JPH11282727A - System and method for monitoring - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitoring system and a monitoring method which has it recognized at a glance that a PC is executing processing within a certain range. SOLUTION: A PC 20 has a table storage part 21, a flag switching processing part 22 and a flag storage part 23. The table storage part 21 stores information for indicating start/completion of each range in a format of table on the basis of information of range specification included in a flow chart display expression program prepared by a support tool 10. The flag storage part 23 stores a flag for indicating by the range whether or not processing within the range concerned is being executed. The flag switching processing part 22 switches a flag corresponding to a range when it is in the range where there is a processing being executed. The support tool 10 detects switching of the flag and displays the corresponding state, for example, by painting inside of the range over in red so that it becomes obvious.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a support tool for supporting a controller (hereinafter, referred to as a PC), and more particularly to a monitor system and a monitor method for monitoring an operation state of a PC.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a programmable controller (hereinafter, referred to as a PC), support for creating a target sequence control program has been provided.
Tools (programming devices) exist. Such a programming device has, for example, a CRT, a CPU, a memory, an input unit (keyboard, touch pen, etc.) and the like, and uses, for example, a ladder diagram or an FB (function block) diagram in an illustrated expression, or uses a command word. Then, a program is created. Such a support tool usually has not only a program creation support function but also a monitor function for monitoring / displaying the operation status of a PC executing the created program.

[0003] The inventor of the present invention has proposed a support tool that can create a program by using a flow chart illustration so that the program can be created more visually / intuitively (Japanese Patent Application No. 9-1990). 201114
issue). This support tool can also have a monitor function for monitoring / displaying the operating status of the PC, similarly to the other support tools described above.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a monitoring method in the support tool. FIG. 5 shows an example of display on a support tool that is monitoring the operation status of the PC.

[0005] As shown in the figure, a flowchart drawing expression program created by the program creation function of the support tool is displayed on the display of the support tool monitoring the program execution operation of the PC. In the drawing, for example, a flowchart including five elements A to E is displayed. Further, the execution position on the flowchart of the process being executed by the PC is also displayed. That is, in the above support tool, the element number of the process (element) that is currently being executed on the PC side can be known, and the process (element) that is currently being executed can be displayed so that the user can recognize it from this. it can. For example, in the example shown in the figure, the processing of the element B is currently being executed on the PC side, and the display state of the graphical representation (circle in the figure) showing the element B on the flowchart is changed accordingly. . For example,
The inside of the circle indicating the element B is displayed by being filled with a color change or the like. This indicates that the user or the like is currently executing the processing of the element B on the PC.

[0006]

As described above, in a support tool using a flowchart diagram expression program, it is not possible to display which position (element) in the flowchart is a process being executed by the PC. it can.

However, when a user or the like wants to know that the PC is currently executing a process in a specific range (a range including a plurality of processes (elements)), a flowchart displayed on the screen By visually recognizing which position of the above process is being executed, it is necessary to judge whether this process is included in the above specific range, and the PC currently executes the process in the above specific range. I could not tell at a glance if it was inside.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a monitor system and a monitor which can be used to determine at a glance that a PC is executing a process in a specific range in a support tool for a PC, particularly in a support tool for creating a program by flowchart illustration. Is to provide a way.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a monitor system comprising: a range designating means for designating an arbitrary range on a flowchart diagram expression program; and a monitor designation device which executes the diagram expression program during execution of the diagram expression program. Display means for displaying an arbitrary range, and display of the range by the display means in a specific display state while the execution position of the process being executed on the monitored device is within the range specified by the range specifying means. Display control means.

According to the monitor system, when a user or the like designates an arbitrary range on the program in advance while creating the program in the flow chart representation, the device to be monitored such as a PC operates under the condition of executing the program. When monitoring is performed, the display indicating the range is set to a specific display state while the processing in the range is being executed (for example, the range is displayed in red). With this, the user etc.
It can be seen at a glance that the monitoring target device such as is currently executing a specific range of processing.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the monitor system according to the present embodiment.

In FIG. 1, support tools 10 and P
The C20 is connected by a communication line 30 (for example, RS-232C), and downloads a program created on the support tool 10 side to the PC 20 side or refers to a flag state described later via the communication line 30. Etc. are performed.

In FIG. 1, a support tool 10 comprises:
CPU 11, input device 12, RAM 13, display device 1
4 and a storage device 15. The CPU 11 is a central processing unit that controls the entire support tool 10.

The input device 12 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse or a touch panel. The RAM 13 is a memory that temporarily stores various data, programs, and the like. The display device 14 is provided with a GUI (graphical display) described later.
User interface) A display that displays a screen.

The storage device 15 is, for example, an HDD (hard disk device) that stores at least an application program for monitoring according to the present embodiment.
Alternatively, it is a storage medium drive such as a floppy disk drive (FDD) or a CD-ROM drive, and reads or writes a program or data stored in the storage medium 15a under the control of the CPU 11. Things. In the storage medium 15a,
At least an application program for monitoring according to the present embodiment is stored in a format that is readable by the storage device 15 and executable by the CPU 11. The storage medium 15a is a portable storage medium that is independent of the apparatus main body and is portable. Storage medium 15
a is, for example, an FD (floppy disk). Alternatively, it may be an MO (magneto-optical disk), a CD-ROM, a memory card, or the like. The program code of the application program is magnetically, magneto-optically, or electrically stored in these storage media.

The support tool 10 also has a configuration such as a communication interface (not shown) so that data can be transmitted / received to / from the PC 20 via the communication line 30.

The PC 20 has at least the table storage unit 2
1, a flag switching processing unit 22, a flag storage unit 23, and the like. Although FIG. 1 is shown in the form of a block diagram showing the functions, the actual device configuration includes a CPU, a memory, a communication interface, and the like. The flag switching processing unit 22 is realized by the CPU executing a program or the like for executing the processing.

The storage contents of the table storage unit 21, the flag storage unit 23, and the processing contents of the flag switching processing unit 22 will be described later with reference to FIG. The method is described schematically below.

First, when a user or the like creates a program,
An operation of designating a desired range on the flowchart displayed on the display device 14 is performed from the input device 12. After the program is created, the created program (and information in the above range)
Is downloaded to the PC 20 side. At this time, PC
On the side of 20, based on the downloaded information, at least information indicating the start and end of each of the above ranges (for example, element numbers of elements immediately after the start and end of the range) are stored in the table storage unit 21 in a table format. Store.

While the program is being executed on the PC side,
Since the element number of the process currently being executed can be known using the step information described later, the table storage unit 21 is searched from this element number to determine whether there is a matching element number. Then, for example, when it matches the element number indicating the start position of a certain range, the flag storage unit 2
The flag corresponding to the range stored in 3 is set to “1”.
Switch to. Thereafter, the process proceeds, and when the element number of the process currently being executed matches the element number indicating the end position of the above range, the flag is returned to “0”.

When the support tool 10 detects that the flag corresponding to a certain range has been switched to "1", the display of this range is switched to a predetermined specific display state. For example, what is displayed in blue in the above range is switched to red and displayed. When the processing proceeds on the PC 20 side and the currently executing element goes out of the range and the flag is returned to “0”, the support tool 10 side changes the display state in the range to blue in response to this. return.

As described above, according to the PC monitor system of the present embodiment, when monitoring the operation status of the PC,
For example, it is possible to recognize at a glance that the user is executing a process within a certain range to be noted.

The "range" may be of various types, but here, as an example, the above-mentioned prior application (Japanese Patent Application No. Hei.
No. 201114), the following description will be made using the “interrupt range” as an example.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of interrupt information embedded in a program according to the specification of an interrupt range. The interrupt information table 40 shown in FIG. 3 has been described in the above-mentioned prior application and will not be described in detail here. However, the interrupt information table 40 stores interrupt information for each element. . The interrupt information includes the number of monitoring 41, the interrupt range 4
It has information such as 2.

The interrupt range 42 stores information indicating the start / end position of the interrupt range specified by the user. For example, when an interrupt range including the element numbers 3 to 5 is specified as shown in FIG. 3A at the time of creating a program, the interrupt range 42 in the interrupt information table 40 is shown in FIG. As described above, the element number 3 is stored as the start position, and the element number 5 (the end position may be the element number 6 immediately after being out of the range) is stored as the end position.

On the other hand, the PC 20 has step information 50 shown in FIG. 3C as a storage area in which the element number of the process currently being executed during execution of the program is stored / updated. The flag switching processing unit 22 determines the step information 5
With reference to 0, the element number of the process currently being executed is known, and based on this, the interrupt information table stored in the table storage unit 21 is searched to obtain the interrupt information of the element of this element number. . Then, the interrupt range 42 in the interrupt information
It is determined whether or not the element number of “start” or “end” stored in the element matches the element number of the element currently being executed.

The flag switching processing unit 22 sets the flag stored in the flag storage unit 23 to “1” or “0” when the element number matches one of “start” and “end”. Switch to. However, this is the process in the case where the element number 6 is stored as the end position in the above example, and in the case where the element number 5 is stored, the process waits until the process of the element number 5 ends. After that, the flag is switched to '0'.

When a plurality of ranges are designated, the flag storage unit 23 is provided with a flag storage area corresponding to each range, for example, as in a flag storage table 60 shown in FIG. . The storage area of each flag is linked to the corresponding interrupt range, so that the flag switching processing unit 22 stores the flag corresponding to the interrupt range corresponding to one of the element numbers of “start” and “end”. The storage area is determined, and the “0/1” switching process of the flag of the storage area is performed.

In the above description, the flag is set to "1" at the time of "start", and the flag is reset to "0" at the time of "end". The method for indicating whether or not the currently executed process is within a certain range is not limited to the flag.

In the above description, the interrupt range has been described as an example of the specific range. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the user may simply specify a range that he or she wants to pay attention to. In this case, the table storage unit 21 simply stores information indicating the start / end of each range.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a monitor screen according to the present embodiment. In the example shown in the figure, the support tool 10 uses the step information 50 to fill in the figure (circle) indicating the element on the flowchart so that the currently executing element can be identified, as in the related art. Is also displayed. In the example shown in the drawing, the display is performed so that it can be understood that the processing of the element 3 is being executed. Further, an element number of each element is displayed, and a frame line (range designation graphic) indicating a designated range is displayed.

When the processing on the PC side shifts to the processing of the element 3 located at the "start" position of the range as shown in the figure, the display of the range designation graphic is executing the processing within the range. It can be switched to any particular display state that allows the user to see at a glance. For example, the range (within the frame) is normally displayed in blue (or only the frame is displayed) in normal time, but is switched to red when the processing of the element 3 is started. It should be noted that the type of color may be any type, and is not limited to switching the type of color.
For example, the display form may be changed without changing the color (such as blinking display). Alternatively, a specific display area corresponding to the frame is provided at a predetermined position outside the frame, not limited to changing the display state within the frame (within the specified range),
The display mode of this specific display area may be changed. The point is that the user only needs to switch to a specific display state that allows the user to see at a glance that the processing within the specified range is being executed.

[0033]

As described above in detail, according to the PC monitor system and the monitor method of the present invention, processing within a range arbitrarily designated by the user and a range including a particularly noticeable process is executed. You can tell at a glance that you are inside.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a PC operation monitoring system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of interrupt information embedded in a program according to designation of an interrupt range.

FIG. 3A is an example of a range specification at the time of creating a program;
(B) is a table storage unit, (c) is step information,
(D) is an example of the contents stored in the flag storage unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a monitor screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a monitoring method in a conventional support tool.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Support tool 11 CPU 12 Input device 13 RAM 14 Display device 15 Storage device 15b Storage medium 20 PC 21 Table storage unit 22 Flag switching processing unit 23 Flag storage unit 30 Communication line 40 Interruption information table 41 Monitoring number 42 Interruption range 50 Step information 60 Flag storage table

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A range designating means for designating an arbitrary range on a flowchart graphic expression program, a display means for displaying the graphic expression program and an arbitrary range when a monitored device executes the graphic expression program, and a monitor. Display control means for setting the display of the range by the display means to a specific display state while the execution position of the process being executed in the target device is within the range specified by the range specifying means. Monitor system. 2. The monitoring target device according to claim 2, wherein the storage unit stores information indicating a start and an end of each range, and a position of a process being executed is determined based on the information stored in the storage unit. Determining means for determining whether or not the position is at a start or end position; flag storing means for storing a flag indicating whether or not the position of the process being executed is within the range for each of the ranges; Flag switching means for switching a flag of the flag storage means according to a determination result of the determination means, wherein the display control means corresponds to the flag when the flag of the flag storage means of the monitored device is switched. 2. The monitor system according to claim 1, wherein a display state of the range is switched. 3. The monitor system according to claim 2, wherein when the flag is switched, the display control means switches a display color in a range corresponding to the flag. 4. It is determined whether or not there is an execution position of the processing of the program within each range specified on the flowchart diagram expression program, and the execution position of the processing of the program is determined to be within the range according to the determination result. A display method for switching the display of the range to a specific display state while the range is within the range.