Machining program editing assist apparatus

A machining program editing assist apparatus for assisting in editing a machining program of a machine tool, comprising:

• a display device;
• an input device to indicate a point on a screen of the display device;
• and
• a display controller configured to divide the screen into display areas including a program data display area, a process list display area, and a shape display area, the display controller being configured to display data in the display areas;
• and
• a memory configured to store the machining program, the machining program conforming to an international standard, wherein
• the machining program has program data of a machining process separated into machining process units,
• the program data comprise:
• machining method data defining the method of machining for each machining process unit;
• and
• shape definition data defining the shape related to the machining of each machining process unit,
• the machining method data comprise process name data that comprises the process name of each machining process unit,
• the display controller is configured to set the program data as display candidates of the program data display area and to display at least a part of the program data as display objects in the program data display area,
• the display controller is configured to set the process name data as display candidates of the process list display area and to display at least a part of the process name data as display objects in the process list display area,
• while the display objects are displayed in at least one of the program data display area, the process list display area, or the shape display area, and when a point is indicated in the one of the display areas via the input device, the display controller is configured to
• determine that a designated display object of the one of the display areas is the display object designated by the indicated point;
• visually differentiate the designated display object from the other display objects in the one of the display areas;
• decide that a designated display object of the other of the display areas corresponds to the designated display object of the one of the display areas;
• display the designated display object in the display objects of the other of the display areas;
• and
• visually differentiate the designated display object from the other display objects in the other of the display areas,
• the display controller is configured to simultaneously visually differentiate the designated display object from the other display objects in the one of the display areas and visually differentiate the designated display object from the other display objects in the other of the display areas on the screen of the display device,
• a table in which candidates for the designated display object of the shape display area are registered is a machining shape table,
• while the display objects are being displayed in the shape display area, and when a specific point is indicated in the shape display area via the input device, the display controller is configured to
• consider a connecting line of the display objects, at least a part of which passes through a given area centered at the specific point, as a current candidate for the designated display object of the shape display area;
• register the connecting line in the machining shape table;
• and
• display the current candidate for the designated display object registered at the top of the machining shape table as the designated display object, and
• the display controller, in the case that a point located within a given distance from the specific point is indicated repeatedly via the input device, is configured to display a next candidate for the designated display object as the designated display object of the shape display area in accordance with the order registered in the machining shape table in the shape display area.