JPH03229298A - Graphic symbol display system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display figure symbols that a machine tool uses on the display screen of a numerical controller in addition to characters by defining the shapes of the graphic symbols other than the characters, and specifying a character code corresponding to a graphic symbol and displaying the graphic symbol through the software of the numerical controller. CONSTITUTION:A RAM 6 for storing character codes is provided and when a processor 1 writes a code therein, the corresponding dot pattern is outputted to a display device. The address of the RAM 6 for the display and the raster address of a character generator ROM 8 are generated by the LSI of a graphic control circuit 2. Then the shape of graphic symbols are defined in the character generator ROM 8 and when the character code corresponding to the graphic symbol is specified, the graphic symbol is displayed on the screen through the system software and application software of the numerical controller. Consequent ly, not only characters, but also graphic symbols can be displayed together on the display screen of the display device, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a display method for a numerical control device, etc., and particularly to a display method for a numerical control device, etc. that displays graphic symbols.

[Conventional technology]

CRTs, plasma displays, and the like are used as display devices for conventional numerical control devices, and are capable of displaying the status, programs, etc. of the numerical control device and machine tools. These display devices display characters such as alphabets, numbers, kanji, and katakana.

Display software includes system software that implements the basic functions of numerical control equipment, and application software that differs depending on the machine tool's specific application.

The display function that performs display using such software is
Used to interface with the user of the machine tool.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, since the display method of conventional numerical control devices mainly displays characters such as alphabets, numbers, kanji, and katakana, it is difficult for users to read the screen displayed as character strings. I can't grasp the meaning without it.

Furthermore, if the message is not in the user's preferred language, it takes a considerable amount of time to understand the message. When building display software, consideration must be given to text that is easy for the user to understand, screen layout that is easy to read, color scheme, etc. Therefore, it is always desired that messages displayed on the screen be easy for the user to understand, but there is a problem in that it is difficult to further improve the user interface if only normal character strings are displayed.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a graphic symbol display method that can display graphic symbols used in machine tools in addition to characters on the display screen of a numerical control device. do.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention uses a graphic symbol display method that displays graphic symbols on a display device such as a numerical control device, in which shapes of graphic symbols other than characters are defined in a character generator that defines character shapes. ,
A graphic symbol display method is characterized in that a graphic symbol is displayed by specifying a character code corresponding to the graphic symbol in the software of a numerical control device.
provided.

[Effect]

In the display method of a numerical control device, the shapes of graphic symbols are defined in the character generator ROM. By specifying a character code corresponding to a graphic symbol in system software or application software of a numerical control device, graphic symbols can be displayed on the screen.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a processor (CPU) that controls the entire numerical control device. 2 is a graph control circuit (CRT
C), and according to instructions from the processor 1, selection of characters to be displayed, control of rask addresses, output of synchronization signals, etc. are controlled. 3 is address bus, 4 is data bus, 5
is a selector. A memory 6 stores one screen worth of data to be displayed, and is composed of a RAM.

The data in the memory 6 is rewritten by the processor 1. 7 is a register that latches one character of data,
Output a data code at a certain timing. 8 is a character generator ROM that defines character shapes;
Shapes of graphical symbols other than characters are also defined, and dot patterns are converted into signals and output. 9 is a shift register, which is a parallel/serial conversion circuit that converts 8-bit data from parallel to serial. 10 is a color palette that performs attribute processing on the serial signal from the shift register 9, converts it into a video signal, and displays it on a display device (CRT).
Transfer to.

Next, each operation will be explained. When viewed from the processor 1, the display screen is a two-dimensional array of character codes. Actually, there is a RAM 6 for storing character codes, and when the processor 1 writes a code therein, a corresponding dot pattern is displayed on the display device.

The address of the RAM 6 for display and the last address of the character generator ROM 8 are generated in the LSI of the graphic control circuit 2. The RAM address is used to select the writing of character codes and attribute codes (defining character attributes such as color, reverse, blink, etc.) from the processor 1 to the RAM 6, and the designation of memory addresses from the graphic control circuit 2 to the RAM 6. A selector 5 is placed.

The RAM 6 that stores display data is read out in accordance with the display timing of the display device, latched by the register 7, and then given as an address to the character generator ROM 8. The character generator ROM 8 contains a dot pattern of a display character, and its 8-bit output data is serially converted by a shift register 9, processed by attributes by a color palette 10, and then transferred to the display device.

In such a system, what characters can be displayed is determined solely by the contents of the character generator ROM 8.

The conventional character generator ROM 8 only had characters such as alphabets and kanji, but in the present invention, it is necessary to include dot patterns of graphic symbols in addition. Therefore, the capacity of the ROM becomes considerably larger than that in the past. However, in recent years, large-capacity mask ROMs have become available, making this possible.

FIG. 2 is a display screen diagram of a display example of the present invention using graphic symbols, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing other graphic symbols. 20 is a graphic symbol display screen, which displays the current position of the machine tool of the numerical control device. x, y at the top
The current position of each Sz axis is shown, and the tool (TooL), spindle (SP INDLE), and feed rate (FEEDRATE) of the machine tool are displayed together with graphic symbols in the lower left part. The lower right part of the screen displays the status of the numerical control device and machine tools, and indicates that they are in automatic operation (■NC
YCLE), Dwelling (DWELL), and Coolant supplying (COOLANT ON> are displayed.

In this example, the ball end mill 21 is selected as the tool. When, for example, a boring bar is selected in a tool change based on a T-code command, the graphic symbol is also changed to the graphic boring bar 23 shown in FIG. 3 accordingly. Also, when a fast forward command is given in the program, FEEDRAT
The graphic symbol labeled E changes from a sawtooth graphic symbol 22 to a wavy graphic symbol 24 in FIG. At the same time, the speed display changes from 200mm/min to RAPID. By using graphic symbols in the display in this way, it is possible to create a friendly display screen that is easy for the operator to understand.

There are infinite types of graphic symbols, but if you limit them to displays on numerical control devices, for example, 130 and JI
It is conceivable to include a graphic pattern defined in S.

This has traditionally been commonly used for machine operation panels, etc., and is also commonly used in other countries.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, the character generator that defines character shapes defines the shapes of graphic symbols in addition to normally used characters such as alphabets and kanji. It is possible to display not only characters but also graphic symbols on the display screen of devices, etc.

Therefore, a display that uses graphical symbols in combination allows the user to more intuitively understand the meaning of the message, resulting in a more familiar display.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a screen diagram of an example of displaying a graphical symbol of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing other graphical symbols. . 1 ``Processor 2'' Graphic control circuit 3 Address bus 4 Data bus 5 ・Selector 6 --- RAM 7'' Register 8'' Character generator ROM 9-° Shift register 10 Color palette 20 Graphic symbol display screen 21 . . . - Figure ball end mill 22 ゛ Serrated figure symbol 23 ゛ Figure polling bar 4 Wavy figure symbol

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a graphic symbol display method that displays graphic symbols on a display device such as a numerical control device, the shapes of graphic symbols other than characters are defined in the character generator that defines character shapes, and the shapes of graphic symbols other than characters are defined in the software of the numerical control device. A graphic symbol display method characterized by displaying graphic symbols by specifying a character code corresponding to the symbol. (2) Claim 1, wherein the graphic symbol is a graphic symbol used in a machine tool of a numerical control device.
The graphical symbol display method described.