US 5,859,778 A · Remote management system

Abstract

A remote management system wherein a central control apparatus is connected with machines installed in a shop by communication means, so that set values of the operating conditions of each machine set in a microcomputer within the machine can be changed from the central control apparatus and, resetting of the microcomputer and restarting of the machine can be directed from the central control apparatus, thereby eliminating the need for dispatching personnel to the shop and reducing the management cost, while in case of a trouble in the machine, information indicating the occurrence of the trouble and information specifying the location of the trouble are transmitted to the central control apparatus thereby to shorten the time required for restarting the machine by the personnel and improve the management efficiency, and further featuring a controller which periodically collects information related to the operation of the machine from the microcomputer and stores the information in a memory thereof while erasing the collected data already stored in the memory of the microcomputer, thereby allowing a small memory capacity for the microcomputer and suppressing the machine cost.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A remote management system with a plurality of machine control units, each of which respectively stores previously set operational condition data for each operation of a plurality of machines in a write permit memory, and detects a state of each of plural parts of the machines by a plurality of sensors, respectively, thereby to control the operations of the machines based on the operational condition data stored in said memory and the detected values inputted from said sensors, each said machine control unit being connected by communication means with a central control unit to manage the machines by remote control,

said central control unit comprising:
means for inputting at least one updating instruction and value to collectively update the previously set operational condition data for the operations stored in the memory of the machine control units for a specified subset of the machines;
and
means for transmitting said at least one inputted updating instruction and value to the machine control unit via said communication means;
each said machine control unit comprising:
means for updating the operational condition data stored in said memory according to the updating data transmitted from the central control unit.

3 more elements

A remote management system with a machine control unit which comprises a microcomputer having an I/O port, and which stores previously set operational condition data for operation of a machine in a write permit memory, and detects a state of each of plural parts of the machine by a plurality of sensors, respectively, thereby to control the operation of the machine based on the operational condition data stored in said memory and the detected values inputted from said sensors, said machine control unit being connected by communication means with a central control unit to manage the machine by remote control,

said central control unit comprising:
means for inputting an instruction to transmit via said communication means an output level of the operational condition data outputted from the machine control unit to each part of the machine and an input level of the detected values inputted from said sensors to the machine control unit;
means for transmitting an instruction to the machine control unit to transmit the input and output levels therefrom;
a memory for storing the input and output levels associated with said microcomputer I/O port when each part of the machine performs normal operation;
means for comparing the input and output levels associated with said microcomputer I/O port of the machine parts normal operation stored in said memory with the input and output levels associated with said microcomputer I/O port which are transmitted from the machine control unit;
means for specifying a machine part with a trouble condition when the comparison result disagrees, based on the different phase portion of the input and output levels from the levels of normal operation;
and
means for informing a remote location of the machine part with a trouble condition as specified by said specifying means;
said machine control unit comprising:
means for transmitting the output level of the operational condition data for each part of the machine and the input level of the detected values from said sensors to the central control unit via said communication means.

7 more elements

A remote management system with a machine control unit which stores previously set operational condition data for operation of a machine in a write permit memory, and detects a state of each of plural parts of the machine by a plurality of sensors, respectively, thereby to control the operation of the machine based on the operational condition data stored in said memory and the detected values inputted from said sensors, but stops the operation of the machine upon detecting occurrence of a trouble condition according to the values detected by said sensors, and calls to inform a central control unit for managing the machine by remote control of the occurrence of the trouble condition, said central control unit being connected by communication means with the machine control unit,

said machine control unit comprising:
a memory for storing data which indicates occurrence of a trouble condition;
and
means for storing the data which indicates the occurrence of the trouble condition in said memory when detecting the occurrence of the trouble condition;
said central control unit comprising:
means for inputting an instruction to the machine control unit to transmit therefrom the data related to the trouble condition that has occurred, and for inputting an instruction to erase the data which indicates the occurrence of the trouble condition stored in said memory;
and
means for transmitting, to the machine control unit, the transmission instruction of the data related to the trouble condition, and erasing instruction of the trouble condition data;
a memory for storing the type of trouble condition for which the operation of the machine is allowed to be restarted immediately even when said machine control unit detects the occurrence of the trouble condition based on the detected value of the sensors;
means for comparing the type of trouble condition for which the erasing instruction is inputted from said inputting means with the type of trouble condition stored in said memory;
means for immediately transmitting said erasing instruction to the machine control unit when the comparison result agrees;
means for demanding outward to confirm whether to transmit said erasing instruction to the machine control unit when the comparison result disagrees;
means for inputting an instruction to confirm the transmission of said erasing instruction to the machine control unit when said demanding means demands to confirm whether to transmit said erasing instruction to the machine control unit;
and
means for transmitting said erasing instruction to the machine control unit on receipt of said confirming instruction by said inputting means,
said machine control unit, further comprising:
means for collecting and transmitting the data related to the trouble condition that has occurred to the central control unit responsive to the transmission instruction transmitted from the central control unit;
and
means for erasing the data which indicates the trouble condition occurrence stored in said memory responsive to the erasing instruction transmitted from the central control unit,
wherein said memory of the machine control unit is a memory for storing the data which indicates the occurrence of the trouble condition by the type of trouble, said storing means of the machine control unit includes means for storing the data which indicates the occurrence of the trouble condition and discriminating the type of the trouble upon the occurrence of the trouble condition being detected in an area assigned to the trouble type discriminated, said transmitting means of the machine control unit includes means for collecting and transmitting the type of the trouble condition occurring except for data related to the occurrence of a trouble condition responsive to the transmission instruction of the trouble condition related data transmitted from the central control unit, and said erasing means for the machine control unit includes means for erasing the trouble condition of the type corresponding to the erasing instruction.

17 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Remote management system

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Remote management system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims22