KR100600008B1 - A method displaying menu on console monitor of numerical control device - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a user operation screen of a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine tool, and more particularly, to a menu display method for interfacing a user with a numerical control device.

The menu display method of the present invention comprises a main menu, a first submenu subordinated to the main menu, and a second submenu subordinated to the first submenu. A first step of displaying in a row on the operation screen; A second step of selecting one of the main menus; A third step of displaying a first sub-menu row dependent on the main menu selected in the second step in a line to be adjacent to the main menu row; A fourth step of selecting one of the first submenus; And a fifth step of displaying, through an independent window, a second submenu column that is dependent on the first submenu selected in the fourth step. Therefore, the main menu row and the first and second submenu rows are displayed so as not to overlap each other, so that the connection relationship between these menus is freely recognized and moved.

Main menu, submenu, hierarchical connection

Description

How to display the menu on the operation screen of the numeric controller {A METHOD DISPLAYING MENU ON CONSOLE MONITOR OF NUMERICAL CONTROL DEVICE}

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate the presently preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the description of the following preferred embodiments, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

1 is a view for explaining a conventional method of displaying a menu on an operation screen of a numerical controller.

2 is a view for explaining another type of conventional menu display method.

3 is a diagram illustrating a menu display method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a menu display method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a view for explaining the menu display method of the second embodiment in more detail.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a menu display method of the present invention.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

100: operation screen 110: main menu bar

111: main menu 120: first sub-menu bar

121: first submenu 130: dialog box

140: second sub-menu bar 141: second sub-menu

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a user operation screen of a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine tool, and more particularly, to a menu display method for interfacing a user with a numerical control device.

A menu key is used as a graphical user interface for the user to issue commands to the numerical controller. The user operates the machine tool by pressing a selection key corresponding to the desired menu among the menus displayed on the operation screen.

Today, the menu-driven machine operation is becoming a standard in numerical control. However, there is a problem in that the number of menus that can be displayed on the screen is limited compared to the functions required for the operation of the machine tool.

Various attempts have been made to solve this problem.

1 illustrates an operation screen on which a menu bar is displayed in a conventional numerical control device.

This type is the type found in the Japanese numerical controller. This will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the lower corner (or side) of the operation screen 10, a menu bar 11 in which several menus 12 are arranged in a row is arranged, and on the left side of the menu bar 11, the upper menu shift key 13 is located on the right side thereof. The submenu navigation keys 14 are arranged in the. Therefore, the user checks whether there is a desired menu among the menus 12 displayed on the menu bar 11, and when the menu bar 11 does not have the desired menu 12, the upper menu moving key 13 or the lower menu. By operating the shift key 14, the desired menu is searched and found.

In other words, the top menu is divided into "functions", each function has corresponding "chapters", and each chapter holds "operations" as necessary, so the menus are layered. However, the user can see only the menus 12 that correspond to the row of keys at the bottom of the screen, and since it is arranged in a row, only the menus of the same level as the selected menu can be viewed. You can change the level of the menu several times to perform the operation.

The main problem with this approach is that it is not easy to get information on which level of menu the user is currently running because of repeated menu level operations.

A menu display structure in a form that solves this inconvenience is shown in FIG. 2.

The menu display method of FIG. 2 is a structure in which the upper level menu bar 21 is positioned at the bottom of the operation screen 20 and the lower level menu bar 22 is positioned at the right side of the operation screen 20. Accordingly, the user may find the upper level menu 24 at the bottom of the screen and the lower level menu 23 at the right side of the screen.

However, this method has a problem that the menus to be operated are separated from each other, and the fatigue of the operation is increased by increasing the number of selection keys for selecting the menu.

 Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and the first object of the present invention is to display the upper and lower menus to easily grasp the hierarchical dependency of the upper menu and the lower menu. To provide a way.

It is also a second object of the present invention to provide a menu display method capable of reducing the number of selection keys for selecting a menu.

It is a third object of the present invention to provide a menu display method for allowing a user to easily move between an upper menu and a lower menu.

The menu display method of the present invention for performing the above object is in the operation screen of the numerical control device including a main menu, a first submenu subordinate to the main menu, and a second submenu subordinate to the first submenu. A first step of displaying the main menu rows in a row on an operation screen; A second step of selecting one of the main menus; A third step of displaying a first sub-menu row dependent on the main menu selected in the second step in a line to be adjacent to the main menu row; A fourth step of selecting one of the first submenus; And a fifth step of displaying, through an independent window, a second submenu column that is dependent on the first submenu selected in the fourth step.

Therefore, the main menu row and the first and second submenu rows are displayed so as not to overlap each other, so that the connection relationship between these menus is freely recognized and moved.

The main menu column and the first sub-menu column are displayed side by side on one of the top, bottom, left and right sides of the operation screen.

If any one of the first submenus is selected, a dialog box is opened adjacent to the first submenu column, and a second submenu column subordinate to the first submenu is displayed in the dialog box.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be described below and will be appreciated by the practice of the invention. Furthermore, the objects and advantages of the present invention can be realized by means and combinations indicated in the appended claims.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention in more detail.

(First embodiment)

First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

At the bottom of the operation screen 100, the main menu bar 110 and the first sub-menu bar 120 that are hierarchically dependent on the specific menu 111 of the main menu bar 110 are displayed side by side.

In FIG. 3, the main menu bar 110 is displayed on the left side of the bottom of the screen, and the first sub menu bar 120 is displayed on the right side of the bottom of the screen. In the main menu bar 110, a plurality of main menus 111 are arranged side by side to form a main menu column. The plurality of first submenus 121 are arranged side by side in the first submenu bar 120 to form a first submenu column.

The submenu column displayed on the submenu bar is hierarchically dependent on the specific menu 111 of the main menu bar 110. That is, when the user selects one main menu 111 from among the main menus 111 present in the main menu bar 110, the sub-menus 121 subordinate to the main menu 111 are made. 1 is displayed on the sub-menu bar 120. Therefore, when the user selects a main menu 111 other than the currently selected main menu 111, the submenus 121 displayed on the first submenu bar 120 correspond to the newly selected main menu 111. If possible, it will be changed to something else.

An independent window 130 is opened at an upper end of the first sub menu bar 120.

This independent window corresponds to a kind of dialog box 130, in which a plurality of second submenus 140 are displayed. The second submenu 140 is hierarchically dependent on the currently selected first submenu 140. Therefore, when the user selects another first submenu 121 on the first submenu bar 120, the type of the second submenu 121 displayed on the dialog box 130 also changes.

It is appropriate that the size of the dialog box 130 does not cover the information displayed on the operation screen (100). In addition, the dialog box 130 should not cover the main menu bar 110 or the first sub-menu bar 120. Accordingly, the dialog box 130 may be opened adjacently so as not to overlap the first sub menu bar 120.

The dialog box 130 also includes other information in addition to the second submenu 140, which will be described later with reference to FIG.

As described above, since the main menu 111, the first sub-menu 121, and the second sub-menu 140 are displayed adjacent to each other without overlapping each other at the bottom of the screen 100, the user may display the current screen. Not only can the hierarchical relationship between the menus displayed on 100 be easily grasped, but also the movement between the menus is facilitated.

(Second embodiment)

Unlike the first exemplary embodiment, the main menu bar 110, the first sub menu bar 120, and the dialog box 130 are vertically displayed. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, upper menu columns and lower menu columns are displayed on the right corner of the operation screen 100.

Except for this arrangement feature, the configuration is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment. Therefore, detailed description of this embodiment will be omitted by referring to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows specific menu functions for explaining the hierarchical dependency relationship between the upper menu and the lower menu of the present embodiment.

That is, functional menus such as "position", "program", "MDI", "Tool path", and "DNC" are displayed on the main menu bar 110 as the main menu 111. 5 illustrates a case in which a main menu called “position” is selected by the user among the main menus 111 of the main menu bar 110. Submenus subordinate to this "position" menu are displayed on the first submenu bar 120. That is, the first submenu 121 hierarchically dependent on the main menu called "position" is "ALL", "MODAL", and "TIMER" as shown in the figure.

In addition, when any one of the first sub-menus 121 is selected, the dialog box 130 is opened as shown in FIG. 5, and in this dialog box 130, "FORM [DISK]" and "LOAD" are displayed. A second submenu 141 called "CLOSE" is displayed. The second submenu 141 is menus subordinately dependent on the first submenu 121.

As can be seen from Fig. 5, the user can visually grasp the upper menus connected to the menu of the lowest hierarchy while executing the menu of the lowest hierarchy in the dialog box. In addition, the user can easily move to a menu other than the menu currently being executed.

Hereinafter, a process of selecting and displaying a menu of the present invention by the user will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 6.

Step S11; The user who wants to control a machine tool such as a lathe or a machining center selects a specific menu from the main menu column displayed on the operation screen of the numerical controller.

Step S12; At this time, it is determined whether the main menu selection key has been operated, and if the main menu selection key has been operated, the process proceeds to step S13, and if the main menu selection key has not been operated, the menu display routine ends.

Step S13; If the main menu selection key has been operated in step S12, the first submenu dependent on the selected main menu is determined, and the determined submenu sequence is displayed on the operation screen so as to be adjacent to the main menu sequence. At this time, the main menu sequence and the first submenu sequence should be displayed adjacent to each other but not overlap each other.

Step S14; When the display of the first submenu sequence is completed, it is determined whether the first submenu selection key has been operated. At this time, if the first submenu selection key is operated, the process proceeds to step S15, and if not, the process returns to step S12.

Step S15; If the first submenu selection key has been operated, a second submenu is determined that is dependent on the selected first submenu. When the determination of the second submenu is completed, the dialog box containing the second submenu string is opened. This dialog box should be turned off adjacent to the first submenu column but not covering the main menu column and the first submenu column.

Step S16; When the dialog box including the second submenu sequence is opened, it is determined whether the second submenu selection key has been operated. At this time, if the second submenu selection key is operated, the process proceeds to step S17, and if not, the process returns to step S14.

Step S17; When the specific second submenu key is operated, the machine tool is controlled by inputting a command indicated by the second submenu to the numerical controller.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and variations are made by those skilled in the art within the equivalent scope of the technical concept of the present invention and the claims to be described below. Of course it is possible.

The present invention displays the upper menu sequence and the lower menu sequence hierarchically dependent on the upper menu without overlapping each other on the operation screen, so that the user can easily grasp the hierarchical dependency of the menu.

In addition, since the movement from the upper menu to the lower menu and the lower menu to the upper menu is free, the user's fatigue according to the operation can be reduced.

Claims (3)

In the operation screen of the numerical control device including a main menu, a first submenu subordinate to the main menu, and a second submenu subordinate to the first submenu, A first step of displaying the main menu rows in a row on an operation screen; A second step of selecting one of the main menus; A third step of displaying a first sub-menu row dependent on the main menu selected in the second step in a line to be adjacent to the main menu row; A fourth step of selecting one of the first submenus; A fifth step of displaying, via an independent window, a second submenu column dependent on the first submenu selected in the fourth step; Thus, the menus are displayed on the operation screen of the numerical control device, characterized in that the main menu columns and the first and second submenu columns are displayed so as not to overlap each other, so that the connection relation between these menus can be grasped and moved freely. How to. The method of claim 1, And the main menu column and the first sub-menu column are displayed side by side on one of the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the operation screen in a line. The method of claim 2, When any one of the first submenus is selected, a dialog box is opened adjacent to the first submenu column, and the second submenu column subordinate to the first submenu is displayed in the dialog box. How to display the menu on the operation screen of the device.

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