JPH09319618A - Device simulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device simulator with which synchronism is established while being reflected with the response of a processor closer to real operating and further, the same operation as real operating is executed on the side of a control computer as well. SOLUTION: This simulator is provided with a server simulator for respectively simulating the plural processors of simulation objects. In this case, on the side of respective control computers, a device processing mode change task is provided for setting whether these processes are to be used as real processors or this simulator is to be used as the simulation object, and a client simulator task T11 is provided for communicating with the server simulator when replacing the device with the simulator. Besides, the server simulator is provided with a reception command queue buffer D21, transmission command queue buffer D24 and reception processing task T13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device simulator for simulating a processing device by a simulator in an FA system or the like in which the processing device is managed by a control computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 shows, for example, JP-A-2-18334.
It is a figure which shows the conventional simulation control system shown by the 7th publication. In the figure, a communication control means Z93 connected to a terminal device Z91 via a communication line Z92.
And a terminal simulator task Z95 for simulating the operation of the terminal device Z91 with prepared pseudo data, and a line identifier required for controlling the pseudo data transfer of the communication line Z92 or the terminal simulator task Z95. A line control table Z97 having a line state flag and a terminal control table Z98 assigned to each terminal device are provided. In this data communication system simulation control method, the line control table Z97 is provided with a simulation state management area including a control terminal device group address storage area in addition to the real line management area, and a line in the online actual operation mode is provided. Simulation line incorporation control means Z99 for incorporating a simulation mode in units of lines
And a simulation terminal incorporation control means Z90 for incorporating a simulation into each terminal.

The operation of the simulation control system having the above configuration will be described. As described in the above configuration, the simulation state management area is provided in the control table and the management is performed based on this area, so that the simulation can be executed in the actual operation mode. That is, in the case of the actual operation mode based on the line control table Z97 assigned to the communication line Z92, the actual terminal device Z91 updates the communication control means Z93 via the communication line Z92. In this case, if the execution of the actual work from the terminal device Z91 is completed and there is no other terminal device Z91 executing the actual work in the communication line Z92 to which the terminal device Z91 belongs, the terminal device Z91 to be simulated is selected. If a command for designating incorporation in the simulation line has been issued from the system console, the terminal simulator task Z95 running as a simulator can be activated to perform a simulation test. In this way, the simulation test can be performed continuously in two states.

Further, in a line connecting a plurality of terminal devices,
If one terminal device Z91 is executing the actual work in the online actual operation mode and the other terminal device group wants to connect in the simulation mode after finishing the actual work, first the simulation line built-in command , The identification name of the one terminal device to which the online actual operation mode is to be connected is designated.
In response to this designation, the simulation terminal built-in control means Z90 uses the designated terminal in the online actual operation mode, and uses the other terminals in the simulation mode. As a result, both modes can be mixed, and the terminal control table Z98 that needs to be controlled in both modes is managed to incorporate the simulation mode not only in the line mode simulation mode but also in the terminal device Z91 unit. In this way, system efficiency can be improved.

[0005]

The conventional simulation control method is configured as described above, and the following problems may occur. Firstly, the simulator is installed in each control machine and is operated as a stand-alone device, so that there is a problem that cooperation and synchronous operation cannot be performed. Therefore, even when a plurality of control machines are installed, the simulator information is not shared for each. For example, using the configuration in the real mode of FIG. 1, in the conventional simulator, after performing the simulation on the control machine A, the simulation is performed on the control machine B to perform the processing that requires the synchronization of the simulator. I couldn't. For this reason, after the simulation on the control machine A is completed, it is necessary to start the simulation on the control machine B by inputting from a terminal such as a system console by human intervention.

Secondly, since the processing application and the simulator perform their respective processings within the same control machine, when the simulators are operated simultaneously, the disk access frequency of the control machine increases and the CPU occupation time of the processing application increases. There was a problem that it decreased and there was a difference from the actual operation. That is, there is a difference in processing time between the operation of the processing application in the real mode and the operation of the processing application in the simulation mode. Therefore, in the simulation mode, it was not possible to measure the actual load of the processing application.

Thirdly, there is a problem that the response time may differ between the processing in the real mode and the processing in the simulation mode because the processing time and the transportation time required for the processing of the actual processing apparatus are not taken into consideration. there were.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, eliminates the range limitation of the processing device managed by the control computer, and simulates each processing in a state close to actual operation so that the processing application The purpose is to obtain a device simulator that can also perform load measurement.

[0009]

An apparatus simulator according to the present invention comprises a server simulator for simulating a plurality of processing apparatuses to be simulated, and whether each processing machine uses an actual processing apparatus for these processing apparatuses. A device processing mode changing task for setting whether to use the device simulator as a simulation target and a client simulator task for communicating with the server simulator when replacing the device with the simulator were provided.

Furthermore, in each control computer, the device processing mode changing task is set for each device as to whether the device processing mode changing task uses an actual processing device or a simulator.

Furthermore, the server simulator includes a receive command queue buffer, a send command queue
It has a buffer and a reception processing task, and when there is a transmission from the client simulator task of each control computer to the reception command queue buffer of the server simulator, the reception processing task simulates the operation of the corresponding device simulator. Then, the response is written in the above transmission command queue buffer.

Furthermore, each control computer has a queue buffer for the device simulator, and when replacing the device with the simulator, the client simulator task should communicate the command in the queue buffer for the device simulator with the server simulator. I chose

Furthermore, the reception processing task of the server simulator monitors the reception command queue buffer at predetermined intervals and writes corresponding transmission command data to the transmission command queue buffer if there is data.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiment 1. In order to efficiently control many processing devices in the FA system, the factory is divided into several areas and a control machine (control computer) is installed in each area.
As shown in the configuration of the real mode in FIG. 1, the control machine manages the control and information of the plurality of processing devices installed in the area in charge. The processing unit informs the control machine of processing inquiries and information such as start and completion reports. Upon receiving this information, the control machine sends a command for the next processing to each processing device. In the present invention, the information from the processing device and the instruction from the control machine are collectively described as a command. The simulation system of the present invention comprises a server simulator that collects and simulates all the simulators of the processing devices that are managed by each control machine, and a client simulator that is on the control machine side and is responsible for transmitting commands to the server simulator. To be done. As shown in the configuration in the simulation mode of FIG. 1, the server simulator performs a simulation of all the devices at once. By centralizing the processing data by this simulator batch simulation, it is possible to simulate physical distribution across areas like an actual factory.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the device simulator in the control machine (control computer) and the server simulator described above. Control machine Z10
In general, there is a processing application task T12 that processes a normal actual processing device, and a device mode table D20 that defines a processing mode for each device. The processing application task T12 is a device mode table D20.
Refer to for processing. Further, the simulator queue D25 for writing a command when the processing device is in the simulation mode, and the server simulator Z for reading a command from the simulator queue D25.
Client simulator T for sending commands to 11
Have 11. Further, a device processing mode changing task T10 for changing the processing mode of each processing device and an actual processing device Z
12 and a reception command queue D26 for writing a response command from the server simulator Z11. Among these, the device processing mode changing task T10 and the client simulator T11 are unique to the device simulator. The processing application task T12 and the client simulator task T11 are tasks that are started when the system is started up, and are resident in the memory. The device processing mode changing task T10 is a task that is activated from a terminal such as a system console at any time.

On the other hand, the server simulator Z11 sends from the command simulator D11 corresponding to the received command, and the received command queue D21 for accumulating the command (hereinafter referred to as the received command) sent from the client simulator T11 in the control machine Z10. Corresponding command table D22 defining the corresponding sending command No. of the command (hereinafter referred to as sending command), sending command table D23 defining the command to be sent by the server simulator Z11, and sending command queue for writing data waiting to be sent Has D24. Further, it has a reception processing task T13 that handles the processing of the reception command, a transmission processing task T15 that handles the processing of the transmission command, and a transmission command creation task T14 that maintains the transmission command definition described in the corresponding command table D22. The reception processing task T13 and the transmission processing task T15 are tasks that are started when the server simulator is activated, and are resident in the memory. The send command creation task T14 is a task that is activated from a terminal such as a system console at any time.

Next, the operation of the device simulator having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 3 shows an outline of the processing flow during the simulation. The operation is performed in the order of the numbers marked with ○. Here, the case of the simulation mode will be described. First, the corresponding device mode TBL D20
It is assumed that the target device uses a simulator and has already been set. From the terminal such as the system console, the processing application task T12 is instructed to start the operation by simulation (). Processing application task T12
Refers to the device mode table D20, and when the corresponding device is in the simulation mode, writes a command in the simulator queue D25 (). The client simulator T11 takes out the data from the simulator queue D25 at a predetermined timing, transfers it to the reception command queue D21 of the acquisition server simulator Z11, and writes it (). Upon confirming that new data has been written to the reception command queue D21, the reception processing task T13 refers to the corresponding command table D22 and the transmission command table D23, creates a transmission command, and writes it to the transmission command queue D24 (). . Transmission processing task T1
5 confirms the data in the transmission command queue D24, and if it detects the transmission waiting data that is the same as or exceeds the current time, it transfers the command to the reception command queue D26 in the control machine Z10 and writes it (). The command written in the reception command queue D26 is processed by the processing application task T12.

FIG. 4 shows the device mode table D20 and the reception command queue D2 in the server simulator Z11.
1 shows defined data structures existing in the corresponding command table D22, the transmission command table D23, and the transmission command queue D24. In the device mode table D20, a device name D201 and a current processing mode D202 defining the current processing mode of the device are set. In the current processing mode D202, 'S'
(Simulation mode) or'R '(Real mode)
Is written. The device mode table D20 is updated using the device mode change task T10. The device mode change task T10 is started from a terminal such as a system console. When the device name and the processing mode are input here, the device mode change task T10 can update the corresponding record in the device mode table D20 even during the simulation. In this way, the simulation mode or the real mode can be designated for each processing device.

A received command D211 and a processing flag D212 are set in the received command queue D21 in the server simulator Z11. The processing flag D212 is
It is set to "0" (representing unprocessed) until the reception processing task T13 writes data to the transmission command queue D24, and is set to "1" (representing processed) after writing. When a command is transmitted in the transmission processing task T15, it is deleted from the reception command queue D21. A reception command type D221, a device name D222, and a transmission command NoD223 are set in the corresponding command table D22. This transmission command NoD223 is used when extracting the corresponding record from the transmission command table D23. In the transmission command table D23, the transmission command NoD2
31, sub number D232, device name D233, transmission command type D234, command message D235, transmission waiting time D2
36 is set. The transmission order in the same transmission command NoD231 is set in the sub-number D232.
In the transmission waiting time D236, the server simulator Z11
Sets the waiting time until the command transmission process is performed after receiving the command. However, when the sub number D232 is “2” or more, it is set as the waiting time from the transmission time of the previous transmission command to the transmission processing.

A transmission time D241, a device name D242, a command type D243, a command message D244 and a next record pointer D245 are set in the transmission command queue D24. However, the next record pointer D245
Is "-1", it means the last record, and "0" means no data. The send command queue D
24 sorts the data in the queue queue in ascending order of the transmission time D241. In this way, the transmission processing task T
It is not necessary to check all the data waiting to be transmitted in the transmission command queue D24, and if the data is data waiting to be transmitted after the current time, the subsequent reading is not performed. After that, only the first record of the transmission command queue D24 is confirmed, and if the data is the same as the current time or the data waiting to be transmitted, the transmission process is restarted. Corresponding control machine Z1
After the transmission processing to the reception command QUE D26 in 0, the data in the transmission command queue D24 is deleted by the transmission processing task T15. The sort processing of the transmission command queue D24 is performed by rewriting the next record pointer D245 performed by the reception processing task T13. As described above, the simulation of the device simulator from the control machine side is executed.

The operation for changing the characteristics and the like of each device to be simulated in the server simulator will be described below. In this case, the send command creation task T14
Updates the corresponding command table and device command table. The send command creation task T14 is started from the system console or the like. If you enter the device name and the command type received by the server simulator Z11,
The transmission command creation task T14 searches the corresponding command table D22 using these as search keys. As a result, the transmission command NoD from the corresponding command table D22
When 223 is obtained, all the corresponding records are extracted from the transmission command table D23 using this transmission command NoD223 as a search key. The extracted record data are displayed in the order of sub number D232. This sub-number D232 indicates the order of record data to be transmitted when a plurality of record data exist for one transmission command NoD231. The record data of the extracted transmission command table D23 is the transmission command NoD23.
Update / add / delete each item other than 1. Since the transmission command NoD231 is linked with the corresponding command table D22, updating is suppressed. When the record data of the transmission command table D23 is deleted, the sub number D23
Redefine 2 to prevent omission of numbers.

By deleting, the record data having the transmission command NoD 231 as a search key is stored in the transmission command table D.
If the number is less than 23, the corresponding command table D22
Delete more relevant records. Other transmission command N
When diverting the record data of oD231, copying is performed. When copied, the record data of the specified transmission command NoD231 is added to the transmission command table D23. In this case, the transmission command NoD231 and the device name D233 are replaced with the current ones, and the sub number D232 is set in order from the number next to the last sub number. In the above description, the format in which the corresponding command TBL D22 and the transmission command TBL D23 are separated has been described, but these are combined to form the device command TBL, and response commands such as processing time and output are written corresponding to the specified device and command. As a table, this table and the request control machine N in the received command
The response may be sent to the send command QUE from o (address).

The operation of the general process will be described below with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. First, on the control machine Z10 side, as shown in FIG. 5, after the processing application task T12 creates a processing command for the processing device (S30), the current processing mode is set to the device mode for the corresponding device that transmits the processing command. Table D
20 (S31). When the acquired processing mode of the corresponding apparatus is the real mode, the processing command is transmitted to the actual processing apparatus (S33). Conversely, if the processing mode is simulation mode, simulator queue D
The processing command is written in 25 (S34).

Client simulator task T11
Confirms whether the processing command is written in the simulator queue D25 as shown in FIG. 6 (S40).
If it has already been written, simulator queue D25
Further, the processing command written by the processing application task T12 is read (S41). The acquired processing command is transmitted to the server simulator Z11 (S4
2). After the transmission processing, the transmitted processing command is deleted from the simulator queue D25 (S43).

The command transmitted from the client simulator task T11 on the control machine side is written in the reception command queue D21 in the server simulator Z11. As shown in FIG. 7, the reception processing task T13 confirms whether a new processing command is written in the reception command queue D21 (S50). If written,
The processing command is read from the reception command queue D21 (S51). The transmission command NoD223 of the corresponding transmission command is acquired from the corresponding command table D22 by using the command type and device name of the acquired processing command as a key (S52). Next, this transmission command NoD223
Is used as a search key to extract the corresponding record from the transmission command table D23 (S53). The transmission time is calculated in the order of sub-number D232 of the extracted record (S55). The transmission time when the sub number D232 is “1” means the transmission waiting time D23 of the transmission command table D23 at the current time.
It is a value obtained by adding 6. When the sub number D232 is '2' or later, the transmission waiting time D236 is added to the transmission time of the immediately preceding sub number.
Is the value obtained by adding. After calculating the transmission time, the data is written in the transmission command queue D24 (S56). Since the file format of the transmission command queue D24 is sorted in ascending order in a chain structure, the chains are reconnected and the processing flag D212 of the reception command queue D21 is updated to "processed" (S57).

The transmission processing task T15 of the server simulator Z11 has the current time acquired from the timer of the OS and the transmission time D241 written in the transmission command queue D24.
Are compared (S61). Since the current time by the OS timer is used to measure the time difference until transmission, it does not necessarily have to match the current time by the OS timer of the control machine. For the data whose transmission time D241 is equal to or past the current time, the transmission command queue D
A command is transmitted to the control machine Z10 that manages the processing device having the device name described in 24 (S62). After the transmission processing, the corresponding data is deleted from the transmission command queue D24. Further, the corresponding data is deleted from the received command queue D21.

Since the construction destination of the server simulator Z11 is not limited to the dedicated machine, it is possible to construct the server simulator Z11 in the control machine Z10. This construction method is effective in a test using the control machine Z10 alone.

The operation in the case of performing continuous simulations between processing devices managed by different control machines will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 9 shows a processing device bb20 under the control of the control machine B which continuously operates based on the processing device aa101 after the response with the processing device aa101 under the control of the control machine A is completed.
It is a figure explaining the example which carries out 1 and responds.

In the case of simulating a response that continuously operates between the processing devices, the transmission command table D2
The data in 3 is realized by a plurality of records having the same transmission command NoD231. First, the system console A of the control machine A sends a processing start request (SE) command to the processing device aa101. The server simulator Z11 which has received this request follows the data of the transmission command table D23 and sends the transmission command table D23.
More relevant records are extracted. Server simulator Z1
1 performs the simulation process of the processing device aa101 in the order of sub number D232. Sub-number 1 processing (ST: processing start report) After transmitting the command, t1 seconds later, sub-number 2 processing (E
D: Report processing completion) command is transmitted. Then t2
After a second, a processing (SQ: processing inquiry) command of the processing device bb201 of sub-number 3 is transmitted. In this way, a processing device different from the processing device to be processed in sub-number 1 at the start time is
It is described from sub number 2 onwards, and it is possible to perform a continuous operation simulation to another processing device.

The load measurement by this device simulator will be described below. According to the configuration of the above device, the control machine side can measure the load of the machine in a state close to actual operation by using a general-purpose utility added to the OS. In the case of the conventional simulator, the reliability of the measurement result is low because the processing time in the actual device is not taken into consideration. However, according to this embodiment, the reliability of the measurement result is high because it is closer to the actual processing time. . From this, it is possible to obtain the same result as when the processing application is tested, as in the case of actual operation.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, a server simulator that is separated from a control computer that manages a plurality of processing devices and individually simulates it, and a control computer is provided with a client simulator. The effect is that continuous processing can be performed in synchronization between the processing devices under machine control.

Since the server simulator intensively simulates the processing device, the load on the control machine for the simulator is reduced, the operation of the processing application task cannot be prevented, and the load can be measured in a state similar to actual operation. is there.

Since the server simulator Z11 can arbitrarily set the timing of sending the send command for each send command, there is an effect that a simulation similar to actual operation can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration in a real mode and a configuration in a simulation mode for explaining a device simulator of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing configurations of a control processing machine side of the device simulator of the present invention and a server simulator.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a processing flow during simulation of the device simulator of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of each table of the device simulator of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing by a processing application task on the control machine side of the device simulator of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the overall processing in the client simulator of the device simulator of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a receiving process in the server simulator of the device simulator of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a transmission process in the server simulator of the device simulator of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of setting a transmission command table when performing processing across a plurality of processing devices of the device simulator of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system having a conventional simulator.

[Explanation of symbols]

D20 device mode table, D21 receive command queue buffer, D22 compatible command table, D2
3 send command table, D24 send command queue buffer, D25 simulator queue buffer, D26 receive command queue buffer, T11
Client simulator task, T12 processing application task, T13 receiving processing task, T14
Send command creation task, T15 send processing task, Z
10 Control machine (computer), Z11 server simulator.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A device comprising a server simulator simulating a plurality of processing devices to be simulated, and each control computer setting whether the processing device is an actual processing device or a device simulator to be simulated. A device simulator having a processing mode changing task and a client simulator task that communicates with the server simulator when replacing the device with a simulator. 2. In each control computer, the device processing mode changing task is set for each device as to whether the device processing mode changing task uses an actual processing device or a simulator. 1. The device simulator according to 1. 3. The server simulator is configured to receive a command,
It has a queue buffer, a send command queue buffer, and a reception processing task. When there is a transmission from the client simulator task of each control computer to the reception command queue buffer of the server simulator, the reception processing task Simulates the operation of the corresponding device simulator.
2. The device simulator according to claim 1, wherein the response is written in a queue buffer. 4. Each control computer has a device simulator queue buffer, and when replacing the device with a simulator, the client simulator task communicates the command in the device simulator queue buffer with the server simulator. The device simulator according to claim 3, wherein 5. The reception processing task of the server simulator is characterized in that the reception command queue buffer is monitored at a predetermined cycle and if there is data, the corresponding transmission command data is written in the transmission command queue buffer. The device simulator according to claim 3.