JPH08335108A - Monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a monitoring device with which any specified status can be simultaneously monitored to plural controllers and an answering response is quick. CONSTITUTION: As to this monitoring device, each of plural controllers #1-#n is provided with a memory 22 for storing the state of the controller for each status and a buffer 23 for selecting whether the state of any specified controller among the plural controllers is to be monitored or the specified status is to be monitored regarding all the controllers and reading all the statuses of the specified controller from the memory or reading the specified status of all the controllers according to this selection.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a monitoring device for connecting a plurality of control devices and monitoring the state of each control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A monitoring device is a device for monitoring and confirming the operating status of each controller and the contents stored in each controller in a system including a plurality of controllers.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a monitoring device (system) in which a monitor device is provided in a system composed of a plurality of controllers. This system
A plurality of controllers # 1 to #n are connected to the main controller 3 by the CPU link 2, and the monitor device 4 connected to the main controller 3 allows the main controller 3 and the plurality of controllers # 1 to #n to be connected. The monitor device 4 is capable of searching and confirming the operating conditions and the stored contents thereof.

Main controller 3 and controllers # 1 to #
Commands and statuses are exchanged with n to be distributedly controlled, and the monitor apparatus 4 exchanges statuses between the main controller 3 and the controllers # 1 to #n, as well as the status. The state of each controller # 1 to #n having attributes (for example, power on / off, operation mode, presence / absence of abnormality, other switches on / off, etc.) is centrally monitored and displayed on the display device 5, or The monitor device 4 uses the input device 6 to connect the main controller 3 and the controllers # 1 to #n via the main controller 3.
Send the command to give the necessary instructions and get the information.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a conventional configuration of the above system. Controllers # 1 to #n are
Each has a memory 7 for storing commands and statuses.

The main controller 3 has a memory 8 for storing the status and command for each controller as many as the controllers # 1 to #n for distributed control, and writes the command received from the monitor device 4 in the memory 8. In order to transmit the status to the write control software 9 for monitoring and the monitor device 4, the read control software 10 for reading the status from the memory 8 is provided.
It is executed by a PU (not shown), and commands and statuses are exchanged with the monitor device 4. Note that commands and statuses are transmitted and received via the interface (I / F) memory 11, and data to be transmitted and received is temporarily stored in the interface memory 11 before actual communication is performed. Controller # 1 to #
The exchange of commands and status with n is directly performed by the CPU link 2.

The monitor device 4 has display control software 51 for displaying the status received from the main controller 3 on the display device 5 and input control software 61 for transmitting a command input by the input device 6 to the main controller 3. And each of these software 51
And 61 are executed by the CPU (not shown) in the monitor device 4, and data such as commands and statuses are temporarily stored in the interface memory 12 and transmitted / received to / from the main controller 3.

The monitoring operation in this conventional system will be described below with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS.

In the operation of inputting a command from the monitor device 4, first, as shown in FIG. 8A, the monitor device 4 is in a command input waiting state (S41), and when a command is input, the command is written. The controller No is set in the output memory of the interface memory 12 (S42) and output to the main controller 3 (S42).
43).

In the main controller 3, as shown in FIG. 8b, the write control software 9 is activated to judge whether or not there is data in the input memory of the interface memory 11 (S51). The controller No. specified in the data is searched (S52), and the command in the data is written to the memory area corresponding to the specified controller No. (S53). By writing this command, the command having the same content is stored in the command memory area of the controller designated by the CPU link 2.

Next, in order to display the status of the controllers # 1 to #n, as shown in FIG. 9c, the read control software 10 in the main controller 3 is activated and each controller # in the main controller 3 is activated. 1 to #n
From the memory area 8 of the status corresponding to, the status is sequentially read for each controller # 1 to #n (S61), the read status is written to the output memory of the interface memory 11 (S62), and output to the memory device 4. (S63).

Then, the memory device 4, which has received the data from the main controller 3, judges whether there is data in the input memory of the interface memory 12 as shown in FIG. 9D (S71). Displays the data on the screen of the display device 5 (S72).

By writing the command and reading the status as described above, each controller # 1
~ Monitor status of #n.

[0014]

In such a conventional system, when displaying the status of each of the controllers # 1 to #n, the contents are sequentially read from the status memory area of each of the controllers # 1 to #n and monitored. Device 4
Therefore, even if you want to see the status of all controllers at once for a certain status of the controller, such as power on / off, in order to call from the status memory area of each controller,
This will be displayed. For this reason, it is not possible to monitor the status of all controllers at one time, although you can view each one in turn. There is also a problem that it takes a long processing time to monitor all of them.

Even when it is desired to see the status of each of the controllers # 1 to #n, the status of the designated controller is read through the processing by the read control software 10 in the main controller 3.
When the response becomes slower and worse, the status is read out, and when the status is displayed on the display device 5,
There is also a problem that the status has already changed in the actual controller and the displayed status does not match the actual state.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring device capable of monitoring all controllers at once for a specific status and having a quick response response.

[0017]

The present invention for achieving the above object is a monitoring device for monitoring the states of a plurality of control devices, wherein each of the plurality of control devices comprises:
A storage unit that stores the state of the control device for each item, and a selection for selecting whether to monitor the state of a specific control device in the plurality of control devices or to monitor a specific item of all control devices Means and the first reading means for reading the contents of all the items of the specific control device from the storage means based on the selection of the selecting device, and the selection of the specific items of all the control devices based on the selection of the selecting device. A second reading means for reading the contents from the storage means, the monitoring device.

Further, according to the present invention, an item indicating the state of the control device stored in the storage unit is given an address for each item, and the second reading unit sets a specific address among the addresses. Is specified to read the contents of the item of the specified address from all the control devices.

Further, the present invention is the monitoring device, wherein the address is an address different from the address for controlling the control device.

[0020]

The operation of the present invention configured as described above will be described for each claim.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the states of the plurality of control devices are stored in the storage means for each item representing the states, and the specific control device is selected according to the selection of the selection means from the storage means. Of all the items in the above item and a case of monitoring all the control devices for a certain specific item, and based on this selection, the first reading means selects all the items of the specific control device. Read from the storage means, and the second read means,
The specific items of all the control devices are read from the storage means.

According to the present invention as set forth in claim 2, by assigning an address to an item stored in the storage means, if it is desired to monitor the state of a specific control device based on this address, the item can be monitored. The contents of all items of the control device can be monitored by sequentially reading the addresses assigned to each control device. On the other hand, if you want to monitor all the control devices for a specific item, you can monitor the contents of the specific device you want to monitor. By designating the address of an item and reading the contents of the item to which the address is assigned from the storage means of all the control devices, all the control devices can be monitored for a specific item.

According to the present invention as set forth in claim 3, an address system for controlling the control device itself and a monitoring system for monitoring are provided by providing addresses assigned to respective items separately and independently from those used by the control device itself. The address system and the address system can be optimized to improve the monitoring efficiency.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a monitoring system to which the present invention is applied. The external configuration and the function as the monitoring device are the same as those shown in FIG. 6, and the main controller 3 includes a plurality of controllers # 1 which are control devices for controlling, for example, robots and machine tools. To #n are connected by the CPU link 2, and the monitor device 4 connected to the main controller 3 monitors the operating statuses of the main controller 3 and a plurality of controllers # 1 to #n, the storage contents thereof, and the like. 4 is a monitoring system for searching and monitoring.

In this system, in the monitor device 4, the display control software 51 for displaying the status received from the main controller 3 on the display device 5 and the command input by the input device 6 are transmitted to the main controller 3. Interface for directly accessing the memory area of each controller # 1 to #n of the main controller 3 when the CPU (not shown) in the main controller 3 executes each of the input control software 61 of FIG. Memory 21
It is stored once in and sent and received.

The internal configuration of the main controller 3 is a memory 22 for storing statuses and commands for each controller by the number of controllers # 1 to #n for distributed control, and a command in this memory 22. And a bidirectional buffer 23 for performing writing and reading, and commands received from the monitor device 4 are directly written into the memory 22 via the buffer 23, and the status of each controller is read out.

Therefore, unlike the conventional main controller 3, no write control software or read control software is required, and the CP in the main controller 3 is not required.
U (not shown) does not need to perform reading and writing processes as in the conventional case.

Each of the controllers # 1 to #n is similar to the conventional one and has a memory 7 for storing a command and a status, and is connected to the main controller 3 by the CPU link 2.

Next, a more specific hardware configuration of this monitoring device will be described.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration for reading the status in the main controller of the monitoring device of this embodiment.

The memory 22 in the main controller corresponds to the status of each controller # 1 to #n.
Has a status storage area for memories M0 to Mn-1,
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the status of the controller is stored in each of the memory areas 0 to n−1 by allocating addresses b0 to b15 for each status. The address for each status can be used exclusively for monitoring by making it an address of a different series from the address relating to the control of the controller itself.

Then, for each of the memories M0 to Mn-1,
Bidirectional buffers B0 to Bn-1, which are first reading means for reading the contents of the status, and all memories M
It has a bidirectional buffer B00 which is a second reading means for accessing only 0-Mn-1 to read out a specific status address, and selects the signal of the CPU address bus 31 and the signals of the channel selectors CS1 and CS0. It acts as a means, and it is selected whether to read the status of each memory or to read a specific status for all the memories at one time, and read each status. The read data is output to the monitor device 4 via the data bus 32.

For example, when it is desired to see the state of the controller # 1, the bidirectional buffer B0 is enabled by setting the attribute bit A = 0 for representing a specific controller on the CPU address bus 32 and asserting CS1. Then
The contents of the addresses b0 to b15 of the memory M0, that is, all the statuses of the controller # 1 are read.

When it is desired to see a certain specific status for all of the controllers # 1 to #n, here, to see the power-on / off status, the CP
Attribute bit A = 0 on U address bus 31 and CS0
By asserting, the bidirectional buffer B00 is enabled, and the contents of the address b0 are read out from all the memories M0 to Mn-1. That is, the statuses of all the power supplies of the controllers # 1 to #n are read. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the status “power supply” is displayed for all the controllers. Similarly, the statuses “operation mode”, “abnormality”, etc. can be displayed at once.

Although the above description is about the reading of the status, the writing of the command can be performed in the same manner. For example, when writing the command to the controller # 1, the signal on the CPU address bus 31 is changed. By setting A = 0 and asserting CS1, the bidirectional buffer B0 is enabled and stored in the command area of the controller # 1.

When writing a specific command for all of the controllers # 1 to #n, here, when writing a power on / off command, the CP
By setting the signal on the U address bus 31 to A = 0 and asserting CS0, the bidirectional buffer B00 is enabled, and the power-on or power-off command is stored in all the controllers.

The operation flow will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. First, it is determined whether the command from the monitor device is for each controller or for all controllers (S1), and if it is for a specific controller, CS1 is asserted (S2), and the corresponding An attribute bit representing the controller is asserted (S3). This enables the bidirectional buffer for the corresponding controller (S
4) Then, the address in the corresponding memory is enabled (S5), and the command is written or the status is read (S6).

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S1 that all the controllers are present, CS0 is asserted (S10), and the attribute bit indicating a specific status or command is asserted (S11), and this specific The bidirectional buffer for reading and writing the status and command at once is enabled (S12), the address in the corresponding memory is enabled (S5), and the command is written or the status is read (S6).

As a result, both of the case of monitoring all the statuses of a specific controller and the case of monitoring all the controllers of a certain specific status at once can be efficiently monitored. Further, by providing an address independently of the control in the main controller, the CPU in the main controller performs address conversion by the control software for reading and writing and data writing and reading when writing or reading. Since a process for operating the is unnecessary, the influence on the process of the main controller itself during monitoring is reduced.

[0040]

According to the present invention described above, the following effects are obtained for each claim.

According to the present invention as set forth in claim 1, the status of each of the plurality of control devices stored in the storage means provided for each control device is monitored or specified for all items of the specific control device. For each item, select whether to monitor all the control units, and according to the selection, the status of each control unit is read out, or a specific item of all control units is read out. It becomes possible to monitor a specific item of the control device, and the response response of the monitor is improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by giving an address to the item stored in the storage means, the item to be monitored can be designated by this address, so that the response response of the monitor is improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the address assigned to each item is provided separately and independently from the address used by the control device itself. The address system and the address system can be optimized, and the conversion work to the address system for monitoring can be omitted as compared with the case of using the address used by the control device itself for monitoring. Therefore, the response response of the monitor is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a drawing showing a hardware configuration of the monitoring device of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a status and an address in the memory of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of statuses displayed in the above embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the monitoring device of the above embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an external configuration of a monitoring device.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a conventional monitoring device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of a conventional monitoring device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of a conventional monitoring device.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 ... Main controller, 4 ... Monitor device, 7, 22 ... Memory, 23 ... Bidirectional buffer.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A monitoring device for monitoring the states of a plurality of control devices, comprising: storage means for storing, for each of the plurality of control devices, each item representing the state of the control device; Selecting means for selecting whether to monitor the state of a specific control device in the device or for monitoring a specific item of all control devices; and, based on the selection of the selecting means, a specific control device A first reading means for reading the contents of all the items; and a second reading means for reading the contents of the specific item of all the control devices from the storage means based on the selection by the selecting means. Monitoring device. 2. The item indicating the state of the control device stored in the storage unit is given an address for each item, and the second reading unit specifies a specific address among the addresses. 2. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the contents of the item of the designated address are read from all the control devices. 3. The monitoring device according to claim 2, wherein the address is an address different from an address related to control of the control device.