CONTROL SYSTEM ENGINEERING APPARATUS
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Accused Products
Abstract
A connection is made to one of a plurality of programmable controllers (hereinafter, “PLCs”) included in a control system in which the plurality of PLCs are connected to one another via one or more networks; the one of the PLCs is specified as an originating PLC; network configuration information of the control system and online connection paths to the PLCs included in the control system are collected; layout relationships among the networks as well as connection relationships of the PLCs and coordinates thereof are calculated based on the network configuration information and the online connection paths; and the results are displayed on a display means as objects.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1-19. -19. (canceled)
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20. A control system engineering apparatus comprising:
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a communicating means that connects to one of a plurality of control devices included in a control system in which the plurality of control devices are connected to one another via one or more networks; an originating control device specifying means that specifies the one of the control devices connected to the communicating means as an originating control device; an online network configuration information collecting means that collects, from the control devices included in the control system and via the communicating means, network configuration information including configurations of the control devices that the control devices have and networks to which the control devices are connected; a displayed object coordinate calculator that causes objects to represent constituent elements of the control system and calculates coordinates that are required when the configurations of the control devices and connection relationships between the control devices and the networks obtained by the online network configuration information collecting means are displayed on a display means by using the objects; and a system configuration display means that displays a system configuration of the control system on the display means, based on the objects and the coordinates calculated by the displayed object coordinate calculator, wherein the displayed object coordinate calculator includes; a network grid layout function that extracts the networks from the online network configuration information and lays out the extracted networks as rectangular network grids in an up-and-down direction according to a predetermined rule; a control device grid layout function that creates a grid model by extracting the control devices from the online network configuration information, laying out each of rectangular control device grids so as to be positioned below a corresponding one of the network grids connected to a corresponding one of the control devices, and laying out each of rectangular wiring grids in an upward direction toward a corresponding one of the network grids having a connection relationship therewith so as to be positioned between a corresponding one of the control device grids and the corresponding one of the network grids; a grid size calculating function that calculates grid sizes by calculating a size of each of the control device grids in the grid model based on information of the configurations of the control devices included in the online network configuration information and changing sizes of relevant ones of the wiring grids and the network grids according to the size of each of the control devices; and a grid coordinate calculating function that calculates coordinates of each grid in the grid model by using the grid sizes, while using a predetermined position in the grid model as a point of reference, and wherein the network grid layout function classifies the extracted networks according to types thereof, and performs a process of laying out the networks for each of the types of the classified networks;
out of the control devices connected to a network, the larger a value indicating how many control devices or what percentage of the control devices are each also connected to one or more field networks is, the lower position the network is laid out in;
the larger a value indicating how many control devices or what percentage of the control devices are each connected only to one or more other information-related networks is, the upper position the network is laid out in; and
the larger a value indicating how many control devices or what percentage of the control devices are each also connected to one or more other inter-controller networks is, the upper position the network is laid out in, andthe control device grid layout function lays out two or more of the control device grids that are connected to a mutually same network so as to be positioned closer to one another.
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21. A control system engineering apparatus comprising:
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a communicating means that connects to one of a plurality of control devices included in a control system in which the plurality of control devices are connected to one another via one or more networks; an originating control device specifying means that specifies the one of the control devices connected to the communicating means as an originating control device; an online network configuration information collecting means that has a function of collecting, from the control devices included in the control system and via the communicating means, network configuration information including configurations of the control devices that the control devices have and networks to which the control devices are connected and a function of collecting online connection paths extending from the originating control device to the control devices included in the control system; a displayed object coordinate calculator that causes objects to represent constituent elements of the control system and calculates coordinates that are required when the configurations of the control devices and connection relationships between the control devices and the networks obtained by the online network configuration information collecting means are displayed on a display means by using the objects; a system configuration display means that displays a system configuration of the control system on the display means, based on the objects and the coordinates calculated by the displayed object coordinate calculator; and a connection path display means that displays online connection paths extending from the originating control device to the control devices so as to be superimposed on the system configuration, by using the online connection paths to the control devices collected by the online network configuration information collecting means.
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22. A control system engineering apparatus comprising:
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a system configuration editing means that edits, while offline, offline network configuration information indicating configurations of a plurality of control devices and connection relationships between the control devices and networks in a control system in which the control devices are connected to one another via one or more networks; a displayed object coordinate calculator that calculates coordinates that are required when the configurations of the control devices and the connection relationships between the control devices and the networks are displayed on a display means, based on the offline network configuration information, by using objects that represent constituent elements of the control system; and a system configuration display means that displays a system configuration of the control system on the display means, based on the objects and the coordinates calculated by the displayed object coordinate calculator, wherein the displayed object coordinate calculator includes; a network grid layout function that extracts the networks from the offline network configuration information and lays out the extracted networks as rectangular network grids in an up-and-down direction according to a predetermined rule; a control device grid layout function that creates a grid model by extracting the control devices from the offline network configuration information, laying out each of rectangular control device grids so as to be positioned below a corresponding one of the network grids connected to a corresponding one of the control devices, and laying out each of rectangular wiring grids in an upward direction toward a corresponding one of the network grids having a connection relationship therewith so as to be positioned between a corresponding one of the control device grids and the corresponding one of the network grids; a grid size calculating function that calculates grid sizes by calculating a size of each of the control device grids in the grid model based on information of the configurations of the control devices included in the offline network configuration information and changing sizes of relevant ones of the wiring grids and the network grids according to the size of each of the control devices; and a grid coordinate calculating function that calculates coordinates of each grid in the grid model by using the grid sizes, while using a predetermined position in the grid model as a point of reference, and wherein the network grid layout function classifies the extracted networks according to types thereof, and performs a process of laying out the networks for each of the types of the classified networks;
from the control devices connected to a network, the larger a value indicating how many control devices or what percentage of the control devices are each also connected to one or more field networks is, the lower position the network is laid out in;
the larger a value indicating how many control devices or what percentage of the control devices are each connected only to one or more other information-related networks is, the upper position the network is laid out in; and
the larger a value indicating how many control devices or what percentage of the control devices are each also connected to one or more other inter-controller networks is, the upper position the network is laid out in, andthe control device grid layout function lays out two or more of the control device grids that are connected to a mutually same network so as to be positioned closer to one another.
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23. A control system engineering apparatus comprising:
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a system configuration editing means that edits, while offline, offline network configuration information indicating configurations of a plurality of control devices and connection relationships between the control devices and networks in a control system in which the control devices are connected to one another via one or more networks; a displayed object coordinate calculator that calculates coordinates that are required when the configurations of the control devices and the connection relationships between the control devices and the networks are displayed on a display means, based on the offline network configuration information, by using objects that represent constituent elements of the control system; and a system configuration display means that displays a system configuration of the control system on the display means, based on the objects and the coordinates calculated by the displayed object coordinate calculator; an originating control device specifying means that specifies an originating control device out of the control devices included in the offline network configuration information; a connection path analyzing and selecting means that analyzes offline connection paths extending from the originating control device to the control devices included in the offline network configuration information and selects one or more of the offline connection paths; an offline connection path storing means that stores therein the offline connection paths selected by the connection path analyzing and selecting means; and a connection path display means that displays the offline connection paths so as to be superimposed on the system configuration.
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24. A control system engineering apparatus comprising:
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a communicating means that connects to one of a plurality of control devices included in a control system in which the plurality of control devices are connected to one another via one or more networks; an originating control device specifying means that specifies the one of the control devices connected to the communicating means as an originating control device; an online network configuration information collecting means that collects, from the control devices included in the control system and via the communicating means, online network configuration information including configurations of the control devices that the control devices have and networks to which the control devices are connected; a system configuration editing means that edits, while offline, the online network configuration information collected by the online network configuration information collecting means and creates offline network configuration information; a connection path analyzing and selecting means that analyzes offline connection paths extending from the originating control device to control devices included in the offline network configuration information and selects one or more of the offline connection paths; a routing parameter calculator that calculates a routing parameter that is required when data is transferred from the originating control device to a terminating control device, the routing parameter being set into such a control device that, in a case where two or more networks are connected between the originating control device and the terminating control device on any of the offline connection paths selected by the connection path analyzing and selecting means, connects a plurality of networks to one another on the offline connection path; and a parameter collectively rewriting means that extracts a network of which a parameter has been changed by comparing the online network configuration information with the offline network configuration information and, after sequentially changing, via the communicating means, parameters of control devices that are connected to the network of which the parameter has been changed, rewrites, with regard to the control devices into which the routing parameters have been set, routing parameters that are related to the network of which the parameter has been changed, with routing parameters that have been calculated by the routing parameter calculator. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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Specification