JPH0447520B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The present invention relates to a ring display device that allows a single controller to easily control a plurality of terminal devices each having a display.

2. Description of the Related Art At a product distribution center, the work of picking up products from various product shelves and packing them into boxes according to orders is generally performed while looking at slips.

However, pick-up work using these slips involves writing on the slip, managing and managing each slip.
Aggregation and other tasks are very time consuming.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention For this reason, as shown in FIG.
... are installed one by one, and these terminal devices 1, 1...
may be managed by a single controller 2, and this controller 2 may be controlled by a computer system or the like installed in a central control room.

In this configuration, the quantity of each product that has been written on the slip until now is sent via the controller 2 to the terminals 1, 1, etc. installed at the pick-up position, and is displayed on the display 3. be done. The worker 4 sees this display, picks up a predetermined number of supported products, and packs them into a container 5 such as a tray. When the packing work is completed, this is indicated by the end switch 6 attached to the display 3.
Press. If the product is out of stock and the supported number of items cannot be packed, the out of stock switch 7 also attached to the display 3 is pressed. This information is sent from the terminal device 1 to the controller 2 and used for control.

However, such a picking system 8 includes a controller 2, a terminal device 1 with a plurality of displays 3,
1..., it is necessary to wire input/output signal lines between each terminal device and the controller. Since the number of terminal devices 1, 1, . . . increases considerably depending on the scale of the product distribution center, the number of wires becomes enormous. In the product distribution center, workers walk between numerous product shelves, and a conveyor line 9 for containers packed with products is installed, so wiring is difficult and there is a high possibility of a disconnection accident. However, there was a problem in that the repair became extremely difficult because it was necessary to find and repair it from a large number of wires.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is an improvement on the above-mentioned conventional problems.Means for solving the problems are as follows: The controller has a structure in which a plurality of terminals for displaying data and inputting data are cascaded in a ring shape between the side terminals, and the controller serves as the output side terminal.
It has a serial output terminal (So) that outputs a signal in a predetermined format with a synchronization code at the beginning to the terminal device, and an acknowledgment signal input terminal (ACKin) that receives a reception confirmation signal from the terminal device. , has a serial input terminal (Si) that receives the output signal of the terminal, and transmits instructions and data to the above serial output terminal (So).
At the same time, each terminal device receives various data transferred to the serial input terminal (Si) as serial data, and controls the display on each terminal device. and an operation key for inputting data, and on the input side, a serial input terminal (Si) for receiving serial data from the controller or the preceding terminal device, and an output terminal (ACKout) for an acknowledgment signal of reception, The output side has a serial output terminal (So) that transfers serial data and an input terminal (ACKin) for receiving confirmation signals, and displays and displays the input commands and data according to the input commands and data. Using a device that transfers data and sends its own data to the controller by replacing the transferred data with its own data, the terminal number is set to 0 in order to assign the terminal number of the above terminal device and check for line disconnection. A communication check signal A in a predetermined format is output from the serial output terminal (So) of the controller, and each terminal device adds 1 to this terminal number, takes that value as its own terminal number, and after the addition When the communication check signal A is transferred to the next stage terminal, and the communication check signal A is not returned from the last stage terminal to the serial input terminal (Si) of the controller even after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the controller disconnects the line. In order to check for a broken line, a diagnostic check signal B with a designated terminal number is output from the serial output terminal (So) of the controller, and each terminal receiving this signal outputs the designated terminal number. If it is not its own No., it is transferred to the next stage as it is, and if it is determined that it is its own No., it outputs the reception confirmation signal “ACK” from its output terminal (ACKout) and transfers it to the next stage. It is sent back to the controller through the input and output terminals (ACKin) (ACKout) of each terminal, the controller checks the connection of the line to that terminal, and the specified terminal number is incremented one by one until the final number. While increasing
This is a ring display device configured to sequentially send out diagnostic check signals B.

Operation In the above means, the commands and display data sent from the controller are sent and received by being sequentially transferred to the terminal devices connected in a ring shape in the form of serial data, and a predetermined display is made on the display device. let Therefore, the wiring between the controller and each terminal device is extremely simplified.

Further, by the communication check signal A, the terminal numbers of the terminals are automatically assigned according to the order of connection, and at the same time, a line disconnection check is performed. Furthermore, the location of the disconnected line is automatically checked using the diagnostic check signal B having the designated terminal number.

Embodiments The present invention is applicable to all systems in which a single controller controls and manages a plurality of terminal devices each having a display. Next, typical examples will be described.

In the ring display device 10 configured as a picking system shown in FIG. 1, which is placed in a warehouse of a product distribution center, etc., 11 is a controller;
Reference numerals 12, 12, . . . denote a plurality of terminal devices each having a display 13, which are arranged at each pick-up work position and connected in a ring shape between the output terminal and the input terminal of the controller 11 by two-core electric wires. There is.

The controller 11 checks the operation of each terminal device 12, 12, etc. based on control commands and data from a data management device such as a computer (not shown).
It controls the display and the transmission and reception of the output data. This controller 11 includes
As its output terminal, a serial output terminal (So) outputs control commands and data signals to the terminal device;
It has an acknowledgment signal input terminal (ACKin) that receives an acknowledgment signal from the terminal. Furthermore, as its input terminal, it has a series input terminal (Si) that receives an output signal from the terminal.

The terminal devices 12, 12... perform data input/output and data transfer based on a predetermined format to be described later, and the display device 1 displays the number of products, etc.
3. It has operation keys 14 for inputting data such as out-of-stock items. Further, as its input side terminals, it has a serial input terminal (Si) for receiving serial data from the controller 11 or the preceding terminal device 12, and an output terminal (ACKout) for a reception confirmation signal. Further, as output terminals, it has a serial output terminal (So) for transferring serial data and an input terminal for receiving an acknowledgment signal (ACKin).

Here, the format of the serial data that is sequentially transferred from the controller 11 to each terminal device 12 and returned to the controller will be explained. As shown in Figure 2, this format places an "L" level start bit at the beginning, then data bits _b0 to _b7 , and finally a parity bit _PE , making a total of 10 bits. Each bit constitutes one character.

Next, the sequence operation of the ring display device 10 configured as a picking system will be explained together with an explanation of the transmission format of each sequence. Note that the correspondence between the symbols used in the following explanation, command words, and codes is as shown in FIG.

First, the controller 11 controls each terminal 12,
12. Initialization (assignment of terminal numbers) and line disconnection check are performed using communication check signal A of the communication check sequence shown in FIG. 4 and diagnosis check signal B of the diagnosis check sequence shown in FIG. 5.

Communication check signal A shown in FIG. 4 consists of four characters. Each character has the configuration shown in Figure 2, and this character arrangement consists of a synchronization code "SYNC", an initialization code "RES", an upper terminal number "ADR2", and a lower terminal number. Line up in the order of “ADR1”. Here controller 11
When transmitting this signal, the upper and lower terminal numbers are "00" and "00", respectively. Each terminal device 12, 12, . . . adds one to this terminal number, takes that value as its own terminal number, and transfers the communication check signal A after the addition to the next stage terminal device. As a result, each terminal device 12, 12... is initialized and the terminal
Numbers are assigned in order. During this time, the controller 11 waits for the return of this communication check signal A, and if it cannot confirm the return even after a certain period of time has elapsed, it determines that the line is disconnected.

When it is determined that the line is disconnected, a diagnostic check signal B shown in FIG. 5 is transmitted. This signal has a 4-character transmission format, and the second diagnostic code "DIAG" is followed by terminal numbers "ADR2" and "ADR1" designated by the controller 11. When each terminal device 12, 12... receives this diagnostic check signal B, if it is not its own number,
It is transferred as is to the next stage, and if it is determined that it is the own number, it outputs a reception confirmation signal "ACK" to the controller side. This confirmation signal "ACK" is sent back to the controller 11 through each terminal device in the previous stage. This diagnostic check signal B is transmitted from terminal No. 1 to n, incrementing by one each time the confirmation signal "ACK" is returned, and even if a certain period of time has elapsed after each transmission, the confirmation signal If (ACK) is not returned,
The terminal number is displayed on the controller 11. After repairing the disconnected line and confirming that the disconnection has disappeared by transmitting the communication check signal A shown in FIG. 4, the normal operation described below begins.

In order to display pick-up data such as the number of products on each terminal device 12, 12, etc., a data write signal C of the data write sequence shown in FIG. 6 and a data display signal D of the data display sequence shown in FIG. 9 are transmitted. I do.

The data write signal C shown in FIG. 6 is used to write display data to the display buffer of each terminal device 12, 12, etc., and its transmission format is synchronization code "SYNC", data write code "WR", terminal number It consists of seven characters in which upper and lower "ADR2", "ADR1" and display data "DATA1", "DATA2", and "DATA3" are arranged in order.

Here, the lower 5 characters “ADR2”,
“ADR1”, “DATA1”, “DATA2”, “DATA3”
The configuration is as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The terminal number and display data are expressed by a BCD code that represents one number with 4 bits, and each number is 4 bits.
It is made up of digits. SW data, which is the last character, is used in a data read sequence to be described later, and the first bit of the LCB is used as a flag indicating that the item is out of stock, and the third bit is used as a flag indicating that the work has been completed.

The data write signal C is transmitted from the controller 11, transferred to each terminal 12, 12, etc. in order, and when it reaches the terminal with the terminal number that it has, that terminal 12 stores it in its own display buffer. take in. When this fetching operation is performed, this data write signal C is not transferred to the next stage. When predetermined display data is written to the terminal devices 12, 12, . . . provided at each work position by this data write signal C, a data display sequence is executed.

The data display signal D used for this has a two-character structure consisting of a synchronization code "SYNC" followed by a data display code "COLL" as shown in FIG. 12, 13, etc., each terminal displays the contents of the display buffer on the display 13.

Seeing this display, each worker can pick up a predetermined number of products from a product shelf or the like into a container such as a tray. As a result of this work, the completion of pick-up or the shortage of products due to shortage of products is input into the terminal 12 using the operation keys 14. With this input, terminal 1
2 writes this to its own SW data buffer. To transmit this work result to the controller 11, a data read signal E of the data read sequence shown in FIG. 10 is used.

This data read signal E is transmitted to the controller 11.
is output at a predetermined period, and consists of seven characters starting with a synchronization code "SYNC". The terminal as shown in Figures 7 and 8
The lower five characters that transmit No., display data, and SW data are all in a NULL state at the time of output. This signal is transmitted to each terminal 12, 12.
..., the terminal device 12 that has its own data that it wants to send to the controller 11 replaces the contents of the lower 5 characters with its own terminal number, its own display data and SW data, and then is transferred to the terminal. Once the terminal number has been given, the data read signal E is simply transferred to the next-stage terminal device 12 and sent to the controller 11 as is. The controller 11 reads display data etc. from each terminal device by periodically sending the data read signal E.

Through such an operation, the controller 11 displays the number of items picked up at each work position,
By collecting the work results in the controller, it becomes possible to manage the pick-up work all at once.

In order to prevent malfunctions due to disturbance noise, conditions for forced termination of the sequence as shown in FIGS. 11a to 11d, for example, are set in each terminal device 12, 12, . . .

These are designed to take into consideration that a sequence always starts with the synchronization signal "SYNC", and improve reliability by interrupting operation when the synchronization code "SYNC" is mixed in during the sequence due to noise etc. I'm letting you do it.

Although the above explanation was for the case where the device of the present invention is configured as a picking system, the present invention can be applied to any system that displays information on a plurality of terminal devices or collects information from these terminal devices. can.

For example, as shown in FIG. 12, it can be applied as a sensor centralized monitoring device 15 that monitors the stable operation output of a photoelectric switch that optically detects the presence or absence of an article. In the figure, each stable operation output [“0” (stable), “1” (unstable)] of a plurality of photoelectric switches 16, 16, . Let them input. By cascade-connecting a plurality of these terminal devices 12, 12, . . . to the controller 11, a large number of photoelectric switches can be centrally managed at one location.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, when a large number of display devices are collectively controlled by one controller, such as in a picking system, these wirings can be connected to two
Since it is only necessary to form the core wire into a ring shape, the wiring work is simplified, the possibility of circuit breakage is reduced, and reliability is improved. In particular, the present invention uses the communication check sequence described above to automatically assign terminal numbers to terminal devices in accordance with the order in which they are connected, and at the same time, checks for line disconnections. The location and malfunctioning terminal can be automatically found. Specifically, in cases where a large number of display terminals are installed and additional units need to be added at any time, such as with pick-up equipment at a product distribution center, the installation/expansion work is carried out in a ring-shaped manner. This can be done easily by just making a connection, and the effect is that it is easy to repair a disconnection.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a ring-type display which is an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the character structure of transmission data, and Fig. 3 is used to explain the operation sequence shown in Fig. 4 and subsequent figures. Figure 4 shows the correspondence between command words and codes of the symbols used in the communication check signal A.
5 is a diagram showing the transmission format of diagnostic check signal B, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the transmission format of data write signal C, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the expression format of terminal number. , Figure 8 shows the expression format of display data and SW data, Figure 9 shows the transmission format of the data display signal, Figure 10 shows the transmission format of the data read signal, and Figure 11 shows the sequence. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating the forced termination conditions of FIG.
FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a picking system in which the device of the present invention is used. 10...Ring display device, 11...Controller, 12...Terminal device, 13...Display device, 14...
Operation key.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A controller having a configuration in which a plurality of terminal devices for displaying data and inputting data are cascaded in a ring shape between an output terminal and an input terminal of a controller that controls transmission of display contents, The above controller has the above output side terminal as
It has a serial output terminal (So) that outputs a signal in a predetermined format with a synchronization code at the beginning to the terminal device, and an acknowledgment signal input terminal (ACKin) that receives a reception confirmation signal from the terminal device. , has a serial input terminal (Si) that receives the output signal of the terminal, and transmits instructions and data to the above serial output terminal (So).
At the same time, each terminal device receives various data transferred to the serial input terminal (Si) as serial data, and controls the display on each terminal device. and an operation key for inputting data, and on the input side, a serial input terminal (Si) for receiving serial data from the controller or the preceding terminal device, and an output terminal (ACKout) for an acknowledgment signal of reception, The output side has a serial output terminal (So) that transfers serial data and an input terminal (ACKin) for receiving confirmation signals, and displays and displays the input commands and data according to the input commands and data. Using a device that transfers data and sends its own data to the controller by replacing the transferred data with its own data, the terminal number is set to 0 in order to assign the terminal number of the above terminal device and check for line disconnection. A communication check signal A in a predetermined format is output from the serial output terminal (So) of the controller, and each terminal device adds 1 to this terminal number, takes that value as its own terminal number, and after the addition When the communication check signal A is transferred to the next stage terminal and the communication check signal A is not returned from the final stage terminal to the serial input terminal (Si) of the controller even after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the controller disconnects the line. In order to check for a broken line, a diagnostic check signal B with a specified terminal number is output from the serial output terminal (So) of the controller, and each terminal that receives this signal outputs the specified terminal number. If it is not its own No., it is transferred to the next stage as it is, and if it is determined that it is its own No., it outputs the reception confirmation signal “ACK” from its output terminal (ACKout) and transfers it to the next stage. It is sent back to the controller through the input and output terminals (ACKin) (ACKout) of each terminal, the controller checks the line connection to that terminal, and the specified terminal number is incremented one by one until the final number. While increasing
A ring display device characterized in that it is configured to sequentially send out diagnostic check signals B.