Drive Device Screen Generation Using Information Models and Display Rules
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for visually representing the state of drive devices in factory automation systems require designers to perform extensive programming, leading to increased design time and effort, as they need to associate variables with display objects and manage various formats and types of variables.
Innovation Solution
A display device that receives an information model defining variables and display rules, allowing it to generate screens by associating display objects with corresponding definitions, reducing the need for designers to worry about variable formats and types, and enabling intuitive visualization of drive device states.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If designers manually associate variables with display objects and define display settings in screen generation programs, then the display device can visually represent drive device states, but the design time and effort increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The display device automatically generates display screens by itself using received information models and display rules, without requiring manual programming. The device reads variable definitions from the controller, applies predefined display rules to automatically associate variables with display objects, and generates the screen configuration autonomously, making the system serve itself rather than requiring designer intervention for each screen creation task
Solution Approach 2:
Display rules are predefined and stored in advance in the display device, establishing the association between variable types and display object characteristics before actual screen generation occurs. This preliminary preparation of display rules enables the automatic screen generation process to quickly configure displays without manual programming during operation
2Manufacturing precision
If designers need to understand and manage various variable formats and types, then the screen can accurately represent device states, but the complexity of the design process increases
Solution Approach 1:
Display rules act as an intermediary layer between the controller's variables and the display objects. Instead of requiring designers to directly map variables to display objects and manage their formats and types, the display rules automatically perform this mapping based on variable characteristics, simplifying the design process while ensuring accurate representation of device states
Solution Approach 2:
The display rules are designed to be universal and applicable to multiple variable types and formats. A single set of display rules can handle different variable characteristics (such as numeric, string, status types) and automatically select appropriate display objects, eliminating the need for designers to create separate handling logic for each variable type
Data Source
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AI summary
To provide a technique of being capable of reducing design man-hours of a screen (130) visually representing a state of a drive device (300) than before. A display device (100) receives an information model (212) representing a state of drive device (300) and defining a plurality of variables defined in a predetermined standard, and a display rule (412) relating to screen (130). In display rule (412), a kind of a display object visually representing a value of the variable and a display definition relating to display of the display object are associated with each other with respect to a part or all of the plurality of variables. Display device (100) acquires the display object and display definition corresponding to each variable of a display target included in information model (212) from display rule (412), and disposes each of the display objects on screen (130) according to the corresponding display definition.