Peripheral device for programmable controller and debug support program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9740185-B2
Application number	US-201314781399-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2013
Priority date	Apr 12, 2013
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

A peripheral device for a programmable controller includes a display unit; a program storage unit; a history information storage unit storing history information that is arithmetic processing information during execution of the user program in the programmable controller and recorded under a predetermined condition; a program display processing unit displaying a designated user program in a user program display area; a trend graph display processing unit displaying a first trend graph obtained by graphing first history information corresponding to the designated user program and a cursor indicating a position on the first trend graph, in a trend graph display area; and a cursor information acquisition unit acquiring a cursor position and acquiring arithmetic processing information corresponding to the cursor position from the first history information, wherein the program display processing unit displays the arithmetic processing information over the user program in the user program display area.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A peripheral device for a programmable controller, comprising:
a display unit;
a program storage unit that stores a user program to be executed in the programmable controller;
a history information storage unit that stores history information that is arithmetic processing information during execution of the user program in the programmable controller and recorded under a set condition, the arithmetic processing information including an external input signal, an external output signal, and word data of the programmable controller, the external input signal, the external output signal, and the word data being distinguished by variable names;
a program display processing unit that displays a designated user program in a user program display area provided in the display unit;
a trend graph display processing unit that displays a first trend graph and a cursor in a trend graph display area provided separately from the user program display area in the display unit, the first trend graph being obtained by graphing first history information that corresponds to the designated user program, the cursor indicating a position on the first trend graph;
a cursor information acquisition unit that acquires a position of the cursor on the first trend graph and acquires arithmetic processing information corresponding to the position of the cursor from the first history information;
a simulation unit that simulates operation processing when the user program is executed on the programmable controller;
a parameter setting unit that sets, as a parameter for executing the user program in the simulation unit, arithmetic processing information at a designated position of the cursor designated on the first trend graph, in the simulation unit; and
an external-input-signal generation unit that acquires a data column of the external input signal from the first history information stored in the history information storage unit and generates a timing chart of the external input signal, the data column having a variable given to the external input signal and starting at the designated position,
wherein the program display processing unit displays the arithmetic processing information acquired from the cursor information acquisition unit over the user program in the user program display area,
the simulation unit performs the simulation processing of execution of the user program in the programmable controller by using the parameter and the timing chart of the external input signal,
the program display processing unit and the trend graph display processing unit simultaneously display the designated user program, the first trend graph, and the cursor,
the user program is a sequence program written in a relay symbolic language with an operand associated with an address range in a device data memory unit of the programmable controller, and
the arithmetic processing information represents a value stored at a set timing at an address associated with the operand in the device data memory unit.

2. The peripheral device for a programmable controller according to claim 1 , wherein the simulation unit further has a function to store, in the history information storage unit, arithmetic processing information obtained as a result of the simulation processing as second history information collected under a set condition, and the trend graph display processing unit further has a function to extract a difference between the first history information and the second history information, to display a second trend graph over the first trend graph from the designated position in the trend graph display area, and to display the difference in a manner different from the first trend graph, the second trend graph being obtained by graphing the second history information.

3. The peripheral device for a programmable controller according to claim 1 , further comprising an editing unit that edits the timing chart of the external input signal.

4. The peripheral device for a programmable controller according to claim 1 , wherein
the program display processing unit displays the arithmetic processing information corresponding to the position of the cursor over or in proximity to a corresponding operand in the user program in the user program display area.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a debug support program which, when executed, causes a computer to execute:
a program displaying step of displaying a user program executed in a programmable controller, in a user program display area in a display unit;
a first-history-information reading step of reading first history information that is arithmetic processing information during execution of the user program in the programmable controller and recorded under a set condition;
a first-trend-graph display processing step of displaying a first trend graph and a cursor in a trend graph display area that is separate from the user program display area in the display unit, the first trend graph being obtained by graphing the first history information, the cursor designating a position on the first trend graph;
a cursor position acquisition step of acquiring a position of the cursor on the first trend graph;
a cursor designation information acquisition step of acquiring cursor designation information from the first history information, the cursor designation information being arithmetic processing information corresponding to the position of the cursor;
a cursor designation information display processing step of displaying the acquired cursor designation information over the user program in the user program display area;
an external-input-signal generation step of acquiring a data column of the external input signal from the first history information and generating a timing chart of the external input signal, the data column having a variable given to the external input signal and starting at a designated position designated by the cursor on the first trend graph; and
a simulation step of simulating operation processing when the user program is executed on the programmable controller by using arithmetic processing information at the designated position and the timing chart of the external input signal,
wherein the program displaying step and the first-trend-graph display processing step are performed simultaneously so that the designated user program, the first trend graph, and the cursor are displayed simultaneously,
the user program is a sequence program written in a relay symbolic language with an operand associated with an address range in a device data memory unit of the programmable controller, and
the arithmetic processing information represents a value stored at a set timing at an address associated with the operand in the device data memory unit.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 5 , which, when the stored debug support program is executed, further causes the computer to execute:
a second-history-information acquisition step of acquiring second history information that is arithmetic processing information obtained through the simulation and recorded under a set condition;
a difference extracting step of extracting a difference between the first history information and the second history information; and
a second-trend-graph display processing step of displaying a second trend graph over the first trend graph from the designated position in the trend graph display area and displaying the difference in a manner different from the first trend graph, the second trend graph being obtained by graphing the second history information.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Nakagawa Jun

Classifications

• G05B19/0426 Primary

  Programming the control sequence · CPC title

• G05B19/05

  Programmable logic controllers, e.g. simulating logic interconnections of signals according to ladder diagrams or function charts · CPC title

• G06F11/36

  Prevention of errors by analysis, debugging or testing of software · CPC title

• G05B2219/23445

  Real time simulation · CPC title

• G06F11/3698 Primary

  Environments for analysis, debugging or testing of software · CPC title