JPS644211B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an online debugging method for debugging a newly added test program while executing process control in real time in an online real-time process control apparatus.

In recent years, in the field of computer control technology, system configurations in which a data way system is the core of information transmission have generally been adopted in various plants. Figure 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of such a data way system. It is. In the figure, a plurality of dataway stations 4, 5, and 6 are connected in a loop by a transmission line 9. Station 4 is connected to a central processing unit (CPU) 1, and stations 5 and 6 are connected to each other in a loop. are process input/output devices (pio) 51 and 61 and input/output device (I/O) 5, respectively.
2,62 are combined.

The central processing unit 1 takes in, for example, data necessary for controlling the industrial process connected via the process input/output device 51 as input data via the PIO 51, the station 5, the transmission path 9, and the station 4. After performing predetermined arithmetic processing on the data, the processing results are outputted as output data to the process via a similar route, and the process is controlled online in real time.

Now, in such an online real-time control device, due to plant expansion or other reasons, the control program stored in the electronic computer as CPU 1 is changed from the previous control program (meaning that it has already been sufficiently debugged and put into practical use). Therefore, it may be necessary to replace the completed program with a new control program obtained by adding a program with another new function to the completed program. Since this additional program is newly created and has not been debugged yet, it will be referred to as the program under test. In order to put this program under test into practical use, we must run the computer using the program under test itself, debug it, and then run the computer using a new control program that combines the completed program and the program under test. You will need to take a look and debug again.

Traditionally, online debugging has been performed as a background job for the control device (electronic computer) that controls the process online, but debugging using online real-time signals is technically difficult. It was hot. Furthermore, debugging the control system in accordance with the movement of the actual process cannot be done using a background job. Furthermore, conventional debugging methods have a high possibility of causing trouble to the control system (computer program, data file, and input/output device) that controls the process in online real time. Therefore, in order to obtain a control system that can perform sufficient online debugging, it is necessary to duplicate all computers and input/output devices.
This would increase the cost of producing the hardware too much. In the past, it was impossible to use the same method to debug newly required additional programs (programs under test) for each plant (process) that was being expanded one after another. In reality, we were forced to use programs that had been insufficiently debugged.

This invention was made in view of the conventional technical circumstances as described above, and therefore, the purpose of this invention is to actually control the process to be controlled online and in real time, while adding new An object of the present invention is to provide an online debugging method capable of fully debugging a program under test online and by relatively inexpensive means.

The key point of this invention is that in addition to a data processing device (first data processing device) such as an electronic computer or a sequence controller, there is also an online debugging data processing device (second data processing device) that shares a process input/output control device. In addition to providing a common memory for both data processing devices, first
On-line debugging of the program under test is performed by storing the completed program in the first data processing device and the program under test in the second data processing device and running the program. Completed program, second
By storing both the completed and tested programs in the data processing device and running them, bugs that occur when the two programs are used in combination can be removed online.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, parts equivalent to those in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. 1 is computer A,
2 is a computer B, 3 is a common memory, 4 to 8 are respective dataway stations, 9 is a dataway transmission path, 10 is a display with a keyboard, 1
1 represents a process input signal, 12 represents a process output signal, and 13 represents an interrupt contact.

Computer A1 corresponds to CPU1 in FIG. 1, and is therefore an online real-time control system computer for process control, in which completed programs are stored. Computer B2 is a computer provided according to the present invention, is an online real-time debugging computer, and stores the program under test. The memory 3 is a common memory that can be read from and written to by both computers A and B. Data way station 4 is computer A
1, and station 5 is also connected to computer B.
Connected to 2. On the process (not shown) side there are data way stations 6-8 containing input/output control equipment. As a typical example, a display 10 with a keyboard is connected to the station 7 as an input/output device, and an interrupt contact 13 and a process input signal 11 are inputted thereto. Note that 12 is a process output signal.

The interrupt signal 13 can specify a transmission destination for each bit, and can specify a plurality of transmission destinations. Therefore, digital input signals and analog input signals are transmitted to multiple computers (in this case, computer A 1
and B calculator 2).
If the digital output signals and analog output signals from the computer that are output during the debug mode (described later) of the program under test stored in the computer (B) 2 are output as they are to the process side and used for control, If there is a bug in the process, it may cause malfunction, so it should be locked and not output to the process. The keyboard-equipped display 10 and the like can be used by both computer A 1 and computer B 2 by a shared management device (not shown). By using the above functions, you can efficiently perform online debugging of the program under test by following the following three steps.

<First step> A completed program for online real-time control of the process is stored in computer (A) 1.
A test program that is to be used in addition to the completed program but has not yet been debugged is stored in the computer (B) 2 for online debugging.

The common memory 3 is used as follows. Computer (A) 1 reads and writes data files in memory 3 online in real time. Computer (B) 2 uses the same memory for reading in memory 3 as for computer (A) 1, and prepares a separate file for writing memory to prevent destruction of online real-time control memory. prevent.

Interrupt signals from processes are transmitted to computer (A) 1 or computer (B) 2 for each designated signal (if necessary, they can be transmitted to both at the same time). The computer (B) 2 reads process input signals in real time, and the processing results are written into the common memory 3 or output as digital or analog outputs to the process side. At this time, if you use the output device in debug mode, you can lock it so that no actual output is output to the outside (process).

As described above, by operating computer (A) 1 and computer (B) 2 and examining their operating status, the computer
(B) The program under test stored in 2 can be debugged. However, since the program under test is originally a program that you want to use by adding it to a completed program, even if you debug it alone, it does not necessarily mean that there will be no bugs when you add it to the completed program and use it. In the future, it will be necessary to debug programs that are created by adding a program under test to a completed program. This is the <second step> described next.

<Second Step> Computer (A) 1 stores a completed program for online real-time control of the process. Computer (B) 2 stores both a completed program for online real-time control and a program under test that requires online debugging.

The common memory 3 is used as follows. In the common memory 3, a data file having exactly the same format as the data file for the computer (A) 1 is separately provided for the computer (B) 2. Therefore, each computer reads and writes its own data file. All interrupt signals from the process are transmitted to both computers to perform the same processing. The output from computer (B) 2 to the process is used in debug mode to prevent the actual output from going out to the outside (process). In order to compare the correspondence between the file data thus created, the files are compared at the designated process timing and the results are determined.

In this way, a new program obtained by adding the program under test to the completed program can be debugged. Now that the new program has been debugged, the computer in which the new program was stored
(B) 2 will actually perform online real-time control of the process. However, if actual operation begins in this way, an unexpected failure may occur, so please be careful so that the control can be switched back to the original computer (A) 1 at any time. This is the <third step> described next.

<Third Step> When it is determined that online debugging of computer (B) 2 is completed, computer (B) 2 is used as an online real-time control system, and computer (A) 1 is used offline. If online real-time control by computer (B) 2 is complete, this will be used as an online real-time control system from now on. If it is incomplete, the online real-time control system is returned to computer (A) 1 and debugging is performed again from step 1 or step 2 on computer (B) 2.

In this way, sufficient online debugging can be performed in real time on the program under test that is desired to be added to the completed program.

According to this invention, one online debugging computer is installed for multiple control computers, and the process input/output control device is configured to be read/write accessible from multiple computers. The bug calculator can be easily debugged using online real-time process signals.

Furthermore, since the process output control device is configured to be able to issue interrupts to multiple computers, it has become possible to debug software that follows the movement of the actual process. Therefore, when processes are expanded or modified, additional programs necessary for the process can be easily debugged online, and after debugging is completed, migration to a new system can be easily performed.

The present invention can be applied not only to the process control computer system described above but also to a sequence control device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a general data way system, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. Explanation of symbols 1, 2...Computer, 3...Common memory, 4-8...Data way station, 9...
...Transmission line, 10...Display, 11...Process input signal, 12...Process output signal, 13
...Interrupt contact.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A third program is created by adding a second program that may contain a bug to a first program that does not contain a bug, and the first program is stored and the process is continued online until then. An online database for removing bugs from the third program when storing a third program in place of the first program and controlling the same process in the first data processing device that was being controlled in real time. In the bug method, a second data processing device is provided that shares a controlled process and a process input/output device with the first data processing device, and a link between the first data processing device and the second data processing device is provided. A common memory shared by the devices is provided, and as a first step, the first program is stored in the first data processing device, and the second program is stored in the second data processing device. When the first data processing apparatus performs online real-time process control, the second data processing apparatus is operated while referring to the data written in the common memory as a processing result as necessary. Online debugging of the second program is performed, and as a second step, the first program is stored in the first data processing device, and the third program is stored in the second data processing device. The common memory has a first area for the first data processing device and a second area for the second data processing device.
In the third program, by preparing separate areas and comparing the data written as processing results in the respective areas when both data processing apparatuses execute their respective control operations,
1. An online debugging method characterized by performing online debugging of bugs that occur due to interaction between a second program and a second program.