Industrial Automation Program Editor Drag-and-Drop Logic
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current program editors for industrial automation require precise targeting and separate marking or deletion of existing objects during drag-and-drop operations, making the process cumbersome and time-consuming for complex automation programs.
Innovation Solution
A method where selected text modules or character strings are processed as logical program objects, allowing the target position to be examined for existing compatible objects, enabling replacement or insertion without prior marking, and providing user options for copying or moving operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If drag-and-drop operation is used to move program objects, then the ease of operation is improved, but the precision of target positioning deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary examination of the target position to detect existing program objects before the drag-and-drop operation is completed. This allows the system to prepare replacement or insertion actions in advance, eliminating the need for precise manual positioning and separate marking steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The program editor automatically detects whether an existing program object is present at the target position and determines the appropriate action (replacement or insertion) without requiring user intervention. The system serves itself by automatically examining the target position and executing the correct operation based on the detected state.
2Reliability
If separate marking of existing program objects is required before replacement, then the reliability of program editing is improved, but the productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the target position examination and the replacement decision into a single automated process. The examination of the target position and the determination of whether to replace or insert are combined into one seamless operation, eliminating the separate marking step while maintaining reliability through automatic detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback by automatically detecting the presence and type of existing program objects at the target position. This feedback mechanism allows the system to determine the appropriate action (replacement or insertion) based on the detected state, ensuring reliability without requiring manual marking.
3Ease of operation
If the target position is examined for existing program objects, then the ease of operation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The program editor is designed with multi-functionality to handle both replacement and insertion operations through a single unified process. The same drag-and-drop mechanism works for both cases, with the system automatically adapting its behavior based on the detected target position state, reducing the need for separate specialized functions.
Data Source
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AI summary
The method involves moving the selected new program object to a target position in the text of program. The target position is examined to determine whether an existing program object of one of the same object type and a compatible object type is present at the target position. The existing program object is replaced with the selected object, when presence of existing program object is determined. The character string representing the selected object is inserted into the text of the program at the target position, when absence of existing program object is determined. An independent claim is included for a program editor for creating and processing a program presented as text for an industrial automation arrangement.