JP4509979B2 - CONTROL SYSTEM, PROGRAMMABLE DISPLAY AND SERVER COMPUTER, PROGRAM FOR PROGRAMMABLE DISPLAY AND SERVER COMPUTER, AND RECORDING MEDIUM CONTAINING THE PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a programmable display capable of displaying information displayed on a server computer on a programmable display connected to the server computer via a network, and a control system including the programmable display.

The programmable display has an interface with the host controller (PLC, inverter, temperature controller, etc.), and displays the operating status of the devices connected to the host controller and gives control instructions to the devices. This is an operation-type display with a function to accept input from the screen. In general, since the programmable display has a graphic display function, it can display an operation panel, a switch, an indicator lamp, and the like, and serves as an operation terminal in the control system.

Such a programmable display is operated by an operator who is generally engaged in production work, for example, at a production site. When a problem occurs in the control system, it may be difficult for the operator to deal with the problem depending on the problem. In such a case, the manager of the control system may solve the problem. However, there is an annoyance that the person in charge of management has to go to the site every time a problem to be solved arises and check the status of the control system with an image displayed on the programmable display.

Or, if the manager of the production line wants to monitor the operating status of the production line, the manager must go to the site and check the status of the control system with the image displayed on the programmable display. There is annoyance that it must not be.

In order to eliminate such inconvenience, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the same image as the image displayed on the programmable display can be viewed at a location away from the site where the programmable display is installed. The technique which can be operated similarly to a programmable display on the displayed screen is disclosed. In this technique, an applet (Java (registered trademark) applet) created by converting image data in a server computer is transmitted to a client device via the Internet. The client device executes the received applet, it displays the same image as the image to be displayed on the programmable display device in a browser, to operations such as instructions to the same manner as the programmable display device on the displayed image PLC Can do.
JP 2002-91510 A (published March 29, 2002)

In the above technique, a screen display and operation similar to those of a programmable display can be realized in a computer arranged separately from a programmable display such as a client device. However, on the contrary, with the above technology, the computer cannot be operated from a programmable display.

Since the programmable display is configured to be connectable to a network such as a LAN, the programmable display is installed so as to perform data communication with a server computer including a general-purpose personal computer in an environment where the network is constructed. There is often. However, the programmable display only transmits and receives data to and from the server computer, and cannot use various application programs and data files installed in the server computer.

For this reason, a personal computer having application programs and data files may be unavoidably installed at a site where a programmable display is installed. In production sites where the environment is not good for general electronic equipment, programmable displays with environmental resistance operate without problems, but personal computers without environmental resistance may fail or malfunction. There is an inconvenience that it is easy.

Further, in a narrow site, equipment other than the programmable display is installed, which causes a disadvantage that the working environment is deteriorated. Since a programmable display is often incorporated in an apparatus as an operation panel, it does not require much horizontal installation space, but a personal computer requires an installation table such as a desk even if it is small. For this reason, it is not preferable to bring a personal computer to the production site in order to save space and reduce the maintenance cost of the control system.

In order not to introduce such extra equipment, it may be possible to port application programs used in personal computers to programmable displays. However, due to differences in hardware configuration with personal computers, a large amount of development man-hours are required. And Even if an application program can be ported to a programmable display device, it cannot often be used normally due to the limitation of CPU capacity and memory capacity.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a programmable display that can use an application program and a data file that a general-purpose computer has.

The control system which concerns on this invention is a control system provided with the control apparatus, the programmable display, and the server computer, Comprising: The said programmable display communicates with the said control apparatus mutually, The screen of the said programmable display According to the above operation, a control instruction is given to the control device, the control state of the control device is displayed on the screen of the programmable display, and by communicating with the server computer, In a control system that is a programmable display that displays an image displayed on the screen on the screen of the programmable display, the programmable display is generated by the operation of the control device in order to solve the above-described problem. Trigger and operation on the screen of the programmable display Therefore, trigger transmission means for transmitting the generated trigger to the server computer, and an image for receiving image data of the image displayed on the screen of the server computer from the server computer by controlling the application program in the server computer A data receiving means; and image data display means for displaying the image data received by the image data receiving means on the screen of the programmable display, and the server computer transmits a trigger transmitted by the trigger transmitting means. Trigger receiving means for receiving the program, program control means for controlling the application program designated in accordance with the trigger received by the trigger receiving means, and application controlled by the program control means Program display means for displaying the image data of the computer program on the screen of the server computer, and image data transmission means of the application program for displaying on the screen of the server computer by the program display means. .

In the above configuration, when the trigger is transmitted to the server computer by the trigger transmission means of the programmable display device, the server computer operates the application program designated according to the trigger and is displayed by the operation of the application program. The image data of the image to be transmitted is transmitted to the programmable display. In the programmable display, when the image data is received by the image data receiving means, the image data is displayed by the image data display means .

Thereby, an image displayed by the application program running on the server computer, that is, an image of a file opened by the application program can be displayed on the programmable display.

The application program is preferably, for example, any one of the following (1) to (4).
(1) The image creation program (2) to create an image editor program The editor program to create a sequence program that defines the control procedure by the control unit, has a function to monitor the execution status of a sequence program by the control unit Is preferred.
(3) display program (4) for displaying the data files provided in the programmable display device, from the data transmit means for sending the data from the control device to a predetermined transmit satisfying to the server computer it data processing program application program that processes the data sent to the server computer (2) to (4) for the programmable display device is an application program, which the trigger has occurred in the control device (for example, the control state Change). Thereby, the application program can be automatically operated by a trigger generated during operation of the control device. As a result, for example, an alarm generated in the control device can be used as a trigger to operate an application program for displaying a document describing a manual for dealing with the alarm, thereby displaying the manual.

For the programmable display whose application program is the application program of (1), it is preferable that the trigger is an instruction for causing the image creation program to download the image from the host computer to the control device. Thus, for example, an image can be downloaded from the image creation program to the programmable display using a user operation on the programmable display as a trigger.

In the programmable display whose application program is the application program of (2), the trigger is an instruction for the editor program to download the ladder program from the host computer to the control device. preferable. Thus, for example, the ladder program can be downloaded from the editor program to the control device with the user operation on the programmable display as a trigger.

For the programmable display whose application program is the application program of (3), it is preferable that the trigger is an instruction for causing the display program to download the data file to the programmable display or the control device. Accordingly, for example, the data file can be downloaded from the display program to the programmable display or the control device with a user operation on the programmable display as a trigger.

The programmable display of this invention is a programmable display which comprises the said control system.

The program for the programmable display of the present invention is a program for causing a computer that realizes the programmable display constituting the control system to function as each means.

The program is provided by being recorded on a computer-readable recording medium.

Thereby, when a programmable display operate | moves according to the said program, the image displayed when an application program operate | moves in a server computer as mentioned above can also be displayed on a programmable display.

The server computer of the present invention is a server computer constituting the control system.

The program for the server computer of the present invention causes a computer that implements the server computer in the control system to function as each unit of the server computer.

The program is provided by being recorded on a computer-readable recording medium.

Thereby, as described above, an image displayed by the application program running on the server computer can be displayed also on the programmable display.

As described above, the programmable display that constitutes the control system according to the present invention includes the trigger transmission unit, the image data reception unit, and the image data display unit, so that the application program operates on the server computer. Thus, the displayed image can also be displayed on the programmable display. Thereby, in order to use an application program, it is not necessary to install the computer which installed the application program in the field where the programmable display was installed separately. As a result, it is possible to save space and reduce the maintenance cost of the control system. In addition, since it is not necessary to port the application program to a programmable display device, it is possible to avoid a great amount of development man-hours and that the ported application program cannot be used normally. As a result, there is an effect that maintenance including the programmable display can be efficiently performed.

The embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 as follows.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a programmable display 2, a server computer 3, a network 4, and a PLC 5.

The programmable display 2 is connected to the server computer 3 via the network 4. The network 4 is a communication network including a local area network (LAN) made up of Ethernet (registered trademark) or the like capable of performing communication using a common communication protocol (common communication protocol) and the Internet.

In accordance with a sequence program (such as a ladder program) created by the user, the PLC 5 captures the state of the input device 6 via the input unit and outputs it at every predetermined scan time such as several tens of ms. A control instruction is given to the device 6 for use.

As the input device 6, devices such as sensors (temperature sensors, optical sensors, etc.) and switches (push button switches, limit switches, pressure switches, etc.) are used. As the output device 6, an actuator, a relay, a solenoid valve, a display, or the like is used. These devices 6 are arranged in required parts of various target systems such as a production line and constitute a part of the control system 1.

The device 6 may be a specific area in a data memory (not shown) for storing data manually input from the touch panel 25 described later. The device 6 may be a specific area in the memory in the PLC 5.

The memory (device memory) in the PLC 5 stores data (word data or bit data) indicating the state of the device 6 (output value from the device 6 or set value to the device 6) in an area specified by the device address. is doing. In the memory, a word device and a bit device are set. The word device is set as an area for storing word data such as numeric values as input / output data, and is designated by a word address (device address). The bit device is set as an area for storing bit data such as an on / off state, and is set by a bit address (device address). With such a setting, the device 6 can be controlled simply by accessing an arbitrary word device or bit device in the memory by designating the device address, or information regarding the state can be individually taken out.

In the following description, the device address is appropriately referred to as an address.

The programmable display device 2 includes an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU, and is a dedicated computer that realizes an operation function and a display function unique to the programmable display device by displaying image data for input operation and display created by the user. is there. The programmable display 2 that is preferably used as an HMI device of the control system 1 is an operation for displaying the state of the device 6 on the screen based on image data determined by combining processing definition information (tag) described later. The operation when the state of the device 6 is controlled according to the operation on the screen is specified.

This programmable display 2 acquires the state of each device 6 that displays the state on the display screen via the PLC 5 through communication with the PLC 5 via the communication cable 7. For example, the programmable display 2 displays the state of each device 6 on the screen 24 described later. It has a function to display the status. The programmable display 2 has a function of instructing the device 6 to control the state of the device in response to an operation on the touch panel 25 described later.

The acquisition / change of the state of the device 6 may be instructed each time, or a temporary memory space is prepared in the programmable display 2, and when acquiring / changing, the memory space is accessed and a predetermined It is also possible to communicate with the PLC 5 at every time interval or every predetermined event to synchronize with the entity to which each address is assigned.

In order to realize the above functions, the programmable display 2 includes an HMI control unit 21, a memory unit 22, a VRAM 23, a screen 24, a touch panel 25, an input device 26, an interface unit (I / O in the figure). F) 27 and 28, and a pass-through function unit 29. Hereinafter, each main part of the programmable display device 2 will be described in detail.

In order to display the image of the image data called from the data memory 222 of the memory unit 22 on the screen 24, the VRAM 23 stores it as dot data in the order of display in the horizontal direction. Screen 24, to configure the programmable display device 2 to be thin, liquid-crystal screen, EL screens, flat screens such as plasma screens are preferably used. The touch panel 25 is provided for performing touch input on the display screen of the screen 24.

The input device 26 is an input device that is detachably connected to the programmable display device 2 such as a keyboard or a mouse. This input device 26 is preferably used for an operation performed when each application program of an application unit 33 described later in the server computer 3 is executed.

The interface unit 27 is a communication control unit for the programmable display 2 to communicate with the server computer 3 and the server computer 3, and is connected to the network 4. The interface unit 27 is configured to perform network communication based on the IP address of the server computer 3.

On the other hand, the interface unit 28 is a communication control unit for the programmable display device 2 to communicate with the PLC 5. The interface unit 28 is configured to perform serial communication control when the PLC 5 is a model that performs serial communication, and to perform network communication when the PLC 5 is a model that performs network communication. When performing serial communication control, the interface unit 28 performs communication using a communication protocol according to the manufacturer and model of the PLC 5.

The pass-through function unit 29 is a communication port that performs communication (serial communication, network communication, etc.) between the PLC 5 and the server computer 3 through the programmable display 2. Since the pass-through function unit 29 transmits the data received by the programmable display device 2 from the PLC 5 via the interface unit 28 to the server computer 3 as it is, as viewed from the server computer 3, it is as if it is a communication port of the PLC 5. Behave.

The memory unit 22 includes a work memory 221 and a data memory 222.

The work memory 221 is composed of, for example, a DRAM, and is used not only for work during arithmetic processing such as display control but also for temporary storage of data exchanged with the PLC 5. In particular, the DRAM has a state memory area for transferring the state of the device 6 (the contents of the device address) stored in the PLC 5 memory to and from the PLC 5 memory.

The work memory 221 is also used as an area for temporarily saving / copying image data transmitted from the server computer 3. Here, this specific area is arranged in a ring buffer shape, and the latest image data is saved and copied with a certain capacity.

The data memory 222 is a memory for storing image data, the above communication protocol, and the like, and FEPROM (Flash Erasable and Programmable ROM) is used. Since FEPROM is a rewritable read-only flash memory, it plays the role of a hard disk drive in a general personal computer. A flash memory does not have a movable part and is resistant to impacts, and thus operates stably even in a poor ambient environment.

The image data is an image file in which data of one or more user images (unit images composed of image data for one frame) displayed on the programmable display device 2 are collected. As image data, a series of related image data corresponding to a target system, a product manufactured by the target system, and the like are usually prepared as a set of project files.

Programmable display device 2 selects one of the image data based on the unique image number is assigned to each image number from the project file, and displays the user image based on the image data.

The image data includes a base image to be displayed on the screen 24, component data, processing definition information to be described later assigned to each component, and the like. This image data includes a graphic data portion and an address data portion. The graphic data part stores graphic data and selected parts for the mark created by the user, and the address data part corresponds to the graphic data part, and the address and address for the input mark or part are input. The comment corresponding to is stored. Specifically, each mark or part in the graphic data portion is associated with a corresponding comment and address in the address data portion.

Comments include event names such as the operating status (start, stop, etc.) of the device 6, codes corresponding to the device 6 such as SW and lamp corresponding to the switch, LAMP, operation instructions, and control targets The physical quantity that becomes. Comments can also be handled as variables. The comment defined in this way is associated with a desired device address corresponding to the device 6 in advance.

The processing definition information (tag) defines various types of processing performed in relation to the user image . The process specification information is created for each event to be performed on the base image, basically, the file number (image number) of the base image to be performed display processing, performed on this base image An event name for specifying the operation content to be performed and reference information including one or a plurality of data referred to for each execution event are provided as a set.

In the programmable display device 2 according to the present embodiment, as the above-described tag, a display tag indicating the correspondence between the region (display range) on the base image and the device address of the device corresponding to the display in the region, and on the screen A touch input tag indicating the correspondence between an area (input range) and an address corresponding to a touch input to the area is defined. Furthermore, in this embodiment, each tag can be associated with at least one of a plurality of user images .

Further, the image data includes display area data such as coordinates for defining an area (VNC display area) for displaying image data acquired from the VNC server 36 described later of the server computer 3. The image data includes a trigger condition (trigger condition) for displaying the image data in the VNC display area. Examples of the trigger condition include touch of a predetermined switch on the user image , change of bit data of a predetermined bit address of the PLC 5, and the like.

The HMI control unit 21 is a functional block realized by causing an arithmetic processing means such as a CPU provided in the programmable display 2 to execute the HMI control program. The above-mentioned HMI control program can be recorded on a recording medium configured to be separable from the programmable display 2 and may be installed in the programmable display 2 from the recording medium. The HMI control program is individually prepared for each model in order to exhibit a function corresponding to the model of the programmable display device 2.

The above recording media include tape systems such as magnetic tapes and cassette tapes, magnetic disk systems such as flexible disks and hard disks, optical disk systems such as CD-ROM, MO, MD, and DVD, IC cards (including memory cards), optical A card system such as a card is preferred. In addition, the program medium may be a medium that carries a fixed program including a semiconductor memory such as a mask ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash ROM, or the like.

Further, if the control system 1 is configured to be connectable to a communication network including the Internet, it may be a medium that carries the program in a fluid manner so as to download the program from the communication network. However, when the program is downloaded from the communication network in this way, the download program may be stored in advance in the programmable display 2 or may be installed from another recording medium.

The HMI control unit 21, display control of the user image, the control of the input operation via the user image, performs a central control operation of the HMI functions such control of the communication with the connected devices such as PLC5. Further, HMI control section 21 has a VNC (Virtual Network Co m puting) client unit 211, display processing unit 212, input processing unit 213 and the data distribution unit 214.

The VNC client unit 211 is communicably connected to the server computer 3 and communicates with a VNC server 36 described later of the server computer 3. Through this communication, the VNC client unit 211 requests connection to the VNC server 36, passes the image data acquired from the VNC server 36 to the display processing unit 212, and sends the trigger condition from the input processing unit 213 to the VNC server 36. Or the ID of the programmable display device 2 is transmitted. The VNC client unit 211 has a VNC client function for remotely operating the server computer 3 in order to perform the above processing. The programmable display device 2 functions as a remote access client by including the VNC client unit 211 described above.

The display processing unit 212 performs processing for acquiring the state of the device 6 and displaying it on the user image . The display processing unit 212 reads necessary information among the state information indicated by the bit device or the word device set in the memory in the PLC 5 to the work memory 221 in a timely manner, and repeatedly reads the display tag. The parts in the expression format designated by the display tag are displayed on the screen 24 in the designated area on the screen in a form corresponding to the read value. As a result, a display operation that changes according to a change in the state of the bit device or the word device is executed, and the state of the device 6 acquired from the PLC 5 is reflected in the display state of the component in the user image . The display processing unit 212 displays the image data from the VNC server 36 received by the VNC client unit 211 in the VNC display area provided on the screen .

The input processing unit 213 performs processing for giving a control instruction to the device 6 by input (touch input or numerical input) via the touch panel 25 on the user image . The input processing unit 213 repeatedly reads out the above-described input tag and specifies a range (an effective input coordinate range in which the input is valid) for specifying an input position in a predetermined area of the user image included in the reference information in the input tag. ), And the operation specified by the event name specifying the operation of the touch panel 25 (numerical value input operation, ON / OFF operation, etc.) is set as a bit device or a word device in the memory in the PLC 5. For example, in the case of a numerical input operation, numerical data or the like is written as a control instruction to the word device, and in the case of an ON / OFF operation, a new bit state is written as a control instruction to the bit device. As a result, in the PLC 5, the set control instruction is executed as the above operation, and the state of the device 6 changes. Further, the input processing unit 213 passes the trigger condition described above for acquiring image data from the server computer 3 to the VNC client unit 211.

The data delivery unit 214 delivers data from the designated data delivery source to the data delivery destination when a predesignated condition is satisfied. A device serving as a data distribution source and a data distribution destination is, for example, a device connected to a network 4 including a PLC 5, a programmable display 2 (own device or another device), and a server computer 3. Examples of the delivery condition include a change in bit of the bit device (ON to OFF or OFF to ON) at every predetermined time, and power on the programmable display 2.

In addition, when the PLC 5 is a model that performs serial communication, the data distribution unit 214 converts the communication protocol of the PLC 5 into a communication protocol for the network 4. Specifically, the data distribution unit 214 refers to protocol conversion data stored in the data memory 222 or the like, and converts protocols such as instruction code conversion, argument conversion, or transmission control code conversion in transmission data. Conversion is performed and communication between the server computer 3 and the PLC 5 connected to the programmable display 2 is relayed.

Next, the server computer 3 will be described. The server computer 3 has a CPU, a memory (RAM, ROM, etc.), an external storage device (hard disk drive, MO drive, etc.), a display device and an input device (keyboard, mouse, etc.) as in a general-purpose personal computer. ing. The server computer 3 includes an interface unit (I / F in the figure) 31, an event manager 32, an application unit 33, a data collector 34, a data processing program 35, a VNC server 36, a storage device 37, a display processing unit 38, and a VRAM 39. And a virtual COM 40.

The interface unit 31 is connected to the network 4 in order to perform communication with the programmable display device 2.

The event manager 32 recognizes a trigger condition transmitted from the VNC client unit 211 of the programmable display device 2 as an input event from a predetermined batch command, and designates and executes the batch command corresponding to the input event. . Specifically, the event manager 32 starts a designated application program among the application programs in the application unit 33 by executing a batch command. For example, processing such as opening a PDF file designated by touch input on the user image displayed on the programmable display 2 is performed.

The application unit 33 includes an image editor 331, a ladder editor 332, a viewer 333, and a browser 334 as various application programs activated by the event manager 32.

The image editor 331 can create a user image that is a user-specific image , such as switches, lamps, numeric keys, various displays (for example, a numerical display, a meter display, and a graph display), and various tags. A setting function, a drawing function, a text input function, etc. are provided. The image editor 331 stores the image data created by the user in the storage device 37 in a file format, and downloads it to the programmable display 2 as necessary.

In addition, the image editor 331 determines a range designated on the base image by a user's mouse operation or the like as the VNC display area described above, and causes the image data to have display area data such as coordinates determined thereby. The image editor 331 also gives the image data the trigger conditions set by the user.

The ladder editor 332 is programming software for creating the ladder program that defines the control procedure of the PLC 5 so that the device 6 operates according to a desired sequence. The ladder editor 332 can create a ladder diagram (ladder program) by placing ladder symbols corresponding to the device 6 and ladder symbols representing various processes such as arithmetic processing on a display screen (not shown) of the server computer 3. It is configured. The ladder editor 332 associates an address with a comment (variable) set by the user. The result of this allocation is stored as part of the ladder program. The ladder editor 332 stores the ladder program created by the user in the storage device 37 in a file format, and downloads it to the PLC 5 as necessary.

The ladder editor 332 has a ladder monitor function for displaying the execution status of the ladder program in the PLC 5. For this reason, the ladder editor 332 communicates with the PLC 5 via the virtual COM 40 of the server computer 3 and the pass-through function unit 29 of the programmable display 2 to acquire device data from the PLC 5.

The viewer 333 is software that displays the contents of the data file stored in the storage device 37. As the viewer 333, software for displaying various data files such as a PDF file, a CAD file, and a text file is prepared.

The browser 334 is software for downloading, displaying, and playing back data files published on a Web server on the Internet.

In order to collect the data distributed from the data distribution unit 214 of the programmable display device 2, the data collector 34 causes the data processing program 35 to process the collected data and store it in the storage device 37 as a distribution data file. Further, the data collector 34 performs polling to inquire about the presence of a transmission request from the programmable display 2 or the like.

The data processing program 35 is an application program for processing data passed from the data collector 34. As the data processing program 35, for example, a spreadsheet program is prepared. When a spreadsheet program is used as the data processing program 35, processing such as writing the data collected by the data collector 34 to the specified cell in the specified order or graphing the data is performed.

The display processing unit 38 displays a file opened by the application program activated by the event manager 32 or displays a distribution data file opened by the data processing program activated by the data collector 35. The image of the file contents is expanded and displayed on the VRAM 39.

When the ladder editor 332 connects (handshake) with the PLC 5, the virtual COM 40 controls data transmission so that communication is performed via the pass-through function unit 29 of the programmable display 2 instead of the normal communication path. By using the virtual COM 40, communication is performed between the ladder editor 332 and the PLC 5 via the virtual COM 40, the pass-through function unit 29, and the interface unit 28.

The VNC server 36 communicates with the aforementioned VNC client unit 211 using the VNC protocol. In response to a transmission request for image data from the VNC client unit 211, the VNC server 36 reads out image data of an image of a specified area from the currently displayed image from the VRAM 39 and transmits it to the VNC client unit 211. . Further, when the display content is updated, the VNC server 36 transmits only the change (difference) image data to the VNC client unit 211.

The event manager 32, the data collector 34, the VNC server 36, the display processing unit 38, and the virtual COM 40 are programs and are functional blocks that are realized by the server computer 3 executing. The event manager 32, the data collector 34, the VNC server 36, the display processing unit 38, and the virtual COM 40 can be recorded on a recording medium configured to be separable from the server computer 3, and installed on the server computer 3 from this storage medium. Is possible. This recording medium is a computer-readable recording medium similar to the recording medium on which the aforementioned HMI control program is recorded. Note that the display processing unit 38 may be a function realized by an OS (operating system) of the server computer 3.

Here, the remote access operation of the server computer 3 by the programmable display 2 in the control system 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to the processing flow of FIG.

First, the programmable display 2 and the PLC 5 perform asynchronous data transmission / reception asynchronously. When the programmable display 2 (HMI control unit 21) transmits a handshake request to the PLC 5, the PLC 5 transmits to the programmable display 2 that the handshake has been established. Thereby, transmission / reception of data is attained between the programmable display 2 and PLC5. In this state, when the data of the specified device is requested from the programmable display 2, the PLC 5 transmits the data of the device to the programmable display 2. Further, when the programmable display 2 transmits the data of the designated device to the PLC 5, the PLC 5 writes the received data to the corresponding device address.

In this way, data transmission / reception is performed between the programmable display 2 and the PLC 5.

In the programmable display 2, when a trigger condition is established by a user touch operation on the displayed screen or a change in a designated bit device in the PLC 5, the trigger condition is input from the VNC client unit 211 to the server computer 3 as an input event. Sent. Upon receiving the input event, the event manager 32 of the server computer 3 executes the batch command to start the application program of the application unit 33 specified by the batch command, and the process specified by the batch command Is executed by the application program.

As a result, the file of the storage device 37 and the file of the Web server are opened by the activated application, and an image indicating the contents of the file is developed and displayed on the VRAM 39 by the display processing unit 38.

When data is distributed from the programmable display device 2 (data distribution unit 214), the data collector 34 of the server computer 3 starts the data processing program 35 and causes the data processing program 35 to process the received data. The data processing program 35 stores the processed result in the storage device 37 as a distribution data file. In the state where the data processing program 35 is activated and the distribution data file is opened, an image indicating the contents is developed and displayed on the VRAM 39 by the display processing unit 38.

In this state, when a connection is requested from the programmable display 2 (VNC client unit 211) to the VNC server 36 of the server computer 3, the VNC server 36 identifies the programmable display 2 with an ID (for example, the programmable display 2). IP address) is requested to be transmitted. When the ID is transmitted from the programmable display device 2, the VNC server 36 transmits the image data of the designated area of the currently displayed image to the programmable display device 2.

In the programmable display device 2, the image data received by the VNC client unit 211 is passed to the display processing unit 212 for display. The display processing unit 212 develops the received image data in the VRAM 23 and displays it on the display 24. As a result, the same image as that displayed on the server computer 3 is also displayed on the programmable display 2.

When the display content on the server computer 3 is changed, the changed image data is transmitted from the VNC server 36 to the VNC client unit 211. As a result, in the programmable display device 2, the display change in the server computer 3 is reflected in the same manner.

For example, when the image editor 331 is activated as an application program, a drawing window 101 is displayed on the server computer 3 as shown in FIG. 3, and the user image 102 is created and edited on the drawing window 101. Is possible. In addition, by the operation as described above, the drawing window 101 including the user image 102 is also displayed on the programmable display 2, and the user edits the user image 102 on the drawing window 101 using the input device 26. When an operation is performed, the operation is transmitted to the server computer 3 as an input event. When the event manager 32 executes a batch command corresponding to the input event, the image editor 331 performs processing corresponding to the input event.

In this way, not only the user image 102 is created and edited on the drawing window 101 displayed on the programmable display 2, but also the created user image 102 ( image data) is downloaded to the programmable display 2. can do. Therefore, the user image 102 can be corrected at the site where the programmable display 2 is installed.

When the ladder editor 332 is activated as an application program, a ladder window 201 is displayed on the server computer 3 as shown in FIG. 4, and the ladder program 202 is created and edited on the ladder window 201. Is possible. The programmable display 2 also displays a ladder window 201 including the ladder program 202. When the user performs an editing operation on the ladder program 202 on the ladder window 201 using the input device 26, the operation is performed. Is transmitted to the server computer 3 as an input event. When the event manager 32 executes a batch command corresponding to the input event, the ladder editor 332 performs processing corresponding to the input event.

In this way, not only can the ladder program 202 be created or edited on the ladder window 201 displayed on the programmable display 2, but also the ladder program 202 that has been created can be downloaded to the PLC 5. Therefore, the ladder program 202 can be modified at the site where the programmable display 2 is installed.

When performing ladder monitoring with the ladder editor 332 activated, data is transmitted and received between the ladder editor 332 and the PLC 5 via the virtual COM 40 of the server computer 3 and the pass-through function unit 29 of the programmable display 2. Done. At this time, the ladder program 202 to be monitored is read from the storage device 37 and displayed on the ladder window 201 in the same manner as at the time of creation, and changes due to the device data acquired from the PLC 5 are reflected in the ladder program 202. As a result, the execution status of the ladder program can be confirmed in real time. Of course, this image is also displayed on the programmable display 2 by communication between the VNC server 36 and the VNC client unit 211.

When the viewer 333 is activated as an application program, the data file is opened and an image of the content is displayed by the display processing unit 38. The image data of the designated area portion of the image is displayed on the programmable display 2 by being transmitted from the VNC server 36 to the VNC client unit 211. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, when the user image 103 is displayed on the programmable display 2, the image of the partial image data is displayed in the VNC display area 103 a provided in the user image 103. . This image is, for example, an operation procedure described in a PDF file (data file) or a manual for avoiding trouble.

When the browser 334 is activated as an application program, a data file downloaded by the browser 334 from a Web server on the Internet to a working memory (not shown) of the server computer 3 is displayed by the display processing unit 38. The display image is also displayed in the VNC display area 103a on the programmable display device 2 in the same manner as the image displayed on the viewer 333. Thereby, while displaying the user image 103, the Web page displayed in the VNC display area 103a can be viewed, and maintenance of the programmable display 2 can be performed from the Web page published by the manufacturer of the programmable display 2. Information can be obtained.

Further, when the data processing program 35 is activated in accordance with an instruction from the data collector 34, the distribution data file is opened, and an image of the content is displayed by the display processing unit 38. The image data of the designated area of the image is transmitted from the VNC server 36 to the VNC client unit 211, and is displayed on the VNC display area 103 a also on the programmable display 2. Thereby, an image such as a graph created based on the distribution data by the data processing program 35 can be displayed in the VNC display area 103a. Therefore, the graph as described above can be handled as if it is a part of the user image 103.

As described above, in the control system 1 of the present embodiment, the programmable display device 2 includes the VNC client unit 211, and the server computer 3 includes the event manager 32, the data collector 34, and the VNC server 36. Thereby, in response to a request from the programmable display device 2, the application program specified in the server computer 3 is activated to open the specified file, and an image of the contents of the file can be displayed on the programmable display device 2. Further, the application program can be made to perform processing in accordance with the operation on the programmable display device 2.

Thus, the programmable display 2 can reflect the result on control of PLC5 using the resource of a server computer. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately install a personal computer at the site where the programmable display device 2 is installed, and space can be saved at the production site. In addition, it is not necessary to introduce extra equipment, and an increase in maintenance cost of the control system 1 can be suppressed. Furthermore, it is not necessary to port the application program to the programmable display device 2, and there is no inconvenience that the development man-hours for that purpose and the application program after porting do not operate normally.

Therefore, the maintainability of the control system 1 including the programmable display device 2 can be greatly improved.

In the present embodiment, the example in which the PLC 5 is used as the control device has been described. However, the control device is not limited to the PLC 5. For example, the control device may be a control device capable of data communication with the programmable display 2 such as an inverter or a temperature controller.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope shown in the claims. That is, embodiments obtained by combining technical means appropriately modified within the scope of the claims are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

In the programmable display of the present invention, the application program is started in the server computer by accessing the server computer, and the display image of the data file opened by the application program is transmitted to the programmable display. The present invention can be suitably used for a control system that effectively uses the resources of a server computer.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the processing flow of communication of each part when a programmable display performs the operation | movement of the remote access which operates a server computer in the said control system. It is a figure which shows the drawing window displayed by the image editor of the server computer of the said control system. It is a figure which shows the ladder window displayed by the ladder editor of the server computer of the said control system. It is a figure which shows the user image displayed with a programmable display in which the image displayed by the viewer of the server computer of the said control system was integrated.

Explanation of symbols

1 control system 2 programmable display 3 server computer 4 network 5 PLC (control device)
21HMI controller 23VRAM
24 screen 25 touch panel 32 event manager (program control means)
33 application section 34 data collector ( program control means)
35 data processing program 36 VNC server ( image data transmission means)
37 storage device 38 display processing unit ( program display means)
39VRAM
211 VNC client unit ( trigger transmission means, image data reception means)
212 display processing unit ( image data display means)
213 input processing unit 331 image editor (application program)
332 ladder editor (application program)
333 viewer (application program)
334 browser (application program)

Claims (15)

A control system comprising a control device, a programmable display and a server computer,
The programmable display device gives a control instruction to the control device according to an operation on the screen of the programmable display device by communicating with the control device, and displays the control state of the control device in the programmable display device. In a control system which is a programmable display that displays an image displayed on the screen of the server computer by displaying the image on the screen of the programmable display by communicating with the server computer.
The programmable display is
Trigger transmitting means for transmitting a trigger generated by the operation of the control device and a trigger generated according to an operation on the screen of the programmable display to the server computer;
Image data transmission requesting means for requesting the server computer to transmit image data of an image displayed on the screen of the server computer by controlling an application program in the server computer ;
ID transmitting means for transmitting an ID requested from the server computer in response to a request from the image data transmission requesting means;
Image data receiving means for receiving the image data transmitted from the server computer in response to transmission of the ID by the ID transmitting means ;
Image data display means for displaying the image data received by the image data receiving means on the screen of the programmable display,
The server computer
Trigger receiving means for receiving the trigger transmitted by the trigger transmitting means;
A program control means for controlling the application program by starting a designated application program by executing a batch command corresponding to the trigger received by the trigger receiving means;
Program display means for displaying image data of an application program controlled by the program control means on the screen of the server computer;
An ID transmission requesting unit for requesting the ID transmission unit to transmit the ID when the image data requesting unit requests transmission of image data of the application program displayed on the screen of the server computer by the program display unit; ,
A control system comprising image data transmitting means for transmitting the image data to the programmable display when receiving the ID transmitted from the ID transmitting means in response to a request from the ID transmission requesting means .   The control system according to claim 1, wherein the application program is an image creation program for creating the image data.   The control system according to claim 1, wherein the application program is an editor program that creates a sequence program that defines a control procedure by the control device. The communication port the editor program have a function to monitor the execution status of a sequence program by the control unit, pass through the interior of the programmable display device among the data necessary for monitoring and the editor program and the control device The control system according to claim 3, wherein the control system is acquired by communicating via the communication system. Ri display program der for the application program to display the data file,
Display image data for an image to be displayed on the screen by the programmable display is display area data for defining a display area for displaying the image data acquired from the image data transmitting means, and the acquired image data is displayed in the display area. The control system according to claim 1, further comprising: the trigger for displaying on the screen .   The control system according to claim 2, wherein the trigger is an instruction to cause the image creation program to download the image from the server computer to the programmable display.   4. The control system according to claim 3, wherein the trigger is an instruction for causing the editor program to download the sequence program from the server computer to the control device.   6. The control system according to claim 5, wherein the trigger is an instruction for causing the display program to download the data file from the server computer to the programmable display or the control device. The programmable display includes a control device data transmission means for transmitting data from the control device to the server computer when a predetermined transmission condition is satisfied,
The server computer includes control device data receiving means for receiving control device data transmitted by the control device data transmitting means,
The control system according to claim 1, wherein the application program is a control device data processing program for processing control device reception data received by the control device data receiving means.   The programmable display which comprises the control system of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 9.   The program for functioning the computer which implement | achieves the programmable display of Claim 10 as said each means.   The computer-readable recording medium which recorded the program of Claim 11.   The server computer which comprises the control system of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 9. A program for causing a computer that realizes the server computer according to claim 13 to function as each means.   The computer-readable recording medium which recorded the program of Claim 14.

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