Graphical input device

Abstract: An input data display device makes it caster to input properly correlated relative corrections for a number of parameters. Relative amounts by which each of a number of parameters is to be adjusted can be displayed on the screen in a manner which shows their ranges and possible correlation. The data are input when the operator touches spots which he selects on the display screen. The pressure of his finger causes data to be generated which represent those input positions. A calculation device calculates output-ready relative correction values for the various parameters based on these input position data. These values are transmitted to connected device.

Description: This invention concerns an input data display device which is connected to a heating device. It allows an operator to input an data more visually so that an interactive input operation is possible. Furnaces and other heating devices use temperature adjusters (control devices) to control the heat sources so as to maintain heat at a given temperature. The control parameters for this type of temperature control include overshoot, response and hunting parameters. When the temperature control is faulty, it will be necessary to make relative adjustments in the control parameters corresponding to the existing quality of temperature control. If, for example, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control circuit is being used to control temperature, changing the relative values of each parameter and properly adjusting the PID gains will return the quality of the temperature control to normal. In the past, when the relative values of each of the aforesaid parameters needed to be changed, the corrected values were actually input via a keyboard. However, changing the relative values entails taking into account the correlation of the corrected values with various other parameters. It is difficult and extremely time-consuming to determine, in a correlative fashion, the relative correction to be applied to each parameter. For example, if it is the operator knew that the state of the temperature control: involved no hunting, a large overshoot, and a response which is slightly faulty, then he would modify the relative values so as to make a large correction in the overshoot and a small correction in the response. However, the corrected values for overshoot and response must be determined in a correlative fashion. Determining a relative correction of the value for each parameter requires a great deal of skill acquired through experience. EP-A-0043201 discloses an industrial process system in which various control parameters are displayed as bar graphs on a display. When the operator touches the screen at the location within a bar graph, a control signal is generated which corresponds to the value of the control parameter of location within the respective bar graph, that control signal being used to control the industrial process. EP-A-0043201 refers to the control of heaters. Thus, this document corresponds to the precharacterising part of claim 1. IBM Technical Bulletin, Vol 33, No 6A, pages 291 and 292, of November 1990, discloses the use of a mouse to modify variables in dependence on the input location of the mouse on the screen. According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a heating device, comprising: inputting, by selecting a location on a display screen, data representative of the desired correlated relative correction of a plurality of control parameters; computing, on the basis of said input data, output values for the correlated relative correction of each said control parameter; controlling said heating device on the basis of said output values; characterised in that: the display screen, has a parameter input area defined by a plurality of axes, with each axes corresponding to a respective control parameter, whereby selection of said location simultaneously selects the plurality of control parameters in dependence on the position of said location relative to said axes. According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided control system for a heating device, the control system comprising: a means to input position data to correct parameters by selecting a location on a display screen; means for computing output parameter values from said selected location; means for outputting said plurality of output parameter values; and means for controlling said heating device on the basis of said plurality of output values; characterised in that: the display screen, has a parameter input area defined by a plurality of axes with each axes corresponding to a respective control parameter, and the computing means is arranged simultaneously to select a plurality of control parameters and to calculate the output parameter values in dependence on the position of said location relative to said axes. An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Brief Description of The Drawing Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of the invention; Figure 2 is a flowchart of the operations which occur during input; Figure 3 is an example of a display screen during the input steps of Figure 2; Figure 4 is an example of another screen display during the input steps of Figure 2; Figure 5 is an example of a graphic display produced according to this invention; and Figure 6 is a flow chart of the operations for producing the graphic display of Figure 5. Detailed Description of The invention Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numbers refer to like elements, Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram showing the configuration of this invention. Specifically, it illustrates an input data display device 1 which includes an input unit 2 for entering the relative corrections for input parameters; a display 3, a central processor 4 which preferably consists of a microcomputer (although any suitable processor may be employed); a memory 5, in which the operating program for the CPU 4 and other various data are stored, a transmission unit 6, which acts to transmit the data; and an operating unit 9. In the illustrated embodiment, the input device 1 is connected to a temperature controller 11, in order to control the temperature of the furnace 10. The input unit 2 can be of any construction A preferable construction however involves a transparent laminated resistive sheet for the X/Y coordinates and a film electrode sheet under the resistive sheet. Such construction effectively creates a digitizer. Such a digitizer would produce a signal encoding the coordinates of the position when the pressure produced by, for example, an operator's finger touching that point, is detected. The cathode ray tube (CRT) 3 is the display device although any conventionally known display can be used. The aforesaid input unit 2 is installed on top of the CRT 3 to form a single unit. This combined unit, with its screen capable of receiving input as well as for display, constitutes the device to input the relative corrections. The CPU 4 serves as the device which computes the relative values for correction. The CPU 4 receives the input position data from input unit 2 and computes from these data the relative corrected values to output for each parameter. In addition, it controls display the on CRT 3 of the relative corrections of each parameter in a manner which shows how those corrections are correlated. Finally, the CPU 4 sends output values to the transmission unit 6 and then causes these values to be transmitted from unit 6 to the temperature controller 11. With reference to the flowchart in Figure 2 the operations of input device 1 are shown and the current state displays of the device are shown in Figures 3 and 4. In the exemplified application, the current state of control of the temperature of furnace 10, as mediated by temperature controller 11, is as follows: (a) There is no hunting, (b) there is a considerable overshoot; and (c) the response is slightly defective. As a result, the operator must make (a) a large correction in the overshoot and (b) a small correction in the response. No correction in hunting is necessary. Before any correction data are input, the initial display (shown in Figurc 3) appears on the screen (Step 1) This display shows the distribution of correlated degrees of control applied to the various parameters As shown in Figure 3, in the center of the screen 30 is a slightly flattened circle E with an origin G. Radiating from origin G are overshoot axis A, response axis B and hunting axis C, which roughly divide the circle into three segments. Origin G represents zero relative correction for each of the axes A, B and C. The points where the axes meet the periphery of the circle E represent maximum relative corrections. Input unit 2, which as described with reference to Figure 1, is mounted on the surface of CRT 3, has fixed coordinate positions which match those of circle E, origin G and axes A, B and C. Using this input data display device, and the above control conditions, the user desires to make a large correction in the overshoot and a small correction in the response. The operator will then press point P on the surface of input unit 2 (Step 2). This point is in the area in circle E between overshoot axis A and response axis B. It is close to overshoot axis A (thus representing a small correction in the response axis B) and near the periphery of the circle E for that axis as well. The position to press is chosen intuitively to correspond to the desired correction. Pressing the screen 3 causes the input unit 2 to generate a signal which represents the coordinates of the position that was pressed. When this signal is generated, the spot which was touched is displayed on CRT 3 (Step 3). Vector T, which has origin G as its starting point and the coordinate position as its endpoint, is analyzed into its vector components in order to calculate relative correction value P a for overshoot and relative correction value P b for response. These relative correction values are then further refined, and finally output-ready relative correction values are calculated as integer values from 1 through 5 (Step 4). In this example, the final relative correction value for the overshoot parameter is "3," and for the response parameter is "1." Based on these output values for relative correction, the CRT 3 displays, as shown in Figure 4, three black triangles M on overshoot axis A and one black triangle on the response axis B to represent the relative correction values (Step 5). When the operator views the display, if he believes that the above degree of correction values, are the appropriate ones to rectify the current state of control, be uses the operating unit 9 to initiate a "transmit data" command (Step 6). This command causes the relative correction value corresponding to the display to be sent to the data transmission unit (Step 7). The correction values are then transmitted to temperature controller 11. If the operator on viewing the display feels that the values are not correct, he uses the operating unit 9 to initiate a "reset" command (Step 8). This will cause the CRT screen to resume its initial display, and lie can then input different relative corrections. As a consequence with input unit 2, pressing a single spot makes it possible for a number of properly correlated relative correction values to be output to the temperature controller 11. Furthermore, these values can be confirmed by CRT 3 before being output. These relative correction values, then, offer an effective way to rectify the state of control. In the embodiment discussed above, data were input via a digitizer overlaid on the screen of CRT 3. However, it would also be possible to use either a mouse, key input, or move a cursor to enter the correction data. Furthermore, the input data display device 1 is usually separate from the devices to which it is connected, such as a temperature controller 11. However, the present invention can include an input data display device 1 which is built into the controlled equipment. Referring now to Figure 5, the graph display operation performed by CRT 3 in the example discussed above, is shown. This display operation can be performed before the relative correction values discussed above have been output. it is initiated by a "display graph" command input via the operating unit 9. The graph of Figure 5 is based on temperature variation data associated with the state of control (for example, control temperature, heating temperature and ambient temperature), which are received from the temperature controller 11. Specifically, Figure 5 shows a graphic display with three sets of temperature data, (a), (b) and (c), which were received from the temperature controller 11. The dotted line L on the screen erases whatever vertical line (x coordinate: n) is written in and writes in a new vertical 5 line L on the line where the old data are written, one line width to the right (x coordinate: n + 1). The latest data received are written in where the vertical line was erased (x coordinate: n). Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operations for generating the graph of Figure 5. If the graph has a grid line V in the location where the vertical line was erased in Step 1, this grid line V is written in as Step 2. Line Y indicates the reference level. As the operation described in Steps 1 to 4 is performed repeatedly, vertical line L moves from left to right on the screen as time elapses. As line L moves, the old data are replaced by the most recent data. This type of display allows the display of data graphically over time with minimum rewriting. As explained, this invention has a graphic display which allows the operator to use his intuition to input correlated relative corrections for a number of parameters. This system makes it easy to obtain properly correlated relative corrections for each of the parameters. It allows relative correction values to be determined in a correlative fashion without requiring a high degree of operator skill. Furthermore, displaying the relative values allows the displayed data to be verified, thus enabling the operator to determine the relative corrections more accurately. Although only a preferred embodiment is specifically illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated that modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings and within the purview of the appended claims without departing from the invention.

Claims: A method of controlling a heating device (10), comprising: inputting, by selecting a location (P) on a display screen (3), data representative of the desired correlated relative correction of a plurality of control parameters; computing (4), on the basis of said input data, output values for the correlated relative correction of each said control parameter; controlling (11) said heating device (10) on the basis of said output values; characterised in that: the display screen (3), has a parameter input area defined by a plurality of axes (A,B,C), with each axes (A,B,C) corresponding to a respective control parameter, whereby selection of said location (P) simultaneously selects the plurality of control parameters in dependence on the position of said location (P) relative to said axes (A,B,C). A control system for a heating device (10), the control system comprising: a means to input position data to correct parameters by selecting a location on a display screen (3) ; means (4) for computing output parameter values from said selected location; means (6) for outputting said plurality of output parameter values; and means (11) for controlling said heating device (10) on the basis of said plurality of output values; characterised in that: the display screen (3), has a parameter input area defined by a plurality of axes (A,B,C) with each axes (A,B,C) corresponding to a respective control parameter, and the computing means is arranged simultaneously to select a plurality of control parameters and to calculate the output parameter values in dependence on the position of said location (P) relative to said axes (A,B,C).

Inventors: IMAMURA TAKASHI, TAKASAKI YUKIO, IMAMURA, TAKASHI, TAKASAKI, YUKIO, TAKASAKI, YUKIO, 78, 8 BANCHI 3 CHYOUME
Applicants: OMRON TATEISI ELECTRONICS CO, OMRON CORPORATION
Application year: 1993
Main classification: G06F3
IPC codes: G05B19, G05B11, G06F3, G05B23, G05D23