Selective software distribution for an industrial plant
First Claim
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1. A method for controlling a production system having a plurality of production lines, the method comprising:
- storing, by each of a plurality of controllers that controls one of a plurality of pieces of production equipment in one of the plurality of production lines, an action description relating to an action of production equipment to operate the production equipment corresponding to said each controller, the action description including at least one of a robot language or a sequencer program;
storing, by a controller management apparatus in each of the plurality of production lines, each controller management apparatus managing the plurality of controllers in the one of the plurality of production lines, the action description stored by each of the controllers;
acquiring, by the controller management apparatus, a new version of software relating to a specific command, transmitted externally;
selecting, by a version change determination unit in each controller management apparatus, a controller storing the specific command based on the action descriptions stored by the controller management apparatus and whether the controller includes a predetermined action description described in version information; and
transmitting the new version of software to the controller selected.
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Abstract
A controller corresponding to production equipment, requiring upgrade can be selected automatically, thereby reduction in operating rate can be reduced. When software is upgraded, version upgrade software relating to a predetermined action description and version information are transferred to a controller management apparatus (S1). A version change determination unit selects a controller including the predetermined action description described in the version information (S2 and S3). The selected controller downloads the new version of software to change the software (S4 and S5) after stopping operation of the production equipment. On the other hand, a controller not selected does not download the software, and the operation of the production equipment is not stopped.
9 Citations
9 Claims
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1. A method for controlling a production system having a plurality of production lines, the method comprising:
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storing, by each of a plurality of controllers that controls one of a plurality of pieces of production equipment in one of the plurality of production lines, an action description relating to an action of production equipment to operate the production equipment corresponding to said each controller, the action description including at least one of a robot language or a sequencer program; storing, by a controller management apparatus in each of the plurality of production lines, each controller management apparatus managing the plurality of controllers in the one of the plurality of production lines, the action description stored by each of the controllers; acquiring, by the controller management apparatus, a new version of software relating to a specific command, transmitted externally; selecting, by a version change determination unit in each controller management apparatus, a controller storing the specific command based on the action descriptions stored by the controller management apparatus and whether the controller includes a predetermined action description described in version information; and transmitting the new version of software to the controller selected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that makes a computer execute a method for controlling a production system having a plurality of production lines, the method comprising:
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storing, by each of a plurality of controllers that controls one of a plurality of pieces of production equipment in one of the plurality of production lines, an action description relating to an action of production equipment to operate the production equipment corresponding to said each controller, the action description including at least one of a robot language or a sequencer program; storing, by a controller management apparatus in each of the plurality of production lines, each controller management apparatus managing the plurality of controllers in the one of the plurality of production lines, the action description stored by each of the controllers; acquiring, by the controller management apparatus, a new version of software relating to a specific command, transmitted externally; selecting, by a version change determination unit in each controller management apparatus, a controller storing the specific command based on the action descriptions stored by the controller management apparatus and whether the controller includes a predetermined action description described in version information; and transmitting the new version of software to the controller selected.
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Specification
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Current AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
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Original AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
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InventorsSasaki, Masatoshi
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Primary Examiner(s)Dao, Thuy
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Assistant Examiner(s)Luu, Cuong V
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Application NumberUS14/355,228Publication NumberTime in Patent Office1,642 DaysField of SearchUS Class CurrentCPC Class CodesG05B 19/0426 Programming the control seq...G05B 19/056 Programming the PLCG05B 19/41845 characterised by system uni...G05B 2219/25229 Partition control software ...G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangemen...G06F 8/71 Version control security ar...Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g....
