JPWO2019239604A1 - Control device and signal control method - Google Patents

Abstract

The control device according to the present invention is pre-assigned to the input unit based on a signal relating to the terminal connection unit that is communicatively connectable to the electronic terminal and the input unit that is operated by the electronic terminal and that is received from the electronic terminal. The operation signal control unit includes an operation signal control unit that controls the state of the internal signal to be the ON state or the OFF state, and a communication state determination unit that determines the state of communication with the electronic terminal. When the communication status determination unit determines that the communication failure occurs in the ON state and with the electronic terminal, the state of the internal signal remains in the ON state according to the content of the communication failure. The feature is that the effective duration to be continued is changed.

Description

The present application relates to a control device and a signal control method.

Conventionally, programmable displays used in the field of factory automation to automate the production process of factories are used as control devices such as PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) that controls each device equipped in the production equipment responsible for the production process of factories. By being connected, the status of each device of the production facility can be displayed. The programmable display can display the state of each device of the production facility in a user-recognizable state by referring to the value recorded in a predetermined area in the internal memory mounted on the control device. In addition, there is a technique of remotely controlling each device installed in a production facility using an electronic terminal that can communicate with a programmable display.

In the following Patent Document 1, in a method of operating a plant device by turning on a plant device operation command region of a sequencer when an inching operation is performed on a handy terminal, the plant device operation command region is turned off at every constant scan of the sequencer, or If the plant equipment operation command area is ON for a predetermined time or longer, the plant equipment operation command area is forcibly turned OFF, so that the plant equipment is operated even if a communication failure occurs between the handy terminal and the plant equipment. A method that can stop is proposed.

JP, 2005-182257, A

Considering the case where the patent document 1 is applied to a programmable display as a control device, when a user of the electronic terminal operates a button on the electronic terminal, a signal corresponding to the operation content is transmitted to the programmable display. When the signal received from the electronic terminal is a signal requesting that the button be pressed, the programmable display presses the internal signal of the programmable display that is pre-assigned to the button operated on the electronic terminal. Control to the value corresponding to the state. On the other hand, when the signal received from the electronic terminal is a signal requesting to release the button, the programmable display displays the internal signal of the programmable display pre-assigned to the button operated on the electronic terminal. , Control to a value corresponding to the released state.

By the way, a communication failure may occur between the programmable display and the electronic terminal. When a communication failure occurs between the programmable display and the electronic terminal after controlling the internal signal to a value corresponding to the pressed state, a signal requesting that the button be released is transmitted from the electronic terminal. Even if it is not possible to receive it, it is assumed. For example, the operation performed by the user on the electronic terminal to press the button means the operation of the equipment of the production facility, and the operation performed on the electronic terminal by the user to release the button is the equipment of the production equipment. In the case of the stop of the production equipment, the equipment of the production equipment cannot be stopped even if the user operates the button on the electronic terminal to release the button after the equipment of the production equipment is operated. It will remain operational. Therefore, if the disclosure of Patent Document 1 is applied to a programmable display device, it is possible that the internal signal of the programmable display device is released from a value corresponding to the pressed state after a predetermined time has elapsed. It will be forced to change to the value shown. As a result, it is possible to prevent each device of the production facility from being left running despite the user's intention.

However, when a communication failure occurs between the programmable display and the electronic terminal, it takes time to change the internal signal of the programmable display from the value corresponding to the pressed state to the value indicating the released state. It is a fixed time, and it is not possible to respond flexibly according to the state of communication failure.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control device and a signal control method capable of flexibly responding to a communication failure state.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and to achieve the object, a control device according to the present invention provides a signal relating to a terminal connection section that is communicatively connectable to an electronic terminal and an input section that is received from the electronic terminal and that is operated by the electronic terminal. An operation signal control unit that controls the state of an internal signal that is pre-assigned to the input unit to an ON state or an OFF state, and a communication state determination unit that determines the state of communication with the electronic terminal. The operation signal control unit, when the state of the internal signal is in the ON state and the communication state determination unit determines that a communication failure has occurred with the electronic terminal, the content of the communication failure According to the above, the effective duration time for continuing the state of the internal signal in the ON state is changed.

According to the present invention, it is possible to change the effective duration time during which the internal signal of the control device is kept in the effective state according to the content of the communication failure.

A schematic diagram showing an example of functional composition of a programmable indicator concerning Embodiment 1 The schematic diagram which shows an example of the information exchanged between the programmable display and electronic terminal which concern on Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the structural example of the data for operation signal control which concerns on Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the structural example of the communication state data which concerns on Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the example 1 of control of the operation signal which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a second control example of the operation signal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a control example 3 of operation signals according to the first embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the determination method of the communication state which concerns on Embodiment 1. Flowchart showing the flow of signal control processing according to the first embodiment Flowchart showing the flow of communication state determination processing according to the first embodiment The figure which shows the control example of the internal signal in the programmable display which concerns on a comparative example. The schematic diagram which shows an example of a functional structure of the programmable display which concerns on Embodiment 2. The figure which shows the structural example of the signal discrimination table which concerns on Embodiment 2. The figure which shows the structural example of the data for operation signal control which concerns on Embodiment 2. Flowchart showing the flow of signal control processing according to the second embodiment The figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of the programmable display which concerns on each embodiment.

Hereinafter, a plurality of embodiments of a control device and a signal control method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, as a plurality of embodiments of the control device according to the present invention, an embodiment of a programmable display as the control device according to the present invention will be described. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below.

Embodiment 1.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the programmable display device 10 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the programmable display 10 according to the first embodiment is communicably connected to the electronic terminal 20 and the PLC 30 via the communication network 1. The communication network 1 may include the Internet and a LAN (Local Area Network).

The programmable display 10 includes a display unit 110, an input unit 120, a communication control unit 130, a storage unit 140, and a control unit 150. The programmable display 10 is exemplified as one of the control devices according to the present invention.

The display unit 110 can display a plurality of screens for displaying information regarding the production facility 40 and for inputting operations regarding operation control of the production facility 40. The display unit 110 can include a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD: Liquid Crystal Display), an organic EL display (OELD: Organic Electro-Luminescence Display), or an inorganic EL display (IELD: Inorganic Electro-Luminescence Display). ..

The input unit 120 is an input interface that receives an operation by an operator. The input unit 120 may include buttons and a keyboard.

The display unit 110 and the input unit 120 may be implemented in the programmable display 10 by a touch screen display that functionally and physically integrates the display function of the display unit 110 and the input function of the input unit 120. When the touch screen display is mounted on the programmable display 10, the input unit 120 that constitutes the touch screen display includes a touch panel that detects contact or proximity of a display device included in the display unit 110 such as a finger, a pen, or a stylus pen. be able to. As the touch panel, a device that detects contact or proximity by any method such as a capacitance method, a resistance film method, a surface acoustic wave method, an infrared method, and a load detection method can be used.

The communication control unit 130 can control communication between the electronic terminal 20 and the PLC 30 via the communication network 1. The communication control unit 130 can support a short-range wireless communication standard for communicating with the electronic terminal 20 via the communication network 1. Examples of the electronic terminal 20 include a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a personal computer, and the like. The short-range wireless communication standard supported by the communication control unit 130 may include WiMAX (registered trademark) (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access), IEEE 802.11, and Bluetooth (registered trademark). The communication control unit 130 can support a LAN standard for communicating with the PLC 30 via the communication network 1. Ethernet (registered trademark) may be included as a LAN standard supported by the communication control unit 130. The communication control unit 130 may be functionally and physically distributed in a unit that controls communication with the electronic terminal 20 and a unit that controls communication with the PLC 30 and be mounted on the programmable display 10.

The storage unit 140 stores programs and data. The storage unit 140 may be used as a work area for temporarily storing the processing result of the control unit 150. The storage unit 140 may include a semiconductor storage medium, an arbitrary non-transitory storage medium such as a magnetic storage medium. The storage unit 140 may include a plurality of types of storage media. The storage unit 140 may include a combination of a storage medium such as a memory card, an optical disc, or a magneto-optical disc, and a reading device for the storage medium. The storage unit 140 may include a storage device used as a temporary storage area such as a RAM (Random Access Memory). The programs stored in the storage unit 140 may include a basic program such as an OS (Operating System) and application programs.

The storage unit 140, which is closely related to the first embodiment, can store the control program 141, the setting tool 142, the operation signal data 143, the operation signal control data 144, and the communication state data 145.

The control program 141 can provide a function for implementing processing relating to various operations of the programmable display 10. The function provided by the control program 141 may include the function of the programmable display 10 displaying the status of each device of the production facility 40 on the display unit 110. The function provided by the control program 141 may include a function of changing the operation of the programmable display 10 according to the input from the input unit 120. The function provided by the control program 141 may include a function of controlling communication between the electronic terminal 20 and the PLC 30 executed via the communication control unit 130. The functions provided by the control program 141 include the functions for realizing the processing of each functional unit of the control unit 150 described later.

The setting tool 142 is used in the processing executed by the setting processing unit 154 of the control unit 150 described later.

The operation signal data 143 is the value of the internal signal of the programmable display 10 that is pre-assigned to the button operated on the user interface of the electronic terminal 20. The operation signal data 143 is recorded each time a signal requesting a change in the state of the internal signal of the programmable display 10 is received from the electronic terminal 20, and is managed in the latest state. Among the signals received from the electronic terminal 20, at least a signal requesting to change the state of the internal signal of the programmable display 10 to the pressed state (hereinafter, referred to as “press request signal”), and the electronic terminal 20. A signal indicating that the user of the electronic terminal 20 has operated to release the button (hereinafter, referred to as “release request signal”) is included on the user interface displayed in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of information exchanged between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 according to the first embodiment. For convenience of explanation, reference numerals are respectively attached to the user interface shown in FIG. 2, the button displayed on the user interface shown in FIG. 2, the light emitting unit displayed on the user interface shown in FIG. 2, and the internal signal shown in FIG. ..

When the button OB1 on the user interface 50 is operated, the electronic terminal 20 determines the operation content of the button OB1, and a signal corresponding to the determined operation content is transmitted to the programmable display 10. When the electronic terminal 20 determines that the operation content on the button OB1 is a pressing operation, it transmits a depression request signal to the programmable display device 10. When determining the operation content on the button OB1 is a release operation, the electronic terminal 20 transmits a release request signal to the programmable display device 10. Send. The button OB1 is exemplified as one of the input units. The input unit may be configured as a software key, a physical key, a switch, or the like as long as it can send a signal to the programmable display 10.

When the programmable display device 10 receives a signal from the electronic terminal 20, the programmable display device 10 is internally assigned in advance to the button OB1 operated by the electronic terminal 20 in accordance with the content of the signal (press request signal or release request signal). The value of the signal SG1 is controlled and the controlled value is recorded. When the signal received from the electronic terminal 20 is the press request signal, the programmable display 10 records a value indicating the press state as the state of the internal signal SG1, and when the signal received from the electronic terminal 20 is the release request signal. , A value indicating the released state is recorded as the state of the internal signal SG1. The programmable display 10 can send information indicating the state of the signal to the electronic terminal 20.

When the electronic terminal 20 receives the information indicating the state of the signal from the programmable display 10, the electronic terminal 20 emits light in accordance with the received information, for example, by lighting, blinking, or extinguishing the light in association with the operation on the button OB1. The light emission state of the part L1 can be changed.

The operation signal control data 144 is used in a process executed by the operation signal control unit 152 of the control unit 150, which will be described later. In the following description, the time during which the internal signal corresponding to the press request signal received from the electronic terminal 20 is kept in the ON state, that is, the time during which the value of the internal signal is kept “ON” is the “effective duration time”. May be described as.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the operation signal control data 144 according to the first embodiment. The operation signal control data 144 is configured by associating the valid duration of the internal signal with each content of the communication failure. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the effective duration of the internal signal when the content of the communication failure is “disconnected” is “dT ₁ ”, and the internal signal when the content of the communication failure is “unstable” Has an effective duration of “dT ₂ ”. The programmable display 10 can employ, for example, the minimum time that can be set in the programmable display 10 as the effective duration “dT ₁ ”. For example, the minimum time that can be set as the effective duration “dT ₁ ”may be set based on the minimum time that the programmable display 10 processes according to the control program 141. That is, until the programmable display 10 detects the disconnection of the communication until the value of the internal signal is turned “OFF”, the processing of the programmable display 10 is not intentionally delayed, and the internal signal is processed in the minimum processing time. The purpose is to execute the processing of. The programmable display 10 sets the effective duration “dT ₂ ”, which is the maximum time during which the retry processing for reconnecting the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 in a communicable state can be continuously performed, that is, the retry processing. A longer time than the preset time can be adopted as the execution time of. For example, when 3 seconds is set as the execution time of the retry process, 5 seconds can be adopted as the effective duration "dT ₂ ". The 5 seconds may be set, for example, based on the maximum time estimated as the time for which the user of the electronic terminal 20 continues the long press operation of the button performed on the electronic terminal 20. That is, the duration of the long button press operation performed on the electronic terminal 20 is expected to vary depending on the user who operates the electronic terminal 20, but the maximum time estimated as the duration of the long button press operation is valid. By setting the duration “dT ₂ ”, for example, regardless of the user who operates the electronic terminal 20, the internal signal corresponding to the button pressing operation signal is continued in the programmable display 10 in an effective state. The purpose is to do so.

The communication status data 145 is generated by the communication status determination unit 153 of the control unit 150 described later. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of communication state data according to the first embodiment. The communication status data 145 is configured to include information indicating whether the current status of the communication status corresponds to one of “failure (unstable status)”, “failure (disconnection status)”, and “no failure”. It In the example shown in FIG. 4, “x” is associated with “with failure (unstable state)” and “with failure (disconnected state)”, and “o” is associated with “without failure”. Therefore, the current communication status is “no failure” associated with “◯”. The communication status data 145 is updated to the latest status by the communication status determination unit 153 described later.

The control unit 150 can realize various controls regarding the operation of the programmable display 10 by executing the control program 141 and the like. The control unit 150 has a terminal connection unit 151, an operation signal control unit 152, a communication state determination unit 153, and a setting processing unit 154, which are closely related to the first embodiment.

The terminal connection unit 151 can connect the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 in a communicable state. When the connection request from the electronic terminal 20 is received, the terminal connection unit 151 executes user authentication using an ID (Identification) and a password, and the programmable display 10 from the electronic terminal 20 is provided on condition that the user authentication succeeds. Access can be granted. When the connection of the electronic terminal 20 becomes unstable after connecting the electronic terminal 20, the terminal connection unit 151 can execute a retry process for attempting reconnection with the electronic terminal 20 for a preset time.

The operation signal control unit 152 controls the state of the internal signal pre-assigned to the button to the ON state or the OFF state based on the signal related to the button operated by the electronic terminal 20 received from the electronic terminal 20. it can. Specifically, when the operation signal control unit 152 receives a signal from the electronic terminal 20, it is pre-assigned to the button operated by the electronic terminal 20 according to the content of the signal (press request signal or release request signal). The value of the internal signal being controlled is controlled, and the controlled value is recorded in the storage unit 140. When the signal received from the electronic terminal 20 is the pressing request signal, the operation signal control unit 152 records a value (ON) indicating the pressed state in which the button of the electronic terminal 20 is pressed as the state of the internal signal, When the signal received from 20 is the release request signal, a value (OFF) indicating the release state is recorded as the state of the internal signal.

The operation signal control unit 152 can identify which button is operated by the user on the electronic terminal 20 based on the identification information included in the signal received from the electronic terminal 20, for example. As the identification information, any information can be used as long as it is unique information for each button determined in advance between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20. The operation signal control unit 152 can periodically provide the information on the state of the internal signal by transmitting the operation signal data 143 stored in the storage unit 140 to the electronic terminal 20.

Further, the operation signal control unit 152 refers to the communication status data 145, acquires the status of communication between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20, and controls the status of the internal signal according to the acquired communication status. it can. The operation signal control unit 152 refers to the operation signal control data 144 and sets the state of the internal signal to the ON state based on the effective duration time corresponding to the content of the communication failure between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20. It is possible to control the timing of transition from the (pressed state) to the OFF state (released state). FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a first control example of the operation signal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a second control example of the operation signal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a control example 3 of the operation signal according to the first embodiment. As described below, changing the state of the internal signal from the ON state (pressed state) to the OFF state (released state) includes changing the value of the internal signal from “ON” to “OFF”.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the operation signal control unit 152 refers to the communication status data 145, and if the communication status determination result is “no failure” and there is no problem, the time ct at which the press request signal is received from the electronic terminal 20. the value of the internal signal ₁ is controlled to "oN (depressed)", controls the value of the internal signal to an "OFF (released)" at time ct ₂ which has received the release request signal from the electronic terminal 20.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, after the value of the internal signal is controlled to be “ON (pressed)” at time ct _{11 when the} pressing request signal is received from the electronic terminal 20, the operation signal control unit 152 sets a fixed cycle. With reference to the communication state data 145, the result of the communication state determination is monitored. Then, the operation signal control unit 152 controls the value of the internal signal according to the operation signal control data 144 when the communication state determination result is “failure (disconnection state)”. More specifically, the operation signal control unit 152 acquires, from the operation signal control data 144, the effective duration “dT ₁ ”corresponding to the case where the content of the communication failure is “failure (disconnection state)”. .. Then, the operation signal control unit 152 waits for the arrival of the time ct _{13 when} the effective duration “dT ₁ ”passes from the time ct ₁₂ when the communication state is determined to be the disconnection state, and the value of the internal signal becomes “ON ( Force) to "OFF (release)". As the effective duration “dT ₁ ”, for example, the minimum time that can be set in the programmable display 10 is set.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7, after the value of the internal signal is controlled to “ON (press)” at the time ct _{21 when the} pressing request signal is received from the electronic terminal 20, the result of the communication state determination is “failure (failure) Also in the stable state,” the operation signal control unit 152 controls the value of the internal signal according to the operation signal control data 144 in the same manner as in the disconnection state. More specifically, the operation signal control unit 152 acquires the effective duration time “dT ₂ ”corresponding to the case where the content of the communication failure is “failure (unstable state)” from the operation signal control data 144. To do. Subsequently, the operation signal control unit 152 waits for the arrival of the time ct _{26 at which} the effective duration time “dT ₂ ”lapses from the time ct ₂₂ when the communication state is determined to be the unstable state, and then the value of the internal signal is set to “ON. (Press) to forcibly change to "OFF (release)". At time ct ₂₃ , the operation signal control unit 152 temporarily restores the communication state determination result from “with failure (unstable state)” to “without failure”, and then releases from the electronic terminal 20 at time ct _24. Even if the request signal is received, the operation signal control unit 152 observes the valid duration “dT ₂ ”, waits for the time ct ₂₆ to be reached, and then changes the value of the internal signal from “ON (press)” to “OFF”. (Release)". The effective duration “dT ₂ ”is set to be at least longer than the maximum time during which the retry process for reconnecting the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 can be continuously performed.

The communication state determination unit 153 determines the state of communication between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a communication state determination method according to the first embodiment. After the connection between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is completed, the communication state determination unit 153, based on the connection confirmation signal transmitted from the electronic terminal 20 at a constant time period t _c , the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20. To determine the state of communication with. More specifically, the communication state determination unit 153, after the completion of the connection with the electronic terminal 20, the estimated number of receptions and the actual number of receptions of the connection confirmation signal that should be received from the electronic terminal 20 in a constant time period t _c. The reception success rate is calculated and updated repeatedly based on The communication state determination unit 153 performs a comparison with a predetermined threshold value every time the reception success rate is calculated, and when the reception success rate is equal to or less than the threshold value, communication between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is performed. A result of the determination that the state is the “unstable state” is derived.

Furthermore, the communication state determination unit 153 determines whether or not a fixed time has passed since the reception of the latest connection confirmation signal was successful. As a result of the determination, the communication state determination unit 153 determines, based on the time period t _c , if the fixed time has elapsed from the successful reception, it is estimated that the connection confirmation signal has continuously failed to be received (hereinafter, (Hereinafter, referred to as the “reception failure consecutive number”) is calculated, and it is determined whether the calculated estimated value of the reception failure consecutive number exceeds a threshold value. As a result of the determination, the communication state determination unit 153 displays the determination result that the communication state between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is the “disconnected state” when the estimated value of the reception failure consecutive number is equal to or more than the threshold value. Derive.

The setting processing unit 154 executes processing relating to the setting of the operation signal control data 144. The setting processing unit 154 accepts the setting operation of the operation signal control data 144 via the user interface operated by the user of the electronic terminal 20 using the function provided by the setting tool 142, and the storage unit 140. To record.

The electronic terminal 20 is an information processing device such as a PC (Personal Computer) or a tablet that can communicate via the communication network 1. The electronic terminal 20 is communicatively connected to the programmable display 10 via the communication network 1. The user of the electronic terminal 20 can remotely operate the PLC 30 connected to the programmable display 10 by operating the user interface operating in the electronic terminal 20.

The electronic terminal 20 may include a touch screen display. When the electronic terminal 20 includes a touch screen display, visual information such as buttons for controlling the operation of the PLC 30 can be reproduced and displayed on the user interface by software. The electronic terminal 20 can transmit a signal regarding the button operated by the user on the user interface to the programmable display 10. The content of the signal regarding the button is determined based on the operation content of the button displayed on the user interface. When the electronic terminal 20 determines that the operation content of the button is the pressing operation, the electronic terminal 20 determines the content of the signal regarding the button transmitted to the programmable display device 10 as the pressing request signal. When the electronic terminal 20 determines that the operation content on the button is the release operation, the electronic terminal 20 determines the content of the signal regarding the button to be transmitted to the programmable display 10 as the release request signal. Thus, when the electronic terminal 20 includes the touch screen display, the user of the electronic terminal 20 can control the operation of the PLC 30 by an intuitive operation via the user interface displayed on the touch screen display.

The electronic terminal 20 can receive from the programmable display 10 information indicating the latest state of the internal signal of the programmable display 10 corresponding to the button operated on the user interface. The electronic terminal 20 can provide the user by displaying the information indicating the latest state of the internal signal received from the programmable display 10.

PLC30 can control operation|movement of each apparatus of the production equipment 40 which bears the production process of a factory. The PLC 30 is a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of signal control processing according to the first embodiment. The process shown in FIG. 9 is executed by the control unit 150 using a program and data. The process illustrated in FIG. 9 is repeatedly executed when the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 are connected.

As shown in FIG. 9, the control unit 150 determines whether or not a press request signal has been received from the electronic terminal 20 (step S101).

As a result of the determination, the control unit 150 turns on the value of the internal signal (step S102) when the pressing request signal is received from the electronic terminal 20 (step S101, Yes).

Subsequently, the control unit 150 determines whether a release request signal has been received from the electronic terminal 20 (step S103).

As a result of the determination, if the release request signal is not received from the electronic terminal 20 (No at Step S103), the control unit 150 determines whether there is a failure in communication with the electronic terminal 20, that is, the disconnected state or the unstable state. It is determined whether it is in the state (step S104).

If the result of the determination is that there is a failure in communication with the electronic terminal 20 (step S104, Yes), the control unit 150 determines whether the content of the failure is a disconnection state (step S105).

If the result of determination is that the control unit 150 is in the disconnection state (Yes at Step S105), the control unit 150 waits for the arrival of the effective duration associated with the disconnection state set in the operation signal control data 144, and then the internal signal. The state of is changed from ON to OFF (step S106).

Subsequently, the control unit 150 determines whether the electronic terminal 20 is being connected (step S107). As a result of the determination, the control unit 150 returns to the determination of the above step S101 when the electronic terminal 20 is being connected (Yes at step S107). On the contrary, when the result of the determination is that the control unit 150 is not connected to the electronic terminal 20 (step S107, No), the processing shown in FIG. 9 ends.

In the above step S105, the control unit 150 determines that the operation signal control data 144 is stored in the operation signal control data 144 when the result of the determination is that the communication with the electronic terminal 20 is not in the disconnected state (step S105, No), that is, in the unstable state. After waiting for the effective duration corresponding to the set unstable state to be reached, the value of the internal signal is changed from ON to OFF (step S108), and the process proceeds to the determination of step S107.

In the above-mentioned step S104, as a result of the judgment, the control unit 150 returns to the judgment of the above-mentioned step S103 when there is no failure in the communication with the electronic terminal 20 (step S104, No).

In the above-mentioned step S103, the control part 150 changes the value of an internal signal from ON to OFF, when the release request|requirement signal is received from the electronic terminal 20 as a result of determination (step S103, Yes) (step S109). Then, the process returns to the determination in step S107.

As a result of the determination in step S101, if the control unit 150 does not receive the press request signal from the electronic terminal 20 (step S101, No), the process proceeds to the determination in step S107.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of communication state determination processing according to the first embodiment. The process shown in FIG. 10 is executed by the control unit 150 using a program and data. The process illustrated in FIG. 10 is repeatedly executed when the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 are connected.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, when the connection with the electronic terminal 20 is completed (step S201), the control unit 150 starts the process of calculating the reception success rate of the connection confirmation signal (step S202).

Subsequently, the control unit 150 determines whether or not the reception success rate of the connection confirmation signal is less than or equal to the threshold value (step S203).

As a result of the determination, the control unit 150 determines whether or not a certain period of time has elapsed from the latest successful reception of the connection confirmation signal, when the reception success rate of the connection confirmation signal is less than or equal to the threshold value (Yes in step S203) (step S203). S204).

As a result of the determination, the control unit 150 determines that if a certain period of time has elapsed since the latest successful reception of the connection confirmation signal (Yes in step S204), the number of consecutive reception failures that is estimated to be unsuccessful in receiving the connection confirmation signal ( It is determined whether the estimated value is equal to or more than the threshold value (step S205).

As a result of the determination, when the number of consecutive reception failures (estimated value) is equal to or more than the threshold value (Yes in step S205), the control unit 150 sets the communication state between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 to "failure (disconnection). State)” (step S206). The latest communication status between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is recorded in the communication status data 145.

Subsequently, the control unit 150 determines whether or not the electronic terminal 20 is being connected (step S207). As a result of the determination, the control unit 150 returns to the determination of step S203 when the electronic terminal 20 is connected (Yes at step S207). On the contrary, if the result of the determination is that the electronic device 20 is not being connected (step S207, No), the control unit 150 ends the processing shown in FIG.

In step S205, the control unit 150 determines the communication state between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 when the determination result indicates that the continuous reception failure count (estimated value) is not greater than or equal to the threshold value (step S205, No). It is updated to "there is a failure (unstable state)" (step S208), and the process proceeds to the determination in step S207. The latest communication status between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is recorded in the communication status data 145.

In step S204, as a result of the determination, the control unit 150 moves to step S208 when the certain time has not passed since the latest successful reception of the connection confirmation signal (step S204, No), and the reception failure consecutive number (estimation) The communication status is updated as in the case where (value) is not greater than or equal to the threshold value. That is, the control unit 150 updates the communication state between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 to "there is a failure (unstable state)" (step S208), and proceeds to the determination of step S207.

In the above step S203, the control unit 150 determines that the communication state between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is “fault” when the result of the determination is that the reception success rate of the connection confirmation signal is not the threshold value (step S203, No). It is updated to "none" (step S209), and the process proceeds to the determination in step S207.

FIG. 11: is a figure which shows the example of control of the internal signal in the programmable display which concerns on the comparative example which applied the patent document 1 to the programmable display. The programmable display device of the comparative example changes the value of the internal signal from ON to OFF after waiting for the fixed time dT _f from the reception of the pressing request signal after receiving the pressing request signal from the connected electronic terminal. Therefore, even if a communication failure occurs before the release request signal is received, the value of the internal signal is changed from ON to OFF after the fixed time dT _{f has} elapsed from the reception of the pressing request signal. On the other hand, the programmable display device 10 according to the first embodiment determines the state of communication failure and changes the state of the internal signal to the ON state, that is, the value of the internal signal remains “ON” according to the content of the communication state. Change the effective duration to continue with.

When the communication between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is in a disconnected state, even if the electronic terminal 20 issues a release request signal, the communication is not transmitted to the programmable display 10, for example.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, when the communication state becomes a disconnection state, the programmable display 10 has a minimum time that can be set in the programmable display 10, that is, the programmable display 10 has a control program 141. The minimum time to process according to is set to the effective duration “dT ₁ ”. Accordingly, the value of the internal signal can be changed from ON to OFF at the earliest possible timing after it is determined that the communication between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is in the disconnected state. In this way, when the communication with the electronic terminal 20 is disconnected, the programmable display 10 guides the pressed button to the released state as soon as possible, thereby operating the production facility 40. The operation of the equipment can be stopped as soon as possible.

In addition, when the communication environment is unstable, even if the user of the electronic terminal 20 intends to continuously press the button, the occurrence of the communication failure and the recovery from the communication failure are repeated, so that the internal signal The change of the value from “ON” to “OFF” and the change from “OFF” to “ON” are repeated, and control which is not intended by the user of the electronic terminal 20 is performed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, when the communication state becomes unstable, the programmable display 10 performs a retry process of reconnecting the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 to a communicable state. The maximum time that can be continuously executed, that is, a time longer than the time preset as the execution time of the retry process is set as the effective continuation time dT ₂ . As a result, at least the retry process for reconnecting the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 can be continued after it is determined that the communication between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is unstable. The value of the internal signal can be maintained as “ON” for a time exceeding the time of. In this way, the programmable display 10 keeps the value of the internal signal between ON and OFF even when the communication between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 is unstable. It is possible to avoid the occurrence of events that frequently come and go. Further, as a result that the operation of the PLC 30 is easily performed in accordance with the intention of the user of the electronic terminal 20, the operability when operating the device operating in the production facility 40 is improved.

Embodiment 2.
In the above-mentioned Embodiment 1, the programmable display 10 explained the example which changes the effective continuation time of the value of the internal signal according to the content of the communication failure, but each of the some button with which the electronic terminal 20 is equipped. At least a part of the pre-allocated internal signals may be the target of the process of changing the effective duration for continuing the internal signals in the ON state. In the following second embodiment, an embodiment in this case will be described.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the programmable display device 10 according to the second embodiment. The functional configuration of the programmable display 10 shown in FIG. 12 is basically the same as the functional configuration of the programmable display 10 according to the first embodiment, except for the points described below.

The storage unit 140 stores the signal determination table 146. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the signal discrimination table according to the second embodiment. The signal determination table 146 is associated with a button identifier that is uniquely assigned to a button operated on the user interface of the electronic terminal 20, and indicates the internal signal according to the communication state between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20. Information indicating whether or not to control is set. According to the signal determination table 146 shown in FIG. 13, for example, the internal signal pre-assigned to each of the buttons having the button identifiers B1 and B2 is a process for changing the effective duration for continuing the state of the internal signal in the ON state. The internal signal that is set as the target of No. 1 and is pre-assigned to each of the buttons of the button identifiers B3, B4, and B5 is not set as the target of the process of changing the effective duration for continuing the state of the internal signal in the ON state. The signal identification table 146 is not limited to the example in which the button identifier is used, and a predetermined flag indicating whether or not the internal signal is to be controlled may be set for each button.

In the operation signal control data 144 stored in the storage unit 140, the effective duration time of the internal signal according to the communication state is set for each button identifier. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the operation signal control data 144 according to the second embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 14, for the button identifier “B1”, when the communication state is “disconnected state”, the effective duration of the internal signal is “dT ₃ ”, and when the communication state is “unstable state” The effective duration of the internal signal of is “dT ₄ ”. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 13, for the button identifier “B2”, the valid duration of the internal signal when the communication state is “disconnected state” is “dT ₅ ”, and the communication state is “unstable state”. The effective duration of the internal signal at a given time is “dT ₆ ”.

In the example shown in FIG. 14, the valid duration when the communication state is the disconnected state and the valid duration when the communication state is the unstable state are different for each button. In this way, the effective duration time according to the communication state can be set to different times for each button operated on the electronic terminal 20. Further, in the disconnection state, for example, the same effective duration time may be set for all buttons, such as the minimum time that can be set in the programmable display 10. Further, instead of each button, the operation duration may be grouped according to the type of operation signal corresponding to the button, and the effective duration time may be set for each grouped button type.

The operation signal control unit 152 controls the value of the internal signal to be “ON (pressed)”, and then refers to the communication state data 145 at a constant cycle to monitor the result of the communication state determination. When the result of the communication state determination is “failure (disconnection state)”, the operation signal control unit 152 determines that the internal signal whose value is controlled to be “ON (pressed)” based on the signal determination table 146. It is determined whether the signal is a signal to be controlled according to the communication state (hereinafter, referred to as “control target signal”). For example, the electronic terminal 20 includes the button identifier in the press request signal transmitted to the programmable display 10. The operation signal control unit 152 can acquire the button identifier included in the press request signal and can determine whether the signal is a control target signal based on the acquired button identifier and the signal determination table 146.

The operation signal control unit 152 can determine the effective duration of the internal signal, which is the control target signal, for each button based on the operation signal control data 144 (see FIG. 14). That is, the operation signal control unit 152 acquires the button identifier included in the press request signal and the effective duration corresponding to the communication state from the operation signal control data 144 (see FIG. 14), and sets the acquired effective duration to the effective duration. Based on this, the value of the internal signal can be changed from ON to OFF.

The setting processing unit 154 as the time setting unit executes a process related to setting the effective duration of the operation signal control data 144 (see FIG. 14). The setting processing unit 154 uses the function provided by the setting tool 142, and the effective duration of the operation signal control data 144 (see FIG. 14) via the user interface operated by the user of the electronic terminal 20 on the electronic terminal 20. The setting operation of is received and recorded in the storage unit 140.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the flow of signal control processing according to the second embodiment. The process shown in FIG. 15 is executed by the control unit 150 using a program and data. The process illustrated in FIG. 15 is repeatedly executed when the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20 are connected. The processing shown in FIG. 15 is basically the same as the signal control processing (FIG. 9) according to the first embodiment, but the signal according to the first embodiment is that the processing procedure of step S304 described below is included. It is different from the control process.

As shown in FIG. 15, the control unit 150 determines whether or not a press request signal has been received from the electronic terminal 20 (step S301).

As a result of the determination, the control unit 150 turns on the value of the internal signal (step S302) when the pressing request signal is received from the electronic terminal 20 (step S301, Yes).

Subsequently, the control unit 150 determines whether a release request signal has been received from the electronic terminal 20 (step S303).

As a result of the determination, the control unit 150 refers to the signal determination table 146 when the release request signal is not received from the electronic terminal 20 (No in step S303), and the internal signal turned on in step S302 is the control target signal. Is determined (step S304).

As a result of the determination, the control unit 150 returns to the determination of step S303 when it is not the control target signal (step S304, No).

On the other hand, as a result of the determination, the control unit 150 refers to the communication state data 145 when the signal is the control target signal (Yes in step S304), and there is a failure in the communication between the programmable display 10 and the electronic terminal 20. That is, it is determined whether the state is the disconnected state or the unstable state (step S305).

As a result of the determination, if there is a failure in the communication with the electronic terminal 20 (step S305, Yes), the control unit 150 determines whether the content of the failure is a disconnection state (step S306).

If the result of determination is that the control unit 150 is in the disconnected state (step S306, Yes), the control unit 150 waits for the valid duration corresponding to the button identifier and the disconnected state to arrive, and then changes the value of the internal signal from ON to OFF ( Step S307).

Subsequently, the control unit 150 determines whether the electronic terminal 20 is being connected (step S308). As a result of the determination, the control unit 150 returns to the determination in step S301 when the electronic terminal 20 is connected (Yes in step S308). On the contrary, if the result of determination is that the controller 150 is not connected to the electronic terminal 20 (step S308, No), the controller 150 ends the processing shown in FIG.

In step S306, as a result of the determination, the control unit 150 determines that the communication with the electronic terminal 20 is not in the disconnected state (step S306, No), that is, when it is in the unstable state, the button identifier and the unstable state are set. After waiting for the corresponding effective duration, the value of the internal signal is changed from ON to OFF (step S309), and the process proceeds to the determination of step S308.

In the above-mentioned step S305, the control part 150 returns to the determination of the said step S303, when communication with the electronic terminal 20 has no obstacle as a result of a determination (step S305, No).

In the above-mentioned step S303, the control part 150 changes the value of an internal signal from ON to OFF, when the release request|requirement signal is received from the electronic terminal 20 as a result of determination (step S303, Yes) (step S310). Then, the procedure returns to the determination in step S308.

As a result of the determination in step S301, the control unit 150 proceeds to the determination in step S308 when the depression request signal is not received from the electronic terminal 20 (step S301, No).

According to the second embodiment, programmable display 10 can determine whether or not to change the effective duration of the internal signal for each button corresponding to the internal signal according to the content of the communication failure. Therefore, according to the second embodiment, it is possible to realize control according to the button corresponding to the internal signal.

An example of a computer that executes processing based on various functions provided by the programmable display device 10 described in the first and second embodiments will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the programmable display 10 according to each embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 16, a computer 200 as the programmable display 10 described in the first and second embodiments includes, for example, a processor 201, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 202, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 203, and an input interface 204. , An input device 205, an output interface 206, an output device 207, a communication interface 208, a bus 209, and the like. The processor 201, RAM 202, ROM 203, input interface 204, input device 205, output interface 206, output device 207, and communication interface 208 are connected via a bus 209.

The RAM 202 is a readable/writable memory device. For example, a semiconductor memory such as SRAM (Static RAM) or DRAM (Dynamic RAM), or a flash memory that is not a RAM is used. The ROM 203 stores a program that realizes processing based on various functions provided by the programmable display 10 described in the first and second embodiments and data used for the processing by the program. The ROM 203 also includes a PROM (Programmable ROM) and the like. The ROM 203 corresponds to the storage unit 140, for example. The data used for the processing by the program that realizes the processing based on the various functions provided by the programmable display 10 described in the first and second embodiments corresponds to various data and various parameters stored in the ROM 203, for example.

The input interface 204 is a circuit that transmits an input signal from the input device 205 to the processor 201. The output interface 206 is a circuit that executes output to the output device 207 according to an instruction from the processor 201. The communication interface 208 is a circuit that controls communication executed via the communication network 1. The communication interface 208 is, for example, a network interface card (NIC). The input interface 204 and the output interface 206 may be one integrated unit.

The processor 201 reads the program stored in the ROM 203, expands it in the RAM 202, and executes the instructions included in the program expanded in the RAM 202. The processor 201 operates according to the execution result of the instruction included in the program, so that the processing based on the various functions provided by the programmable display device 10 described in the first and second embodiments is realized. The RAM 202 may be used as a work area for the processor 201 when the processor 201 executes instructions.

The program that implements the processing based on the various functions provided by the programmable display 10 described in the first and second embodiments and the data used for the processing by the program do not necessarily need to be stored in the ROM 203 from the beginning. For example, it is stored in “another computer (or server)” connected to the computer 200 via a network such as a public line, the Internet, a LAN, and a wide area network (WAN), and the computer 200 stores each program from these. You may download and execute it.

As shown in FIG. 16, an example in which the processor 201 reads and executes a program stored in the ROM 203 to realize processing based on various functions provided by the programmable display 10 described in the first and second embodiments. However, the embodiments disclosed in the present application are not limited thereto. The wired logic in which a plurality of processing circuits are linked to realize each of the processes based on the various functions provided by the programmable display device 10 described in the first and second embodiments has been described in the first and second embodiments. Processing based on various functions provided by the programmable display 10 may be realized. For example, the processing circuit corresponding to the processing based on the various functions provided by the programmable display 10 described in the first and second embodiments includes a circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). Can be applied.

In the above embodiment, the operation method of the buttons displayed on the user interface of the electronic terminal 20 includes the momentary method. In the above-described embodiment, the button operated on the electronic terminal 20 is not limited to the button reproduced by the software on the user interface displayed on the electronic terminal 20, and is provided on the electronic terminal 20. It may be a button having a physical configuration.

The control of the internal signal in the programmable display device 10 described in the above embodiment receives a signal transmitted from a terminal device communicatively connected and controls the value of the internal signal corresponding to the received signal. The same can be applied to other control devices such as PLC.

The configurations shown in the above embodiments show an example of the content of the present invention, and can be combined with other known techniques, and the configurations of the configurations are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is also possible to omit or change parts.

1 communication network, 10 programmable displays, 20 electronic terminals, 30 PLCs, 40 production equipment, 200 computers.

Claims (10)

A terminal connection unit capable of communication connection with an electronic terminal,
An operation signal control unit that controls the state of an internal signal pre-assigned to the input unit to be an ON state or an OFF state based on a signal related to the input unit that is operated by the electronic terminal and that is received from the electronic terminal. When,
A communication state determination unit that determines the state of communication with the electronic terminal,
The operation signal control unit, when the state of the internal signal is in the ON state and the communication state determination unit determines that a communication failure has occurred with the electronic terminal, A control device characterized by changing an effective duration for continuing the state of the internal signal in the ON state according to the contents. The communication state determination unit determines whether the content of the communication failure is a disconnection state or an unstable state based on a connection confirmation signal received from the electronic terminal. Control device. The communication unit further includes a storage unit that stores a first valid duration that corresponds to the disconnected state of the communication failure and a second valid duration that corresponds to the unstable state of the communication failure. ,
The operation signal control unit,
When it is determined that the state of the internal signal is the ON state and the content of the communication failure is the disconnection state, wait for the first valid duration time to elapse after the communication is determined to be the disconnection state. , Transitioning the state of the internal signal from the ON state to the OFF state,
If the state of the internal signal is ON and the content of the communication failure is determined to be unstable, wait for the second valid duration to elapse after the communication is determined to be unstable. The control device according to claim 2, wherein the state of the internal signal is changed from an ON state to an OFF state. The communication state determination unit,
When the reception success rate of the connection confirmation signal is less than or equal to a threshold value, it is determined that the content of the communication failure with the electronic terminal is in an unstable state,
After determining that the unstable state, further, when the number of consecutive failures to receive the connection confirmation signal is equal to or more than a threshold, it is determined that the state of communication with the electronic terminal is a disconnected state. The control device according to claim 3, wherein the control device is a control device. The control device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the first valid duration is set based on a minimum time that the control device processes. 4. The second valid duration is set to be longer than a time preset as an execution time of a retry process for reconnecting the control device and the electronic terminal to a communicable state. 5. The control device according to any one of 5 to 5. 7. The control device according to claim 3, wherein the first effective duration is shorter than the second effective duration. At least a part of the internal signals pre-assigned to each of the plurality of input units included in the electronic terminal is a target of the process of changing the effective duration for continuing the state of the internal signals in the ON state. The control device according to any one of claims 3 to 7, characterized in that. The control device according to any one of claims 3 to 8, further comprising a time setting unit that receives a setting of the first valid duration and the second valid duration from an electronic terminal. A signal control method executed by a control device, comprising:
Communicatively connecting to an electronic terminal,
Controlling the state of an internal signal pre-assigned to the input section to be an ON state or an OFF state based on a signal related to the input section operated by the electronic terminal, which is received from the electronic terminal;
And a step of determining the state of communication with the electronic terminal,
The step of controlling the state of the internal signal comprises:
When it is determined that the state of the internal signal is in the ON state and there is a communication failure with the electronic terminal, the state of the internal signal is turned on in accordance with the content of the communication failure. A signal control method, characterized in that the effective duration time for continuing as is is changed.

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