, entry information 23
indicates the drawing number to which it is connected. For example, the connection terminal T1 from element A is indicated as a connection terminal to drawing number 3. Furthermore, by reading element data regarding a plurality of drawing areas from the drawing area data storage device 7, a plurality of drawing areas may be simultaneously displayed on the display device as shown in FIG.

Furthermore, the step in which the operator instructs the dividing position on the connection line between elements for dividing the block diagram displayed on the display device is the step of instructing the dividing position on the connection line between the elements to divide the block diagram displayed on the display device. It may also consist of a processing procedure in which the operator indicates the position and calculates the division position from the intersection of the sides of the polygon and the connection line.

In the above description of the embodiments, the creation of a block diagram by an operator, its display on a display device, and its storage in the block diagram data storage device 6 are based on the well-known CAD technology, so a detailed explanation will be provided. Although omitted, this will be explained below.

Conventionally, CAD devices have been equipped with a display screen that displays a block diagram, and a coordinate input device that generates coordinate value data when an operator indicates an arbitrary position on the display screen, and allows points and lines to be drawn to the position specified by the operator. minutes,
An interactive computer usage method is used in which figures, symbols, etc. are displayed and their position coordinate values are written into the block diagram data storage device 6. This is also utilized in the embodiments of the present invention, and for example, a coordinate input device collectively referred to as a joystick or a mouse can be used as the input device 4, as shown in Reference (1). With this coordinate input device,
An encoder that converts the displacement into coordinate value data is connected to a mechanism that converts the movement of the operating part operated by the operator into displacement in two orthogonal directions on a plane on the display. Further, the coordinate input device writes data of coordinate values to the arithmetic processing device 5 via the input section 5c, and transmits an interrupt signal. Until the operator operates the coordinate input device and sends an interrupt signal to the arithmetic processing device 5, a designated point, collectively called a cursor, is displayed on the screen of the display device 1 corresponding to the coordinate position designated by the operating section. Ru. To display this point, the image display control device 2 sequentially reads the coordinate values X and Y on the screen of the display device 1 written in the image data storage device 3, and displays the point on the screen of the display device 1. The image display control device 2 executes the process of displaying the symbol.

As described above, when the operator indicates the position on the screen of the display device 1 with the pointing point (cursor),
It is possible to input coordinate values for displaying points, figures, and symbols at designated points, displaying line segments connecting multiple designated points, and the like.

On the other hand, after a designated point is given, processes such as displaying points, figures, and symbols on the designated point, and displaying line segments connecting multiple designated points are performed, for example, as shown in Reference (2). , made using computer graphics technology. Furthermore, information for drawing elements of the displayed block diagram, connection lines, etc. is stored as data. The processing for this will be explained below.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a screen of the display device 1 that is displayed during the process of drawing elements of a block diagram. Further, FIG. 12 shows an example of drawing information for element A shown in FIG. 11, which is obtained as a result of the operator instructing the position and drawing the element of the block diagram.

In the computer graphics technology disclosed in Reference (2), the data of an image to be displayed is divided and defined into what are collectively called segments as units for drawing. In this example, in order to draw element A, one segment is defined, and the line segments included therein, the types of characters, and the position coordinate values to be displayed are described.

Further, FIGS. 13 and 14 show examples of display of a point (cursor) indicated by an operator for drawing a connection line connecting two elements of a block diagram. In this example, element A
In order to draw a connection line connecting from to element F, first place a part of element A at the indicated point (
cursor) 25, and then, as shown in FIG. 14, a part of element F is similarly designated. At this time, according to the graphics input means disclosed in reference document (2), it is possible to select an already displayed segment using a pointing point.

FIG. 15 shows a display example of connection lines drawn in the above procedure. Further, FIG. 16 shows an example of drawing information of a segment representing a connection line drawn in the above procedure. In this example, it is also possible to display information regarding which of the two end points of the line segment 14, which is the connecting line, was selected first to draw the line segment.

By the means described above, an operator can create a block diagram and store drawing information of elements and connection lines in the block diagram data storage device 6.

Next, the elements of the above block diagram drawn by the operator,
The procedure for creating data on the connection relationship of elements shown in FIG. 6 from connection line drawing information will be outlined.

In FIG. 6, positions for dividing the block diagram are designated on connection lines between elements, and information regarding division of connection lines and connection directions is added to FIG. Regarding the division position, add an integer value to the line segments whose start point segment and end point segment match the element name and connection element name of the line segments that constitute the segment representing the connection line selected by the indication point for division. There is. For example, in a combination of element name A1 and connection element name F, the starting point segment and end point segment of the connection line are A and F, respectively, according to the drawing information of the segment representing the connection line in Fig. 16, so the division position 1 is added to . Similarly, for the combination of element name B and connection element name, from the drawing information of the segment representing the connection line between elements B and D similar to FIG. 16, the starting point segment of the connection line,
Since the end point segments are B and D, respectively, 2 is added to the division position. At this time, each time a division position is defined, the added integer value is updated by 1 to distinguish the division position.

In addition, in the step in which the operator indicates the dividing position on the connection line between elements to divide the block diagram, it becomes possible to input the handwritten block diagram from the optical reader and create connection information between the elements. In this case, it is possible to use a process in which the reading device reads the symbols written on the connection lines between the elements and determines the division positions.

According to the above-described embodiments of the present invention, for each drawing area in which an operator arbitrarily divides and develops a control system block diagram, data representing the connection relationships of elements connected to each other across a plurality of drawing areas is quickly created. Furthermore, when displaying the data on a drawing, there is an effect that the connection partner of the end point can be easily identified visually based on the information written together with each end point.

The method and apparatus according to the invention are illustrated in block diagrams consisting of electrically connected elements as described in this example;
In addition to design drawings such as circuit diagrams and system diagrams, it can also be used for data display processing of drawings when superimposing map information with road connection information and connection information of public service networks such as electricity, gas, and telephone. can be used.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, data representing connection relationships of constituent elements between drawings arbitrarily divided by an operator can be analyzed by determining which end points of connection lines between divided elements are connected to which end points of which drawing areas. It can be quickly created based on the information on whether the endpoints are connected, and when displaying this information on the drawing, the information written alongside each endpoint allows for easy visual identification of the connection partner of the endpoint. be.

[References 1 (1) William M, Newman a
nd Robert F, 5proull:P
r1nciples of Interactive
Computer Graphics, 2nd E
d, McGraw-Hill Int, BookCo.
, (1983) (2) F, R, Hachi Hopgood et al. Translation supervised by Hiroyuki Yoshikawa: Computer Graphics Basic Software GK
S, Keigaku Publishing (198B)

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a blueprint data display processing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a processing flow used in the blueprint data display processing device shown in FIG. , FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a block diagram, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data storage format regarding elements of a block diagram, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of division of the block diagram,
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a data storage format regarding elements of a block diagram, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a data storage format regarding elements of a block diagram, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a data storage format regarding elements of a block diagram. Diagram showing an example of storage format, No. 9
The figure shows an example of a drawing area drawing surface by the apparatus of the embodiment, FIG. 10 shows an example of a drawing area drawing surface by the apparatus of the embodiment, and FIG. 11 shows elements of a block diagram drawn. Figure 12 is a diagram showing an example of drawing information for the elements of a block diagram, and Figures 13 and 14 are diagrams showing an example of the screen displayed by the display device during the process of drawing the block diagram. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the display of indicated points. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of drawing information for connection lines between elements of a block diagram. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Display device, 2... Image display control device, 3... Image data storage device, 4... Input device, 5... Arithmetic processing device, 6... Block diagram data storage device, 7...Drawing area data storage device. Fig. 1 1 Tisfu Play Kofu 2 Painting 55 Snoring 5 Lara (Keyaki also Lii Wholesale 55 Snore wo Hana [3 image data record) Jinshin Army 4 Input pumping location 5 Performance processor 6 Block diagram data record Cheers, outfit! Fig. 7 Plate area data Lhia Burning purchase Fig. 6 Fig. 11 Fig. 12 Fig. 13 Fig. 14 O.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a block diagram data display processing method for displaying image information of a block diagram based on information on elements constituting the block diagram and connection information between them, the block diagram is divided into multiple drawing areas. , when processing the image information of the block diagram, the image of the block diagram is divided based on a plurality of regions specified by the operator on the block diagram displayed on the display means, and the first region and the second region obtained by the division are divided. First identification information representing the connection relationship between the elements and second identification information representing the area in which the connected elements are arranged are added to each element that is connected to each other and that is arranged in the area. . A block diagram data display processing method, characterized in that the image of the area is displayed on a display means together with the boundary of the area and the first identification information and the second identification information. (2) If the connection direction of the connection line between the elements arranged in the first area and the second area obtained by division and connected to each other is determined, the connection line 2. The block diagram data display processing method according to claim 1, further comprising: adding third identification information representing a connection direction of said area, and displaying an image of said area together with said third identification information. (3) In a block diagram data display processing device that divides a block diagram according to instruction information from an input device and displays information on constituent elements over multiple drawing areas and connection information between them, an image of the block diagram is displayed. a display means for displaying a block diagram; and a display means that divides the block diagram image based on a plurality of regions specified by an operator on the displayed block diagram image, and arranges the block diagram in a first region and a second region obtained by the division. Calculates drawing area data in which first identification information representing the connection relationship between elements and second identification information representing the area where the connected elements are arranged are added to each element that is connected to each other. means for storing the drawing area data; and displaying means for displaying an image of the area together with the boundary of the area and the first identification information and the second identification information based on the stored drawing area data. A block diagram data display processing device comprising: