JPH04289060A - Article discrimination device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obviate a program for an upper computer side article discrimination device, and save a labor of forming the program by connecting the article discrimination device with an upper computer. CONSTITUTION:A control information reading means 5 and a command information reading means 6 to read control information and command information from an upper computer 2 periodically are provided at an article discrimination device 3, and a result of process is written in a memory of the upper computer 2 after execution of a command, so a program at the upper computer becomes easier.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article identification device used for the management of machine tools, parts in factories, product management, logistics systems, etc.

0002

[Background Art] In order to mechanize the management of tools in conventional machine tools and the identification of parts and products on assembly lines in factories, systems for identifying and managing various items such as tools, parts, and products have been developed. Is required. Therefore, JP-A-63-22
1950, the object to be identified is provided with a data carrier having a memory, necessary information is written in such memory by external data transmission, and the information is read out as necessary. A device has been proposed. Such a data carrier is usually attached to a pallet or the like, and is configured to write or read data necessary for the data carrier from a write/read control unit disposed on the side of the conveyance path of the pallet.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such a conventional article identification device, it is necessary to write a control program for the article identification device in a host computer, such as a programmable controller, which increases the memory capacity. There were drawbacks. Additionally, the user of the programmable controller must be aware of the control method of the final article identification device. This requires a complicated program that takes into consideration the control between the programmable controller main body and the article identification device, and it also becomes difficult to change the program.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the conventional article identification device, and it automatically reads data from the memory of the host computer and writes necessary data. The purpose is to eliminate the need for control programs on the computer side.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention transmits data between a data carrier 1 attached to an article to be identified, and an article identification device 3 connected to a host computer 2. The data transmitting means 4 transmits data to or receives data from the data carrier, the control information reading means 5 periodically reads control information from the memory of the host computer, and the control information reading means command information reading means 6 that reads command information from the memory of the host computer when command execution control information is read; and command execution that executes the command via the data transmission means after the command information reading means has finished reading the command. The apparatus is characterized by comprising means 7 and processing result writing means 8 for writing the processing result into the memory of the host computer after the command execution means executes the command.

[0006]

[Operation] According to the present invention having such features, the control information reading means in the article identification device periodically reads out the information in the area in which the control information is recorded in the memory in the host computer, and the control information is read out. If it is, the command information is subsequently read. Based on the command information, necessary data is transmitted to and from the data carrier, and the processing result is written into the memory of the host computer by the processing result writing means.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of an article identification device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the article identification device is connected to a data carrier 11 that is directly attached to a pallet on which parts to be identified are transported, a read/write head 12 that writes and reads data to and from the data carrier 11, and a read/write head 12. An ID controller 13 is provided to control the operation. Also ID
The controller 13 is connected to the host computer 2, in this embodiment, the programmable controller 14 via a communication line.
It is connected to the. The ID controller 13 and the read/write head 12 constitute an article identification device that transmits data to and from the data carrier 11 and controls data writing/reading.

Now, as shown in the block diagram in FIG.
U) 21 is provided. A memory 22 for storing the control program is connected to the CPU 21, and a lower communication interface (IF) circuit 23 and an upper communication interface circuit 24 are also connected to the CPU 21. The lower communication interface circuit 23 sequentially supplies data to be transmitted to the data carrier 11 to the read/write head 12, and transmits data obtained from the read/write head 12 to the CPU 21. Here, the read/write head 12 is the data carrier 1
1 constitutes a data transmission means 4 that performs data transmission between the two.

On the other hand, a host computer 2, for example a programmable controller 14 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, is connected to the ID controller 13. This programmable controller has a CPU 32 and a memory 33 as shown in FIG.
The CPU unit 31 includes a CPU unit 31, an I/O unit 34, a memory write/read unit 35, and a plurality of other units. The memory read/write unit 35 is a CP
It reads or writes data at a predetermined address in the memory 33 in the U unit 31. It is assumed that, as shown in FIG. 4, the memory 33 has, for example, written data at addresses "0100" to "0105". Here, address "0100" holds control information indicating command execution or completion, data "0001" indicates command execution, and data "0000" indicates command completion. Addresses "0101" and "0102" are command information such as read/write, processing address, number of bytes, etc., and addresses "0104" and "0105" are processing results such as normal/abnormal and read data. The area to be held is shown. The CPU 32 in the CPU unit 31 is an I/O
It controls various connected units such as the unit 34, and also controls the memory write/read unit 35.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation within the CPU unit 31 of the programmable controller 14. In this figure, after various control unit processes have been performed in routine 41, when the article identification device is to be controlled in step 42, it is first checked whether a command is being executed. If the command is not being executed, the process advances to step 43 to check whether the command needs to be executed, and if necessary, the command information is written to addresses "0101" and "0102" in FIG. 4 in step 44. Here, a read or write command for reading or writing data in the data carrier, processing address, number of bytes, etc. are written. Then, the process proceeds to step 45, where command execution is written to address "0100" of the control information. That is, the data is set to "0001" as shown in FIG. If the command is being executed in step 42, the process proceeds to step 46, where the control information checks whether the command is completed, and if the command is not completed, the routine 41 performs other processing.
Return to Also, the command is in the completed state, that is, the address "010
If the data of "0" is "0000", the process advances to step 47, where the processing results obtained at addresses "0104" and "0105" are read out and confirmed, and the processing is completed.

Next, the operation of the ID controller 13 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the operation starts, the process first proceeds to step 51, where the address "01" of the memory 33 of the upper programmable controller 14 is
00'' control information is read out. Then, if the command is not executed, return to step 51 and repeat the same process, and if the command is executed, proceed to step 53 and address "01".
The command information of "01" and "0102" is read out, and the process proceeds to routine 54, where read or write processing of the data carrier 11 is performed via the read/write head 12 in accordance with the command. Then, in step 55, the processing results are written to addresses "0104" and "0105". The process then proceeds to step 56, where the control information for address "0100" is completed, ie, set to "0000", and the process returns to step 51 to repeat the same process. Here, the CPU 21 of the ID controller 13 achieves the function of the control information reading means 5 that periodically reads control information from the host computer in step 51, and in steps 52 and 53, the control information reading means controls command execution. It achieves the function of command information reading means 6 which reads command information from the memory of the host computer when the information is read. Further, the routine 54 fulfills the function of the command execution means 7, and steps 55 and 56 fulfill the function of the processing result writing means 8 which writes the processing results into the memory of the host computer after executing the command.

In this embodiment, a programmable controller is used as the host computer, but other equipment such as a sequencer may also be used. Furthermore, the programmable controller is not limited to one that is divided into a plurality of units; it is sufficient that one unit includes a memory and a block for reading and writing data in the memory.

[0013]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the article identification device itself actively reads command information from the host computer, performs command processing, and then writes the processing results. When a computer is connected and used, the program configuration of the host computer becomes extremely easy and the user's load can be reduced. Furthermore, the program capacity in the host computer can be reduced, and there is no need to consider complicated timing of data transmission.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of an article identification device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an article identification device to which the present invention is applied.

[Figure 3] ID controller and its ID according to this embodiment
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a programmable controller to which the controller is connected.

FIG. 4 is a memory map showing the configuration of memory within the CPU unit of the programmable controller.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of a programmable controller that is a host computer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ID controller of this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,11 Data carrier 2 Upper computer 3 Article identification device 4 Data transmission means 5 Control information reading means 6 Command information reading means 7 Command execution means 8 Processing result writing means 12 Read/write head 13 ID controller 14 Programmable controller 31 CPU unit 32 CPU 33 Memory 35 Memory write/read unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: An article identification device that transmits data to and from a data carrier attached to an article to be identified and is connected to a host computer, the device being capable of transmitting data to or from the data carrier. control information reading means for periodically reading out control information from the memory of the host computer; and control information reading means for reading the command from the memory of the host computer when the control information for command execution is read by the control information reading means. command information reading means for reading information; command execution means for executing a command via the data transmission means after the command information reading means has finished reading the command; and memory of the host computer after the command execution means has executed the command. An article identification device comprising: processing result writing means for writing processing results into the article identification device.