JPH0438628B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for understanding the arrangement of vehicles, and in particular, a method suitable for understanding the arrangement status of a group of vehicles in each process that are sequentially conveyed by a plurality of conveyors. Concerning a method for understanding vehicle line-up.

[Conventional technology]

In general, on production lines such as automobiles, vehicles with different specifications may be produced even on the same production line, and as vehicles flow through each process,
It is necessary to give instructions to workers, work robots, etc. according to each vehicle. Therefore, in order to understand the production status of vehicles and give work instructions smoothly, each vehicle is given a unique vehicle number, as shown in Figure 7.
101 to 117 are assigned, and each vehicle 10 is assigned a conveyor 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d, 1 for each work process.
2e, vehicle number recognition devices 14a, 14b, 14c, 1 each having an optical or magnetic reading sensor detect the vehicle number attached to each vehicle 10.
4d and 14e, and the detection outputs of the respective vehicle number recognition devices 14a to 14e are outputted to the vehicle arrangement understanding device 18 via the communication line 16. The vehicle line understanding device 18 includes an information receiving section 20;
It is composed of a microcomputer having an information processing section 22 and a memory 24.The information receiving section 20 receives information regarding the arrangement of vehicles 10 output from the vehicle number recognition devices 14a to 14e, and the arrangement information is sent to the information processing section 22. It is configured to perform processing calculations, store the processing results in a storage area of the memory 24, and issue work commands to each conveyor 12a, 12e based on the information stored in the storage area.

As shown in FIG. 8, the memory 24 has storage areas 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, and 26e associated with the conveyors 12a to 12e, and stores information based on the output from the vehicle number recognition devices 14a to 14e. , the arrangement information of vehicles 10 is stored sequentially from the entrance side to the output side. FIG. 8 shows a state in which vehicles 10 are carried onto conveyors 12a to 12e.

Here, vehicle 10 with vehicle number 117 is conveyor 1
When the vehicle 10 with the vehicle number 117 is brought into the vehicle 2a, the queue information regarding the vehicle 10 with the vehicle number 117 is transmitted to the vehicle queue understanding device 18 via the vehicle number recognition device 14a and the communication line 16. When this arrangement information is transmitted to the information processing section 22, the information processing section 22 shifts the information in the storage area 26a corresponding to the conveyor 12a on which the arrangement information has been recognized to the exit side. At this time, the information of vehicle number 112 stored on the exit side is deleted. Instead, vehicle number 117 is stored on the entrance side. This processing is performed when the vehicle number of the vehicle 10 is reliably recognized by the vehicle number recognition device 14a, and similar processing is performed on other conveyors.

On the other hand, the vehicle number recognition device 14a recognizes the vehicle 1.
If the vehicle number 0 cannot be recognized correctly (reject case) or if the code plate is not attached to vehicle 10 (if there is no code plate), these sequence abnormal information will be used as the vehicle number. The information is transmitted from the recognition device 14a to the information processing section 22. Then, in the information processing section 22, the storage area 26
Instead of storing the vehicle number in a, a code R indicating alignment abnormality information is stored. This state is shown in the storage area 26c of FIG. 8 as a state when the vehicle number 108 of the vehicle 10 is not recognized by the vehicle number recognition device 14c.

In this way, the vehicle numbers of the vehicles 10 carried into each process are sequentially stored in the storage areas 26a to 2 of the memory 24.
6e and designate production information for each process based on this information, production management of the vehicle 10 can be performed smoothly.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the conventional method, information from the vehicle number recognition devices 14a to 14e is stored in the storage area 26.
Since the storage areas 26a to 26e are stored as they are, even when the vehicle 10 on the conveyor is removed from the conveyor midway, the storage areas 26a to 26e are stored as they are.
6e only stores the arrangement information of the vehicle 1 that was removed from the conveyor as it is, and when a vehicle that was removed from the conveyor in the middle of a process returns to the conveyor of the next process, it is possible to determine which process this vehicle is in. In some cases, it was not possible to confirm whether the vehicle 10 had been removed, and the production status of the vehicle 10 could not be accurately grasped. Furthermore, in the conventional method, the information from the vehicle number recognition devices 14a to 14e is stored as is in the storage areas 26a to 26e, so if the vehicle number recognition devices 14a to 14e misrecognize the vehicle number, There was a risk that production control information and work instructions would be created based on incorrect arrangement information.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to make it possible to issue appropriate production instructions to a group of vehicles even if the information recognized by a vehicle number recognition device is incorrect. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for understanding vehicle lineups.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention uses a vehicle number recognition device to recognize the vehicle arrangement information of the vehicles carried onto each conveyor among a group of vehicles sequentially conveyed by a plurality of conveyors for each process. The recognition information is sequentially transferred to the vehicle line-up understanding device, the information processing unit of the vehicle line-up understanding device determines the content of the input information, and according to the result of this judgment, the storage area group of the memory provided in the vehicle line-up understanding device is The input information of the information processing unit is sequentially stored in the main memory area associated with each conveyor, and when the information processing unit outputs work instructions for each process based on the vehicle arrangement information stored in the memory, When the processing unit determines that the input vehicle row information is vehicle row abnormality information, the processing section stores the vehicle row abnormality information in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process from which this vehicle row abnormality information is obtained. At the same time, the oldest information in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process immediately before the process in which this vehicle line abnormality information was obtained is stored in the auxiliary memory area of the memory. When it is determined that the vehicle number information is the vehicle number information, the oldest information in the main memory area of the memory that corresponds to the conveyor in the process immediately before the process in which this vehicle arrangement information was obtained matches the vehicle number information. If a match is obtained in this determination, the vehicle number information is stored in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process in which the vehicle number information was obtained, and the vehicle number information and the vehicle number information are stored. Delete vehicle number information that is the same as the vehicle number information from the main memory area where the same vehicle number information was stored, and when a mismatch result is obtained in the judgment, the information obtained from the vehicle arrangement information is stored in the auxiliary storage area of the memory. A search is made to determine whether vehicle number information that matches the vehicle number information stored is stored, and when it is confirmed through this search that the corresponding vehicle number information exists in the auxiliary storage area of the memory, the corresponding vehicle number information is stored. The read vehicle number information is read from the auxiliary storage area and stored in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process where the vehicle arrangement information was obtained, and the conveyor of the process immediately before the process where the vehicle arrangement information was obtained. Search for the oldest information in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to , determine whether the oldest information obtained by this search is abnormal information, and when it is determined that this oldest information is abnormal information. The oldest information obtained in the search is deleted, and on the other hand, when it is confirmed in the search that no corresponding vehicle number information exists in the auxiliary storage area of the memory, an abnormal vehicle arrangement without a vehicle number is detected as vehicle arrangement information. The vehicle arrangement abnormality information is stored in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process in which the information was obtained, and the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process immediately before the process in which this vehicle arrangement abnormality information was obtained is stored. Old information is stored in an auxiliary storage area of memory.

[Effect]

When a group of vehicles is carried onto each conveyor, the vehicle arrangement information of the vehicles carried onto each conveyor is recognized for each process by a vehicle number recognition device. This recognition information is sequentially transferred to the vehicle lineup understanding device, and the content of the input information is determined by the information processing section of the vehicle lineup understanding device. Then, the information stored in the memory is processed according to this determination result. That is, when the information processing unit determines that the input vehicle row information is vehicle row abnormality information, the information processing section stores the vehicle row abnormality information in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process from which this vehicle row abnormality information is obtained. At the same time, the oldest information in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process immediately before the process in which this vehicle arrangement abnormality information was obtained is stored in the auxiliary storage area of the memory.

On the other hand, when the information processing unit determines that the input vehicle row information is vehicle number information,
It is determined whether or not the vehicle number information matches the oldest information in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor in the process immediately before the process in which this vehicle arrangement information was obtained. When a match is obtained in this judgment, the vehicle number information is stored in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor in the process where the vehicle number information was obtained, and the same vehicle number information is stored. The vehicle number information that is the same as the vehicle number information is deleted from the main memory area where the vehicle number information was stored. Also, when a mismatch result is obtained in the above judgment. A search is made to determine whether or not vehicle number information that matches the vehicle number information obtained from the vehicle arrangement information is stored in the auxiliary storage area of the memory, and in this search, the corresponding vehicle number information is found in the auxiliary storage area of the memory. When it is confirmed that the vehicle number information has been obtained, the corresponding vehicle number information is read from the auxiliary storage area, and the read vehicle number information is stored in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process from which the vehicle arrangement information was obtained. When the oldest information in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process immediately before the process in which vehicle arrangement information was obtained is abnormal information, the oldest information is deleted.

On the other hand, when the information processing unit confirms that the corresponding vehicle number information does not exist in the auxiliary storage area of the memory in the search, the information processing unit responds to the conveyor in the process for which the abnormal vehicle arrangement information without the vehicle number is obtained as the vehicle arrangement information. The vehicle line abnormality information is stored in the main memory area of the memory where the vehicle line abnormality information was obtained, and the oldest information in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process immediately before the process in which this vehicle line abnormality information was obtained is stored in the auxiliary memory area of the memory. Store. And the information processing department
Work instructions for each process are generated and output based on the information stored in the main storage area and auxiliary storage area of the memory.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

In this embodiment, the memory 2 of the vehicle line grasping device 18
4, as shown in FIG.
~ Storage areas (main storage areas) associated with 12e 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, 26e
Other than that, it has an auxiliary storage area 26f for storing evacuation data, and the processing content of the information processing unit 22 when obtaining vehicle line information is different from that in FIG. 7. Therefore, the same or equivalent parts will be given the same numbers and their explanation will be omitted.

The processing contents of the information processing section 22 will be explained below based on the flowcharts of FIGS. 1 to 4.

First, the information processing section 22 monitors the output of each vehicle number recognition device 14a to 14e via the information reception section 20 (step 200), and determines whether vehicle arrangement information has been obtained from any of the vehicle number recognition devices. Make a judgment (step 202). When the arrangement information is obtained, first determine if there is no code board (step
204), it is also determined whether the number of the passing vehicle could not be recognized, that is, whether the vehicle is a reject or not (step 206). When you get the vehicle number as queue information, step
Let's move on to processing 208.

In step 208, a subroutine shown in FIG. 2 is performed to check the sequence information of the previous process. That is, this process determines whether the vehicle number matches the oldest information in the storage area corresponding to the conveyor immediately before the process in which the vehicle number was obtained, that is, the information in the area on the exit side of each storage area 26a to 26e. Make a judgment (step 300). Here, the pre-process means the conveyor 12c,
In the case of 12d, it means the process of the conveyor 12b, and in the case of the conveyor 12b, it means the process of the conveyor 12a. Also, it is determined whether or not there is a vehicle number corresponding to the previous process for all processes (step 302). When it is determined that there is no corresponding vehicle number in the previous process, a signal indicating that the determination result does not match is outputted (step 304). on the other hand,
When it is determined that there is a vehicle number corresponding to the previous process, a signal indicating that the determination result matches is outputted (step 306). When these processes are completed, the process returns to the main routine, and it is determined whether or not the corresponding vehicle number was found in the previous process (step 210).

When it is determined that there is a vehicle number corresponding to the previous process, the vehicle number is stored in the memory area corresponding to the conveyor of the process where the vehicle number was obtained, and the vehicle number is deleted from the memory area where the vehicle number was stored. Processing is performed (step 212). For example, the vehicle number recognition device 14b recognizes the vehicle number.
When 113 is obtained, the vehicle number 113 is stored in the area on the entrance side of the storage area 26b, and the vehicle number 113 is stored in the area on the entrance side of the storage area 26b.
Delete the vehicle number 113 stored on the exit side of 6a.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 210 that there is no vehicle number corresponding to the previous process, it is determined whether or not the corresponding vehicle number exists in the auxiliary storage area 26f (step 214). This process is performed by searching whether a vehicle number matching the vehicle number is stored in the auxiliary storage area 26f.
If the result of this process is YES, proceed to the step.
The process moves to step 216, and a process is performed to restore the vehicle number stored in the auxiliary storage area 26f to the storage area. This process is performed according to the subroutine shown in FIG. In this process, the corresponding process number is stored in the auxiliary storage area 2.
6f and stores this vehicle number in the storage area corresponding to the conveyor of the process from which the arrangement information was obtained (step 400). For example, when the vehicle number recognition device 14c recognizes the vehicle number 108, it takes out the vehicle number 108 from the auxiliary storage area 26f and stores this vehicle number 108 on the entrance side of the storage area 26c. After storing the vehicle number, it is determined whether the oldest information from the previous process, that is, the information on the exit side, is abnormal information (step 402). If it is determined in this step that abnormal information is present, processing to erase the abnormal information is performed (step 404). After this, a process is performed to determine whether the processes in steps 402 and 404 have been performed for all previous processes (step 406).
In this subroutine, auxiliary storage area 2
The vehicle number stored in 6f is restored to the storage area, and the abnormality information is deleted. In other words, the fact that the vehicle number existed in the auxiliary storage area 26f means that some kind of error occurred in the process of recognizing the vehicle number and creating the arrangement information in the previous process. Since there is a possibility that error information exists on the exit side, we will erase this information.

On the other hand, if the corresponding vehicle number is found to be missing in the process of step 214, each piece of information in the storage area corresponding to the conveyor in the process from which the line information was obtained is
At the same time as shifting by one unit, processing is performed to line up at the entrance side of this storage area and set a code E indicating abnormality information (step 218). After this step
The process moves to 224 and save processing is performed. This saving process is also performed after the processes in step 220 and step 222. That is, when it is determined in step 204 that there is no code board, the information in the storage area corresponding to the conveyor in the process where this arrangement information was obtained is shifted by one car, and the code as abnormal information is stored on the entrance side of this storage area. Perform processing to store code X without a board. Also, when it is determined in step 206 that there is a reject, the information in the storage area corresponding to the conveyor in the process where this arrangement information was obtained is shifted by one car, and a code R indicating a reject is written as abnormal information on the entrance side of this storage area.
Performs processing to store.

The saving process after obtaining the alignment abnormality information in steps 218, 220, and 222 is performed according to the subroutine shown in FIG. First, it is determined whether the oldest information in the storage area corresponding to the conveyor in the previous process, that is, the information on the exit side, is the vehicle number (step 500). When the oldest information in the previous process is a vehicle number, the vehicle number is stored in the auxiliary storage area 26f, and the vehicle number is deleted from the storage area where the vehicle number was stored (step 502). On the other hand, when it is determined in step 500 that the oldest information from the previous process is not the vehicle number, that information is abnormal information, and therefore a process is performed to erase the error code (step 504). After these processes, it is determined whether the processes of steps 500, 502, and 504 have been completed for all previous processes (step 506), and the process of this routine ends.

After the processing shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 is performed, the information processing unit 22 stores information in each storage area 26a to 26a.
26e, production control information for each conveyor 12a to 12e is generated based on the information stored in the auxiliary storage area 26f, and production instruction information is output to workers in each process, robot equipment, etc., and the vehicle number recognition device 14a to 14e, even if incorrect alignment information is recognized or the flow of vehicles is artificially changed, these conditions can be correctly grasped, making it easier to manage vehicle production. can.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, when vehicle row information is obtained, it is determined whether this row information is a vehicle number or abnormal information, and the vehicle number is stored in a memory corresponding to a conveyor in a previous process. area or auxiliary storage area, and when storing the vehicle number or abnormality information based on this determination result, the storage area corresponding to the conveyor of the process immediately before the process where the alignment information was obtained is stored. Because the old information was deleted and the same vehicle number was no longer stored in the same storage area, the vehicle number recognition device could incorrectly recognize the alignment information or the flow of vehicles could be artificially changed. The excellent effect of being able to carry out appropriate production management based on the arrangement information stored in the storage area even when the production is in progress can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the apparatus to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the process of step 208 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is the same as that shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the processing content of step 216, FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the processing content of step 224 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment to which the present invention is applied. , FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the storage area of the memory 24 shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a conventional device, and FIG.
FIG. 10...Vehicle, 12a, 12b, 12c, 12
d, 12e...conveyor, 14a, 14b, 14
c, 14d, 14e...vehicle number recognition device, 18...
Vehicle arrangement understanding device, 20...information receiving section, 22...information processing section, 24...memory.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle number recognition device recognizes the vehicle arrangement information of the vehicles carried onto each conveyor among a group of vehicles sequentially conveyed by a plurality of conveyors for each process, and this recognition information is used as the vehicle arrangement information. The content of the input information is sequentially transferred to the vehicle line grasping device, the information processing unit of the vehicle line grasping device determines the content of the input information, and according to the result of this discrimination, it is assigned to each conveyor among the memory storage area group provided in the vehicle line up grasping device. When sequentially storing the input information of the information processing unit in a main memory area attached to the memory and outputting work instructions for each process from the information processing unit based on the vehicle arrangement information stored in the memory, the information processing unit When it is determined that the content of the vehicle row information is vehicle row abnormality information, the vehicle row abnormality information is stored in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process where this vehicle row abnormality information was obtained, and the vehicle row abnormality information is The oldest information in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process immediately before the process in which the abnormality information was obtained is stored in the auxiliary memory area of the memory.On the other hand, if the input vehicle row information is vehicle number information, When it is determined, it is determined whether or not the vehicle number information matches the oldest information in the main memory area of the memory that corresponds to the conveyor in the process immediately before the process in which this vehicle arrangement information was obtained. However, when a match is obtained in this judgment, the vehicle number information is stored in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process where the vehicle number information was obtained, and the same vehicle number information as the vehicle number information is stored. Delete vehicle number information that is the same as the vehicle number information from the stored main memory area, and when a mismatch result is obtained in the determination, store the vehicle number information obtained from the vehicle row information in the auxiliary storage area of the memory. A search is made to see if matching vehicle number information is stored, and when it is confirmed through this search that the corresponding vehicle number information exists in the auxiliary storage area of the memory, the corresponding vehicle number information is read from the auxiliary storage area. , stores the read vehicle number information in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process where the vehicle arrangement information was obtained, and stores the read vehicle number information in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process immediately before the process from which the vehicle arrangement information was obtained. The oldest information in the main storage area is searched, and it is determined whether or not the oldest information obtained by this search is abnormal information. When it is determined that this oldest information is abnormal information, the oldest information obtained by the search is On the other hand, when it is confirmed through the search that the corresponding vehicle number information does not exist in the auxiliary storage area of the memory, the process of obtaining vehicle row abnormal information without vehicle number as vehicle row information. The vehicle arrangement abnormality information is stored in the main memory area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor, and the oldest information in the main storage area of the memory corresponding to the conveyor of the process immediately before the process in which this vehicle arrangement abnormality information was obtained is stored in the memory. A method for understanding vehicle alignment, characterized by storing the information in an auxiliary storage area.