Patent ID: 7890880

Claim:
A method for interactive control of a plastics material injection molding machine, where, via an input unit, which is provided with actuating fields, operating parameters necessary for an operating sequence of a machine are input, in a form which prompts an operator, into a data processing unit which stores these operating parameters, and subsequently one or more operating sequences are carried out in accordance with the stored operating parameters, the method comprising: recording a data set covering basic rules of the operating sequence of the machine in the data processing unit and, by using the data set, providing the operator on a graphical user interface with visualization of a selected choice of input possibilities, based on a machine configuration and a machine environment, for additional parts of the operating sequence that can be added in a compatible manner into existing parts of the operating sequence; providing to an operator, for manual input and/or for input by means of a manipulator, on the graphical user interface a selected choice of actuating fields corresponding to the additional parts of the operating sequence and for navigation on a navigation surface statically arranged on the graphical user interface; wherein the navigation surface comprises at least three lines or three columns of actuating and input fields that are hierarchical from line to line or column to column and are represented in the graphical user interface with a plurality of navigation levels associated with one another such that the operator is able to visualize a path through the at least three lines or three columns of actuating and input fields; and wherein, when the operator's input is made, even at a hierarchically higher level input paths are visualized as a selected choice based on the operator's input.