A partial circuit selector selects a partial circuit comprising a plurality of contacts in a ladder diagram program. A replacement circuit generator generates a replacement circuit comprising a smaller number of contacts than in the selected partial circuit. An auxiliary circuit generator generates an auxiliary circuit that causes the replacement circuit to perform the same action as the partial circuit. A program editor performs, on the ladder diagram program, a replacement process for replacing a partial circuit appearing in the ladder diagram program with the replacement circuit, and performs an auxiliary circuit insertion process for inserting the auxiliary circuit into the ladder diagram program.

A program creation support device including a control unit internally having a first memory and controlling the programmable logic controller having a refresh function and a network unit internally having a second memory and acquiring data from a device to be controlled and storing the data in the second memory. The support device includes: a program extraction unit extracting a description indicating access to the second memory from a pre-conversion sequence program before being converted into a format understandable by the programmable logic controller; a storage unit storing memory allocation setting information indicating a relationship between a specific region of the first memory and a specific region of the second memory; and a program replacement unit replacing a description indicating access to the second memory in the pre-conversion sequence program with a description indicating access to the first memory based on the memory allocation setting information.

Apparatus and methods for flexible input/output signaling over a same signaling channel are described. A programmable interface circuit includes a signaling channel that can be adapted, prior to use or during operation, for transmission and/or reception of different types of analog and digital signals. The interface circuit can be used for communications between an isolating communication controller and components of a machine that use diverse signaling types.

It is disclosed a PLC Program analysis method where a program (PROG) is translated (TRANS) into a model (MOD) in a logical framework, from which properties (Prop) are determined. Said properties coupled with user specifications (IntProp) are verified by an automated solver (SMT). If contraposition of a property (Prop) is satisfiable, counter-examples (PROOF NOK) representative of model inputs and internal memory values is provided. Counter-examples (PROOF NOK) are translated into error initial configurations (IniConf) of said model. Execution of the model is simulated (EXE) with said model error initial configurations (IniConf), and error intermediary configurations (AST-IntConf) of said model simulation are recorded up to said property violation. Error initial and intermediary configurations (Lad-IniConf, Lad-IntConf) of said original program (PROG) are derived from error initial configurations (IniConf) of said model and error intermediary configurations (AST-IntConf) of said model simulation and displayed. An apparatus for executing said method is provided.

Various embodiments of the present technology generally relate to industrial automation environments. More specifically, embodiments include systems and methods to optimize a target variable in an industrial automation environment. In some examples, a design application generates a control program configured and selects a program tag that represents a target variable in an industrial process. A processing application identifies a set of available program tags that represent independent variables in the industrial process and determines correlations between ones of the independent variables and the target variable. The processing application selects available program tags that represent independent variables correlated with the target variable and generates a recommendation that indicates the selected available program tags. The design application modifies the control program using the selected available program tags to optimize the target variable. The design application transfers the control program for implementation by the programmable logic controller.

Apparatus and methods for flexible input/output signaling over a same signaling channel are described. A programmable interface circuit includes a signaling channel that can be adapted, prior to use or during operation, for transmission and/or reception of different types of analog and digital signals. The interface circuit can be used for communications between an isolating communication controller and components of a machine that use diverse signaling types.

A programmable discrete input module is described. In one or more implementations, the programmable discrete input module comprises a pulse width modulation module configured to generate a pulse width modulated based upon an input signal and a pulse width demodulation module configured to generate a demodulated pulse width signal. An isolator is configured to isolate the pulse width modulation module and the pulse width demodulation module and to generate isolated modulated pulse width signal based upon the pulse width modulated signal for the pulse width demodulation module and to generate the demodulated pulse width signal. The programmable discrete input module also includes a first comparator and a second comparator for comparing the demodulated pulse width signal with a respective programmable reference and a digital filter configured to filter a comparison signal output by the first comparator or the second comparator to generate a discrete input signal.

A control system, a support device, and a recording medium are provided. This control device includes a storage unit which stores native code generated from a first user program that includes a sequence program, and a calculation processing unit which executes the native code stored in the storage unit. A display device of the present invention includes: a storage unit which stores sequence circuit information that is generated from the first user program and defines a circuit configuration of the sequence program; and a monitor functioning unit which acquires, from the control device, a circuit output state that indicates the execution state of the native code, and visualizes the execution state of the sequence program in the control device on the basis of the acquired circuit output state and the sequence circuit information.

A PLC includes a program storing section which stores a user program, a program executing section which repeatedly executes the user program, a device storing section having a plurality of devices which are memory regions referred to by the program executing section, a device recording section which records a device value stored in any one of the plurality of devices in time series, and a saving section which saves, when a predetermined saving condition is satisfied, the device value recorded by the device recording section and the user program or identification information of the user program stored in the program storing section in correspondence with each other in a memory.

Provided is an intelligent correction device control system for a super-resolution lithography precision mask, including: a sixteen-way pneumatic fine-tuning mask deformation control subsystem configured to deform a mask, detect a force value of a mask deformation, compare the force value of the mask deformation with an output force set value, and generate a first control feedback quantity to adjust a force deforming the mask, so as to control a deformation quantity of the mask; and an alignment subsystem configured to acquire images of the mask and a substrate, and adjust a position between the mask and the substrate according to the images, so as to align the mask with the substrate.