An apparatus and method for establishing triggers for the opening of one or multiple gates to a mold cavity of an injection molding system, followed by a sequence of predetermined valve pin movements over the course on an injection cycle. In one embodiment, the invention provides a graphical user interface and control system enabling a user to select from and arrange a plurality of virtual icons into a user-defined virtual sequence that define associated triggering events and actuator controlled pin movements over the course of an injection cycle. In various embodiments, the apparatus and method allows the system operator to view a simulated profile of such triggers and movements and to compare the simulated profile to an actual profile to access differences and make adjustments to the triggers and sequencing more quickly and efficiently. This is particularly useful in sequential molding systems where multiple gates need to be programmed and adjusted to compensate for variations from a predetermined sequence.

A system for managing communication between building management system (BMS) devices includes a memory and a controller. The memory includes instructions stored thereon. The controller is configured to execute the instructions to implement an agent manager, a zone manager, and a channel manager. The agent manager is configured to generate an agent for each of the BMS devices. The zone manager is configured to define at least one zone relating to a physical location zone or a building control zone. The channel manager is configured to generate a communication channel associated with the at least one zone. The channel manager is further configured to manage registration of an agent to the communication channel, wherein an agent is configured to communicate over a communication channel in response to being registered to the communication channel.

A control system for operating a system having an operable component includes a master and a slave assigned to the component. The master and the slave each comprise a software processing part and a programmable logic part. The master is configured by its software processing part to: receive job data, transform the job data into component job data, and send the component job data to the slave. The master is configured by its programmable logic part to send information about a current job status to the slave. The slave is configured by its programmable logic part to receive the information about the current job status, and to send information about the current job status to its software processing part. The slave is configured by its software processing part to execute a job corresponding to the component job data using the current job status.

A control system for operating a system having an operable component includes a master and a slave assigned to the component. The master and the slave each comprise a software processing part and a programmable logic part. The master is configured by its software processing part to: receive job data, transform the job data into component job data, and send the component job data to the slave. The master is configured by its programmable logic part to send information about a current job status to the slave. The slave is configured by its programmable logic part to receive the information about the current job status, and to send information about the current job status to its software processing part. The slave is configured by its software processing part to execute a job corresponding to the component job data using the current job status.

A technology for associating and ascertaining the location of device variables which are in a control program and correspond to devices, and the dependency relations between the device variables, when division programming is carried out, is provided. A graph display device according to one aspect of the present invention generates a first directed graph, which comprises a plurality of first nodes respectively representing the device variables, and edges representing the existence of a dependency relation, and a second directed graph, which comprises a plurality of regions corresponding respectively to each subprogram, a plurality of first nodes, and edges, wherein the first nodes are arranged in a region of a subprogram that uses the device variable to be expressed from among the plurality of regions. In response to an instruction from a user the display device switches between displaying the generated first directed graph and displaying the generated second directed graph.

A robot system includes a robot arm, encoders configured to acquire position information of the robot arm, a first control section configured to execute control processing for controlling operation of the robot arm, and a second control section provided independently from the first control section and configured to transmit a position information request signal for requesting the position information to the encoders. The second control section transmits an interrupt signal to the first control section according to the transmission of the position information request signal. The first control section executes the control processing based on the interrupt signal and the position information output from the encoders based on the position information request signal.

A robot system includes a robot arm, encoders configured to acquire position information of the robot arm, a first control section configured to execute control processing for controlling operation of the robot arm, and a second control section provided independently from the first control section and configured to transmit a position information request signal for requesting the position information to the encoders. The second control section transmits an interrupt signal to the first control section according to the transmission of the position information request signal. The first control section executes the control processing based on the interrupt signal and the position information output from the encoders based on the position information request signal.

The invention relates to methods and systems for automating equipment. The claimed method comprises steps in which: an expert system (ES) receives a set of information regarding equipment connected to a PLC; the ES checks the received set of information; a set of functions is determined by the ES for each connected type of equipment; the ES generates a set of commands executable by the PLC and corresponding to the functions of the connected equipment using pre-programmed algorithms for generating program commands; the ES generates interactive prompts for connecting devices to the PLC; information containing at least the above-mentioned set of commands is transmitted to the PLC; at least one device is connected to the PLC and execution of at least one command corresponding to at least one function of the above-mentioned device is activated.

A PLC collects a device value stored in any one of a plurality of devices and stores information relating to collecting time at which the device value is collected and the device value in association with each other in a first buffer. The PLC collects data input from a monitoring apparatus and stores information relating to acquiring time at which the data is acquired and the data in association with each other in a second buffer. A saving section saves, when a predetermined saving condition is satisfied, the device value and the information relating to the collecting time stored in the first buffer, and the data and the information relating to the acquiring time stored in the second buffer in correspondence with each other.

A method for configuring an automation system for controlling a process, an automation module, and a computer program product. In the method, a mapping of a physical automation device on a non-instantiated automation module is provided, whereby the non-instantiated automation module specifies a device type and has at least one artifact. Furthermore, the method includes the provision of a non-instantiated automation module in a library and a retrieval of the non-instantiated automation module from the library. Furthermore, the method provides for an instantiation of the automation module and a localization of the instantiated automation modules.