Control method of factory automation system, recording medium recording a program therefor and central processor of factory automation system

• US 6,668,205 B1
• Filed: 12/09/1999
• Issued: 12/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Ueno, Masayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, RAMESH B
• Application Number:
  US09/457,690
• Time in Patent Office: 1,475 Days
• Field of Search: 700/2-5, 700/9, 700/19, 700/20, 700/23, 700/49, 700/52, 700/53, 700/65, 700/66, 700/96, 700/104
• US Class Current: 700/96
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/418 Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31226 Multitasking server connected to general network and to nc machines
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A central processor of a factory automation system which has an application program 13 for issuing instructions to a plurality of controllers 1 to 4 in parallel and controlling the controllers 1 to 4, a plurality of interface 30a, 30b for connecting the application program 13 and the controllers 1 to 4, and interface control 35c for dynamically increasing or decreasing the number of the interface 30a, 30b in response to the number of the instructions issued by the application program 13 to the controllers 1 to 4 in parallel.

Claims

1. A control method of a factory automation system wherein a central controller for controlling a factory automation system using a plurality of controllers controls first and second ones of the controllers, said method comprising:

a generation step of starting a plurality of interface means by generating new interface means in addition to already existing interface means;

a first transmission step of transmitting a first instruction for controlling the first controller to one of the interface means by control means being placed in the central controller and having a control procedure of the controllers;

a second transmission step of transmitting by the control means a second instruction for controlling the second controller to different one of the interface means from the interface means to which the first instruction is transmitted;

a parallel execution step being executed after said first and second transmission steps, said parallel execution step of executing the first instruction by the interface means and executing the second instruction by the different interface means in parallel with execution of the first instruction;

a third transmission step being executed after said parallel execution step, said third transmission step of transmitting the process result for the first instruction to the control means by the interface means;

a fourth transmission step being executed after said parallel execution step, said fourth transmission step of transmitting the process result for the second instruction to the control means by the different interface means; and

an end step being executed after said fourth transmission step, said end step of releasing resources occupied by the different interface means and terminating the different interface means.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the step being executed after said end step, said step of receiving the process result transmitted at said third transmission step and processing the received process result by the control means.

3. A recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to execute:

a generation step at which if a request for controlling a controller is issued from an application program to a library and a control process provided in the library is called, the library generates a new thread, whereby a plurality of threads are assigned to the library;

a return step at which the library uses one of the threads to return execution right to the application program before the library receives the process result from the controller corresponding to the process of the controller;

a first control step at which the library uses different one of the threads from the one thread to execute the process of the controller and control the controller in parallel with the application program restarting execution to which the execution right is returned at the return step; and

a step being executed after the return step, the step of transmitting the process result of the controller from the library executed using the different thread to the application program executed using the one thread.

4. The recording medium as claimed in claim 3 recording a program for causing a computer to execute the additional steps of:

the request step being executed after the return step at which the application program uses the one thread to request the library to control a different controller;

the second control step at which the library receives the request made at the request step and controls the different controller in parallel with the first control step; and

the end step being executed after the transmission step at which the library executed using the different thread terminates the different thread.

5. A central processor of a factory automation system comprising:

control means for issuing instructions to a plurality of controllers in parallel and controlling the controllers;

a plurality of interface means for connecting said control means and the controllers; and

interface control means for dynamically increasing or decreasing the number of said plurality of interface means in response to the number of the instructions issued by said control means to the controllers in parallel.

6. The central processor as claimed in claim 5 wherein said interface control means senses that said control means sends an instruction to said interface means, and increases said interface means.

7. The central processor as claimed in claim 6 wherein said interface control means increases said interface means in response to the type of instruction and for an instruction having a shorter processing time than the instruction for increasing said interface means has, said interface control means does not increase said interface means and causes already existing interface means to execute the instruction having a shorter processing time.