Digital diagnosti video system for manufacturing and industrial process
First Claim
1. A digital diagnostic video system for diagnosing malfunctions and other errors in the operation of manufacturing machinery, said machinery having a plurality of machine sensors located at monitoring zones for detecting prescribed errors and causing sensor signals to be generated upon occurrence of said errors, said system comprising:
- a video camera associated with a machine sensor located at a monitoring zone for producing real-time video output of the machinery operation desired to be monitored by said camera and sensor;
a central control unit having a computer processor continuously receiving the video output from said camera during normal machinery operation;
a temporary computer memory in communication with said processor continuously storing said video output in real time;
said processor in communication with said sensor for receiving said sensor signal to provide a trigger signal when said sensor signal is associated with a prescribed trigger event;
a permanent memory for storing a pre-event video including a first preset length of the video output depicting machinery operation occurring immediately before said trigger signal and storing a post-event video of a second preset length of the video output depicting machinery operation occurring immediately after said trigger signal;
a computer program having a set of operating instructions embodied in computer readable code executable by said processor to control the recording and storing of said pre-event and post-event videos, said program including capture instructions for copying at least said pre-event video from said temporary memory into said permanent memory in response to said trigger signal, recording said post-event video in response to said trigger signal, and saving said post-event video in said permanent memory along with said pre-event video to provide a trigger event video;
whereby said trigger event video may be displayed on said display monitor and replayed to assist in diagnosing said trigger events and errors.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for assisting in the diagnosis of errors in manufacturing machinery is disclosed wherein sensors are associated with the machinery at monitoring zones for detecting errors and generating sensor signals representing the errors. Video cameras are located at monitoring zones associated with specific sensors. A computer readable medium is in communication with the cameras for receiving video of the process. A set of computer readable instructions are embodied within the computer readable medium for receiving input selecting machine sensors and cameras, triggering, and producing the pre-event and post-event videos for the trigger signals. Operating instructions are for continuously storing video output in temporary memory, receiving sensor signals, and processing the sensor signals to determine if a trigger signal is required. After a trigger signal, video is copied from temporary memory into permanent memory to provide the pre-event video, and post-event video is recorded and stored in permanent memory.
47 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A digital diagnostic video system for diagnosing malfunctions and other errors in the operation of manufacturing machinery, said machinery having a plurality of machine sensors located at monitoring zones for detecting prescribed errors and causing sensor signals to be generated upon occurrence of said errors, said system comprising:
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a video camera associated with a machine sensor located at a monitoring zone for producing real-time video output of the machinery operation desired to be monitored by said camera and sensor;
a central control unit having a computer processor continuously receiving the video output from said camera during normal machinery operation;
a temporary computer memory in communication with said processor continuously storing said video output in real time;
said processor in communication with said sensor for receiving said sensor signal to provide a trigger signal when said sensor signal is associated with a prescribed trigger event;
a permanent memory for storing a pre-event video including a first preset length of the video output depicting machinery operation occurring immediately before said trigger signal and storing a post-event video of a second preset length of the video output depicting machinery operation occurring immediately after said trigger signal;
a computer program having a set of operating instructions embodied in computer readable code executable by said processor to control the recording and storing of said pre-event and post-event videos, said program including capture instructions for copying at least said pre-event video from said temporary memory into said permanent memory in response to said trigger signal, recording said post-event video in response to said trigger signal, and saving said post-event video in said permanent memory along with said pre-event video to provide a trigger event video;
whereby said trigger event video may be displayed on said display monitor and replayed to assist in diagnosing said trigger events and errors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A diagnostic system for assisting in the diagnosis of a malfunction and other errors in a manufacturing process implemented by an operating machine having a plurality of machine sensors located at machine monitoring zones for detecting errors at said zones and generating sensor signals representing said errors, and a programmed logic controller (PLC) receiving said sensor signals for controlling the machinery operation in response to said sensor signals, said system comprising:
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a central control unit having a computer processor in communication with a computer readable medium having a permanent memory;
a temporary computer memory in communication with said processor;
a plurality of video cameras located at said monitoring zones associated with specific sensors at said monitoring zones, said processor in communication with said cameras for receiving video output depicting the operation of the manufacturing process; and
a set of computer readable instructions embodied within said computer readable medium executable by said processor including;
set-up instructions for receiving input selecting a first preset duration for a pre-event video and a second preset duration for a post-event video from said video cameras, receiving input selecting one or more machine sensor signals required to generate trigger signals triggering production of the pre-event video and post-event video, and receiving input selecting one or more cameras producing the pre-event and post-event videos for each trigger signal, and operating instructions executable by said processor for continuously storing video output in said temporary memory depicting machinery operation from said cameras, continuously receiving available sensor signals, processing said sensor signals to determine if a trigger signal is required, continuing the preceding operating instructions if a trigger signal is not required, and upon occurrence of a trigger signal copying video from said temporary memory into said permanent memory of said first preset duration to provide said pre-event video and beginning the recording of said post-event video and storing said post-event video in said permanent memory after said second preset duration has expired. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computerized method for assisting in the diagnosis of malfunction and other errors occurring in the operation of manufacturing machinery where machine sensors are strategically placed at machinery monitoring zones prone to malfunction, said method comprising;
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selecting specific errors which need to be detected in order to define trigger events at the monitoring zones requiring generation of trigger signals;
assigning a number of sensors at the monitoring zones required to detect the occurrence of a trigger event;
associating a number of video cameras with trigger events and sensors at said monitoring zones having video output sufficient to effectively diagnose errors occurring at the monitoring zones;
continuously storing the video output in real time in a temporary computer memory during operation of the machinery;
continuously displaying the video output on a display monitor in real time while simultaneously storing the video output;
producing a pre-event video from video output stored in the temporary memory upon occurrence of said trigger signal depicting machinery operation occurring before said trigger signal;
producing a post-event video upon occurrence of the trigger signal depicting machinery operation occurring after said trigger signal; and
storing said pre-event video and post-event video in a video file in a permanent computer memory of a computer readable medium along with text information identifying the trigger event. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. A computerized method for diagnosing errors in manufacturing processes implemented by operating machinery having machine sensors for sensing operational errors, and a machine controller for controlling the machinery operation in response to the sensor signals, said method comprising:
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sensing machinery operation malfunction and other errors and generating sensor signals representing the errors;
pre-defining triggers signals based on said sensor signals for controlling real time storage of video output from one or more video cameras;
executing computer readable instructions embodied in a computer readable medium on a computer processor including;
continuously storing said video output in temporary memory in real time;
displaying said input from video cameras on a display screen in real time;
communicating sensor signals from the machinery controller to said computer processor;
recording date and time, identification of the sensors generating said sensor signal;
processing the sensor signals and generating a trigger signal in response by one or more sensor signals;
representing a pre-defined trigger event;
storing said video output stored in temporary memory into permanent memory upon occurrence of said video signal;
creating a trigger video file containing said date, time, and identification of said trigger event; and
saving said video in a computer readable medium. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification