System, method, and apparatus for software maintenance of sensor and control systems

• US 8,806,470 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2010
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Fukatsu, Noriyasu
• Primary Examiner(s): MITCHELL, JASON D
• Application Number:
  US12/893,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20120079470A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,413 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/169
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/056 Programming the PLC
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A system and method for performing software maintenance of a programmable logic controller are provided. The system includes a programming tool and a controller. The programming tool is operable to update an execution environment of the controller and includes a controller type determination unit for reading a controller type of the controller and version information of an operating system thereof, an update information determination unit for reading update information corresponding to the controller type and the version information, an update area determination unit for determining a part of the execution environment to be updated based on the update information, and an updating unit for updating the determined part of the execution environment.

Claims

1. A method of updating an execution environment of a programmable logic controller, the method comprising:

reading a controller type of the programmable logic controller and version information of an operating system thereof;

reading update information corresponding to the controller type and the version information, wherein the update information is a hierarchically organized data structure comprising;

a renewed H/W value indicating whether a hardware update is required for the programmable logic controller, and

a layered operating system (OS) upgrade data structure comprising a value for each layer of the operating system, each said value indicating whether or not an update software is present for said layer of the operating system;

determining a part of the execution environment to be updated based on the read update information, wherein the determining comprises, for each layer of the OS of the programmable logic controller, determining whether an upgrade is necessary based on the read value of the corresponding layer in the upgrade information; and

updating the determined part of the execution environment by retrieving the update software from an external apparatus and replacing corresponding portions of the different layers in the programmable logic controller with the update software.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the update information specifies an upgrade function list, the upgrade function list including information on functions included in the execution environment that are to be updated.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining whether the functions included in the execution environment are used by a user of the controller, by reading an operating system execution parameter, and

applying an update to only those functions of the execution environment that are being used by the user.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing an option to the user to select whether to update a function from the upgrade function list; and

updating only those functions selected by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the update information specifies a plurality of instructions to be updated.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether a user application program is using an instruction from the plurality of instructions; and

updating the user application program if determined that the user application program is using at least one of the plurality of instructions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the update information further comprises:

an update factor information including major upgrade information, minor upgrade information, and defect information, wherein the major upgrade value indicates whether an update software includes new functions that do not exist in the programmable logic controller, the minor upgrade value indicates that the update software includes improvements to certain functions which are already part of the OS of the programmable logic controller, and the defect value indicates that the update software corrects a bug in the execution environment of the controller.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the update factor further comprises information identifying urgency of the upgrade,

the update information further comprises a value for each function of OS programs indicating whether the upgrade affects the corresponding function, and

the layers of the OS of the programmable controller comprises a user I/F layer, an application layer, a diagnosis layer, an abstraction layer, and a H/W I/F layer.

9. A system for performing software maintenance of a programmable logic controller, the system comprising:

a programming tool stored in a memory; and

a controller comprising a processor,

wherein the programming tool is operable to update an execution environment of the programmable logic controller and comprises;

a controller type determination unit, which is configured to read a controller type of the controller and version information of an operating system thereof;

an update information determination unit, which is configured to read update information corresponding to the controller type and the version information, wherein the update information is a hierarchically organized data structure comprising;

a renewed H/W value indicating whether a hardware update is required for the programmable logic controller, and

a layered operating system (OS) upgrade data structure comprising a value for each layer of the operating system, each said value indicating whether or not an update software is present for said layer of the operating system;

an update area determination unit which is configured to determine a part of the execution environment to be updated based on the read update information, wherein the determining unit determines, for each layer of the OS of the programmable logic controller, whether an upgrade is necessary based on the read value of the corresponding layer in the upgrade information; and

an updating unit which is configured to update the determined part of the execution environment by retrieving the update software from an external apparatus and replacing corresponding portions of the different OS layer in the programmable logic controller with the update software.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the update information specifies an upgrade function list, the upgrade function list including information on functions included in the execution environment that are to be updated.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the update area determination unit determines whether the functions included in the execution environment are used by a user of the controller, by reading an operating system execution parameter, and the updating unit applies an update to only those functions of the execution environment that are being used by the user.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein an option is provided to the user to select whether to update a function from the upgrade function list, and the updating unit updates only those functions selected by the user.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the update information specifies a plurality of instructions to be updated.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the update area determination unit determines whether a user application program is using an instruction from the plurality of instructions and the updating unit updates the user application program if it is determined that the user application program is using at least one of the plurality of instructions.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions for enabling a computer to perform a method of updating an execution environment of a programmable logic controller, the method comprising:

reading a controller type of the programmable logic controller and version information of an operating system thereof;

reading update information corresponding to the controller type and the version information, wherein the update information is a hierarchically organized data structure comprising;

a renewed H/W value indicating whether a hardware update is required for the programmable logic controller, and

a layered operating system (OS) upgrade data structure comprising a value for each layer of the operating system, each said value indicating whether or not an update software is present for said layer of the operating system;

determining a part of the execution environment to be updated based on the read update information, wherein the determining comprises, for each layer of the OS of the programmable logic controller, determining whether an upgrade is necessary based on the read value of the corresponding layer in the upgrade information; and

updating the determined part of the execution environment by retrieving the update software from an external apparatus and replacing corresponding portions of the different layers in the programmable logic controller with the update software.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the update information specifies an upgrade function list, the upgrade function list including information on functions included in the execution environment that are to be updated.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether the functions included in the execution environment are used by a user of the controller, by reading an operating system execution parameter, and

applying an update to only those functions of the execution environment that are being used by the user.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

providing an option to the user to select whether to update a function from the upgrade function list; and

updating only those functions selected by the user.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the update information specifies a plurality of instructions to be updated.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether a user application program is using an instruction from the plurality of instructions; and

updating the user application program if determined that the user application program is using at least one of the plurality of instructions.