Claims
- 1. A method for displaying on a display screen a control circuit including software and hardware circuits of a plant controlling system for controlling a plant by a controller using a microcomputer, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) segmenting said display screen into a software region and a hardware region;
- (b) displaying said software circuit, which is realized by software being executed by said microcomputer, in said software region in graphics; and
- (c) displaying, at the same time said software circuit is being displayed, in said hardware region in graphics, said hardware circuit, said hardware circuit includes elements representative of parts of said plant and is controlled by said controller based on said software being executed by said microcomputer, said software and hardware circuits being displayed such that input and output relationships between said software and hardware circuits are indicated.
- 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein sheet frames corresponding to predetermined program units are provided in said software region, and portions of said software circuit corresponding to said predetermined program units are displayed within respective sheet frames.
- 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein when said plant is controlled by a plurality of controllers, a plurality of controller frames segmenting said software region are provided corresponding to said plurality of controllers, and software circuits of said plurality of controllers are displayed in said corresponding controller frames.
- 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein sheet frames corresponding to predetermined program units of a controller are provided within a controller frame corresponding to said controller, and software circuits of said predetermined program units are displayed within respective sheet frames.
- 5. A maintenance apparatus for use with a plant controlling system having a controller using a microcomputer for controlling a plant and for transferring a control program to the controller, said apparatus comprising:
- (a) circuit producing means for producing at the same time by plotting plot information on a segmented display screen display means a software circuit which is a base of said control program and a hardware circuit connected to said software circuit, said software and hardware circuits being plotted on software and hardware regions of said segmented display means, respectively;
- (b) plot information storage means for storing said plot information plotted by said circuit producing means; and
- (c) means for extracting plot information of said software circuit from said plot information storage means and for translating said plot information of said software circuit into said control program.
- 6. A maintenance apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising document preparing means for obtaining the content of said plot information storage means to prepare various kinds of documents relating to said software circuit and/or said hardware circuit.
- 7. A maintenance apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for collecting operation data of said plant from said controller executing the control program and for displaying said operation data at corresponding portions of said software and hardware circuits being displayed on said display screen.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
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Kind |
1-237882 |
Sep 1989 |
JPX |
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Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/581,457, filed on Sep. 13, 1990, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (9)
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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581457 |
Sep 1990 |
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