DE29823119U1 - Automation device - Google Patents

Description

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Description
Automation device

The invention relates to an automation device for controlling a technical process, which can be connected via a network in the form of an Internet and/or intranet network to an observation device which is intended for process observation .

In automation technology, the representation of measured variables, state variables and calculation results on the user interface (human/machine interface) is usually done primarily in graphic form. For example, the fill level of a boiler is represented by a realistic representation of the boiler and its contents, whereby the representation of the boiler is always constant, but the representation of the contents is derived from a previously recorded measured value. In addition to prefabricated graphic elements, specially designed graphic representations are also provided for system-specific automation functions.

An automation device of the type mentioned at the beginning is known from WO 97/26587. Two production sites of a globally distributed automation network are connected to one another via a known global network "Internet", whereby these sites comprise several devices in the form of automation devices, programming devices, servers, operating and monitoring devices and workstations. Process operation and process control of the processes to be controlled in the production sites is carried out by an operating and monitoring device. This generates an operating and monitoring program comprising operating and monitoring software modules for the creation and display of a process image comprising several image objects, whereby the image objects are related (interact) with software function modules of the control program in the automation device. The

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Operating and monitoring software modules are object-oriented and can be transferred directly via the Internet.

From the web pages

http:/www.wonderware.de/produkte/fsuite.htm The company Wonderware is known for a Manufacturing Management Information System (MMI system) which provides means and measures for visualizing and monitoring production processes via the Internet/Intranet.

The present invention is based on the object of creating an automation device of the type mentioned at the beginning, with which an improved observation of a technical process to be controlled is made possible.

This object is achieved by the measures specified in the characterising part of claim 1.

HTTP servers are well known. They support a so-called "Hyper Text Transport Protocol", which is used in the World Wide Web by distributed hypermedia systems as a search and transfer protocol to access distributed objects. This protocol makes it possible to quickly transfer HTML pages ("Hyper Text Markup Language" pages) that can be displayed by suitable HTML browsers. In addition, so-called applets can be integrated into these HTML pages, which contain bytecode that can be interpreted by an HTML browser and executed by this browser.

It is advantageous that a dynamic component, e.g. a component in the form of a graphically displayed boiler fill level, can be displayed dynamically. For essentially static components that never or rarely change, e.g. for system parts that are to be replaced, the corresponding HTML page to be displayed is reloaded. For itself

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frequently changing components, e.g. for values of process variables, the corresponding applets are created in the automation device, loaded into the monitoring device and executed by it.

The automation device, designed as an HTTP server, dynamically generates graphic process variables in such a way that appropriate information and user interfaces can be easily created in common HTML browsers (e.g. Netscape, Internet Explorer) and HTML editors for specific automation systems.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention result from the measures specified in the subclaims.

The invention is explained in more detail below using an embodiment with reference to the single figure in the drawing. The figure in the drawing shows a schematic representation of the generation of an HTML page.

An automation device 1 designed as an HTTP server can be connected to a monitoring device 3 via a network 2 in the form of a known Internet and/or intranet network, which is intended for monitoring a technical process to be controlled by the automation device 1. The monitoring device 3 is designed as an HTML browser, to which HTML pages for processing and graphically displaying the technical process can be fed via the network 2. The automation device 1 indicates a change to essentially static components of the technical process to the monitoring device 3, which then reloads and displays the corresponding HTML page from the automation device 1. This makes it possible to display, for example, reconfigurations of a technical system.

In the event that dynamic components of the technical process (e.g. values of measured variables) are also contained within an HTML

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To display the HTML page graphically, the automation device generates so-called applets, which can be loaded into the observation device to display the HTML page and can be executed by the observation device. In the example, a Java applet 4 is shown, which generates the graphic process variables (dynamic components) to be displayed using Java applets running in the HTML browser (observation device 3). The Java applet 4 uses a so-called template class 5. This class receives the name of an ASCII file as an initialization parameter, which contains a series of parameterizable graphic primitives (e.g. circle, rectangle, etc.), color definitions or the call of another template file 6. The parameters of the graphic primitives can be fixed values as well as arithmetic expressions that contain one or more process variable values.

The size and position of the graphic elements displayed are stored in an element file 7 and can change depending on one or more process values. Input parameters of a template instance, which are stored in a variable value file 8, are the current variable value(s) in the form of an array of double-precision floating point values or an array of strings that contain the numerical values as ASCII text. In addition, an upper and lower limit value is specified for each variable value, which is stored in a limit value file 9, so that the values used in an arithmetic expression of a graphic element can always be standardized to a range between 0 and 999. The standardized variable values are inserted into the template, i.e. the arithmetic expressions that contain variable values are evaluated and the resulting graphic elements are displayed. This process is preferably repeated cyclically and the displayed graphic elements are adapted to the current variable values.

To display multiple templates or additional information that complements the templates in a Java applet,

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It is possible to define the size and position of a template as a whole within the displayed applet area or within a calling template.

An example of the generation of graphical process variables is shown in the following table.

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Template file syntax Template file is in Backus-Naur form as follows The syntax of a described: ::= { <Line> <Terminator> [ <CRLF> ] } <Template> ::= <VarDecl> | <Comment> I <Command> <Line> ::= &ldquor;var" { <separator> <variable> } <VarDecl> ::= &ldquor;rem" { <Character> | <Quote> | <Blank> } <Comment> ::= <Keyword> <Parameter list> <Command> ::= &ldquor;image" | &ldquor;oval" | &ldquor;line" | &ldquor;box" I &ldquor;rbox" I &ldquor;arc" | <Keyword> &ldquor;color" I &ldquor;text" | &ldquor;font" | &ldquor;bkgnd" ::= <separator> <parameters> { <separator> <parameters> ) <Parameter list> ::= <String> I <Modifier> I <Expression> <Parameters> ::= arithmetic expression <Expression> ::= Variable identifier according to Step7 convention <Variable> ::= <Character> <Modifiers> ::= <Quote> { <Character> I ";" I <Blank> | &ldquor;\" <Quote> } <string> <Quote> ::= ASCII 33 to ASCII 126 except ASCII 34 and ASCII 59 <Character> ::= apostrophe (ASCII 34) <Quote> ::= <Separator> ::= Space (ASCII 32) <Blank> ::= &ldquor;;" (ASCII 59) <Terminator> ::= <CR> [ <LF> ] <CRLF> ::= Carriage Return (ASCII 13) <CR> ::= Line Feed (ASCII 10) <LF>

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The syntax rules for arithmetic expressions apply to the <Expression> type.

Keywords parameters

Coordinate and size information is shown in italics below (e.g. x_start). The values are always in a range between 0 and 999 and are to be understood as relative information. This ensures the scalability of the graphical representation. The absolute value &khgr; or y is calculated as &khgr; · WIDTH/1000 or y · HEIGHT/1000 with WIDTH as the applet width and HEIGHT as the applet height.

Strings are always enclosed in apostrophes. If a string is to contain an apostrophe, it must be preceded by a backslash ¹¹ \".

A comment begins with the keyword rem, can then contain any characters (except ";") and ends with the terminator character ";".

The variables used in arithmetic expressions must be declared (preferably at the beginning of the template file) using the var statement.

image filename

Uses the pixel graphic from the file named filename as the background for the applet. The value is of type <String> and the syntax rules for file names apply. The pixel graphic can contain all graphic elements that are not changed by variable values.

bkgnd red_intensity green_intensity blue_intensity

Sets the background color of the applet; the values are in the range from 0 to 255. The values are

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of type <Expression>.
color red_intensity green_intensity blue_intensity

Sets the color for all subsequent graphical operations; the values are in the range 0 to 255. The values are of type <Expression>.

line x_start y_start x_end y_end

Draws a line between the two points (x_start, y_start) and (x_end, y_end). The values are of type <Expression>.

oval modifier x_start y_start x_end y__end

Draws an ellipse whose circumscribing rectangle is given by the two coordinates (x_start, y_start) and (x_end, y_end). The values are of type <Expression>. For modifier equal to "d" the ellipse contour is drawn; for modifier equal to "f" the ellipse is filled.

box modifier x_start y_start x_end y_end

Draws a rectangle given by the two coordinates (x_start, y_start) and (x_end, y_end). The values are of type <Expression>. For modifier equal to "d" the rectangle outline is drawn; for modifier equal to "f" the rectangle is filled.

rbox modifier x_start y_start width height arc_width arc_height

Draws a rectangle with rounded corners given by the two coordinates (x_start, y_start) and (x_end, y_end); the horizontal (vertical) diameter of the arc at all four corners is given by arc_width (arc_height). The values are of type <Expression>. For modifier equal to "d" the

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Rectangle outline drawn; for modifier equal to "f" the rectangle is filled.

arc modifier &khgr; y width height start_angle arc_angle

Draws an arc whose circumscribing rectangle is given by the two coordinates (x_start, y_start) and (x_end, y_end). The start angle is given by start_angle and the end angle by end_angle. The zero degree mark is at the "three o'clock"position; the maximum value for start_angle and arc_angle is 360 degrees. The values are of type <Expression>. For modifier equal to "d ^M" the arc contour is drawn; for modifier equal to "f" the arc is filled.

font-name-style- size

Specifies the name, style and size of all subsequent text output. The following strings are currently possible as name: Serif, SansSerif, Monospaced. The following strings are possible as style: bold, italic, bold_italic, plain. The size must be specified as a relative size to the applet height.

text &khgr; y string | variable { string | variable }

Outputs a text given by one or more string(s) or variable name(s) at position (x, y).

Claims (3)

GR 98 G 4468 DE 10 Protection claims 1. Automation device for controlling a technical process, which can be connected via a network (2) in the form of an Internet and/or intranet network to an observation device (3) which is intended for process observation,
characterized in that - the automation device (1) is designed as an HTTP server, wherein the monitoring device (3) is provided with (1) HTML pages can be provided for the preparation and graphical representation of the technical process, - the automation device (1) generates applets (4) for dynamic components of the technical process, which applets can be loaded into the observation device (3) as components of HTML pages and can be executed in the observation device (3), and - the automation device (1) indicates a change in an essentially static component of the technical process to the observation device (3), whereby the observation device reloads the HTML page. 2. Automation device according to claim 1, characterized in that in the automation device (1) embedded in HTML pages Java applets (4) are integrated into the observation device (3) are loadable, which enable the generation of graphical process variables, whereby the graphical process variables are generated by Java applets running in the observation device (3). 3. Automation device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the automation device (1) generates the applets (4) cyclically.