JPH04245795A - Facility management controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce cost by controlling and managing respective manufacturing facilities by means of respective inherent commands, converting respective commands to a common command by a command conversion corresponding table and executing instruction and report based on the common command. CONSTITUTION:Reporting contents and instruction contents common to respective manufacturing facilities 2 are mutually transmitted to manage facility states and a facility state managing means 101 converts a command notation format having the reporting contents inherent in respective manufacturing facilities into a common command notation format in order to recognize each inherent command as a common input command. A command notation conversion part 210 converts a common output command having issued instruction contents into a command format inherent in the manufacturing facility by which the manufacturing facility 2 can be recognized, and when commands issued between the facility management controller and each facility 2 have a conversational means, the conversational procedure for command transfer is managed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention is utilized as a means for managing manufacturing equipment. In particular, it relates to a control device for managing many different pieces of equipment.

0002

[Prior Art] In conventional technology, start signals, stop signals, trouble signals, etc. of manufacturing equipment are imported into a computer and managed using contact signals such as relays or parallel input/output signal information from photointerrupters. . Also, when handling large amounts of data such as NC data,
Information was managed by sending and receiving information using serial communication means such as RS-232C.

0003

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] In such a conventional example, since each manufacturing equipment group has a corresponding communication protocol, there are many types of communication protocols, and communication procedure software is required for each different manufacturing equipment. had to be developed. Further, when transferring a large amount of technical information such as NC data, if the maximum unit (record) for one transfer is exceeded, the records must be transferred multiple times. Therefore, it takes a long time to develop an equipment management system, which increases costs.
The disadvantage is that maintenance is difficult. Furthermore, as the number of cases in which information systems are being built in various shops is increasing, there have been drawbacks such as the need to make major changes to the upper level management system in conjunction with layout changes or the introduction of new manufacturing equipment.

[0004] The present invention solves these problems; it does not require a long time to develop the system, it can be maintained at low cost, and it can be maintained with ease even if the layout is changed or new manufacturing equipment is introduced. The purpose is to provide an equipment management controller that does not require changes.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides an equipment interface module provided on a communication control board that controls communication with manufacturing equipment, a computer including an equipment status management section, and an auxiliary storage device in which files are stored. In the equipment management controller, the equipment interface module includes a communication control unit that processes a communication control procedure in accordance with the communication rules with each of the manufacturing equipment, and the equipment status management unit is configured to control communication with each of the manufacturing equipment. The equipment interface module includes equipment status management means for managing the equipment status by transmitting and receiving common report content and command content to each of the manufacturing equipment, and further includes a command display format having report content unique to each of the manufacturing equipment. The equipment status management means converts the common command display format into a common command display format that can be recognized by a common input command, and displays a command unique to the manufacturing equipment that allows the manufacturing equipment to recognize the common output command having the command content issued by the equipment status management means 101. the auxiliary storage device includes a command conversion correspondence table file, and command conversion table expansion means for supplying the contents of the command conversion correspondence table file to the command notation conversion unit. It is characterized by

[0006] Here, the auxiliary storage device may include communication parameter setting means that includes a communication parameter file and sets the contents of the communication parameter file in the communication control section when the power is turned on.

The equipment status management section may further include command conversation procedure management means for managing a conversation procedure for commands issued between the manufacturing equipment and the equipment status management means.

[0008]

[Function] Common for managing equipment status by mutually communicating report contents and command contents common to each manufacturing equipment, and recognizing command notation formats with report contents unique to manufacturing equipment with a common input command. Convert to command notation format. In addition, it converts common output commands with issued instruction contents into a command format specific to manufacturing equipment that can be recognized by manufacturing equipment, and when a command issued with manufacturing equipment has a conversation procedure between the two, Manage conversational steps for interactions. In this way, a large number of different manufacturing facilities can be easily managed at low cost.

[0009]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

The first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, includes an equipment interface module 200 provided on a communication control board 20 that controls communication with the manufacturing equipment 2;
The equipment interface module 200 is equipped with a computer 10 including an equipment status management section 100 and an auxiliary storage device 30 in which files are stored. A communication control unit 22 that processes communication control procedures in accordance with
0, and the equipment status management unit 100 is the manufacturing equipment 2.
equipment status management means 101 for managing the equipment status by sending and receiving report contents and command contents common to each of the above;
The equipment interface module 200 further converts the command display format that has unique report content for each of the manufacturing equipment 2 into a common command display format that can be recognized by the equipment status management means 101 using a common input command, and the equipment status management means 101 The auxiliary storage device 30 includes a command notation conversion unit 210 that converts a common output command with instruction content issued by the manufacturing equipment 2 into a command display format specific to the manufacturing equipment 2 that can be recognized by the manufacturing equipment 2 . The command notation conversion unit 210 converts the contents of the command conversion correspondence table file 320 into
A command conversion correspondence table expansion means 130 is provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, the second embodiment of the present invention includes an auxiliary storage device 3 in addition to the components of the first embodiment.
0 includes a communication parameter setting means 140 that includes a communication parameter file 330 and sets the contents of the communication parameter file 330 in the communication control section 220 when the power is turned on.

In a third embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, in addition to the components of the second embodiment, an equipment state management section 100 further includes the manufacturing equipment 2 and the equipment state management means. 101 includes command conversation procedure management means 102 for managing conversation procedures of commands issued with 101 .

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a communication control board 2 is connected to a plurality of different manufacturing facilities 2 via an information transmission means 0220, and controls communication with the manufacturing facilities 2.
Equipment interface module 200 provided at 0
, a computer 10 including an application program means 110, an equipment status management unit 100 for managing equipment status, and a file transfer management unit 150, a communication board program file 310, a command conversion correspondence table file 320, a communication parameter file 330, and NC data. Technical information file 3 that stores information such as
The equipment interface module 200 further includes a communication control unit 220 that processes communication control procedures in accordance with the communication rules of each manufacturing equipment 2, and the equipment status management unit 100. includes an equipment status management means 101 that manages the equipment status by transmitting and receiving report contents and command contents common to each manufacturing equipment 2; The equipment status management means 101 converts the command notation format with a common command notation format into a common command notation format in order to recognize it as a common input command, and the manufacturing equipment 2 recognizes the common output command with the command content issued by the equipment status management means 101. It includes a command notation conversion unit 210 that converts the command format into a command format specific to manufacturing equipment, and reads and sets communication parameters held in a communication parameter file 330 in the auxiliary storage device 30 into the communication control unit 220 when the power is turned on. Command conversion correspondence table file 320 in auxiliary storage device 30
command conversion table development means 130 that reads out the command conversion table stored in the command conversion table into the command notation conversion unit 210 at power-up and develops it as a table on memory;
and a program loading means 120 for loading and arranging a program including a control program for the communication control section 220 and command notation conversion section 210 stored in the auxiliary storage device 30 into the same communication control board 20.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of this embodiment. In this embodiment, in terms of hardware, a computer 10 has a CPU 11, a memory 12, and a system bus 10000, and is connected to an auxiliary storage device 30 via this system bus 10000 and a transmission path 10300, and is connected to an auxiliary storage device 30 via a transmission path 20100. and is connected to the communication control board 20. In addition, the communication control board 20
CPU 21, serial input/output interface 24, ROM 23 with boot program, RAM 22, 25
and a system bus 20000, and a transmission line 20210 is connected to the C
PU21 and RAM22 by transmission line 20220,
Transmission line 20230 and ROM23, transmission line 20240
Serial input/output interface 24 and transmission line 20
250 and the RAM 25, respectively. R
The AM 22 is also connected to the system bus 10000 of the computer 10 through a transmission line 20100, and is a shared RAM between the computer 10 and the communication board 20.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention constructed as described above will be explained. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation flow of the equipment interface module 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the equipment management controller 1 is powered on (step 3001), the equipment management controller 1 installs a communication board containing operating programs for the communication control section 220 and the command notation conversion section 210 housed in the auxiliary storage device 30 managed by the computer 10. Program file 3
10 is loaded and placed in the communication control board 20 by the program loading means 120 (Step 3
002, 1031 in Figure 1). Next, the contents of the command conversion correspondence table file 320 are converted to the command conversion correspondence table 230.
The command conversion correspondence table is expanded on the RAM 22 of the communication control board 20 by the command conversion table expansion means 130 (step 3004, 1032 and 2013 in FIG. 1). After that, the communication control unit 220 and the command notation conversion unit 210
(Step 3005)
). The equipment status management section 100 sends and receives information to and from the application program means 110 including other programs (1001 in FIG. 1). The presence or absence of communication from the manufacturing equipment 2 is determined (step 3006), and when communication occurs via the information transmission means 0220, the communication control unit 220 performs communication procedure processing. Here, the communication format is decomposed to extract only equipment-specific commands and transmitted to the command notation conversion unit 210 (Step 30
11 and 2122 in Figure 1). Command notation conversion section 2
10, refer to the command conversion correspondence table 230 (Figure 1
2023), convert it into a common command (step 3)
012). It is checked whether the converted common command is an error command that includes equipment trouble, and if it is an error, it is transmitted as is to the equipment status management unit 100 (2010 in FIG. 1), and the equipment status that should be changed is determined. transitions (step 3014) and communicates to the application program means 110 (step 3015 and 1001 in FIG. 1). If it is not an error, change the equipment status if necessary (Step 3
014), application program means 110
(Step 3015). Further, if there is no communication from the equipment in step 3006, it is checked whether there is communication from the application program means 110 (step 3007), and if there is no communication, the process returns to step 3006. If transmitted, the command notation conversion unit 210 converts it into a command unique to the equipment (step 3009). The commands converted into equipment-specific commands are transmitted to the communication control unit 220 (step 3009). The communication control unit 210 transmits the information to the manufacturing equipment 2 according to the equipment communication control procedure (step 3010).
), the process returns to step 3006.

Further, the case of file transfer will be explained using FIG. 14. Equipment management controller 1 is manufacturing equipment 2
When transferring technical information files such as NC data to (step 3100), the file name is transferred and notified (step 3101). The equipment management controller 1 reads data records within the preset size range of the buffer memory (RAM 22) on the communication control board 20 from the technical information file 340 stored in the auxiliary storage device 30 (step 3102). One record is extracted from this buffer, a communication header is added via the communication control unit 220 (step 3104), and the record is sent to the manufacturing equipment 2 according to the communication procedure (step 3105). If the communication so far has been successful (step 3106), the process is repeated until the record group read into the buffer is completed (step 3107). If a communication problem occurs and the communication fails, the failure that caused the failure is eliminated (step 3109) and the process is restarted from the beginning. These operations are repeated until all records of technical data in the auxiliary storage device 30 are sent out (step 3108), and when the communication of the last record is completed, the transmission ends (step 31).
10).

When the equipment management controller 1 requests the manufacturing equipment 2 to transfer technical information files such as NC data held by the manufacturing equipment 2 (step 3200), the request is made by transmitting the desired file name. be an instruction
(Step 3201). The equipment interface module 200 requests the manufacturing equipment 2 to send a record,
The manufacturing equipment 2 receives the sendable record of the requested technology information (step 3202), deletes the communication header using the communication control unit 220 (step 3203), and stores the record in the buffer memory on the main memory of the equipment management controller 1. (step 3204). If this series of operations is completed without any problems (step 3205), these operations are repeated until the buffer is full (step 3207), and writing from communication to the file is continued (step 3208) until the file transfer is completed (step 3206). Repeat the steps up to. If a failure occurs in a process during a series of these operations, the process is restarted from the beginning (step 3201). Once this series of tasks is completed, the reception will end.
(Step 3211). A data record is read from the technical information file 340 stored in the data auxiliary storage device 30 within the preset buffer memory size on the main memory (step 3102). One record is extracted from this buffer, a communication header is added via the equipment interface module 200 (step 3104), and the record is sent to the manufacturing equipment 2 according to the communication procedure (step 3105). Communication so far has been successful (Step 31)
06), repeat until the record group read into the buffer is completed (step 3107). If a communication problem occurs and the communication fails, the failure causing the failure is eliminated (step 3109) and the process is restarted from the beginning. These operations are repeated until all records of technical data in the auxiliary storage device 30 are sent out (step 310).
8) The transmission ends when the communication of the last record is completed (step 3110).

Next, as an example of serial communication, a sequencer, which is widely used for controlling manufacturing equipment, will be explained. FIG. 8 shows step 3 by applying the flowchart of the operation of the communication control board 20 shown in FIG. 5 to the case of a sequencer.
006, step 3008, step 3011, and step 3012 in detail. Figure (a)
is a flow when step 3006 shown in FIG. 5 is a sequencer. In order to have priority in the sequencer's communication control procedure and obtain reports from the manufacturing equipment 2, it is necessary to monitor the status of the corresponding address exclusively for communication that has been agreed upon with the manufacturing equipment 2 in advance by starting a timer, etc. (step 4000, 4001 and step 4
002). FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the sequencer communication control procedure and text contents. In a command block 5000, the communication control unit 220 of the equipment management controller 1 transmits, as a text 5010, the address with the lowest number and the required number of addresses starting from that address for the corresponding address where various report contents from the equipment are stored. As a response, the manufacturing equipment 2 that has the sequencer sends the data at the specified address to the response block 5.
Reply as 001. Step 400 in FIG. 8(a)
The data at the address fetched in step 2 is compared with data 4004 at the address fetched and held immediately before (step 4003). If the compared data have the same value, the process moves to step 3007 shown in FIG. 5, and if the data of the compared addresses are different, the process moves to step 3011' shown in FIG. 8(c). The address number and its data changed in steps 4020 and 4021 in the same figure are transmitted to the next step 3012' shown in FIG. 8(d). In step 3012', the obtained change address and its data are converted into the command conversion correspondence table 23 shown in FIG.
0' and checks whether there is a corresponding one (step 4030). If there is no corresponding one, it is transmitted as an error to the application program means 110 shown in FIG. 1, and if there is a corresponding one, The changed address and its data are converted into common commands as equipment-specific commands (step 4031).

Application program means 110
The explanation will be given by taking up a production start instruction as an example of when there is a communication from the. When the common command 6001 shown in FIG. 13 is issued, the command notation conversion unit 210 refers to the command conversion correspondence table file 230' and
001 to equipment-specific command 6000 (Figure 8 (
b), Step 3008') This equipment-specific command 6000 is transmitted as the text 5011 in the instruction block 5002 shown in FIG. 12 to the manufacturing equipment 2 by the corresponding address number and its data. Manufacturing equipment 2 responds with response block 5003.
Reply with the error code.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, this embodiment includes an equipment interface module provided on a communication control board 20 that is connected to a plurality of different manufacturing equipment 2 via an information transmission means 0220 and controls communication with the manufacturing equipment 2. 200 and application program means 110
, a computer 10 including an equipment status management unit 100 that manages equipment status and a file transfer management unit 150;
Communication board program file 310, command conversion table file 320, communication parameter file 33
0 and an auxiliary storage device 30 containing a technical information file 340 in which NC data and the like are stored.Furthermore, the equipment interface module 200 processes communication control procedures in accordance with the communication rules of each manufacturing equipment 2. including a communication control unit 220 and an equipment status management unit 10
0 includes an equipment status management means 101 that manages the equipment status by sending and receiving report contents and command contents common to each manufacturing equipment 2, and furthermore, an equipment interface module 200 includes information specific to the manufacturing equipment 2. The command notation format with the report contents is the equipment status management means 101.
A command for converting a common output command having command content issued by the equipment status management means 101 into a command format unique to the manufacturing equipment that can be recognized by the manufacturing equipment 2. A communication parameter setting unit 140 that includes a notation conversion unit 210 and reads and sets communication parameters stored in a communication parameter file 330 in the auxiliary storage device 30 into the communication control unit 220 when the power is turned on; A command conversion table expansion means 130 reads out a command conversion table stored in the command conversion table file 320 into the command notation conversion unit 210 at power-on and expands it as a table on memory; A program loading unit 120 loads and arranges a program including a control program for the communication control unit 220 and the command notation conversion unit 210 in the same communication control board 20.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, in terms of hardware, a computer 10 includes a CPU 11 and a memory 12.
and a system bus 10000, and is connected to the auxiliary storage device 30 via the system bus 10000 and a transmission line 10300, and to the communication control board 20 via a transmission line 20100. The communication control board 20 also includes a CPU 21 and a serial input/output interface 24.
, ROM 23 and RAM 22 having a boot program;
25 and system bus 20000,
Transmission line 20210 via system bus 20000
CPU21 and RAM22 by transmission line 20220
, the transmission line 20230, the ROM 23, and the transmission line 202
40 to the serial input/output interface 24, and a transmission line 20250 to the RAM 25, respectively. RAM 22 is connected to computer 10 and transmission line 20100
It is also connected to the system bus 10000 of the computer 10 and serves as a shared RA between the computer 10 and the communication board 20.
It is M.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention constructed as described above will be explained. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation flow of the equipment interface module 220 according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the equipment management controller 1 is powered on (step 3001), the equipment management controller 1 installs a communication board containing operating programs for the communication control section 220 and the command notation conversion section 210 housed in the auxiliary storage device 30 managed by the computer 10. Program file 3
10 is loaded and placed in the communication control board 20 by the program loading means 120 (Step 3
002, 1031 in FIG. 2). When the arrangement of this execution program is completed, a communication parameter file 33 that defines the communication speed or bit data format of the communication control unit 220 stored in the auxiliary storage device 30
The communication parameter setting means 14 sets the communication parameters within 0.
0 (step 3003, 10 in Figure 2)
33 and 2014). Next, the command conversion correspondence table file 320 is expanded into the RAM 22 of the communication board control 20 by the command conversion correspondence table expansion means 130 as the command conversion correspondence table 230 (step 3004, 1032 and 20 in FIG. 2).
13). After that, the communication control unit 220 and the command notation conversion unit 210 are initialized (
Step 3005). The equipment status management section 100 sends and receives information to and from the application program means 110 including other programs (1001 in FIG. 2).
. The presence or absence of communication from manufacturing equipment 2 is determined (step 3
006) When communication occurs via the information transmission means 0220, the communication control unit 220 performs communication procedure processing. Here, the communication format is decomposed, only the equipment-specific commands are extracted, and the commands are transmitted to the command notation conversion unit 210 (step 3012 and 2122 in FIG. 2). Command conversion correspondence table 230 by command notation conversion unit 210
(2023 in FIG. 2) and converts it into a common command (step 3012). It is checked whether the converted common command is an error command that includes equipment trouble, and if it is an error, it is transmitted as is to the equipment status management unit 100 (2010 in FIG. 2), and the equipment status that should be changed is determined. transitions (step 3
014), application program means 110
(Step 3015 and Figure 21001)
. Further, if there is no communication from the equipment in step 3006, it is checked whether or not there is communication from the application program means 110 (step 3007).
, if there is no transmission, the process returns to step 3006. The commands converted into equipment-specific commands are sent to the communication control unit 220.
(Step 3009). Communication control unit 2
10 is transmitted to the manufacturing equipment 2 according to the equipment communication control procedure (step 3010), and the process returns to step 3006.

Further, the case of file transfer will be explained using FIG. 14. Equipment management controller 1 is manufacturing equipment 2
When transferring technical information files such as NC data to (step 3100), the file name is transferred and notified (step 3101). The equipment management controller 2 reads data records from the technical information file 340 stored in the auxiliary storage device 30 within the preset size range of the buffer memory (RAM 22) on the communication control board 20 (step 3102). One record is extracted from this buffer, a communication header is added via the interface module 200 (step 3104), and the record is sent to the manufacturing equipment 2 according to the communication procedure (step 3105).
. If the communication so far has been successful (step 3106), the process is repeated until the record group read into the buffer is completed (step 3107). If a communication problem occurs and the communication fails, the failure that caused the failure is eliminated (step 3109) and the process is restarted from the beginning. These operations are repeated until all records of technical data in the auxiliary storage device 30 are sent out (step 3108), and the transmission ends when the communication of the last record is completed (step 3110).

When the equipment management controller 1 requests the manufacturing equipment 2 to transfer technical information files such as NC data held by the manufacturing equipment 2 (step 3200), the request is made by transmitting the desired file name. be an instruction
(Step 3201). The equipment interface module issues a record sending request to the manufacturing equipment 2, and the manufacturing equipment 2 receives the record capable of sending the requested technical information (step 3202), and its communication control unit 220 deletes the communication header (step 3203). , writes the record to the buffer memory on the main memory of the facility management controller 1 (step 3204). If this series of operations is completed without any problems (step 3205), these operations are repeated until the buffer is full (step 3207), and the file transfer is completed (step 3).
The operations from communication to writing to a file (step 3208) are repeated until step 206). If a failure occurs in a process in the middle of a series of these tasks, the initial task
(Step 3201) Start over. When this series of operations is completed, the reception ends (step 3211).
.

Data records are read from the technical information file 340 stored in the data auxiliary storage device 30 within the preset buffer memory size on the main memory (step 3102).
. One record is extracted from this buffer, a communication header is added via the equipment interface module 200 (step 3104), and the record is sent to the manufacturing equipment 2 according to the communication procedure (step 3105). If the communication so far has been successful (step 3106), the process is repeated until the record group read into the buffer is completed (step 3107). If a communication problem occurs and the communication fails, the failure that caused the failure is eliminated (step 3109) and the process is restarted from the beginning. These operations are repeated until all records of technical data in the auxiliary storage device 30 are transmitted (step 3108), and the transmission ends when the communication of the last record is completed (step 3110).

Next, as an example of serial communication, a sequencer, which is widely used for controlling manufacturing equipment, will be explained. FIG. 9 shows step 3 by applying the flowchart of the operation of the communication control board 20 shown in FIG. 6 to the case of a sequencer.
006, step 3011, and step 3012 in detail. FIG. 6A shows a flow when step 3006 shown in FIG. 6 is performed by a sequencer. In order to have priority in the sequencer's communication control procedure and obtain reports from the manufacturing equipment 2, it is necessary to monitor the status of the corresponding address exclusively for communication that has been agreed upon with the manufacturing equipment 2 in advance by starting a timer, etc. (step 4
000, 4001 and step 4002). Figure 11
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a sequencer communication control procedure and text contents. Communication control unit 22 of equipment management controller 1
0 is a command block 5000 that transmits as text 5010 the address with the lowest number and the required number of addresses starting from that address regarding the corresponding address where various report contents from the equipment are stored. As a response, the manufacturing equipment 2 having the sequencer returns data at the specified address as a response block 5001. The data at the address fetched in step 4002 of FIG. 9(a) is compared with data 4004 at the address fetched and held immediately before (step 4003).
. If the compared data are the same value, the process moves to step 3007 shown in FIG. 6, and if the data of the compared addresses are different, the process moves to step 3011' shown in FIG. 9(c). Step 4020 and step 402 in the same figure
The address number changed in step 1 and its data are shown in Figure 9 (d) below.
) to step 3012'. Step 3
At step 012', the obtained change address and its data are referred to the command conversion correspondence table 230' shown in FIG.
30) If there is no applicable one, it is transmitted as an error to the application program means 110 shown in FIG. 4031).

Application program means 110
The explanation will be given by taking up a production start instruction as an example of when there is a communication from the. When the common command 6001 shown in FIG. 13 is issued, the command notation conversion unit 210 refers to the command conversion correspondence table file 230' and
001 to equipment-specific command 6000 (Figure 9 (
b), Step 3008') This equipment-specific command 6000 is sent as the text 5011 in the instruction block 5002 shown in FIG. 12, and the corresponding address number and its data are transmitted from the communication control unit 220 to the manufacturing equipment 2. Manufacturing equipment 2 returns an error code to record block 5003 as a response.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, this embodiment includes an equipment interface module provided on a communication control board 20 that is connected to a plurality of different manufacturing equipment 2 via an information transmission means 0220 and controls communication with the manufacturing equipment 2. 200 and application program means 110
, a computer 10 including an equipment status management unit 100 that manages equipment status and a file transfer management unit 150;
Communication board program file 310, command conversion table file 320, communication parameter file 33
0 and an auxiliary storage device 30 containing a technical information file 340 in which NC data and the like are stored.Furthermore, the equipment interface module 200 processes communication control procedures in accordance with the communication rules of each manufacturing equipment 2. including a communication control unit 220 and an equipment status management unit 10
0 includes an equipment status management means 101 that manages the equipment status by sending and receiving report contents and command contents common to each manufacturing equipment 2, and furthermore, an equipment interface module 200 includes information specific to the manufacturing equipment 2. The command notation format with the report contents is the equipment status management means 101.
converts it into a common command notation format so that it can be recognized as a common input command, and converts the common output command having the command content issued by the equipment status management means 101 into a command format specific to the manufacturing equipment that can be recognized by the manufacturing equipment 2. The communication parameters including the command notation conversion unit 210 and held in the communication parameter file 330 in the auxiliary storage device 30 are read into the communication control unit 220 when the power is turned on, and the command conversion correspondence table file 3 in the auxiliary storage device 30 is read.
A command conversion correspondence table development means 13 reads out the command conversion correspondence table held in 20 to the command notation conversion unit 210 and develops it as a table on the memory when the power is turned on.
0 and a program loading means 120 for loading and arranging a program containing a control program for the communication control section 220 and command notation conversion section 210 stored in the auxiliary storage device 30 into the same communication control board 20.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of this embodiment. In this embodiment, in terms of hardware, a computer 10 has a CPU 11, a memory 12, and a system bus 10000, and is connected to an auxiliary storage device 30 via this system bus 10000 and a transmission path 10300, and is connected to an auxiliary storage device 30 via a transmission path 20100. and is connected to the communication control board 20. In addition, the communication control board 20
CPU 21, serial input/output interface 24, ROM 23 with boot program, RAM 22, 25
and a system bus 20000, and a transmission line 20210 is connected to the C
PU21 and RAM22 by transmission line 20220,
Transmission line 20230 and ROM23, transmission line 20240
Serial input/output interface 24 and transmission line 20
250 and the RAM 25, respectively. R
The AM 22 is also connected to the system bus 10000 of the computer 10 through a transmission line 20100, and is a shared RAM between the computer 10 and the communication board 20.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention constructed as described above will be explained. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation flow of the equipment interface module 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the equipment management controller 1 is powered on (step 3001), the equipment management controller 1 installs a communication board containing operating programs for the communication control section 220 and the command notation conversion section 210 housed in the auxiliary storage device 30 managed by the computer 10. Program file 3
10 is loaded and placed in the communication control board 20 by the program loading means 120 (Step 3
002, 1031 in FIG. 3). When the arrangement of this execution program is completed, a communication parameter file 33 that defines the communication speed or bit data format of the communication control unit 220 stored in the auxiliary storage device 30
The communication parameter setting means 14 sets the communication parameters within 0.
0 (step 3003, 10 in Figure 3)
33 and 2014). Next, the command conversion correspondence table file 320 is developed as a command conversion correspondence table 230 on the RAM 22 of the communication control board 20 by the command conversion correspondence table development means 130 (step 3004, 1032 and 20 in FIG. 1).
13). After that, the communication control unit 220 and the command notation conversion unit 210 are initialized (
Step 3005). The equipment status management unit 100 sends and receives information to and from the application program means 110 including other programs (1001 in FIG. 3).
. The presence or absence of communication from manufacturing equipment 2 is determined (step 3
006) When communication occurs via the information transmission means 0220, the communication control unit 220 performs communication procedure processing. Here, the communication format is decomposed, only commands unique to the equipment are extracted, and transmitted to the command notation conversion unit 210 (step 3012 and 2122 in FIG. 3). Command conversion correspondence table 230 by command notation conversion unit 210
(2023 in FIG. 3) and converts it into a common command (step 3013). It is checked whether the converted common command is an error command that includes equipment trouble (step 3014), and if it is an error, it is transmitted as is to the equipment status management unit 100 (2010 in FIG. 3), and the equipment status transition is performed. For those that should be processed, the transition is made (step 3016) and transmitted to the application program means 110 (step 301).
7 and 1001 in Figure 3). If there is no error, the command conversation procedure management means 101 of the equipment status management unit 100 checks whether this command is in the middle sequence of the command issued from the equipment management controller 1 immediately before it was received (step 3015), and in the middle sequence. If not, it is transmitted as is to the equipment status management means 102, and if necessary, the status of the equipment is changed (step 30).
16) and transmit it to the application program means 110 (step 3017). Also, step 30
If there is no communication from the equipment in step 06, it is checked whether there is communication from the application program means 110 (step 3007), and if there is no communication, the process returns to step 3006, and if there is communication, it is checked whether there is a command sequence. is checked (step 3008)
, if there is a command sequence, the command notation conversion unit 21
0 to convert it into an equipment-specific command (step 30
09). The commands converted into equipment-specific commands are transmitted to the communication control unit 220 (step 3010
). The communication control unit 210 transmits the information to the manufacturing equipment 2 according to the equipment communication control procedure (step 3011), and returns to step 3006. If the command sequence is not completed in step 3008, the process returns to step 3006.

Further, the case of file transfer will be explained using FIG. 14. Equipment management controller 1 is manufacturing equipment 2
When transferring technical information files such as NC data to (step 3100), the file name is transferred and notified (step 3101). The equipment management controller 2 reads data records from the technical information file 340 stored in the auxiliary storage device 30 within the preset size range of the buffer memory (RAM 22) on the communication control board 20 (step 3102). One record is extracted from this buffer, a communication header is added via the interface module 220 (step 3104), and the record is sent to the manufacturing equipment 2 according to the communication procedure (step 310).
5). Communication so far has been successful (step 3106)
If so, repeat until the record group read into the buffer is completed (step 3107). If a communication problem occurs and the communication fails, the failure that caused the failure is eliminated (step 3109) and the process is restarted from the beginning. These operations are repeated until all records of technical data in the auxiliary storage device 30 are sent out (step 3108).
, the transmission ends when the communication of the last record is completed (step 3110).

When the equipment management controller 1 requests the manufacturing equipment 2 to transfer technical information files such as NC data held by the manufacturing equipment 2 (step 3200), the request is made by transmitting the desired file name. be an instruction
(Step 3201). The equipment interface module issues a record sending request to the manufacturing equipment 2, and the manufacturing equipment 2 receives the record capable of sending the requested technical information (step 3202), and its communication control unit 220 deletes the communication header (step 3203). , writes the record to the buffer memory on the main memory of the facility management controller 1 (step 3204). If this series of operations is completed without any problems (step 3205), these operations are repeated until the buffer is full (step 3).
207), the file transfer ends (step 32)
06) The operations from communication to writing to the file (step 3208) are repeated. If a failure occurs in a process in the middle of a series of these tasks, the initial task (
Start over from step 3201). When this series of operations is completed, the reception ends (step 3211).
.

Data records are read from the technical information file 340 stored in the data auxiliary storage device 30 within the preset buffer memory size on the main memory (step 3102).
. One record is extracted from this buffer, a communication header is added via the equipment interface module 200 (step 3104), and the record is sent to the manufacturing equipment 2 according to the communication procedure (step 3105). If the communication so far has been successful (step 3106), the process is repeated until the record group read into the buffer is completed (step 3107). If a communication problem occurs and the communication fails, the failure that caused the failure is eliminated (step 3109) and the process is restarted from the beginning. These operations are repeated until all records of technical data in the auxiliary storage device 30 are sent (step 3108), and the transmission ends when the communication of the last record is completed (
Step 3110).

Next, as an example of serial communication, a sequencer, which is widely used for controlling manufacturing equipment, will be explained. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing steps 3006, 3009, 3012, and 3013 in detail by applying the flowchart of the operation of the communication control board 20 shown in FIG. 7 to the case of a sequencer. Figure (a)
is a flow when step 3006 shown in FIG. 7 is a sequencer. In order to have priority in the sequencer's communication control procedure and obtain reports from the manufacturing equipment 2, it is necessary to monitor the status of the corresponding address exclusively for communication that has been agreed upon with the manufacturing equipment 2 in advance by starting a timer, etc. (step 4000, 4001 and step 4002). FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the sequencer communication control procedure and text contents. The communication control unit 220 of the equipment management controller 1 has a command block 5000.
Then, the address with the lowest number and the required number of addresses starting from that address are transmitted as text 5010 for the corresponding address where various report contents from the equipment are stored. As a response, the manufacturing equipment 2 having the sequencer returns data at the specified address as a response block 5001. Step 4 in Figure 10(a)
The data at the address fetched in step 002 is compared with data 4004 at the address fetched and held immediately before (step 4003). If the compared data are the same value, the process moves to step 3007 shown in FIG. 7, and if the data of the compared addresses are different, the process moves to step 3012' shown in FIG. 10(c). Step 4 in the same diagram
The address number and its data changed in step 020 and step 4021 are shown in step 30 as shown in the following figure 10(d).
13'. In step 3013', the obtained change address and its data are referred to the command conversion correspondence table 230' shown in FIG. 7, and it is checked whether there is a corresponding one (step 4030), and if there is no corresponding one, The error is transmitted to the application program means 110 shown in FIG. 3, and if there is a corresponding error, the changed address and its data are converted into a common command as an equipment-specific command (step 4031).
.

Application program means 110
The explanation will be given by taking up a production start instruction as an example of when there is a communication from the. When the common command 6001 shown in FIG. 13 is issued, the command conversion unit 210 refers to the command conversion correspondence table file 230' and
1 to equipment-specific command 6000 (Fig. 10(b)
), step 3009'), this equipment-specific command 6000 is sent as the text 5011 in the instruction block 5002 shown in FIG. The manufacturing equipment 2 returns an error code to the response block 5003 as a response.

[0036]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention allows different equipment to be handled on the same scale, making it easier to manage a large number of different equipment such as an M/C shop for PKG assembly. When building a comprehensive production system that includes shop performance collection, it becomes easy to build an information system even if you have little knowledge about manufacturing equipment or various types of manufacturing equipment, and you can use equipment interface modules as components. You can also
Other applications can be made into the same program, and even if the manufacturing equipment itself is different, the same controller can be used, thereby reducing development costs for equipment interface modules.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

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

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram showing the configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram showing the configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block configuration diagram showing the hardware configuration of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the equipment interface module of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the equipment interface module of FIG. 2;

7 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the equipment interface module of FIG. 3. FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing operations of the communication control unit and command notation conversion unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operations of the communication control unit and command notation conversion unit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operations of the communication control unit and command notation conversion unit in FIG. 3;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the sequence control procedure and text contents of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a sequencer control procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the contents of a command correspondence table according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the operation of file transfer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Equipment management controller 2
Manufacturing equipment 10 Computer 11, 21 CPU 12 Memory 20 Communication control board 22, 25 RAM 23 ROM 24 Serial input/output interface 3
0 Auxiliary storage device 100 Equipment status management section 101 Equipment status management means 102
Command conversation procedure management means 110
Application program means 120
Program loading means 130 Command conversion table expansion means 140 Communication parameter setting means 150 File transfer management section 20
0 equipment interface module 210
Command notation conversion unit 220
Communication control section

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1: An equipment management controller comprising an equipment interface module provided on a communication control board for controlling communication with manufacturing equipment, a computer including an equipment status management unit, and an auxiliary storage device storing files. , the equipment interface module includes a communication control unit that processes communication control procedures in accordance with communication rules with each of the manufacturing equipment, and the equipment status management unit handles report contents and commands common to each of the manufacturing equipment. Including equipment status management means for transmitting and receiving contents to manage equipment status,
The equipment interface module further converts a command display format having unique report content for each of the manufacturing equipment into a common command display format that can be recognized by the equipment status management means using a common input command, and the equipment status management means The auxiliary storage device includes a command notation conversion unit that converts a common output command having instruction content issued by the manufacturing equipment into a command display format specific to the manufacturing equipment that can be recognized by the manufacturing equipment, and the auxiliary storage device includes a command conversion correspondence table file, An equipment management controller characterized by comprising a command conversion correspondence table development means for providing the contents of a command conversion correspondence table file to the command notation conversion section. 2. The equipment management controller according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary storage device includes a communication parameter file and includes communication parameter setting means for setting the contents of the communication parameter file in the communication control unit when power is turned on. 3. The equipment according to claim 2, wherein the equipment status management section further includes command conversation procedure management means for managing a conversation procedure of commands issued between the manufacturing equipment and the equipment status management means. Management controller.