Information processing device, information processing method, and information processing system

• US 10,354,231 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2016
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Yagiura, Yutaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Sherali, Ishrat I
• Application Number:
  US15/345,466
• Publication Number:
  US 20170140225A1
• Time in Patent Office: 981 Days
• Field of Search: 382100, 382305
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance

Abstract

An information processing device for supporting an operation procedure in maintenance of an apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store part list information for the operation procedure in the maintenance, and part definition information for specifying a part that the apparatus has; a specification unit configured to specify a part of an operation subject to be used in the operation procedure, and a first part number that is a number of the part, based on the part list information; a capturing unit configured to generate image data of an image of the apparatus; an analyzing unit configured to specify the part of the operation subject in the image data, and a second part number that is a number of the part, based on the part definition information; and a display control unit configured to display maintenance information based on a result of comparing the first and second part numbers.

Claims

1. An information processing device for supporting maintenance of an apparatus comprising:

a head mounted device wearable by a human operator to perform at least one of a plurality of maintenance procedures on the apparatus, the head mounted device including;

memory to store, for each of the plurality of maintenance procedures, part information including;

a type of device in the apparatus subject to a maintenance procedure, a number of a type of part expected to be installed in the device, and a threshold indicating an allowed number of the type of part to be missing in the device;

an imaging device to capture image data of a field of view of the human operator;

a display device to generate images in the field of view of the human operator; and

a processor to receive input indicating initialization of the maintenance procedure by the human operator, to retrieve the part information stored in the memory for the maintenance procedure, to obtain an image of the device captured by the imaging device, to process the image to determine a number of the type of the part actually installed in the device, to determine that the number of the type of the part actually installed according to the image is different than the number of the type of the part expected to be installed according to the part information stored in the memory by more than the threshold, and, in response, to generate a message to display on the display device indicating that the threshold of the allowed number of the type of part missing in the device is exceeded for the maintenance procedure.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the processor generates the message depending on an integer value by which the threshold is exceeded.

3. The information processing device according to claim 2,

wherein the display device displays the message in the field of view of the human operator if the threshold of the allowed number of the type of part missing in the device is exceeded for the maintenance procedure.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the processor generates the message to indicate a warning in response to determining that the number of the type of the part actually installed according to the image is different than the number of the type of the part expected to be installed according to the part information stored in the memory and that the threshold of the allowed number of the type of part missing in the device is not exceeded for the maintenance procedure.

5. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the part information is stored for each lot of the apparatus.

6. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the processor generates the message to indicate an error in response to determining the threshold of the allowed number of the type of part missing in the device is exceeded for the maintenance procedure.

7. An information processing system for supporting maintenance of an apparatus comprising:

memory to store, for each of a plurality of maintenance procedures to be performed on the apparatus by a human operator, part information including;

a type of device in the apparatus subject to a maintenance procedure, a number of a type of part expected to be installed in the device, and a threshold indicating an allowed number of the type of part to be missing in the device;

an imaging device to capture image data of a field of view of the human operator;

a display device to generate images in the field of view of the human operator; and

a processor to receive input indicating initialization of the maintenance procedure by the human operator, to retrieve the part information stored in the memory for the maintenance procedure, to obtain an image of the device captured by the imaging device, to process the image to determine a number of the type of the part actually installed in the device, to determine that the number of the type of the part actually installed according to the image is different than the number of the type of the part expected to be installed according to the part information stored in the memory by more than the threshold, and, in response, to generate a message to display on the display device indicating that the threshold of the allowed number of the type of part missing in the device is exceeded for the maintenance procedure.

8. An information processing method for supporting maintenance of an apparatus comprising:

storing, for each of the plurality of maintenance procedures to be performed on the apparatus by a human operator, in memory, part information including;

a type of device in the apparatus subject to a maintenance procedure, a number of a type of part expected to be installed in the device, and a threshold indicating an allowed number of the type of part to be missing in the device;

receiving, at a head mounted display wearable by a human operator, input indicating initialization of the maintenance procedure by the human operator,

retrieving the part information stored in the memory for the maintenance procedure;

obtaining an image of the device captured by the imaging device;

processing the image to determine a number of the type of the part actually installed in the device;

determining that the number of the type of the part actually installed according to the image is different than the number of the type of the part expected to be installed according to the part information stored in the memory by more than the threshold; and

in response, generating a message to display on a display device indicating that the threshold of the allowed number of the type of part missing in the device is exceeded for the maintenance procedure.