Processing unit and program

Abstract

Improve the efficiency of property anomaly detection processing. [Solution] The engineering device 10 comprises an operation reception unit 11A, a property acquisition unit 11B, an anomaly determination unit 11C, and a determination result notification unit 11D. The operation reception unit 11A receives a property specification operation from a user that specifies some of the multiple properties that each of the multiple secondary devices 5 has. The property acquisition unit 11B acquires only the partial properties specified by the property specification operation received by the operation reception unit 11A from each of the multiple secondary devices 5. The anomaly determination unit 11C determines whether each of the partial properties acquired by the property acquisition unit 11B for each of the multiple secondary devices 5 is an anomaly. The determination result notification unit 11D notifies the user of the determination result made by the anomaly determination unit 11C.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a processing device and a program.

Background Art

[0002] Each device constituting an air conditioning system or the like in a building such as a factory or a building facility is modified by addition, change, deletion, etc. due to specification changes or function additions after the system is activated. Along with such modifications, the properties of each device may be changed. Due to this change, the property may become abnormal (for example, not conforming to a predetermined allowable condition), and in the case of an abnormality, it is necessary to correct the property. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for using a backup file to determine whether there is an abnormality in a property.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In the technique described in Patent Document 1, in order to detect an abnormal property based on a backup file in which all properties are extracted from all devices, it is determined whether each property is abnormal. However, there are cases where the user wants to check whether only an arbitrary property (for example, a property that is likely to become abnormal) is abnormal. Even in such a case, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, it is determined whether properties other than the arbitrary property are abnormal, and the processing efficiency of abnormality determination is poor.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to improve the processing efficiency of abnormality determination of properties.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The processing apparatus according to this invention comprises: a receiving unit that receives a property specification operation from a user that specifies some of the properties among a plurality of properties having each of a plurality of devices; an acquisition unit that acquires only the subset of properties specified by the property specification operation received by the receiving unit from each of the plurality of devices; a determination unit that determines whether or not each of the subset of properties acquired by the acquisition unit for each of the plurality of devices is abnormal; and a notification unit that notifies the user of the determination result by the determination unit.

[0007] Furthermore, the program according to this invention causes a computer to function as the above-mentioned processing unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, the processing efficiency for detecting abnormalities in properties is improved. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This figure shows the configuration of a system equipped with an engineering apparatus as a processing device according to one embodiment of this invention. [Figure 2] This figure shows an example of the structure of engineering data. [Figure 3] This is a hardware configuration diagram of the engineering equipment. [Figure 4] This is a diagram showing the configuration of the engineering equipment. [Figure 5] This is a flowchart for the anomaly detection process. [Figure 6] This figure shows an example of an image displayed on a display device. [Figure 7] This figure shows an example of a table structure that illustrates the correspondence between functions and properties. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] The embodiments of this invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0011] As shown in Figure 1, the processing device according to this embodiment is configured as an engineering device 10 of a facility monitoring system 1 for controlling and monitoring the air conditioning system of a facility such as a factory or building. In addition to the engineering device 10, the facility monitoring system 1 includes a monitoring device 2, an integrated controller 3, a primary device 4, a plurality of secondary devices 5, and a switching hub 6. These are able to communicate with each other. For example, devices 2-4 and 10 can communicate via the switching hub 6 and via a higher-level network NW1 such as BACnet (Building Automation and Control networking protocol). The primary device 4 can communicate with a plurality of secondary devices 5 via an arbitrary lower-level network NW2. The number of each device 2-6 and the engineering device 10 is arbitrary. Each secondary device 5 controls and monitors equipment (not shown) connected to it. The equipment is installed within the facility monitored by the facility monitoring system 1 and consists of, for example, sensors, thermometers, motors, dampers, or power meters. If a controller is built into the equipment, that controller may be considered as a secondary device 5.

[0012] The monitoring device 2 monitors the operation of the equipment connected to the secondary device 5 via the primary device 4 and the secondary device 5. Specifically, the monitoring device 2 acquires data necessary to monitor the operation of the equipment from any of the integrated controller 3, primary device 4, and secondary device 5 at predetermined intervals or in response to instructions from the user (e.g., facility manager). The monitoring device 2 then performs automatic monitoring based on the acquired data, configures a monitoring screen, and displays the configured screen on any display device. The user monitors and manages the status of each piece of equipment in the facility by viewing this screen.

[0013] The engineering device 10 performs engineering processing, including the creation of engineering data, to construct the facility monitoring system 1. The engineering data is created by any method and stored in the engineering device 10. As an example of how engineering data is generated, when constructing the facility monitoring system 1, the engineering device 10 creates a JOB file that includes the configuration information of each device 3 to 5 and management information such as I / O information, in accordance with the BACnet standard. The engineering device 10 generates engineering data based on the created JOB file.

[0014] The engineering data includes multiple configuration data sets that are downloaded and set for each of the devices 3 through 5.

[0015] The engineering device 10 downloads and configures configuration data for the integrated controller 3 from the engineering data. The integrated controller 3 monitors the primary device 4 by operating based on this configured configuration data. The configuration data is stored in the memory of the integrated controller 3, and at least some of this information can be uploaded to the engineering device 10 via the switching hub 6.

[0016] The engineering device 10 downloads and configures the configuration data for the primary device 4 from the engineering data. The primary device 4 monitors and controls the subordinate secondary devices 5 by operating based on this configured configuration data. The configuration data is stored in the memory of the primary device 4, and at least some of this information can be uploaded to the engineering device 10 via the switching hub 6.

[0017] Engineering device 10 causes the secondary device 5 to download and set the setting data for the secondary device 5 among the engineering data via the primary device 4. The secondary device 5 monitors and controls the subordinate devices by operating based on the set setting data. The setting data is stored in the memory of the secondary device 5, and at least part of the information thereof can be uploaded to the engineering device 10 via the primary device 4 and the switching hub 6. The above-mentioned subordinate devices are installed in the facility to be monitored by the facility monitoring system 1, and are composed of, for example, sensors, thermometers, motors, dampers or wattmeters.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 2, the engineering data is created with each setting data as one record. The setting data includes a "record number" that uniquely identifies the setting data, device-specific data including each property for specifying the target device such as "ID", "name", "type", and "address", and "first setting value" to "Nth setting value" (N may be an integer of 2 or more), and operation specification data including each property for specifying the operation mode of the device. The "ID" includes at least one of the device ID and the instance ID of the device. The "type" specifies the format of the device, such as whether the input of the device is in analog format or digital format. The "address" may include an IP address and a MAC address. Also, the "address" may include information indicating the position (point) in the system 1. The setting data may include point information indicating the position as a property separate from the "address". The operation specification data is set in the device specified by the device-specific data, and the device operates in an operation mode according to the values of each property of the operation specification data. The operation specification data may include types of properties that are not set according to the device to be set. In that case, the value of the property is blank ("-" in FIG. 2). The content of the engineering data is arbitrary, and known engineering data can be used.

[0019] Engineering data is modified by addition, change, deletion, etc. due to specification changes, function additions, etc. after the system starts up. This modification is performed by operating the engineering device 10. The engineering device 10 causes the integrated controller 3, the primary device 4, and the plurality of secondary devices 5 to upload the currently set setting data. The uploaded data is modified as the master engineering data. Each setting data of the modified engineering data is downloaded and set to each of the devices 3 to 5.

[0020] The engineering device 10 is composed of various computers such as a personal computer. As shown in FIG. 3, the engineering device 10 includes a processor 11 such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage 12 which is a non-volatile storage device that stores a program 12P and various data executed or used by the processor 11, and a main memory 13 that provides a work area for the processor 11. The program 12P may be stored in a computer-readable non-temporary medium such as the storage 12. The engineering device 10 further includes an operating device 14 into which an operation by a user (for example, a facility manager or a user of a system entrusted with maintenance by the facility manager) is input, a display device 15 that displays various images, and an I / O (Input / Output) 16 such as a communication interface connected to the upper network NW1 (FIG. 1).

[0021] A user may want to check, at any time, whether there are any abnormalities in the current properties of, for example, secondary device 5. In this case, it may be sufficient to check for abnormalities only in specific types of properties (for example, known types of properties that are prone to abnormal values), rather than all properties of all secondary devices 5. Therefore, in this embodiment, only specific types of properties are acquired from multiple secondary devices 5 that possess those specific properties, and the presence or absence of abnormalities is determined. To achieve this, the processor 11 of the engineering device 10 executes the program 12P stored in the storage 12, and operates as the operation reception unit 11A, property acquisition unit 11B, abnormality determination unit 11C, and determination result notification unit 11D shown in Figure 4. The operation reception unit 11A, property acquisition unit 11B, abnormality determination unit 11C, and determination result notification unit 11D cooperate to execute the abnormality determination process shown in Figure 5.

[0022] In the abnormality detection process, first, the operation reception unit 11A displays a predetermined operation screen on the display device 15 and accepts the operation performed on the operation device 14 (step S11). This operation includes a property specification operation in which the user specifies the type of property (first setting value, second setting value, etc.) for which they want to check for abnormalities.

[0023] Subsequently, the property acquisition unit 11B acquires the property specified by the specified operation received by the operation reception unit 11A from the secondary device 5 (step S12).

[0024] For example, the property acquisition unit 11B broadcasts a request to transmit a property of the type specified by the specified operation to all secondary devices 5. This broadcast is performed via the primary device 4 and the switching hub 6. If each secondary device 5 has a property of the type requested by the broadcasted transmission request, more specifically, if the configuration data stored in memory includes the aforementioned property, it returns (uploads) the value of that property to the property acquisition unit 11B along with its own device identification information included in the configuration data.

[0025] As another example, a table showing the correspondence between property types and the addresses of secondary devices 5 that possess that type of property may be provided in storage 12. The property acquisition unit 11B sends the above transmission request to the address of the secondary device 5 obtained by referring to the table based on the property specified by the specified operation received by the operation reception unit 11A. The secondary device 5 returns the value of its property along with its device identification information to the property acquisition unit 11B.

[0026] The device identification information returned may consist only of the "ID" and "Name," or it may include the "Address." The same applies to the following explanation.

[0027] The specification operation may include a device specification operation, which is an operation to specify the secondary device 5 whose abnormality or absence is to be checked. The device specification operation is, for example, an operation to specify the type of secondary device 5. In such a case, for example, a table showing the correspondence between the type of secondary device 5 and its address may be prepared in the storage 12. The property acquisition unit 11B may send the above transmission request to the address of the secondary device 5 obtained by referring to the table based on the type of device specified by the device specification operation. The device specification operation may also be, for example, an operation to specify the secondary device 5 individually. In such a case, for example, a table showing the correspondence between the ID and address of the secondary device 5 may be prepared in the storage 12. The property acquisition unit 11B may send the above transmission request to the address of the secondary device 5 obtained by referring to the table based on the ID of the device specified by the device specification operation.

[0028] Subsequently, the abnormality determination unit 11C determines whether the value of each property acquired by the property acquisition unit 11B is abnormal (for example, non-conforming to predetermined tolerance conditions) (step S13). For example, the abnormality determination unit 11C determines that a property is normal when its value is within a predetermined normal value, and abnormal when it is not. The abnormality determination unit 11C determines that a property is normal when its value is within a predetermined normal range (for example, tolerance range), and abnormal when it is not. The normal range may be, for example, a tolerance range from the property values ​​included in the engineering data setting data at any given time. Whether to compare a property with a normal value or with a normal range depends on the type of property.

[0029] Subsequently, the discrimination result notification unit 11D notifies the discrimination result of the abnormality discrimination unit 11C (step S14). For example, the discrimination result notification unit 11D displays an image showing the discrimination result on the display device 15. The image showing the discrimination result displayed on the display device 15 is an image that lists the "ID", "Name", and "Address" identified by the device identification information, the value of the property acquired this time (here, the fifth setting value), and the normal or abnormal discrimination result (here, the normal range is set to less than 50), with one record (one row) per device. As shown in Figure 6, the abnormal property values ​​may be highlighted using a different display than the normal properties. The image showing the discrimination result may only display records that have been determined to be abnormal.

[0030] As described above, the engineering device 10 comprises an operation reception unit 11A, a property acquisition unit 11B, an anomaly determination unit 11C, and a determination result notification unit 11D. The operation reception unit 11A receives a property specification operation from a user that specifies some of the multiple properties possessed by each of the multiple secondary devices 5 (or even just some of all the secondary devices 5). The aforementioned some properties are one property in the above example, but may be multiple properties. The property acquisition unit 11B acquires only the aforementioned some properties specified by the property specification operation received by the operation reception unit 11A from each of the multiple secondary devices 5. The anomaly determination unit 11C determines whether each of the aforementioned some properties acquired by the property acquisition unit 11B for each of the multiple secondary devices 5 is an anomaly (it determines whether it is an anomaly for each property). The determination result notification unit 11D notifies the user of the determination result made by the anomaly determination unit 11C. With this configuration, if a user wants to check whether only a specific property (for example, a property prone to errors) is abnormal, only that property is retrieved from the secondary device 5 and its abnormality is determined. This improves the efficiency of property abnormality detection compared to conventional methods that check all properties for abnormality. Furthermore, in this embodiment, since properties are retrieved from the secondary device 5, the creation of backup files like those in Patent Document 1 is unnecessary, which also improves the efficiency of property abnormality detection.

[0031] Furthermore, the operation reception unit 11A accepts device designation operations, which specify a plurality of secondary devices 5 from among all secondary devices 5 that the engineering device 10 can communicate with. As a result, secondary devices 5 are also designated, which suppresses the acquisition of properties from unnecessary secondary devices 5, further improving the efficiency of property anomaly detection processing.

[0032] The property specification operation is a function specification operation that specifies some of the properties by specifying a function that each of the multiple secondary devices 5 has in common, and the property acquisition unit 11B may acquire the properties that realize the function specified by the function specification operation as some of the properties. For example, the operation reception unit 11A displays a pre-prepared list of functions on the display device 15 and accepts a function specification operation from the user. On the other hand, the storage 12 has a table that shows the correspondence between a function and one or more properties that realize that function. The property acquisition unit 11B refers to the table based on the function specified by the function specification operation and acquires one or more properties from the table that correspond to the function specified by the function specification operation. With this configuration, the user can check whether there are any abnormalities in the properties from the function specification, so user convenience is improved.

[0033] (Scope of the present invention) The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. For example, the present invention includes various modifications to the above embodiments and modifications that can be understood by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technical concept of the present invention. The configurations listed in the above embodiments and modifications can be combined as appropriate to the extent that they do not contradict each other. It is also possible to delete any of the above configurations.

[0034] As a variation, an open network other than BACnet may be used as the communication network for System 1. Also, the display device on which the discrimination result notification unit 11D displays images may be a worker's terminal, etc. In this case, the discrimination result notification unit 11D communicates with the terminal and displays various images on the terminal's display device. The worker performs each of the above specified operations on the terminal. The operation reception unit communicates with the terminal and accepts operations to the terminal. Also, each of the above functions may be applied to the monitoring device 2. In other words, it is arbitrary what kind of device the processing device according to this embodiment is implemented with. The device on which abnormalities are to be determined is not limited to the secondary device 5, but may be any other device. Also, the property may be, for example, a numerical value that specifies the operating mode of the device or represents the state at that time. The property may be a value that changes over time depending on the operation of the device or the surrounding environment. At least a part of each of the above parts 11A to 11D may be composed of FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), etc.

[0035] (Note) The following examples illustrate configurations based on the above embodiments and modifications. Any partial configuration of the above embodiments and modifications may be applied to each appendix. Furthermore, parts of each appendix may be combined. (Note 1) A reception unit that accepts a user's property specification operation to specify some of the multiple properties that each of the multiple devices possesses, An acquisition unit that acquires from each of the multiple devices only some of the properties specified by the property specification operation received by the reception unit from among the multiple properties, A determination unit that determines whether or not each of the properties of the plurality of devices acquired by the acquisition unit is abnormal, A notification unit that notifies the user of the determination result obtained by the determination unit, A processing device equipped with the following features. (Note 2) The receiving unit further accepts a device designation operation to designate the plurality of devices from among all devices that the processing unit can communicate with. The processing apparatus described in Appendix 1. (Note 3) The aforementioned property specification operation is a function specification operation that specifies some of the properties by specifying a function that each of the multiple devices has in common, The acquisition unit acquires the properties that realize the function specified by the function specification operation as some of the properties. The processing apparatus described in Appendix 1 or 2. (Note 4) A program that causes a computer to function as one of the processing units described in appendices 1 to 3. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0036] 1...Facility monitoring system, 2...Monitoring device, 3...Integrated controller, 4...Primary device, 5...Secondary device, 6...Switching hub, 10...Engineering device, 11...Processor, 11A...Operation reception unit, 11B...Property acquisition unit, 11C...Anomaly detection unit, 11D...Discrimination result notification unit, 12...Storage, 12P...Program, 13...Main memory, 14...Operation device, 15...Display device, NW1...Upper network, NW2...Lower network .

Claims

1. A reception unit that accepts a user's property specification operation to specify some of the multiple properties that each of the multiple devices possesses, An acquisition unit that acquires from each of the multiple devices only some of the properties specified by the property specification operation received by the reception unit from among the multiple properties, A determination unit that determines whether or not each of the properties of the plurality of devices acquired by the acquisition unit is abnormal, A notification unit that notifies the user of the determination result obtained by the determination unit, A processing device equipped with the following features.

2. The receiving unit further accepts a device designation operation to designate the plurality of devices from among all devices that the processing unit can communicate with. The apparatus according to claim 1.

3. The aforementioned property specification operation is a function specification operation that specifies some of the properties by specifying a function that each of the multiple devices has in common, The acquisition unit acquires the properties that realize the function specified by the function specification operation as some of the properties. The apparatus according to claim 1.

4. A program that causes a computer to function as the processing unit described in claim 1.

Images