Encoder

The present invention relates to an encoder.

An encoder measures the angle of rotation and length of movement of a specimen, and is utilized as a sensor in robots and machine tools. The measurement values measured by this encoder (information related to an angle and length, called “encoder data” in the following explanation) are sent to a control device or other such host machine via a communication device, which carries out serial communications by way of a communication line. As forms of serial communications, either one-way communications or two-way communications are used, and in one-way communications, the encoder converts encoder data to serial data, and outputs the data at a certain fixed time cycle. Conversely, in two-way communications, it is common for the constitution to be such that the encoder receives a command signal from the host machine, and sends encoder data corresponding to the contents of this command signal (For example, refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 2004-317261).

When an encoder such as this is used for sampling the state of a specimen, the sampling time during which encoder data can be acquired from the host machine is limited to the encoder data communication time. For example, the communication cycle T 1 for one-way communications is determined by the encoder data ED transmission time T D and wait time T W as shown in FIG. 3A , and the communication cycle T 2 for two-way communications is determined by command data CD transmission time T C , encoder data ED transmission time T D and wait times T W1 , T W2 as shown in FIG. 3B .

Robot and machine tool operation has been speeded up in recent years, and in line with this, there is a requirement to shorten the state sampling interval of the encoder, thus making it desirable to speed up the serial communications of the communication device used by an encoder.

However, the information that a host machine acquires from an encoder is no longer limited to just the measurements of conventional angles and lengths, and the amount of encoder information, such as status information, temperature information, and memory information, is increasing. For this reason, it is not possible to shorten the sampling interval of one-way communications due to the longer communication time resulting from the increase in the amount of data. Meanwhile, in the case of two-way communications, information outputted from an encoder can be selected in accordance with a request signal (the command data in FIG. 3B ) from a host machine, but since the transmission and reception of command data from a host machine, and encoder data from an encoder are carried out within a single communication cycle, the communication cycle as a whole cannot be shortened. The problem such conventional encoders is that it takes time to communicate encoder data.

With the foregoing problems in view, an object of the present invention is to provide a communication device that can increase the speed of communications, and an encoder that implements this communication device.

An encoder related to the present invention is constituted from a position detector (for example, the light-emitting part 1 , rotating disk 2 and light-receiving part 3 in the embodiment), which detects a signal corresponding to the position of a specimen, and calculates the position of the specimen, and a communication device for transmitting information on the position to a host machine, which is connected via a communication line (for example, the signal processing part 5 in the embodiment). Then, the communication device is constituted having a two-way communication mode, which, when command data is received from a host machine, and this command data is a two-way communication request command, transmits the position information requested by this command to the host machine; a one-way communication mode, which, when command data received in the two-way communication mode is a one-way communication request command, executes one-way transmission processing for transmitting position information to the host machine at a prescribed communication cycle; and a quasi one-way communication mode, which, when command data received in the two-way communication mode is a quasi one-way communication request command, executes quasi one-way transmission processing for transmitting position information to the host machine for only a prescribed number of transmissions at a prescribed communication cycle, and thereafter, waiting only a prescribed time to receive command data, and when command data is received, transitioning to the two-way communication mode, and when command data is not received, repeating quasi one-way transmission processing.

Further, it is desirable that an encoder related to the present invention be constituted such that either a one-way communication request command or a quasi one-way communication request command have a parameter for setting the length of a communication cycle, and execute either one-way transmission processing or quasi one-way transmission processing in accordance with the communication cycle set by this parameter. It is desirable to have a nonvolatile memory, and to store the communication cycle set in the one-way communication request command or quasi one-way communication request command in this nonvolatile memory at this time.

Or, it is desirable that an encoder of the present invention be constituted such that a quasi one-way communication request command have a parameter for setting the number of transmissions, and executes quasi one-way transmission processing in accordance with the number of transmissions set by this parameter. It is desirable to have a nonvolatile memory, and to store the number of transmissions set by the quasi one-way communication request command in this nonvolatile memory at this time.

By constituting an encoder of the present invention as described above, it becomes possible to speed up communications.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only and thus are not limitative of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the constitution of an encoder related to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of communication of an encoder related to the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the communication cycles of serial communications, with 3 A showing one-way serial communication, and 3 B showing two-way serial communication.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained below by referring to the figures. First, using FIGS. 1 and 2 , an absolute encoder for detecting the amount of rotation of an arbitrary rotating body will be explained as an example of an encoder 10 , which implements a communication device related to the present invention (the signal processing part 5 , which will be explained below).

An encoder 10 is constituted from a light-emitting part 1 , a rotating disk 2 , a light-receiving part 3 , a waveform shaping circuit 4 , a signal processing part 5 , a transmission/reception driver part 6 , a nonvolatile memory 7 , and a temperature sensor 8 , and is connected to a host machine 20 via a serial communication line 9 connected to the transmission/reception driver part 6 .

The light-emitting part 1 and the light-receiving part 3 are arranged facing one another, and the rotating disk 2 is arranged therebetween so as to block light emitted from the light-emitting part 1 to the light-receiving part 3 . A tiny slit is formed circumferentially in this rotating disk 2 , and the axis of rotation is connected to a specimen (not shown in the figures) for detecting rotation, and rotates together with this specimen. Thus, either light emitted from the light-emitting part 1 in accordance with the rotation of the rotating disk 2 is blocked by the rotating disk 2 , or the amount of light received by the light-receiving part 3 is changed by passing through the slit. This change in the amount of light is detected by the light-receiving part 3 , is sent to the signal processing part 5 via the waveform shaping circuit 4 , the position (angle), direction of rotation, and number of rotations of the rotating disk 2 (these will be referred to collectively as “position information 5 a ” in the following explanation) are processed by this signal processing part 5 , and stored inside this signal processing part 5 . Furthermore, the constitution of the rotating disk 2 , and the method of detecting its angle and so forth are disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 10-206188.

Further, the signal processing part 5 accesses the nonvolatile memory 7 and temperature sensor 8 as needed, and stores information read out from either this temperature sensor 8 or nonvolatile memory 7 as temperature information 5 c and memory information 5 d . In addition, this signal processing part 5 detects the abnormalities of various signals (for example, it detects if there is an error in a signal obtained from the light received by the light-receiving part 3 ), and stores this information as status information 5 b . Then, this kind of encoder data 5 a through 5 d is transmitted by the transmission/reception driver part 6 to the host machine 20 from the signal processing part 5 via the communication line 9 .

The communication flow when the signal processing part 5 of this encoder 10 transmits the encoder data 5 a through 5 d to the host machine 20 will be explained using FIG. 2 . When the main power supply of the encoder 10 is turned ON, it is in the two-way communication mode M 1 , and constitutes the command reception mode A, which waits to receive command data from the host machine 20 (Step S 100 ). Here, the two-way communication mode M 1 , as shown in FIG. 3B , is the mode for receiving command data (a two-way communication request command) CD from the host machine 20 , and transmitting encoder data ED in accordance with the type of this command data CD, to the host machine 20 . In other words, when the encoder 10 receives command data CD while in the command reception mode A, it checks to determine the command to which this command data CD corresponds, and moves to the corresponding processing (Step S 101 ). In the communication flow of FIG. 2 , when the command data is command A, the encoder 10 transmits encoder data A (for example, position information 5 a ) (Step S 102 ), when the command data is command B, it transmits encoder data B (for example, status information 5 b ) (Step S 103 ), and when the command data is command C, it transmits encoder data C (for example, temperature information 5 c ) (Step S 104 ). Then, after transmitting encoder data A through C, which correspond to command A through C, the encoder 10 returns to the command reception mode A (S 100 ), and the two-way communications mode M 1 continues.

However, when a command P (one-way communication request command) is sent from the host machine 20 in this command reception mode A (S 100 ), the encoder 10 transitions to the one-way communication mode M 2 (Step S 101 ), and one-way transmission processing (processing for transmitting encoder data P) is executed (Step S 105 ). This one-way communication mode M 2 is the mode for continuously transmitting only prescribed data (for example, position information 5 a and status information 5 b ) as encoder data P to the host machine 20 at a prescribed communication cycle T 1 ( FIG. 3A ). In the encoder 10 of this embodiment, upon transitioning to this one-way communication mode M 2 , it is not possible to get out of this mode without turning OFF the power supply.

Conversely, when a command Q (quasi one-way communication request command) is sent from the host machine 20 in command reception mode A (S 100 ), the encoder 10 transitions to a quasi one-way communication mode M 3 (Step S 101 ). In the quasi one-way communication mode M 3 , the encoder 10 executes quasi one-way transmission processing for consecutively carrying out the one-way transmission of encoder data Q only a prescribed number of times (n times) (Step S 107 ). At this time, only prescribed data of the encoder data Q is transmitted to the host machine 20 at a prescribed communication cycle T 1 . Then, when a prescribed number of transmissions has ended, the encoder 10 transitions to command reception mode B, and waits to receive command data from the host machine 20 (Step S 108 ). In this command reception mode B (S 108 ), the encoder 10 either receives command data from the host machine 20 , or transitions to determination processing of the command contents when a timeout occurs after the passage of a prescribed period of time (Step S 109 ). In this determination processing (S 109 ), when a timeout occurs in command reception mode B (S 108 ), the encoder 10 transitions to the above-mentioned quasi one-way transmission processing (S 107 ), and when a prescribed command is received from the host machine 20 , it transitions to the two-way communication mode M 1 , that is, it transitions to command reception mode A (S 100 ).

Furthermore, in quasi one-way transmission processing (S 107 ), the encoder 10 sets a flag in the encoder data Q of immediately prior to transitioning to command reception mode B (encoder data Q to be transmitted for the nth time) indicating the transition to command reception mode B. That is, when a prescribed bit of this encoder data transitions to command reception mode B, the encoder 10 sets a “1”; otherwise it sets a “0”. This enables the host machine 20 to determine when the encoder 10 will transition to command reception mode B by looking at this bit.

Thus, by providing the encoder 10 with a quasi one-way communication mode M 3 , it is possible to adopt a one-way communication format, shorten the communication cycle as much as possible, and increase the quantity of samples taken of the state of a specimen (shorten the sampling interval). Further, at the same time, it becomes possible to return to the two-way communication format (two-way communication mode M 1 ) as needed to enable commands to be received at prescribed intervals, and to acquire from this encoder 10 the required encoder data. Further, it is also possible to switch to the quasi one-way communication mode M 3 by transmitting command Q once again.

The two-way communication mode M 1 is normally used at system startup and in self-diagnostics, and the host machine 20 can receive encoder data other than position information. The communication cycle can be shortened as much as possible by making the constitution such that only encoder data P and Q described hereinabove, for example, the prescribed data (position information 5 a and status information 5 b ) required for robot control, is transmitted in either the one-way communication mode M 2 or the quasi one-way communication mode M 3 , thus making it possible to operate this robot at high-speed.

Furthermore, by providing in the command data sent from the host machine 20 a parameter for setting a communication cycle time (for example, T 1 in FIG. 3 ) in the one-way communication mode M 2 and the quasi on-way communication mode M 3 , it is possible to arbitrarily change the communication cycle from the host machine 20 . Furthermore, this communication cycle can be changed even when the system is being operated. Further, by providing a parameter in the command data for setting the number of repetitions (n) in the quasi one-way communication mode M 3 , the host machine 20 is capable of setting how many times encoder data can be consecutively transmitted, and can change the communication timing during a quasi one-way communication. The constitution can also be such that this setting information (parameter values) is stored in nonvolatile memory 7 , and at startup the signal processing part 5 reads in this information, and sets the communication cycle and number of repetitions. Furthermore, these parameters can also be set by using a command for directly accessing nonvolatile memory 7 .

As explained hereinabove, since this encoder 10 can be transitioned from a two-way communication mode M 1 to either a one-way communication mode M 2 or a quasi one-way communication mode M 3 , the communication cycle time can be shortened, and wasted communication time eliminated, thereby enabling efficient exchanges of data between the host machine 20 and the encoder 10 . Furthermore, in the above explanation, an absolute encoder for measuring the angle of rotation and so forth of a specimen was given as an example in the explanation, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and can also be used in a linear encoder, as well as in another measurement device for transmitting measurement data to a host machine.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-226163 filed on Aug. 4, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference.