PRESENTING PROCESS DATA OF A PROCESS CONTROL OBJECT ON A MOBILE TERMINAL

• US 20150116498A1
• Filed: 06/12/2013
• Published: 04/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Vartiainen, Elina, Brnmark, Jonas, Olausson, Martin
• Application Number:
  US14/398,815
• Publication Number:
  US 20150116498A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/159
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A method, video control arrangement and a computer program product are provided for determining objects present in a process control system. The video control arrangement includes an object determining unit configured to order a group of video cameras, including at least one video camera, to repeatedly scan an area in order to obtain a set of video streams, determine if there are any new objects associated with the process control system in the area through detecting object identifiers of objects in the video streams, determine if a detected new object is stationary or mobile, report the detected object to a process control server and register stationary objects as process control objects.

Claims

1. A method of determining objects present in a process control system, the method being performed by a video control arrangement and comprising the steps of:

repeatedly scanning an area, via a group of video cameras comprising at least one video camera, in order to obtain a set of video streams;

determining if there are any new objects associated with the process control system in the area through detecting object identifiers of objects in the video streams;

determining if a detected new object is stationary or mobile;

reporting the detected object to a process control server; and

registering stationary objects as process control objects.

2. The method according to claim 1, where there is more than one video camera covering the area from different angles, the method further comprising receiving, from an operator, a selection of a combination of registered objects to be monitored and selecting a video camera that is closest to fulfilling the operator combination selection.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein if the new object is moving, by further comprising receiving, from an operator, a selection to follow the moving object and following, using video cameras of the video control arrangement, the object as it moves in the area.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising determining if the moving object is in a restricted area and generating an alarm if it is.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein an object identifier is provided as an optically readable code.

14. The method according to claim 2, wherein if the new object is moving, by further comprising receiving, from an operator, a selection to follow the moving object and following, using video cameras of the video control arrangement, the object as it moves in the area.

6. A video control arrangement for determining objects present in a process control system, the video control arrangement comprising:

an object determining unit configured to;

order a group of video cameras, comprising at least one video camera, to repeatedly scan an area in order to obtain a set of video streams;

determine if there are any new objects associated with the process control system in the area through detecting object identifiers of objects in the video streams;

determine if a detected new object is stationary or mobile;

report the detected object to a process control server; and

register stationary objects as process control objects.

7. The video control arrangement according to claim 6, where the video cameras cover the area from different angles and the arrangement further comprises a view determining unit configured to receive, from an operator, a selection of a combination of registered objects to be monitored and select a video camera that is closest to fulfilling the operator combination selection.

8. The video control arrangement according to claim 6, wherein if the new object is moving and if the object determining unit receives an operator selection to follow the moving object it is further configured to order the video cameras in the group to follow the object as it moves in the area.

9. The video control arrangement according to claim 6, wherein the object determining unit is further configured to determine if the moving object is in a restricted area and generate an alarm if it is.

10. The video control arrangement according to claim 6, further comprising the group of video cameras.

11. The video control arrangement according to claim 6, wherein said object determining unit is provided in a video control server of the process control system.

12. The video control arrangement according to claim 6, wherein said object determining unit is provided in at least one of the video cameras.

15. The video control arrangement according to claim 7, wherein if the new object is moving and if the object determining unit receives an operator selection to follow the moving object it is further configured to order the video cameras in the group to follow the object as it moves in the area.

16. The video control arrangement according to claim 7, wherein the object determining unit is further configured to determine if the moving object is in a restricted area and generate an alarm if it is.

17. The video control arrangement according to claim 8, wherein the object determining unit is further configured to determine if the moving object is in a restricted area and generate an alarm if it is.

18. The video control arrangement according to claim 7, further comprising the group of video cameras.

19. The video control arrangement according to claim 8, further comprising the group of video cameras.

20. The video control arrangement according to claim 9, further comprising the group of video cameras.

13. A computer program product for determining objects present in a process control system, said computer program product being provided on a data carrier comprising computer program code configured to cause a video control arrangement to, when said computer program code is loaded into at least one device providing the video control arrangement:

order a group of video cameras, comprising at least one video camera, to repeatedly scan an area in order to obtain a set of video streams;

determine if there are any new objects associated with the process control system in the area through detecting object identifiers of objects in the video streams;

determine if a detected new object is stationary or mobile;

report the detected object to a process control server; and

register stationary objects as process control objects.