Patent Application
20070067053
This application claims priority of European application No. 05017627.0 EP filed Aug. 12, 2005, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The invention relates to a system and a method for graphical interconnection of hardware signals of a device, especially of a controller device.
This type of system is employed in particular in the area of industrial automation. A major task in the creation of an automation solution is the programming. This involves hardware signals of a controller system—that is input and output values of a controller device—technically being connected to a terminal and then logically linked in a meaningful manner in an engineering system to program elements, especially for programmable logic controllers (PLCs). To enable the desired hardware signal to be referenced it is necessary to enter an address which will be logically assigned to a hardware signal. These addresses are formed according to conventions which the user must know and which differ from system to system. With an incorrectly used address—with syntactical errors—the engineering system can indicate an error; with other input errors the result is malfunctions of the controller system.
For example the address convention for SIMATIC S7 is as follows: First a letter (E for input signals, A for output signals), followed by the byte address, a point and a bit number. The byte addresses begin at 0 and are increased for each module by 4, i.e. 0, 4, 8. The bit addresses are 0 . . . 7. A valid address is thus for example “E4.7”.
In addition it is possible in many systems to allocate a symbol to each of the individual addresses. The user can thus assign the individual hardware signals “meaningful” names, i.e. can give them names which convey a certain meaning to the user. The problem with this solution is that a user who does not know the convention is hardly in a position to plan an automation system project without assistance. This applies especially to those users migrating from one system to another, since each manufacturer as a rule has their own convention. Furthermore those making the change find it difficult to understand how the different mappings (symbol→address→hardware signal) function. This is a significant barrier to getting started with a system.
An object of the invention is to create a system of the type mentioned at the start with which the hardware signals of a device, especially of a controller device, can be logically linked in a simple manner graphically to program elements of a program environment. An object of the invention is also to develop a method with which a user can logically link hardware signals of a device, especially of a controller device, graphically to program elements in a simple manner, i.e. without having to know the address convention used in the system.
This object is achieved by a system for graphical interconnection of hardware signals of a device, especially of a controller device, consisting of
This object is further achieved by a method for graphical interconnection of hardware signals of a device, especially of a controller device, based on
The inventive division of the graphical user interface into at least two subareas, of which, in a first subarea the terminals present on the device are correspondingly able to be visualized at least schematically in accordance with their location on the device and of which, in a second subarea the programming elements of the programming environment can be presented, enable a user in the schematic presentation—the map of his real device, especially controller device, in which he locates the terminals as they are on the device—to select a terminal in the first subarea of the graphical user interface and use drag & drop to drag it onto the corresponding program element of the program environment in the second subarea of the graphical user interface, without him having to know the convention used in the system. The fact that the logical address corresponding to convention used in the system can be shown both at the terminal in the schematic presentation itself and also on the program element onto which the corresponding terminal was dragged, also enables the user to learn the addressing scheme used in the engineering system step-by-step. This means that the inventive system together with the inventive method makes a significant contribution to the ease of learning of an engineering system and helps beginners and those migrating from other manufacturers to find a simple point of entry into the programming of such engineering systems. This results in shorter familiarization times and a competitive advantage for the manufacturer.
In an advantageous form of the embodiment the schematic presentation of the device can be generated by the system by means of a plug-and-play function, by means of which all the information necessary for presentation is read out from the connected device. For this function the user must first set up the device and connect it to the processor unit, something which he must do in any event to operate or to test the device. There is no restriction of the system or the application of the method to specific devices, for example those stored in the processor unit; the use of the plug-and-play function allows the connection and operation of any devices, as well as of course the presentation and graphical interconnection of the associated terminals, or of the hardware signals assigned to them respectively.
In a further advantageous embodiment a symbolic name can be allocated in each case to the terminals in the schematic presentation of the device, and this name can be displayed together with the logical address of the relevant terminal in the programming environment. The name is edited directly at the terminal by clicking on the representation of a hardware signal in the schematic presentation. The simultaneous presentation of the symbolic name and the logical address is an additional simplification for the user in learning the address convention used in the engineering system.
In a further advantageous embodiment a visual marking can be applied to the terminals in the schematic presentation for using the corresponding terminal in the programming environment. The user is shown by this that the hardware signal assigned to the corresponding terminal was already interconnected, which avoids any accidental double interconnection of hardware signals.
The invention is described and explained in more detail below on the basis of the exemplary embodiments shown in the Figures. The figures show:
In summary the invention relates to a system and a method for graphical interconnection of hardware signals of a device, especially of a controller device. The object of the invention is to design the graphical interconnection in a simple manner so that a user can perform this function intuitively and without knowledge of the address convention used in the engineering system. This object is achieved by the inventive system and by the inventive method in that the hardware signals are interconnected graphically with program elements of a programming environment using drag & drop.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05017627.0 EP | Aug 2005 | EP | regional |
