JP2002051388A - Display controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display controller, with which setting works can be conducted in a short time by a setting tool. SOLUTION: The display controller has a CPU 3 for field-bus communication, which is connected to a two-way communicable field bus 10 and conducts the physical channel control of at least the field bus 10, the data link management of a framing or the like by a mutual access, the network management of addressing or the like, the message response management of acknowledgement response or the like in mutual access, message management in the field bus of demand/response, authentication or the like, mutual communication data processing and communication processing containing the compatibility of applications in communication data. A display code, corresponding to the display data of the name of a load equipment connected to the field bus 10 displayed on a display section, is set through the field bus 10 as the attribute information of an equipment object on the field bus 10, managed by the field-bus communication CPU 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display controller adaptable to a field bus capable of two-way communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A field bus as described above is a distributed network, for example, LON (LON is a registered trademark of Echelon Corporation in the United States, and is referred to as Local Op.
erating network). This LON is a function of performing N: N communication between fieldbus devices via media such as a power line for performing bidirectional communication corresponding to the physical layer of a network, a twisted pair line serving as a dedicated line, and wireless communication such as infrared rays. For example, a home network for power control has been proposed as a standard, in which a field bus device is mounted for each white electric home appliance as a load device and systemized.

[0003] As a field bus device used for the LON, there is a first device developed by Echelon.
Physical channel management of the field bus of the layer, data link management such as framing by mutual access of the second layer,
Network management such as addressing in the third layer, message response management such as acknowledgment in mutual access in the fourth layer, message management in the field bus such as request / response and authentication in the fifth layer, and mutual communication in the sixth layer Data processing, 7th
2. Description of the Related Art A field bus communication CPU (LON LSI) called a neuron chip for performing communication processing including application compatibility in layer communication data is known.

The LON LSI (D) is, for example, shown in FIG.
As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 5, the signals on the media serving as the first and second layers are taken out, and whether or not the packet is an LON packet is determined, and using the specified transceiver mode, no collision occurs with other packets. In this way, the media access CPU (A) that performs transmission determines whether the destination of the above-mentioned third, fourth, fifth, and sixth layer signal messages is addressed to itself, and returns Ack (reply) if necessary. A network CPU (B) for maintaining the message by attaching its own address to the data; and an application CPU (C) for receiving and processing the data necessary for the seventh layer and preparing the data to be transmitted as the seventh layer. C
A PU is mounted inside, and a communication protocol defined by an International Standards Organization (ISO) OSI (Open System Interconnection) reference model called LONTALK is provided as its firmware. . Then, by performing the above-described network processing and application processing unique to each fieldbus device,
N: N communication between field bus devices is realized.

[0005] Therefore, as compared with a conventionally well-known system using a centralized network, responsiveness, system stability and the number of wires are excellent, and communication and control between various switches and sensors and various actuators are efficiently performed. And can be implemented reliably. Such a distributed network using LONs includes lighting equipment,
It can also be applied to monitoring / control of load devices such as disaster prevention devices.

[0006]

However, in the above prior art, the display controller handles
The names of the load devices and the operation switches are managed only by the main CPU serving as the control unit. Therefore, when a display controller that monitors and controls load devices such as lighting devices and disaster prevention devices is installed, it is necessary to manually set the names of the device objects handled by the display controller directly and directly to the display controller. Was. That is, the display data is defined as object information on the fieldbus managed by the fieldbus communication CPU, together with the "network variable" of the data handled on the network, and the data described in the "attribute information section". In addition, use a dedicated setting tool to associate devices called bindings, such as which operation switches or control sensors are operated and which lighting devices are turned on / off, and set the names of device objects. Also had to be done manually.

Further, when monitoring / controlling load devices such as lighting devices and disaster prevention devices, monitoring / control is often performed from a plurality of locations in a building in a concentrated manner. Therefore, when a large number of the above display controllers are installed, it is necessary to perform setting work for each of the display controllers, and it is assumed that it takes a lot of time to construct the system.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to enable a setting tool to perform setting work in a short time when it is installed in a distributed network using LON, for example. It is to provide a display controller.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a display controller according to the present invention is connected to a field bus capable of two-way communication, and at least manages the physical channel of the field bus and accesses each other. For data link management such as framing, network management such as addressing, message response management such as acknowledgment in mutual access, message management in the field bus such as request / response and authentication, mutual communication data processing, application of communication data A fieldbus communication CPU for performing communication processing including compatibility is provided. The fieldbus communication CPU monitors and controls load devices such as lighting devices and disaster prevention devices connected to the fieldbus, and displays them on a display unit thereof. A display controller, wherein the load controller The setting of a display code corresponding to the display data for displaying the name on the display unit is performed as attribute information of a device object on the field bus managed by the field bus communication CPU via the field bus. .

Accordingly, a display corresponding to display data of a load device name such as a lighting device or a disaster prevention device having a fieldbus communication CPU connected to a fieldbus capable of bidirectional communication, which is displayed on the display unit. The code is set via the field bus as attribute information of the device object on the field bus managed by the field bus communication CPU.

The display device further comprises storage means for storing the display data set as the attribute information of the device object and a reference table in which a storage address of the display data is associated with the display code. It is preferable that the attribute information of the device object is received, the name of the load device is read from the reference table based on the display code included in the attribute information, and displayed on the display unit. In this case, when the attribute information of the device object is received from the load device, the name of the load device based on the display code included in the attribute information is read from the reference table stored in the storage unit and is displayed on the display unit. Is displayed.

Also, a removable storage device in which setting information such as display data to be stored in the reference table is stored in advance, and only necessary data is read from the storage device and stored in the storage means. Is preferred. In this case, the storage means is provided with a detachable storage device in which setting information such as display data to be stored in the reference table is stored in advance, and only necessary data is read out therefrom to perform the storage processing of the reference table. Can be achieved.

[0013]

1 to 3 show an embodiment corresponding to all of claims 1 to 3 of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a display controller according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure relating to display data processing of the display controller, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a reference table of the display controller. It is.

The display controller 1 according to the present embodiment comprises:
Connected to a field bus 10 capable of two-way communication, and at least a physical channel management of the field bus 10;
Data link management such as framing by mutual access, network management such as addressing, message response management such as acknowledgment in mutual access, message management in the field bus such as request / response and authentication, mutual communication data processing, and communication data A field bus communication CPU 3 for performing communication processing including application compatibility is provided. The field bus communication CPU 3 monitors and controls load devices such as lighting devices and disaster prevention devices connected to the field bus 10 and displays the display devices. 7, a setting of a display code corresponding to the display data for displaying the name of the load device on the display unit 7 is performed by a device object on the field bus 10 managed by the field bus communication CPU 3. The attribute information of the fee Performed through the Dobasu 10.

The display controller 1 of the embodiment stores the display data set as the attribute information of the device object, and a reference table in which the storage addresses of the display data correspond to the display codes. The storage unit 4 receives attribute information of a device object from the load device, reads out the name of the load device from the reference table based on the display code included in the attribute information, and displays the name on the display unit 7.

More specifically, the display controller 1 includes a lighting device installed in a building such as a building via a field bus 10 of a distributed network called LON, which has been described in the section of the related art. It is used when monitoring / controlling load devices such as disaster prevention devices. As shown in FIG. 1, a process related to display of a monitoring result and an operation unit (not shown) formed by operation switches and the like are provided. Through,
The main CPU 2 (microprocessor) serving as a control unit that performs control processing of a control target such as a load device provided on the field bus 10 is mainly configured, and a field bus communication CPU 3 and a ROM (read only memory) serving as storage means are provided. 4, RAM (random access memory) 5, memory card 6 equivalent to a removable storage device
And a display unit 7 formed of a CRT, a liquid crystal panel, and the like, all of which are disposed in the display controller 1.

The fieldbus communication CPU 3 manages objects of devices to be monitored / controlled by the display controller 1, such as load devices provided on the fieldbus 10. As shown in FIG. 2, this object is composed of a network variable section that defines the type of data to be input / output to / from the field bus 10, an attribute information section whose setting can be changed, and the like. The attribute information section has a display data code setting area described later.

The field bus communication CPU 3
Is provided with a communication port serving as a signal transmission unit (driver), and is connected to devices to be monitored / controlled by a field bus 10 formed by, for example, a twisted pair line. Therefore, the signal transmission unit functions to transmit a communication signal to the field bus 10 based on a predetermined communication protocol (LONTALK) and receive a monitoring control signal from each device. As shown in FIG. 1, the field bus 10 is provided with a plurality of terminals 8 installed in a load device, and a dedicated setting device 9 can be connected thereto.

In this case, the storage means includes the ROM 4 and the RA
M5 stores a program that defines a predetermined operation procedure by the main CPU 2 and data that can be processed by the main CPU 2 and the fieldbus communication CPU 3. In this case, in addition to the above-mentioned program, the ROM 4 stores display data such as character data and icons for displaying the names of load devices on the display unit 7 to be described later on the display unit, and storage addresses of the display data. A reference table corresponding to the display code is stored. This reference table is, for example, as shown in FIG.
The display codes (1, 2,...) Serving as attribute information of the device objects of the load devices on the field bus 10 managed by the field bus communication CPU 3 and the loads such as “meeting room”, “reception room”,. It is configured to include a character string representing the installation location of the device.

In this case, the memory bus provided with the ROM 4 and the RAM 5 has, in this case, a removable storage device in which setting information such as display data to be stored in the reference table is stored in advance, such as a PC card memory. There is provided a connector for mounting the memory card 6 formed by the above method. Therefore, when the memory card 6 is used to read only necessary data from the RAM 5 instead of the ROM 4 and store the reference table, the ROM 4 has a relatively small storage capacity. be able to.

The display unit 7 is formed of, for example, a liquid crystal display device, and displays the status of a monitored / controlled object. In this state display, a display control signal from the main CPU 2 controls a display state of a display symbol set and output in advance in a program in the ROM 4 to change the display content. The operation unit is formed by a plurality of operation switches, and performs an operation input by a switch in which various normal functions are set.

Next, the display controller 1 having the above configuration will be described.
In the display processing at the time of operation and at the time of system setting,
A display setting in which a detachable memory card 6 in which setting information such as display data to be stored in a reference table is stored in advance, only necessary data is read out from the memory card 6 and stored in the RAM 4 based on the embodiment in FIG. explain.

When the display controller 1 is set in a system in which it is installed together with various load devices such as a lighting switch or a lighting fixture, the display controller 1 first uses the setting device 9 to control the field controller communication C of the display controller 1.
The display data code for displaying the object on the display screen is set in the display data setting area of the attribute information section of the object managed by PU3. In addition,
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, as a device object such as a lighting switch for monitoring / controlling by the display controller 1, display of kanji font data and icons such as “meeting room” for displaying a screen as “meeting room”. The display codes corresponding to the data groups are determined in advance.

That is, in the display controller 1, a screen display on the display unit 7 of an object corresponding to a load switch such as a lighting switch or a lighting fixture on the network to be managed by the display controller 1, for example, a "meeting room" or the like. The display data and the reference table are stored in the ROM 4 in advance in order to perform the operation using the name and the icon.

During the operation of this system, the main CPU 2 of the display controller 1 controls the field bus communication CPU set by the setting device 9 via the field bus.
The display code setting area of the attribute information of the object managed in 3 is read (# 1), and it is confirmed whether or not the read display code is set (# 2).
At this time, if it is confirmed that the display code is set, the memory address where the display data corresponding to the display code is stored is searched from the reference table of the ROM 4 and the kanji such as "meeting room" is searched. The data is output to the display unit 7, and the name of the device object of the load device is displayed (#
3).

The display setting procedure for mounting the memory card 6 is as follows. When the memory card 6 is connected via the connector at the time of system setting, first, the main CPU 2 is controlled by the fieldbus communication CPU 3 from the setting unit 9. It is checked whether the display code is set in the display code setting area of the attribute information of the object being set. At this time, when it is confirmed that the display code is set, the address of the memory card 6 storing the display data corresponding to the display code is selected using the data table, and the display data and the display data are stored in the RAM 5. A reference table in which the stored memory addresses are associated with the display codes is generated and stored in the RAM 5. These series of processes are sequentially performed on the device objects of all the load devices handled by the display controller 1. The reference table may be stored in a non-volatile storage unit such as an EEPROM instead of the RAM 5.

When the above setting operation is completed, the memory card 6 is detached from the connector. During operation of the system, the main CPU 2 sets the fieldbus communication CPU set via the fieldbus 10 from the setting device 9.
The display code setting area of the attribute information of the object managed in 3 is read, and it is confirmed whether or not the read display code is set. At this time, if it is confirmed that the display code is set, the memory address where the display data corresponding to the display code is stored is searched from the reference table of the RAM 5, and the kanji such as "meeting room" is searched. The data is output to the display unit 7, and the name of the device object of the load device is displayed. In this way,
The RAM 5 is read from the memory card 6 in which the setting information of the display code of the reference table is stored in advance and is subjected to the writing process.
By storing in the M5, only necessary display data from the display code of the object can be stored in the RAM 5, and the storage capacity of the ROM 4 can be saved. Also,
Since a storage device such as the memory card 6 and a large amount of data can be stored as needed, there is an effect that many types of display data can be stored.

Therefore, according to the display controller 1 described above, loads such as lighting equipment and disaster prevention equipment having a field bus communication CPU 3 connected to a field bus capable of two-way communication are displayed on the display unit 7. The setting of the display code corresponding to the display data of the device name is made via the field bus as the attribute information of the device object on the field bus 10 managed by the field bus communication CPU 3. The device object display code is set with the same setting tool as the binding work for setting the input / output destination of the connected terminal device 8, and its name can be set and changed. Work can be done.

When the attribute information of the device object is received from the load device, the name of the load device based on the display code included in the attribute information is read from the reference table stored in the ROM 4 or the RAM 5. Therefore, even when a plurality of display controllers 1 exist on the field bus 10, the
A plurality of display controllers 1 using a setting device 9 from a location
Since it is possible to set the name of the above object, the workability is improved. Also, the RAM 5 serving as a storage means has
Since the detachable memory card 6 in which setting information such as display data to be stored in the reference table is stored in advance and only necessary data is read out therefrom to perform the storage processing of the reference table, the object table can be stored. Only the necessary display data can be stored in the storage means from the display code of (1), and the storage capacity of the ROM 4 serving as the storage means can be saved.

[0030]

The present invention is embodied as in the above-mentioned embodiment. In the display controller according to the first aspect, the display controller is connected to a field bus capable of bidirectional communication and displayed on the display unit. The setting of the display code corresponding to the display data of the load device name such as the lighting device and the disaster prevention device having the field bus communication CPU is performed by the field bus communication CP.
Since the attribute information of the device object on the field bus managed by U is established via the field bus, for example, when installing in a distributed network using LON, the setting tool can be set in a short time. Can be.

According to the display controller of the present invention, when the attribute information of the device object is received from the load device, the display code included in the attribute information from the reference table stored in the storage means. Since the name of the load device based on is read out and displayed on the display unit,
Even when a plurality of display controllers exist on the field bus, it is possible to set the names of the objects on the plurality of display controllers using the setting device from one place, so that the workability is improved.

In the display controller according to the third aspect, the storage means is provided with a removable storage device in which setting information such as display data to be stored in the reference table is stored in advance. Is read from it and storage processing of the reference table is performed.
Only necessary display data can be stored in the storage unit from the display code of the object, and the storage capacity of the storage unit can be saved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a display controller according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure relating to display data processing of the display controller.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a reference table of the display controller.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an LON LSI.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display controller 2 Fieldbus communication CPU 4 ROM (storage means) 5 RAM (storage means) 6 Memory card (storage device) 7 Display part 10 Fieldbus

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A message which is connected to a field bus capable of two-way communication and manages at least the physical channel of the field bus, data link management such as framing by mutual access, network management such as addressing, and acknowledgment in mutual access. Response management, message management in fieldbus such as request / response and authentication,
A fieldbus communication CPU for performing mutual communication data processing and communication processing including application compatibility of the communication data is provided, and a load device such as a lighting device or a disaster prevention device connected to the fieldbus with the fieldbus communication CPU. A display controller for performing monitoring / control and displaying the load device name on a display unit, wherein a setting of a display code corresponding to display data for displaying the name of the load device on a display unit is managed by the fieldbus communication CPU. A display controller, which performs the processing as attribute information of a device object on a bus via the field bus. 2. A storage device for storing the display data set as attribute information of a device object and a reference table in which a storage address of the display data is associated with the display code. The display controller according to claim 1, wherein the display controller receives the attribute information of the object, reads the name of the load device from the reference table based on the display code included in the attribute information, and displays the name on the display unit. 3. A detachable storage device in which setting information such as display data to be stored in the reference table is stored in advance, and only necessary data is read from the storage device and stored in the storage means. Item 3. The display controller according to Item 2.