JP2000089810A - Production system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To realize a production system capable of easily acquiring information of each device. SOLUTION: The present invention is an improvement on a production system for producing a product by two or more devices. This system uses WWW browser means and HTTP for each device.
And a WWW server means for transmitting information of each device to a WWW browser means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a production system for producing a product using two or more devices, and more particularly to a production system capable of easily acquiring information on each device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional production system, if a process is changed or a different process is performed for each product, all control programs must be changed. Therefore, it has been difficult to flexibly respond to changes in processes and processing. Another problem is that it is not easy to add a new machine tool or delete a machine plan. Further, when a certain machine tool breaks down, it is not possible to have a machine tool having the same function perform the processing.

As a production system which solves such a problem, there is, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-225788.

[0004] Such a system is shown and described in FIG. In the figure, a production management computer 11 and control computers 12A to 1A are provided on an information network 10.
2C is connected. Production management computer 11
Manages the types of products manufactured on the production line, the number of products manufactured of each type, and the like, and transmits these information to the control computers 12A to 12C.

The control computers 12A to 12C have the same configuration, and the configuration will be described by taking the control computer 12B as an example.

[0006] The control computer 12B has a storage unit 12
1 and a control unit 122. The storage unit 121 is an area where the product agent 40 and the device agent 60 exist. The control unit 122 controls the control computer 12B.

[0007] The product agent 40 is a program,
It has a recipe 50 that is provided in one-to-one correspondence with the product and that indicates in what procedure the product is manufactured and machined. The product agent 40 autonomously controls the control computers 12A to 12C according to the procedure written in the recipe 50.
Walk around. In the illustrated example, the product agent 40 exists in the control computer 12B.

[0008] One line of the recipe 50 corresponds to an instruction of a work for one machine tool, and is constituted by a set of {function name, work instruction}. The function name indicates what function the machine tool having can interpret and process the machine instruction.
Examples of the function name include a press machine and a lathe.
The work instruction indicates the contents of a work instruction to the machine tool. In the recipe 50, a set of a function name and a work instruction is arranged in order.

The control network 13 is connected to control computers 12A to 12C and control devices 14A to 14C. The control computers 12A to 12C control the control devices 14A to 14C. Control devices 14A to 14
C is, for example, a programmable controller that issues a specific operation command to the assigned machine tools 15A to 15C in accordance with a ladder program or the like. Machine tool 15A ~
15C is a press machine, a lathe, a grinding machine, etc., for example. The control unit 141 controls the control functions of the control devices 14A to 14C.

The device agents 60A to 60C are provided in one-to-one correspondence with the machine tools 15A to 15C, and have function lists 70A to 70C indicating functions that can be assigned to the corresponding machine tools 15A to 15C. Then, the device agents 60A to 60C communicate with the control unit 14 of the corresponding control device.
Act on 1 to execute the control function. Function list 70
A to 70C are lists showing operations that can be performed by the machine tools corresponding to the device agents 60A to 60C.
The product 16 is processed by the machine tools 15A to 15C.

The operation of such an apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The product agent 40 reads one line from the recipe 50 and finds the function name written in that line (S
1). If there is no readout line in the recipe 50, the operation ends (S2). If there is a readout line in the recipe 50, the process proceeds to the next process.

The product agent 40 broadcasts the function name to the information network 10 to search for the machine tools 15A to 15C having the function name (S).
3). When the broadcasted function name is not in its own function list, the device agents 60A to 60C do not respond (S4, S5). If the broadcasted function name is in its own function list, the device agents 60A to 60C notify the product agent 40 of that fact by reply (S4, S4).
6).

The product agent 40 waits for a predetermined time for a reply from the device agents 60A to 60C.
When a predetermined time has elapsed, the product agent 40
Are device agents 60A to 60A that have received replies
Device agent 60 that actually requests work from C
A to 60C are selected (S7).

Then, the product agent 40 moves to the control computers 12A to 12C of the corresponding device agents 60A to 60C (S8). The product agent 40 requests the destination device agents 60A to 60C for a work instruction described in combination with the function name (S9).

Upon receiving the work instruction, the device agents 60A to 60C execute the work according to the work instruction (S
10). When the work is completed, the completion is confirmed by product agent 4
0 is notified (S11).

When the product agent 40 receives the completion notification from the device agents 60A to 60C, the product agent 40
The row next to 0 is read (S1). Such an operation is repeated.

[0017]

In such a device,
The production management computer 11 has machine tools 15A to 15C.
Information of each device such as is centrally managed and performed by a database.

[0018] For this reason, it is difficult to create a database for dynamically changing information of each device and the like, and it has not been possible to utilize it effectively.

In order to refer to such information, a dedicated user interface is often used, and a protocol between the user interface and the database is often dedicated, so that information on each device can be easily obtained. Did not.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to realize a production system capable of easily acquiring information on each device.

[0021]

According to the present invention, in a production system in which a product is produced by two or more devices, each device communicates with a WWW browser means by HTTP, and information of each device is transmitted to the WWW browser means. It is characterized in that a WWW server means for transmitting is provided.

According to the present invention, the WWW browser means transmits the URL. Then, the WWW server unit transmits information on each device corresponding to the URL to the WWW browser unit. Then, the WWW browser means displays the received data.

[0023]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. The same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

In the figure, a personal computer 20 is connected to the information network 10 and has a WWW browser means 30. The WWW browser means uses HTTP (HyperText T)
ransfer Protocol) and communicate using HTML (HyperText
Markup Language) Displays data or applets.

The device agent 60 stores various data in H
It has holding means 61 for holding as TML data, and has WWW server means 62. The holding unit 61 holds the current process information, the information of the currently processed product, the operation time, the operation status, the dynamic data such as the alarm history and the inspection history, and the static data such as the device specifications. . The WWW server unit 62 collects dynamic data from the control device 14, stores the dynamic data in the holding unit 61 as HTML data, and uses a URL (Uniform Resource Locato
In response to the designation of r), the HTML data is read from the holding means 61 and transmitted by HTTP. Further, the WWW server means 62 performs processing based on a processing request of the WWW browser means 30, for example, by a CGI (Common Gateway Interface).

The operation of such a device will be described below.
The device agent 60 periodically collects various data from the control device 14, converts the collected data into HTML data, and holds the data.
To save.

Then, the WWW browser means 30
It specifies and requests data to the W server means 62.
Specifically, a request is made by specifying a URL. Receiving this URL, the WWW server means 62 sends the H
The TML data is read from the holding unit 61 and transmitted to the WWW browser unit 30 by HTTP. The WWW browser means 30 displays the received HTML data.

Further, the WWW browser means 30 is provided by the WWW
For the server means 62, the CGI is designated by the URL. In response to the URL, the WWW server means 62 performs, for example, a search for information using a keyword described in the URL together with the CGI designation, a change to the step operation mode of the device agent 60, and the like.

As described above, the WW is provided to the device agent 60.
Since the W server means 62 is provided, the user can easily refer to the information of each device using the general-purpose WWW browser means 30.

Also, by using an applet, the WW
The W browser means 30 and the WWW server means 62 communicate with each other, and dynamic data can be displayed on a graph or the like in real time.

Since the data is HTML data, static data and dynamic data can be easily linked. That is, a data reference link can be easily constructed.

Further, by using CGI, it is possible to transfer data from the WWW browser means 30 and to make a processing request. That is, data search and control of each device can be performed.

The present invention is not limited to this, and may have the following configuration. Device Agent 6
Although the configuration in which the WWW server means 62 is provided at 0 is shown, any configuration in which a WWW server is provided for each device may be used. Although the agent-based production system has been described as the production system, the production system is not limited to this, and may be a general production system.

Also, the configuration in which the device agent 60 stores the HTML data in the storage unit 61 has been described, but the storage unit 61 stores only the essential data and the WWW server unit 6
2, the HTML data may be created and transmitted by embedding data using a template or the like.

[0035]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. According to the first and second aspects, each device is provided with the WWW server means, so that the user can easily refer to the information of each device using the general-purpose WWW browser means.

By using an applet, W
The WW browser means and the WWW server means can communicate with each other and display dynamic data on a graph or the like in real time.

According to the third aspect, since the data is HTML data, a data reference link can be easily constructed.

According to the fourth aspect, the WWW server means:
Since the processing is performed based on the processing request of the WWW browser means, data search and control of each device can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a production system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the device shown in FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 14A to 14C Control device 15A to 15C Machine tool 16 Product 30 WWW browser means 60 Device agent 61 Holding means 62 WWW server means

Claims (4)

[Claims] In a production system for producing a product using two or more devices, a WWW server device is provided for each device, which communicates with a WWW browser device by HTTP and transmits information of each device to the WWW browser device. A production system characterized by that: 2. The production system according to claim 1, wherein the WWW server means has a holding means for holding information of each device. 3. The WWW server means stores information of each device as H
3. The production system according to claim 1, wherein the TML data is transmitted to WWW browser means. 4. In a production system for producing a product by two or more devices, a WWW server means for communicating with a WWW browser means for each equipment by HTTP and performing processing based on a processing request of the WWW browser means. A production system characterized by being provided.