Method of and apparatus for generating control program

• US 5,177,420 A
• Filed: 04/30/1990
• Issued: 01/05/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Wada, Hiroaki, Negishi, Kunikazu
• Primary Examiner(s): IP, SHIK LUEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US07/516,742
• Time in Patent Office: 981 Days
• Field of Search: 318/560-646, 364/136, 364/200, 364/900, 364/141, 364/474.11, 364/191, 364/474.01, 364/147, 364/168-172
• US Class Current: 318/568.11
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/056 Programming the PLC

Abstract

A control program for controlling an object such as a machine tool, a robot, or the like is composed of an actuator program, a step program, and a logic program. The actuator program defines the input-output relationship of each actuator of the object based on a basic operation pattern. The step program defines the step-wise operation of said actuator. The logic program defines logic conditions such as an interlock condition.

Claims

1. An apparatus for generating a control program, comprising:

generating means for generating an operation sequence for an object to be controlled;

converting means for converting the operation sequence into a control program for controlling said object;

transmitting means for transmitting the control program to a sequence controller for controlling said object;

receiving means for receiving a status signal from said object controlled by the control program, via the sequence controller;

operation sequence diagram generating means for generating an operation sequence diagram from the operation sequence generated by said generating means; and

display means for displaying the operation sequence as an operation sequence diagram including a time-series display of each step of the object which includes a plurality of units and a relative display of the plurality of units, and for displaying an operation status of said object on the operation sequence diagram.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said display means includes,

hierarchical display means for selectively or simultaneously displaying a first display including each step of the plurality units,

a second display including operation details of each step, and

a third display including conditions and logic of the operation details.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said operation sequence diagram generating means includes operation sequence diagram data storing means for storing operation sequence diagram data and step-wise operation data of the plurality of units of the object which are arranged in data area according to interlocks between the plurality of units.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising editing means for editing the operation sequence diagram data and the step-wise operation data in said operation sequence data storing means according to the operation sequence diagram.

5. An apparatus for generating a control program, comprising:

program input means for entering a common control program for a plurality of types of programmable controllers;

command storing means for storing commands for the plurality of types of programmable controllers, said commands corresponding to commands of the control program;

selecting means for selecting one type of the plurality of types of programmable controllers;

command selecting means for selecting commands from said command storing means, which correspond to the selected type of programmable controller; and

means for generating the control program for the selected type of programmable controller based on the commands selected by said command selecting means.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said command storing means includes means for storing a plurality of commands for the plurality of types of programmable controllers which correspond to one macro command of the control program.

7. A method of generating a control program for controlling at least one machine tool having a plurality of actuators, comprising the steps of:

(a) generating an actuator program which defines an input/output relationship for each of the plurality of actuators of the machine tool to be controlled, based on a corresponding basic operation pattern, stored in a memory, including the sub-steps of,

(a) (1) assigning the corresponding basic operation patterns to each of the plurality of actuators, and assigning definition parameters as attributes, including label names of elements of the corresponding basic operation patterns to each of the plurality of actuators, and,

(b) (2) selecting one of the corresponding basic operation patterns for at least one of the plurality of actuators of said machine tool to be controlled, and assigning, as application parameters, input/output addresses to the label names of elements of the selected basic operation patterns;

(b) generating a step program which defines a step-wise operation of each of the plurality of actuators, including the substeps of,

(b) (1) selecting a step pattern from a plurality of step patterns stored in the memory as an operation circuit for incrementing steps of said control program, and

(b) (2) generating a timing chart, using a step-wise operation of each of the plurality of actuators of said machine tool, and generating time-series step-wise operation data from the timing chart and the step pattern; and

(c) generating a logic program which defines logic conditions including an interlock condition, including the sub-steps of,

(c) (1) setting input conditions including condition names, addresses, and status data, and

(c) (2) defining logic expressions including interlock expressions using the input conditions;

wherein said control program is composed of said actuator program, said step program, and said logic program which are stored in a program memory.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the input conditions are set up as an I/O table, and the logic expressions are defined using the I/O table.

9. An apparatus for generating a control program for controlling at least one machine tool having a plurality of actuators, comprising:

first memory means for storing basic operation patterns for each of the plurality of actuators and definition parameters, as attributes, including label names of elements of the basic operation patterns;

first assigning means for assigning the basic operation patterns and the definition parameters, selecting one of the basic operation patterns for at least one of the plurality actuators of said machine tool to be controlled, and assigning, as application parameters, input/output addresses to the label names of the elements of the selected basic operation patterns;

first program editing means for editing the control program based on the basic operation patterns, the definition parameters, and the application parameters;

second memory means for storing a step pattern as an operation circuit of incrementing steps of the control program;

second assigning means for assigning the sep pattern and generating a timing chart for a step-wise operation of each of the plurality of actuators of said machine tool;

second program editing means for editing the control program based on the timing chart and the step pattern;

third assigning means for assigning input conditions including condition names, addresses, and status data, and for defining logic expressions including interlock expressions using the input conditions; and

third program editing means for editing the control program based on said logic expressions.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

supervising means for supervising execution of the control program for said machine tool.