Monitoring control system and monitoring control method

Abstract

To prevent an increase in load on a server that causes delays in screen display and internal server processing when there are many screens to transition from one screen to the desired screen, the successive transitions from screen to screen result in multiple screen requests being sent to the server that the user does not intend to monitor.SOLUTION: A monitoring control system for plant equipment includes a stay information storage unit that stores stay information including the time a user stays on a screen, a stay time distribution generation unit that generates a stay time distribution from the stay information stored in the stay information storage unit, a screen generation unit that separately requests a screen transition and a screen data, and a transit screen determination unit that, when a screen transition is requested from the screen generation unit, determines whether the screen after the transition is a transit screen or a monitoring screen from the stay time distribution generated by the stay time distribution generation unit, and when it is determined to be a transit screen, outputs a waiting time until the screen data is requested to the screen generation unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present embodiment of the present invention relates to a monitoring control system and a monitoring control method.

Background Art

[0002] In monitoring control systems for buildings, water supply and sewerage systems, dams, etc., data collected from sensors of in-plant equipment to be monitored is sent to a server via a controller or the like. The monitoring control device processes this data in various ways and provides a function to display a screen that allows a monitor to perform monitoring and diagnosis within the system. Such a function basically requests the server for "data" and "execution of calculations" every time a screen is displayed.

[0003] Regarding the request to the server when the above screen is displayed, just from the display unit of the screen, it is impossible to grasp the purpose of the display only from the situation where the user has displayed the screen. Therefore, whether the user wants to urgently monitor the target screen or is temporarily displaying it as a transit point from one screen to another like page turning, the same request is sent to the server.

[0004] As described above, in the conventional monitoring control system, regardless of whether the screen displayed by the user is a monitoring screen or a transit screen, the same request is made to the server every time the screen is displayed.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] As described above, in the conventional monitoring control system, regardless of whether the screen displayed by the user is a monitoring screen or a transit screen, the same request is made to the server every time the screen is displayed. Therefore, when the number of transit screens passed through until transitioning from a certain screen to the target screen is large, by transitioning from screen to screen one after another, requests for a plurality of screens that the user does not intend to monitor will reach the server, increasing the load on the server. An increase in the load on the server leads to delays in screen display and internal server processing.

[0007] An example where the processing load on the server becomes high with a single request is given below.

[0008] (Example 1) In a graphic screen (a screen that realizes systematic monitoring by displaying sensor values on a graphic simulating monitoring equipment), when requesting the current values of several hundred assigned signals.

[0009] (Example 2) In a function of obtaining the presence or absence of an alarm from the current values of all sensors and displaying a list on the screen, when requesting the current values of all signals and the presence or absence of an alarm.

[0010] (Example 3) In a function of calculating and graphically displaying minute - by - minute data for the most recent N days according to a certain logic, when requesting the current to past N - day data of a specific signal and requesting the execution of the calculation.

[0011] These requests are often executed simultaneously by multiple users, and in that case, the load on the server further increases.

[0012] Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to intentionally delay requests that increase the load on the server for transit screens that the user does not intend to monitor, and to split requests to the server, etc., in order to provide a monitoring control system and a monitoring control method that reduce the load on the server.

[0013] Patent Document 1 describes a monitoring and control system for plants that manage roads and rivers. Information such as the monitoring screen, display time, and operation content when the monitoring terminal is operated is collected by the data collection unit. The data analysis unit analyzes the importance, etc. according to the type of data (information) from the terminal information database, extracts it as recommended information candidate data, the recommended information editing unit selects the official recommended information data, and the recommended information display unit displays the data (information) on the monitoring terminal.

[0014] Patent Document 2 describes an online monitoring device that streamlines the screen operation work for confirming the status of the monitoring target, calculates the display time and display size of each screen, and makes an optimal display according to the situation.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0015] In order to solve the above problems, the monitoring and control system according to this embodiment is a monitoring and control system for plant facilities, and includes a residence information storage unit that stores residence information including the time the user stays on the screen, a residence time distribution generation unit that generates a residence time distribution from the residence information stored in the residence information storage unit, a screen generation unit that separately makes a screen transition request and a screen data request, and when a screen transition request is received from the screen generation unit, determines whether the screen after the transition is a transit screen or a monitoring screen from the residence time distribution generated by the residence time distribution generation unit, and if it is determined to be a transit screen, outputs the waiting time until the screen data request to the screen generation unit. Further, the monitoring and control method according to this embodiment is a monitoring and control system for plant facilities, stores residence information including the time the user stays on the screen, generates a residence time distribution from the residence information, and when the screen is generated, the screen transition request and the screen data request are made separately. When the screen transition request is received, it is determined whether the screen after the transition is a transit screen or a monitoring screen from the residence time distribution. If it is a transit screen, the waiting time until the screen data request is output, and the screen data request is not made during the waiting time.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0017] (First Embodiment) Next, a first embodiment for implementing the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11. First, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the configuration of the monitoring control system according to this embodiment will be described.

[0018] The monitoring control system according to this embodiment is a computer system including a server and a terminal. FIG. 1 shows the functional configuration of the monitoring control system according to this embodiment executed by a computer. As shown in FIG. 1, the monitoring control system according to this embodiment is composed of a server 10 and a terminal 20. The terminal 20 is provided with a screen generation unit 21 for generating an image to be displayed on the screen of the terminal. The server 10 is provided with a request response unit 11 for responding to a request from the screen generation unit 21. Further, a stay information storage unit 12 for storing the stay information transmitted from the request response unit 11, a stay time distribution generation unit 13 for generating a stay time distribution from the stay information, a stay time distribution storage unit 14 for storing the stay time distribution, and a transit screen determination unit 15 for determining whether the current screen is a transit screen or a monitoring screen from the stay time distribution are provided. Further, it includes a data processing unit 16 for performing data processing according to the request response unit 11 and a plant data storage unit 17 for storing various plant data.

[0019] The terminal 20 refers to a terminal such as a computer, a tablet terminal, or a smartphone for a user to operate the monitoring control system according to this embodiment. The terminal 20 is connected to the server 10 via a wired or wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or the like.

[0020] The screen generation unit 21 generates a screen for display on a display or the like provided in the terminal 20. When an operation to display any screen is performed by the user, in this embodiment, the screen generation unit 21 first makes a request for screen transition. Although details will be described later, the request for screen data is made separately from the request for screen transition. The request for screen transition means requesting screen parts that are materials for constructing the next screen in order to transition to the next screen. The request for screen data means requesting data generated by processing plant data for screen display. The request for screen data increases the server load, and in order to reduce the server load, it is necessary that no request for screen data is made on the intermediate screen.

[0021] The request response unit 11 outputs a response in response to various requests from the screen generation unit 21 provided in the terminal 20. For example, when there is a request for screen transition from the screen generation unit 21 to the request response unit 11, the request response unit 11 requests the intermediate screen determination unit 15 to determine whether the screen after the transition is an intermediate screen or a monitoring screen. Although details of the intermediate screen determination unit 15 will be described later, when it is determined to be an intermediate screen, the request response unit 11 obtains from the intermediate screen determination unit 15 the waiting time from the request for screen transition to the request for screen data based on the determination result, and outputs the screen parts to the screen generation unit 21 and also outputs the above-described waiting time. In this way, the request response unit 11 outputs a response suitable for various requests.

[0022] The stay information storage unit 12 acquires stay information from the request response unit 11. The stay information indicates things such as the type of screen, the user name or user ID operating the terminal 20, the time zone when the user is operating, and the time the user stays on each screen. For example, the stay information is stored in the stay information storage unit 12 in a table format as shown in FIG. 2. Also, the stay information is not limited to the above-described information, and the storage format is not limited to the table format.

[0023] The residence time distribution generation unit 13 generates a residence time distribution for the route screen determination unit 15 to determine whether the target screen is a route screen or a monitoring screen. The residence time distribution refers to the probability distribution of the residence time that a user stays on a certain screen. In this embodiment, the residence time distribution is, for example, a Weibull distribution as shown in FIG. 3. The Weibull distribution is a probability distribution often used in time analysis until a certain event such as the death of a living thing or the failure of a machine occurs. In this embodiment, the vertical axis represents the probability density and the horizontal axis represents the residence time. Of course, the residence time distribution is not limited to the Weibull distribution, and other probability distributions may also be used.

[0024] The residence time distribution storage unit 14 is a so-called storage that stores the residence time distribution generated by the residence time distribution generation unit 13 described above.

[0025] The route screen determination unit 15 determines whether the screen operated by the user is a route screen or a monitoring screen. If it is determined to be a route screen, it outputs to the request response unit 11 a predetermined waiting time until the screen generation unit 21 requests screen data. If it is determined to be a monitoring screen, it outputs to the request response unit 11 that the waiting time until the screen generation unit 21 requests screen data is 0 seconds (indicating that the target screen is a monitoring screen). In this embodiment, it is set that the waiting time is 0 seconds when the target screen is a monitoring screen, but this is not limited to the output of the waiting time as long as other contents can also be recognized as the target screen being a monitoring screen.

[0026] In this embodiment, the determination by the route screen determination unit 15 uses the expected value of the Weibull distribution as an index. When this index does not satisfy a predetermined threshold value, the route screen determination unit 15 determines the target screen as a route screen. The index is not limited to the expected value, and may be a sample median or other statistical estimators obtained from the distribution.

[0027] The plant data storage unit 17 is connected to plant facilities outside the monitoring control system according to this embodiment, and is a so-called storage that acquires and stores data from measuring instruments and the like installed in the facilities.

[0028] The data processing unit 16 acquires the plant data necessary for the screen data from the plant data storage unit 17 in response to the request from the request response unit 11, and performs a process of converting it for the screen data.

[0029] Next, with reference to FIGS. 4 to 11, the monitoring control method according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 shows a system flow when there is a screen transition request (screen part request) from the screen generation unit 21. First, the system flow at the time of the screen transition request (screen part request) will be described.

[0030] When there is a screen transition request (screen part request) from the screen generation unit 21 to the request response unit 11 (S101), the request response unit 11 requests the via screen determination unit 15 to determine whether the screen after the transition is a via screen or a monitoring screen (S102).

[0031] Upon receiving the above-described request, the via screen determination unit 15 requests the stay time distribution storage unit 14 for the stay time distribution of the target screen, and acquires the stay time distribution (S103).

[0032] The via screen determination unit 15 uses the acquired stay time distribution to determine whether it is a via screen or a monitoring screen (S104). In the present embodiment, since this stay time distribution is a Weibull distribution, the expected value of the Weibull distribution serves as an index for the determination. The via screen determination unit 15 calculates the expected value of the Weibull distribution, and determines whether it is a via screen or a monitoring screen based on whether it satisfies a predetermined threshold value. As described above, these indexes and threshold values are not limited to this.

[0033] As a result of the determination, when the target screen is a monitoring screen (No in S104), the via screen determination unit 15 outputs to the request response unit 11 that the standby time is 0 seconds (that is, it is a monitoring screen) (S105). Thereafter, the request response unit 11 outputs to the screen generation unit 21 that the standby time is 0 seconds (that is, it is a monitoring screen) and the screen parts (S106), and shifts to the screen data request step (S112).

[0034] If, as a result of the determination, the target screen is a transit screen (Yes in S104), the transit screen determination unit 15 outputs to the request response unit 11 a predetermined waiting time, for example, a time within 0.5 to 2.0 seconds (S107). Since it is determined to be a transit screen, the request response unit 11 outputs the screen parts of the target screen and the waiting time to the screen generation unit 21 (S108). The screen generation unit 21 generates a waiting screen as shown in FIG. 8 and waits without making a request for screen data for the specified waiting time (S109). The operations within the system at the time of transit screen determination are as shown in FIG. 4.

[0035] If there is a request for screen transition to the next screen (screen part request) during the waiting time (Yes in S110), the process returns to the step of S102.

[0036] Next, the system flow at the time of requesting screen data will be described. If there is no request for screen transition to the next screen (screen part request) during the waiting time (No in S110) and the specified waiting time has elapsed (S111), the screen generation unit 21 requests screen data from the request response unit 11 (S112).

[0037] The request response unit 11 requests the data processing unit 16 to process and output plant data as screen data (S113).

[0038] Receiving the above-described request, the data processing unit 16 requests plant data from the plant data storage unit 17 and acquires the plant data (S114). The acquired plant data is processed into screen data by the data processing unit 16 and output to the request response unit 11 (S115).

[0039] The request response unit 11 outputs the above-described screen data to the screen generation unit 21, and the screen generation unit 21 generates a screen as shown in FIG. 9 in which the screen data is reflected (S116). The system flow in the case of a request for screen transition (screen part request) is terminated. The operations within the system at the time of requesting screen data are as shown in FIG. 5.

[0040] Note that the outline of the system sequence of the monitoring control system according to the present embodiment is as shown in FIG. 10.

[0041] Furthermore, with reference to FIGS. 6 and 11, the system flow of the monitoring control system according to the present embodiment when creating the stay time distribution will be described.

[0042] When the stay time distribution is created, first, the stay time distribution generation unit 13 requests and acquires the past stay information from the stay information storage unit 12 (S201). The past stay information is summarized in tabular form as shown in FIG. 2 in the present embodiment, and includes various information such as the screen type, user name / user ID, time zone, and stay time.

[0043] Next, the stay time distribution generation unit 13 generates a stay time distribution based on the acquired stay information (S202). The generated stay time distribution is a Weibull distribution in the present embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 3, the horizontal axis represents the stay time and the vertical axis represents the probability density of the stay time. Of course, the generated stay time distribution is not limited to the Weibull distribution, and other probability distributions may be used. A plurality of stay time distributions for each user and each time zone on each screen are generated, and it is appropriately determined whether it is a passing screen or a monitoring screen according to the user who requested the screen transition and the time zone.

[0044] The generated stay time distribution is stored in the stay time distribution storage unit 14 (S203), and the system flow of the monitoring control system according to the present embodiment when creating the stay time distribution ends. The operations within the system when creating the stay time distribution are as shown in FIG. 6.

[0045] As described above, according to the present embodiment, requests that would increase the server load on a mere passing screen that the user does not intend to monitor are intentionally delayed, and by dividing the requests to the server, the server load can be reduced.

[0046] (Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment for implementing the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 15. In FIGS. 12 to 15, components equivalent to those of the monitoring control system according to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted.

[0047] The monitoring control system according to the second embodiment is different in configuration in that it has a screen type storage unit 18 in the via screen determination unit 15 compared to the monitoring control system according to the first embodiment.

[0048] The screen type storage unit 18 stores information determined based on the residence time distribution in the via screen determination unit 15. For example, the screen type information is stored in a table format as shown in FIG. 13. The screen type information is generated for each user such as user A and user B. The screen type information is a summary in a table format of information indicating whether the screen is a via screen or a monitoring screen determined from the residence time distribution for each time zone on each screen.

[0049] Before a screen transition request is made, by storing the screen type information in the screen type storage unit 18, as shown in FIG. 14, compared to the first embodiment, the via screen determination unit 15 can make a determination without requesting the residence time distribution from the residence time distribution storage unit 14. Therefore, it is expected that the determination time will be shorter than that of the first embodiment, and the convenience for the user will be improved.

[0050] As the system flow of the monitoring control system according to the second embodiment, in the step of generating the residence time distribution in the first embodiment, not only the generation of the residence time distribution but also the screen type information will be determined and generated by the via screen determination unit 15 as shown in FIG. 15.

[0051] As described above, in this embodiment, there is an effect that the determination time is shorter than that of the first embodiment, it is possible to set a wide standby time, and the convenience for the user is improved.

[0052] Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and its equivalent scope.

Explanation of Signs

[0053] 10... Server, 11... Request response unit, 12... Stay information storage unit, 13... Stay time distribution generation unit, 14... Stay time distribution storage unit, 15... Screen determination unit via which, 16... Data processing unit, 17... Plant data storage unit, 18... Screen type storage unit, 20... Terminal, 21... Screen generation unit

Claims

1. In a monitoring and control system for plant facilities, a stay information storage unit that stores stay information including the time the user stays on the screen; a stay time distribution generation unit that generates a stay time distribution from the stay information stored in the stay information storage unit; a screen generation unit that separately makes a screen transition request and a screen data request; a transit screen determination unit that, when a screen transition request is received from the screen generation unit, determines whether the screen after the transition is a transit screen or a monitoring screen from the stay time distribution generated by the stay time distribution generation unit, and outputs the waiting time until the screen data request to the screen generation unit if it is determined to be a transit screen; A monitoring and control system comprising:

2. The monitoring and control system according to claim 1, further comprising a screen type storage unit that stores screen type information, which is information determined for each user whether each screen is a transit screen or a monitoring screen, before the screen transition request is made. The monitoring and control system according to claim 1, further comprising:

3. The monitoring and control system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the stay time distribution is a Weibull distribution. The monitoring and control system according to claim 1 or claim 2,

4. When there is a screen transition request, if it is a transit screen, output the screen parts and the waiting time to the screen generation unit, and if it is a monitoring screen, output the screen parts and the fact that it is a monitoring screen to the screen generation unit. When there is a screen data request from the screen generation unit, a request response unit that outputs the screen data, The monitoring and control system according to claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising:

5. A plant data storage unit that stores plant data; The monitoring and control system according to claim 4, further comprising a data processing unit that processes the plant data to generate the screen data and outputs it to the request response unit. The monitoring and control system according to claim 4,

6. In a monitoring and control system for plant facilities, stores stay information including the time the user stays on the screen; generates a stay time distribution from the stay information; When the screen is generated, a screen transition request and a screen data request are made separately; When there is a screen transition request, determine whether the screen after the transition is a transit screen or a monitoring screen from the stay time distribution, and if it is a transit screen, output the waiting time until the screen data request and do not make the screen data request during the waiting time; Monitoring and control method.

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