Graphical compare utility

• US 7,143,366 B1
• Filed: 06/11/2001
• Issued: 11/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Sielicki, Thomas, McKelvey, Jeffrey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Kristine
• Assistant Examiner(s): PESIN, BORIS M
• Application Number:
  US09/878,498
• Time in Patent Office: 1,996 Days
• Field of Search: 345/751, 345/809, 345/840, 345/866, 345/971, 707/100, 707/203, 707/204, 715/511, 717/103, 717/105, 717/122, 717/125, 717/127, 717/227
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/056 Programming the PLC
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/13022 Convert source program to intermediate program
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/965 for process control and configuration

Abstract

A system and method for displaying two different industrial control module programs in a single view is provided. The graphical compare utility provides a graphical view of a first control program in a first pane and a graphical view of a second control program in a second pane within a single frame window. The graphical compare utility can also provide indicators of insertions, deletions, moves and modifications of instructions between the first and second industrial control module programs within the graphical view. A wrapping feature can also be provided to facilitate viewing of the instructions within the viewable frame during resizing and zooming of the frame window.

Claims

1. A graphical compare utility system for displaying control programs for industrial control modules, the system comprising:

a conversion system that receives a first and a second control program and converts the first and second control program into a first and second data set representing individual instruction of the first and second control program;

a viewing system that accepts the first and second data sets and provides a graphical view of the first and second control programs in a single view based on the first and second binary data sets;

a difference module that determines differences between the first and the second control programs and provides a difference data structure representing the differences between the first and second control program; and

a comparison module that receives the difference data structure and the first and second control programs and generates a plurality of comparison scenarios to provide a plurality of comparison set views, the comparison module employing a decision model to determine the optimal display set view from the plurality of comparison set views by maximizing individual instruction matches between the first and second control programs.

2. The system of claim 1, the graphical utility system providing indicators for insertions, deletions, modifications and moves of individual instructions between the first and the second control program.

3. The system of claim 1, the individual instruction being rungs of first and second ladder logic programs.

4. The system of claim 1, the decision model transmitting the optimal display set view to a viewing component, the viewing component mapping the optimal display set view to graphic components associated with an operating system, such that the optimal display set view can be provided to a display system for providing a graphical representation of the first and second control program in a single view.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a recursion tool to provide wrapping of the graphical view of the first and second control program, such that instructions of the control programs are wrapped in corresponding panes of a single frame window to avoid clipping of the instructions.

6. The system of claim 5, the recursion tool being coupled to window resizing and zooming features of the graphical compare utility system, such that the graphical view of the first and second control programs is dynamically adjusted when at least one of window resizing and zooming is invoked.

7. The system of claim 5, the recursion tool having an enabled state and a disabled state.

8. The system of claim 5, the recursion tool provides a printout of the graphical view of all or a portion of the first and second control program.

9. A graphical utility system for displaying two control programs for industrial control modules in an adjacent configuration, the system comprising:

a conversion system that receives a first and a second control program and converts the first and second control program into a first and second binary data set representing individual instruction of the first and second control program;

a difference module for determining differences between the first and the second binary data set and providing a difference data structure representing the differences between the first and second control programs;

a comparison module that receives the difference data structure and the first and second control programs and generates a plurality of comparison scenarios to provide a plurality of comparison set views;

a decision model that determines an optimal display set view from the plurality of comparison set views by maximizing individual instruction matches between the first and second control programs; and

a viewing system that accepts the optimal display set view and provides a graphical view of the first and second control programs in an adjacent configuration.

10. The system of claim 9, the graphical utility system providing indicators for insertions, deletions, modifications and moves of individual instructions between the first and the second control program.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising a recursion tool to provide wrapping of the graphical view of the first and second control programs, such that instructions of the control programs are wrapped in corresponding panes of a single frame window to avoid clipping of the instructions.

12. The system of claim 11, the recursion tool being coupled to window resizing and zooming features of the graphical compare utility system, such that the graphical view of the first and second control programs are dynamically adjusted when at least one of window resizing and zooming is invoked.

13. The system of claim 11, the recursion tool having an enabled state and a disabled state.

14. The system of claim 11, the recursion tool being operable to provide a printout of two side-by-side graphical views of all or a portion of the first and second control program.

15. A method for displaying graphical representations of two ladder logic control programs for industrial controllers, the method comprising:

retrieving a first ladder logic control program and a second ladder logic control program; and

converting the first and second ladder logic control program into a first and second data set representing individual rungs of the first and second ladder logic control program;

determining differences between the first and the second ladder logic control programs and providing a difference data structure representing the differences between the first and second ladder logic control program;

generating a plurality of comparison scenarios based on the differences to provide a plurality of comparison set views and selecting an optimal display set view from the plurality of comparison set views by maximizing individual rung matches between the first and second ladder logic control programs; and

providing the first and second data sets to a graphical viewing system, the graphical viewing system providing a graphical view of the first and the second ladder logic control programs in the single optimal display set view.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing indicators for insertions, deletions, modifications and moves of individual rungs between the first and the second ladder logic control program, the indictors being provided in the graphical view.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising transmitting the optimal display set view to a viewing component, the viewing component providing a graphical view of the first and second ladder logic control program in a single frame window.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising subjecting the graphical view to a recursive algorithm, such that rungs of the ladder logic control program are wrapped in corresponding window panes of a single frame window to avoid clipping of the rungs.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising dynamically adjusting the graphical view of the first and second ladder logic control programs in response to at least one of window resizing and window zooming.

20. A system for displaying graphical representations of two control programs for industrial control modules in an adjacent configuration, the system comprising:

means for receiving a first and a second control program and converting the first and second control program into a first and second binary data set representing individual instruction of the first and second control program;

means for determining differences between the first and the second binary data set and providing a difference data structure representing the differences between the first and second control programs;

means for receiving the difference data structure and the first and second control programs and generating a plurality of comparison scenarios to provide a plurality of comparison set views;

means for determining an optimal display set view from the plurality of comparison set views by maximizing individual instruction matches between the first and second control programs; and

means for accepting the optimal display set view and providing a graphical view of the first and second control programs in an adjacent configuration.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising means for wrapping instructions in the graphical view of the first and second control program.