JPH0748163B2 - Process control device and process control display method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a man-machine device for monitoring a driving operation of a process in a process control system, and a method for displaying a process operation monitoring display screen for monitoring a motion operation of the process. Regarding

[Prior Art] The conventional similar device is described in the document “Automation Vol 32, NO.
7,1987 ”As shown in P.48, it is possible to monitor the flow process currently being executed on the display screen with an arrow cursor and monitor where it is operating in the controlled process. It was. Alternatively, as described in P.55 of the System Control Information Society Seminar “Talking about the latest software development environment”, the place where you are currently running is indicated by a square cursor, and where in the controlled process it is operating. I was able to monitor it.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-241606 discloses one graphic symbol for each state of each sequence element so that each sequence element of a sequence diagram of a plant can be identified as normal, abnormal, standby and stop states. Disclosed is a plant monitoring device displayed by.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the prior art shown in the above-mentioned two documents, the cursor indicating the currently executed place on the display screen is an arrow or a symbol of a single pattern such as a square. Therefore, if the pattern stops at one location, whether the operation being controlled is, for example, a positioning operation by a motor, a standby waiting for the condition to be established, or a simple stop. There is a problem that it is not possible to immediately recognize whether or not the process is stopped due to an abnormality, and it is not possible to sufficiently grasp the operating state of the process in monitoring the process operation.

Further, in the conventional technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-241606, each sequence element itself is represented by a plurality of graphic symbols so that the sequence elements of the sequence diagram of the plant can be identified as normal, abnormal, etc. However, the process currently being executed is not sequentially indicated by the cursor on the control flow diagram of the plant.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to recognize the progress of a process by moving a cursor, and to make it possible to perform pattern recognition of a plurality of operating states by using several types of patterned cursors corresponding to the state of the process. Another object of the present invention is to provide a process man-machine device capable of sufficiently grasping the operating state of.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a process man-machine device according to the present invention is a process man-machine device that monitors a driving operation of a process in a process control system. Flow chart display information generating means for generating display information of the flow chart, display means for displaying the flow chart on a display screen, and information for indicating the progress status and operation status of the process control, Process state management means for updating and managing information as the process control progresses, and depending on the output of the process state management means, select a cursor according to the operating state of the process at that time from cursors of a plurality of types, Cursor display control means for displaying the selected cursor in association with the step currently being executed on the displayed flow diagram. Be prepared.

Preferably, the operating state includes at least two states of “during stop”, “operating”, “standby”, and “abnormal stop”.

As the cursors of the plurality of types of shapes, for example, a modeled human motion pattern can be used.

Further, regarding the cursor that includes “in operation” as the operating state and indicates “in operation”, the cursor color (including density) is changed from the first color to the second color according to the progress degree of the operation. You may make it change to a color. For example, the boundary between the two colors is moved so that the second color sequentially changes from 0% to 100%.

A process operation status display method according to the present invention is a process motion status display method for displaying the operation operation of a process in a process control system on a display screen of a display device, and is a flow chart of process control consisting of a plurality of steps. Displayed on the display screen, along with the progress of process control, accompanying the process currently being executed, sequentially,
The cursor is moved and displayed, and as the cursor, a plurality of types of cursors simulating a human motion pattern according to the operating state of the process are prepared. The cursor is selected and displayed according to the driving state.

In this method, preferably, "operating" is provided as one of the operating states of the process, and at least two patterns are sequentially cycled so as to indicate a running state or a walking state in the operating state. Switching display.

[Operation] In the present invention, the cursor can show not only the progress state of the process control flow by its display position but also the current operating state of the process by its shape and the like.

To that end, as an example, a plurality of patterns of cursors that model a person's movement include, for example, a movement modeling pattern in which a person is running during movement and a movement modeling pattern in which a person stops while waiting. , A modeling pattern of a person lying down while stopped, and a modeling pattern of a person buzzing during an abnormal stop. Also, the degree of movement progress is the head side (upper part) of the movement modeling pattern
The display color is changed so as to change in proportion to the degree of progress.

As a result, the operating state of the process can be displayed by the patterned cursor, so that the operating state can be sufficiently grasped on one screen.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an example of the configuration of a process control system to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a process to be controlled by a control device, 2 is a process control device, and 3 is a process man-machine device for monitoring and operating the process control operation state. The process man-machine device 3 monitors the process screen displayed on its display, and monitors and operates the process control operating state.

FIG. 9 shows the main functions of the process man machine device 3.
That is, the process man-machine device 3 displays a display device 91 such as a CRT, a display controller 92 that controls the display of the display device 91, and a flow diagram display that gives display information of a flow diagram of the process to the display control unit 92. Information generating section 93, cursor display control section 94 for giving information such as cursor position, shape, color (including shading) to display controller 92, and information indicating process state from process control device 2 (FIG. 1) In response to this, the process state management data table 95 for updating and holding the data representing the current process state.

The flow diagram display information generation unit 93 may store the process control flow information in advance in a storage unit (not shown),
Alternatively, the flow information may be received from the process control device 2 each time. Information indicating the progress status and operation status of process control is input to the process state management data table 95, and the contents of the table are sequentially updated. The flow chart display information generation unit 93 displays the flow chart on the display screen of the display device via the display controller 92, and in addition to this flow chart, the cursor display control unit 94 displays the process state management data table 95. A cursor pattern is selected according to the contents, and the display position is instructed to the display controller 95. In the cursor display control unit 94, cursor patterns representing various operating states are stored in advance in storage means (not shown).

FIG. 2 shows an example of a process screen for operation monitoring. This process screen is a screen showing a process control flow of packing the four types of products A to D in the packing box in a predetermined number. A process number is assigned to each process in the process control flow. As the process flow progresses, a cursor indicating the current operating state is displayed next to the flow symbol corresponding to each process. In the example shown, the cursor is
After sequentially progressing from process No. 1 to No. 4, the flow of product A charging process (process No. 6) and product B charging process (process No. 7) and product C charging process (process No. 12) and product D charging process (process No. 13) Divided into two flows. At this time, the cursor is also displayed separately for each flow. If you join in process No. 9, the cursor will be 1 again. Although the shape of the cursor and the like is shown as a simple quadrangle in FIG. 2 for the sake of convenience, it is actually a complicated shape and changes as will be described later. In the state shown in the figure, the product A charging process is completed, the product B charging process is being executed, and the process for controlling the process of products C and D has already been completed in the route for simultaneous processing, and the product B charging process is performed in process No. 14. The cursor indicates that it is waiting for completion.

Next, in the present embodiment, an enlarged detailed view of an example of a cursor pattern in which a human motion is modeled as various cursors that display a plurality of states will be described.

FIG. 3 is a modeled pattern showing "in motion". By simulating the motion of a person by alternately displaying (a) and (b) of FIG. 3 at intervals of several hundred milliseconds to several seconds. There is. FIG. 4 is a modeling pattern showing "standby", which is a modeling pattern of a state in which a person stands still and waits. FIG. 5 is a modeling pattern showing "abnormal stop", which is a model of a state where a person raises his / her hand. FIG. 6 is a modeling pattern showing "stopped", which is a model of a person sleeping. Note that the illustrated pattern is merely an example, and may not be exactly as illustrated. Further, the pattern of "in motion" is a pattern in which a person is running, but it may be a pattern in which a person is walking. The pattern itself may be an animal, a car, etc. other than a person.

FIG. 7 shows a cursor display example in which, when the progress state of a process can be grasped by the passage of time or the occurrence of an event, the degree of progress of the operation is displayed in shades. In the figure, the dark portion shows the degree of completion, and the boundary of light and shade moves downward as the process progresses, and when the operation is completed, the entire area becomes a dark area. The direction of movement of the boundary is not limited to this, and may move from bottom to top. Further, it is also possible to use color change instead of shading.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the process state management data table 95 that defines the relationship between the cursor display on the process flow diagram and the process status data. The operating state and the cursor display are associated with each other. That is, the process state management data table 95 is composed of a group of process flow unit data including cursor display bits 81, process step number data 82 and detailed state data 83. Cursor display bit 81 is the process number at which the cursor is currently displayed.
Is '1' and other process numbers are '0'. The cursor display position is determined based on this information. At the cursor position shown in the example of FIG. 2, process No. 7 and process No. 1
The two cursor display bits 81 of 4 become '1'. This '1' moves to the corresponding process No. as the process progresses. In addition, as the detailed state data for each process step No., states such as “standby”, “stopped”, and “in operation” and a progress degree in the case of “in operation” are written. This content is also updated as the process progresses. At the time point shown in the example of FIG.
The state of "Running, 30% finished" is written.

By displaying the cursor patterns shown in FIGS. 3 to 7,
On the process control flow screen shown in FIG. 2, the process control operation state can be grasped in detail.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, since a pattern recognizable display can be made by the patterned cursor corresponding to a plurality of operating states, the process control flow screen can be used for detailed driving without looking at other display screens. This has the effect of being able to grasp the state (including the degree of progress).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a process control system which is the subject of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a process control flow screen for operation monitoring, and FIG. 3 is an example of a patterned cursor showing “in operation”. Explanatory drawing, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a patterned cursor example showing “standby”, FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a patterned cursor example showing “abnormally stopped”, and FIG. 6 shows “stopped” FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of an example of a patterned cursor, FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of an example of a patterned cursor that displays the degree of progress in shades, and FIG.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of an example of a process state management data table that defines the relationship between the cursor display on the process flow diagram and the process status data, and FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the main functions of the process man-machine device of the present invention. . 1 ... Process to be controlled, 2 ... Process control device, 3
…… Process man machine device, 91 …… CRT, 92 …… Display controller, 93 …… Flow diagram display information generation unit, 94 …… Cursor display control unit, 95 …… Process state management data table.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Makoto Tachikawa 5-2-1 Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Hitachi Ltd. Omika Plant, Hitachi Ltd. (72) Inventor Hitoshi Saito 5-chome, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture No. 1 Inside Hitachi Information Control System Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-2-56609 (JP, A) JP-A-2-157911 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A process control means for controlling a process consisting of a plurality of steps, a display means for displaying a display element representing the plurality of steps as a flow chart according to an execution procedure thereof, and a plurality of types of the steps. Cursor display control means for displaying a cursor corresponding to the state of the process on the display means, the cursor having a plurality of types of cursors indicating the operation transition condition waiting state, and being associated with the display element indicating the process in the execution stage. Process control equipment characterized by having. 2. A process control means for controlling a process comprising a plurality of steps, a display means for displaying a display element representing the plurality of steps as a flow chart according to an execution procedure thereof, and a plurality of types of the steps. Indicates the operation transition condition wait state,
A graphic having a graphic pattern that imitates one mode of motion of a plurality of types of persons, and a graphic pattern corresponding to the status of the process displayed on the display means, in association with the display element representing the process in the execution stage. A process control device comprising: a pattern display control means. 3. A process for controlling a process comprising a plurality of steps, wherein display elements representing the plurality of steps are displayed on a display screen as a flow chart according to an execution procedure thereof, and a plurality of types of steps adopted by the steps are displayed. A process control display method comprising: displaying a cursor corresponding to the state of the process among the plurality of types of cursors representing the operation transition condition waiting state in association with the display element representing the process in the execution stage.