TWI657322B - Embedded system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an embedded system suitable for monitoring a plurality of external devices. The embedded system includes a processing device, an interface card, and a storage device. The interface card connects the processing device and a plurality of external devices. The processing device connects a plurality of external devices through the interface card, and performs corresponding monitoring and control on the plurality of external devices. The storage device is connected to the processing device. The storage device stores a visual operation control logic module and a visual arrangement control picture module. The processing device determines the control logic of the external devices by visualizing the operational control logic module to cause the external device to operate in accordance with the control logic. The processing device generates a visualized monitoring image by visually orienting the graphics control screen module. The visual monitoring screen includes device information for these external devices. In addition, a device monitoring and control method has also been proposed.

Description

Embedded Systems

This invention relates to a control system and, more particularly, to a method of utilizing an embedded system to control and monitor an external device.

In the technical field of equipment monitoring, a general equipment monitoring system uses a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) as an underlying controller to control instrumentation equipment (or external equipment) connected to a programmable controller. And the device manager must additionally write the programmable controller's monitoring program to add control logic according to the device monitoring requirements. In addition, the general equipment monitoring system also needs to obtain the contact point of the programmable controller through the network through the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), so that the display device data is collected and collected. Monitor the monitoring screen of the system. That is to say, the general equipment monitoring system needs to be edited by professional programmers, and it is necessary to set up a relatively complicated and large number of peripheral communication equipment, which results in the general equipment monitoring system having high installation cost, difficult maintenance, and monitoring system. The structure is complicated and so on. Therefore, how to design a monitoring system to effectively monitor instrumentation equipment has the advantages of low installation cost and simple system structure, and is one of the most important topics in the field.

The invention provides an embedded system and a device monitoring and control method, which can monitor and control a plurality of external devices by using an embedded system, and the embedded system has a visual operation control logic module and a visual arrangement control picture module. Among them, the visual operation control logic module can monitor multiple external devices through a graphical interface. The visual operation control logic module can control and set a plurality of external devices in a selected manner.

The embedded system of the present invention is suitable for monitoring and controlling a plurality of external devices. The embedded system includes a processing device, at least one interface card, and a storage device. The interface card connects the processing device and a plurality of external devices. The processing device performs corresponding monitoring and control on a plurality of external devices through the interface card. The storage device is connected to the processing device. A visual operation control logic module and a visual arrangement control picture module are stored in the storage device. The processing device determines a plurality of control logics of the plurality of external devices by visualizing the operation control logic module to enable the plurality of external devices to operate in accordance with the plurality of control logics. The processing device generates a visual monitoring screen by visually orienting the graphic control screen module, and the visual monitoring screen includes device information of a plurality of external devices.

A device monitoring and control method of the present invention is applicable to an embedded system. The embedded system performs corresponding monitoring and control on multiple external devices through at least one interface card. The device monitoring and control method includes the following steps: determining a plurality of control logics of the plurality of external devices to enable the plurality of external devices to operate in accordance with the plurality of control logics. A visualized monitoring screen is generated, and various different device information for displaying a plurality of external devices in the monitoring screen is visually monitored.

Based on the above, the embedded system and the device monitoring and control method of the present invention can provide the device manager to determine by performing a visual operation control logic module stored in the embedded system and visualizing the picture control picture module. The control logic of the external device and produces a visual monitoring screen. As a result, device managers can easily set up embedded systems and effectively monitor multiple external devices without the need for complex equipment monitoring system designs.

The above described features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

In order to make the content of the present invention easier to understand, the following specific embodiments are examples of the invention that can be implemented. In addition, wherever possible, the same elements, components, and steps in the drawings and embodiments are used to represent the same or similar components.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embedded system according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the embedded system 100 includes a processing device 110 and a storage device 120. The embedded system 100 has a smart control gateway (SCG) function for monitoring and controlling the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N, where N is a positive integer greater than zero. In this embodiment, the processing device 110 is connected to the storage device 120, and connects the plurality of external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N through at least one interface card. In the embodiment, the storage device 120 stores a visual operation control logic module 121 and a visualized map control screen module 122. In this embodiment, the processing device 110 determines the respective control logics of the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N by the visual operation control logic module 121, so that the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N respectively correspond to the corresponding control logics. The control logic is running. Moreover, the processing device 110 generates a monitoring screen by visualizing the map control screen module 122.

In this embodiment, the visual operation control logic module 121 has a plurality of control logic instructions (such as shown in FIG. 2) built in, and the built-in control logic instructions can correspondingly control a plurality of different external devices. In this embodiment, the visual operation control logic module 121 can add or delete required control logic instructions according to the needs of the user, and each control logic instruction uses the corresponding external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N. . When the user uses a new external device, if the built-in visual operation control logic module 121 cannot correspond to the new external device, the user can connect to the remote device through the Internet connection. The server performs a corresponding download and stores the downloaded new control logic instruction in the storage device 120.

The visual layout control screen module 122 has a plurality of external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N built therein and the built-in graphical display interface can display a plurality of different external devices (for example, as shown in FIG. 3). In this embodiment, the required graphical display interface can be added or deleted according to the needs of the utility, and each graphical display interface is used to correspond to the exclusive external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N. By visualizing the map control screen module 122, the user can instantly monitor and display the current status of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N.

In this embodiment, the embedded system 100 is configured to monitor and control the status of each device of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N, wherein the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N may be, for example, an air conditioner, an air pressure device, a water tower device, or ice. Instrument equipment or machines such as machine equipment. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the device manager can install the embedded system 100 to the equipment room, the factory or the control center, and the like, and connect the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N. The device administrator can perform the smart control gate function through the embedded system 100. In this embodiment, the smart control gateway function includes a visual operation control logic module 121 and a visualized map control screen module 122. It is used to monitor and control the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N. In addition, in an embodiment, the embedded system 100 can further connect the input unit 310, such as a keyboard, a mouse or a control button, etc., so that the device manager can drag or select the visual operation control logic module 121 through the input unit 310. And visualizing the graphical control screen module 122. Moreover, the embedded system 100 can further connect the display unit 320, so that the device manager can monitor the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N through the display unit 320, and visually arrange the image control screen module 122 to present the external device 200_1, The status of 200_2~200_N.

In this embodiment, the embedded system 100 can drag or select the control logic corresponding to the external device 200_1, 200_2~200_N according to the input unit 310, so that the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N can be respectively according to the corresponding control logic. Run it. Specifically, the embedded system 100 can visualize the operation control logic module 121 by the processing device 110 to drag or select the respective control logics of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N, so that the embedded system 100 can be remotely The manner of control controls the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N at the same time.

In this embodiment, the visual operation control logic module 121 of the smart control gateway function may be, for example, a Google Visualization Language (VPL) or a visual programming language (VPL). The visual operation control logic module 121 can provide a drag-and-drop combination of visual control logic to achieve modular programming functions. That is to say, the device manager can write the programming language by visualizing the operation control logic module 121 to generate corresponding control logic. Therefore, the embedded system 100 can automatically control the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N according to the control logic written by the device manager.

In this embodiment, the embedded system 100 can arrange the graphical display interfaces of the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N in the monitoring screen according to the input unit 310. Specifically, the embedded system 100 can generate a visualized monitoring screen of the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N by visualizing the graphics control screen module 122, so that the embedded system 100 can display the monitoring screen through the display unit 320. .

In this embodiment, the visualized control map module 122 of the smart control gateway function may have, for example, a Human Machine Interface (HMI) editor, a data collection and monitoring system (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, SCADA) Editor and the like editor functions. The visual layout control screen module 122 can provide a graphical monitoring screen layout function. In other words, the device manager can visually arrange the picture control module 122 to complete the design of the monitoring picture according to specific monitoring requirements, so that the embedded system 100 can be based on the visual monitoring picture designed by the device manager. Provided to the display unit 320 to display a monitoring screen.

In addition, in the embodiment, the visual operation control logic module 121 and the visualized layout control screen module 122 internally have a plurality of different device specification databases, and the different device specification databases correspond to multiple Specification data of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N. Therefore, when the device manager is constructing the embedded system 100, the device manager can drag or select the visual operation control logic module 121 and drag or select the visual arrangement control picture module 122 to select the corresponding external device. Device specification data to conveniently set the control logic and visual monitoring screen of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N. In addition, in an embodiment, the device manager does not need to manually update the device specification data, and the device specification database can also perform communication update by communicating with an external computer device or server.

In this embodiment, the processing device 110 can be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), or other programmable general purpose or special purpose microprocessor (Microprocessor), digital signal processor (Digital Signal) Processor, DSP), Programmable Controller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), Programmable Logic Device (PLD), other similar processing devices, or a combination of these devices.

In this embodiment, the storage device 120 can be, for example, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a flash memory, or a non-volatile random access memory (Non-Volatile Random Access). Memory, NVRAM), etc. The storage device 120 can store the modules and data described in the embodiments of the present invention, so that the processing device 110 can implement the embedded system according to various embodiments of the present invention by reading the modules and data of the storage device 120. Equipment monitoring and control methods.

In this embodiment, the device host of the embedded system 100 can selectively set multiple interface cards of different communication interface types, and the interface cards are pluggable. In this embodiment, the processing device 110 communicates with the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N via a port 130 having at least one of the interface cards of the corresponding communication interface type. In this embodiment, the port 130 may be, for example, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, an RS-485 interface or an Ethernet interface, or the like, but the invention is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the communication interface type of the port 130 is determined according to the communication interface type of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N. That is, the embedded system 100 can be adapted to monitor external devices of various types of communication interfaces. The device manager can set the corresponding interface card to the motherboard in the embedded system 100 according to different monitoring requirements to provide a connection port of a specific communication interface type. Therefore, the port 130 of the present embodiment may be one or more, and is not limited to that shown in FIG.

For example, in an embodiment, if the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N have the same communication interface type, the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N may be connected to each other in series and connected to one port 130 having the same communication interface. However, in another embodiment, if the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N have different communication interface types, the device manager may add multiple interface cards according to the communication interface types, so that the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N Multiple ports can be connected to the respective communication interface type.

In this embodiment, when the embedded system 100 starts monitoring the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N, the processing device 110 continuously receives the device status signals of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N through the port 130 to continuously update the external device 200_1, Device information of 200_2~200_N. In this embodiment, the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N may respectively include various types of sensors, so that the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N can sense device information (such as temperature, pressure, voltage) sensed by the sensor. Etc., to provide device status signals to the embedded system 100. Moreover, in the present embodiment, the processing device 110 outputs control signals to the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N through the port 130 according to preset control logic to control the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N. That is to say, the port 130 of the embodiment can simultaneously receive the device status signals of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N, and output the control signals to the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N.

2 is a schematic diagram of a visual operation control logic according to an embodiment of the present invention, together with FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. When the device manager operates the embedded system 100 through the input unit 310 and monitors the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N through the display unit 320, the processing device 110 can execute the visual operation control logic module 121 to edit the external device 200_1. , 200_2~200_N action. In the present embodiment, the display unit 320 can display a part or all of the screen content of the visual operation control logic module 121. Can be as shown in Figure 2. In this embodiment, the content of screen 400 may, for example, include a plurality of visualized control logic instructions 410, 420, 430 for the device manager to design a programming language for a particular device. The device manager can compose or implement the logical control of a particular device by orchestrating or pulling the control logic instructions 410, 420, 430.

For example, the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N may include, for example, cooling water, an ice machine, a water pump, and a water tower. Equipment managers can design monitoring programs that monitor cooling water, ice machines, pumps, and water towers. Therefore, in Fig. 2, control logic instructions 411 to 415 are used to indicate the water temperature monitoring program of the cooling water. In control logic instruction 411, the equipment manager may choose to monitor the cooling water return water temperature. In control logic instructions 412, the device manager can select specific operational functions, such as addition or subtraction. In control logic instruction 413, the equipment manager may choose to monitor the cooling water outlet temperature. In control logic instructions 414, the device manager can select a particular conditional function, such as greater or lesser. In control logic instruction 415, the device manager can select a temperature threshold of 3 °C. That is, when the processing device 110 executes the control logic instruction 410, the embedded system 100 can monitor the return water temperature and the water temperature of the cooling water, and determine whether the temperature difference between the return water temperature and the water temperature of the cooling water is lower than 3 ° C. To further determine whether to execute control logic instructions 420, 430.

In Figure 2, control logic instructions 421-423 are used to represent the control program for the ice machine and the water tower. When the processing device 110 determines that the temperature difference between the return water temperature of the cooling water and the sewage temperature is less than 3 ° C, the processing device 110 executes the control logic command 420. In the control logic instruction 421, the equipment manager can choose to control the ice machine to cool the water pump, and operate the ice machine to adjust the Proportion Integration Differentiation (PID) to load the ice machine to 58 Hz to cool the water pump. . In control logic instruction 422, the device manager can set a time delay of 1000 milliseconds (ms). In control logic instruction 423, the device manager can set the PID to be loaded to 58 Hz by the PID adjustment. That is, when the processing device 110 executes the control logic command 420, the processing device 110 can output a control signal to the ice machine and the water tower via the port 130 to control the load of the ice machine and the water tower.

In FIG. 2, control logic instructions 430 include control programs that combine a plurality of control logic instructions 431-433 to represent the ice machine and the water tower. When the processing device 110 determines that the temperature difference between the return water temperature of the cooling water and the sewage temperature is not lower than 3 ° C, the processing device 110 executes the control logic command 430. In control logic instruction 431, the equipment manager may choose to control the ice machine to cool the water pump, and operate the ice machine to reduce the load of the ice machine to 46 Hz by a Proportion Integration Differentiation (PID) adjustment. In control logic instruction 432, the device manager can set a time delay of 2500 milliseconds (ms). In control logic instruction 433, the device manager can set the PID to be de-loaded to 46 Hertz (Hz). That is, when the processing device 110 executes the control logic command 430, the processing device 110 can output a control signal to the ice machine and the water tower via the port 130 to control the load of the ice machine and the water tower.

Therefore, after the device manager connects the embedded system 100 to the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N, the device manager can quickly edit the control logic of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N through the visual operation control logic module 121. And the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N are effectively controlled. That is to say, the embedded system 100 of the present embodiment can provide a convenient monitoring system installation advantage.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a visual layout control screen according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is combined with FIG. 1 and FIG. 3. After the device manager completes the control logic editing as shown in FIG. 2 above, the processing device 110 executes the visual layout control screen module 122 to generate a corresponding visualized monitoring screen to the display unit 320, so that the display unit 320 can display, for example, The monitor screen 500 shown in FIG. For example, in FIG. 3, the content of the screen 500 may include a menu icon 510 and a plurality of graphical display interfaces 520, 530, 540, 550, wherein the graphical display interfaces 520, 530, 540, 550 may be, for example, A plurality of different device graphics of the cooling water, ice machine, water pump, and water tower as in the embodiment of Figure 2 above are presented. The menu icon 510 can include a plurality of function icons 511, 512, 513, 514. The device manager can add, delete, or select these graphical display interfaces 520, 530, 540, 550, for example, by clicking on the function icons 511, 512, 513, 514 of the menu icon 510. The graphical information corresponding to the graphical display interfaces 520, 530, 540, 550 can be directly obtained from the internally built device specification database. The device manager can edit the monitor screen 500 by orchestrating or pulling the graphical display interfaces 520, 530, 540, 550.

In FIG. 3, the graphical display interfaces 520, 530, 540, 550 can each include information icons 521, 531, 541, 551 to correspond to device information for displaying cooling water, ice machines, water pumps, and water towers. These information icons 511, 512, 513, 514 may, for example, correspond to device information indicating numerical parameters such as the degree of load of the cooling water, the ice machine, the water pump, and the water tower, temperature, pressure, or voltage, and the like. It should be noted that these information icons 511, 512, 513, 514 can be continuously updated with the device status signals of the corresponding external devices to provide instant device information. Therefore, the visual layout control screen module 122 of the embodiment can provide a convenient monitoring screen editing function to display the instant device information on the display unit 320 to facilitate device manager monitoring.

4 is a flow chart of a method for monitoring and controlling a device according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, the device monitoring and control method of the present embodiment can be applied at least to the embedded system 100 of the embodiment of FIG. 1, so that the embedded system 100 can perform the following procedure flow. In this embodiment, the embedded system 100 drags or selects the visual operation control logic module 121 according to the input unit 310 to edit a plurality of control logics of the plurality of external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N (step S610). In this embodiment, the visual operation control logic module 121 formulates a plurality of control logics of the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200200_N, and outputs a plurality of control signals to the external device 200_1 through the interface 130 of the interface card according to the control logic. 200_2~200_N, so that the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N operate according to these control logics respectively (step S620).

In this embodiment, the embedded system 100 drags or selects the visualized map control screen module 122 according to the input unit 310 to arrange a plurality of graphical display interfaces of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N in the monitoring screen ( Step S630). In this embodiment, the processing device 110 generates a corresponding visualized monitoring image by visually editing the editing result of the graphic control screen module 122, and the visualized monitoring screen includes various different devices of the external devices 200_1, 200_2 200 200_N. Information (step S640). In the present embodiment, the embedded system 100 outputs the visualized monitoring screen to the display unit 320 to cause the display unit 320 to display the monitoring screen according to the visualized monitoring screen (step S650). In this embodiment, the embedded system 100 continuously receives the device status signals of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N through the interface 130 of the interface card to continuously update various device information of the external devices 200_1, 200_2~200_N. And the visualized monitoring screen is updated correspondingly (step S660). Therefore, the device monitoring and control method of the embodiment can effectively monitor and control a plurality of external devices.

However, with regard to related device features, implementation details, and technical features of the embedded system 100 of the present embodiment, reference may be made to the contents of the foregoing embodiments of FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 to obtain sufficient teachings, suggestions, and implementation descriptions, and thus no further description is provided. .

In summary, the embedded system and the device monitoring and control method of the present invention can simultaneously monitor a plurality of external devices by using a single host on which the embedded system of the present invention is built, without constructing a complicated system structure. The embedded system of the invention comprises a built-in visual operation control logic module and a visual arrangement control picture module, and the device manager can operate the visual control operation logic module and visually arrange the picture control picture module. Conveniently edit the individual control logic and monitoring screens of these external devices. Therefore, the embedded system and the device monitoring and control method of the present invention can effectively monitor these external devices, and have the advantages of low construction cost and simple system structure.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some changes and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

100‧‧‧ embedded system

110‧‧‧Processing device

120‧‧‧Storage device

121‧‧‧Visual Operation Control Logic Module

122‧‧‧Visualized layout control screen module

130‧‧‧Connector

200_1, 200_2, 200_N‧‧‧ external equipment

310‧‧‧Input unit

320‧‧‧ display unit

400, 500‧‧‧ screen

410~430, 411~415, 421~423, 431~433‧‧‧ Control logic instructions

510‧‧‧ menu icon

511, 512, 513, 514‧‧‧ function icons

520, 530, 540, 550‧‧‧ graphical display interface

521, 531, 541, 551 ‧ ‧ information icons

S610, S620, S630, S640, S650, S660‧‧ steps

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embedded system according to an embodiment of the invention. 2 is a schematic diagram of visualized operational control logic in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a visual layout control screen according to an embodiment of the invention. 4 is a flow chart of a method for monitoring and controlling a device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Claims (6)

An embedded system, configured to monitor and control a plurality of external devices, the embedded system comprising: a processing device; at least one interface card connecting the processing device and the external devices, the processing device transmitting the at least one interface card pair The external device performs corresponding monitoring and control; and a storage device is connected to the processing device, and the storage device stores a visual operation control logic module and a visualized graphic control screen module, wherein the processing device borrows Determining, by the visualized operation control logic module, a plurality of control logics of the external devices, so that the external devices operate according to the control logic, wherein the processing device arranges the image control module by using the visualization To generate a visual monitoring screen, and the visual monitoring screen includes device information of the external devices, wherein the processing device controls the logic module and the visualized graphics control mode module according to the user requirements The group edits the control logic of the external devices and the visualized monitoring screen. The embedded system of claim 1, wherein the embedded system is connected to a display unit, and the embedded system transmits the visualized monitoring screen to the display unit, so that the display unit is monitored according to the visual The screen displays a monitor screen. The embedded system of claim 2, wherein the embedded system is connected to an input unit, When the display unit displays a visual program editing interface of the visual operation control logic module, the processing device drags or selects the control logics of the external devices according to the input unit, when the display unit displays the visualization When the monitoring screen of the graphic control screen module is arranged, the processing device arranges a plurality of graphical display interfaces of the external devices in the monitoring screen according to the input unit. The embedded system of claim 3, wherein the visual operation control logic module and the visual arrangement control picture module internally have a plurality of different device specification databases, and the different The device specification database is configured to provide a plurality of device specification data corresponding to the external devices, wherein the visual operation control logic module and the visualized layout control screen module generate corresponding correspondence according to the different device specification data. The control logic and corresponding graphical display interfaces. The embedded system of claim 1, wherein the embedded system comprises a plurality of interface cards providing different communication interface types, and the interface cards are pluggable, wherein the processing device passes the interface cards At least one of them communicates with the external devices having a corresponding communication interface type. The embedded system of claim 1, wherein the processing device continuously receives the plurality of device status signals of the external devices through the at least one port of the at least one interface card to continuously update the external devices. A plurality of different device information, and the processing device outputs a plurality of control signals to the external devices through the at least one port according to the control logic.