Three-dimensional immersive system for representing an automation control environment

• US 7,817,150 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reichard, Douglas J., Dorgelo, Eric G., Gordon, Kevin G., Virji, Shafin A., Bromley, Clifton H., Semkow, Marc D.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHU K
• Application Number:
  US11/240,253
• Publication Number:
  US 20070075995A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,845 Days
• Field of Search: 345/419, 345/420, 715/700, 715/705, 715/708, 715/709, 715/711, 715/716, 715/762, 715/771, 715/848, 715/849, 703/1, 703/21
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/20 Perspective computation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

A computer-implemented system for representing a production environment comprises a modeling module that creates a three-dimensional model of at least a portion of a production environment. The system also includes a view module that renders a graphical depiction of at least a portion of the three-dimensional model from a reference point that is based at least in part upon a location. Methods of using the system are also provided.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for representing a factory production environment, comprising:

a processor;

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein computer-executable instructions to implement the system, including;

an environmental model that represents a factory, the factory comprises a plurality manufacturing lines, the environmental model comprises a plurality of cells that define a plurality of portions of the factory;

a view module that receives a selection of a reference point corresponding to a point in the factory and defines a field of view based upon the reference point, wherein the field of view includes less than all of the environmental model;

a context module that filters the environmental model based at least in part on a context, wherein the context is at least one of (1) a description of at least one task, (2) a description of at least one operation performed by a user when participating in at least one production process, or (3) a description of at least one machine used by the user when participating in the at least one production process; and

a three dimensional rendering component that creates a three-dimensional graphical view of a portion of the objects in the factory represented by the environmental model based at least in part upon the field of view and the context.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the field of view is based at least in part upon at least one of the plurality of cells.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional rendering component animates a graphical representation of at least one of the portion of objects based at least in part upon the context.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of objects comprise machines in at least one of an actual manufacturing environment or a proposed manufacturing environment.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional graphical view is associated with metadata that relates to at least one of a user role in a production environment, a time, operational data of a piece of equipment, or a configuration of a piece of equipment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of objects comprise at least one control of a piece of production equipment.

7. A computer-implemented method for three-dimensional rendering of a factory production environment, comprising:

a processor-implemented act of executing computer executable instructions stored on a computer readable storage medium to implement the following;

accessing an environmental model of portion of a factory production the factory comprises a plurality of production lines;

calculating a field of view of the environmental model, comprising selecting a reference point corresponding to a location in the production environment and determining the field of view of the environmental model based at least in part upon the reference point;

creating a filtered model by filtering at least one object of the plurality of objects of the environmental model within the field of view based at least in part upon context information, wherein the context information is at least one of (1) a description of at least one task, (2) a description of at least one operation performed by a user when participating in at least one production process, or (3) a description of at least one machine used by the user when participating in the at least one production process; and

rendering a three-dimensional graphical depiction of filtered model.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the filtering further comprises filtering the at least one object of the plurality of objects of the environmental model within the field of view based at least in part upon whether the at least one object is included in a user context.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising splitting the environmental model into a plurality of cells and adjusting the field of view based upon the plurality of cells.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising animating the three-dimensional graphical depiction of at least one object of the filtered model based at least in part upon the context.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the rendering further comprises displaying metadata from the filtered model relating to at least one of a user role in the production environment, time, operational data of a piece of equipment, or configuration of a piece of equipment.

12. A method for creating a three-dimensional rendering of a factory, comprising:

employing a processor executing computer executable instructions stored on a computer readable storage medium to implement the following acts;

accessing a model of the factory, wherein the model of the factory includes a plurality of production lines;

dividing the model of the factory into a plurality of cells;

calculating a field of view based upon a reference point in the model of the factory corresponding to a location in the factory;

determining at least one cell of the plurality of cells that is at least partially inside the field of view;

loading into memory the at least one cell;

rendering a plurality of objects in the at least one cell based at least in part upon a context and creating a rendered model, wherein the context is at least one of (1) a description of at least one task, (2) a description of at least one operation performed by a user when participating in at least one production process, or (3) a description of at least one machine used by the user when participating in the at least one production process; and

displaying the rendered model on a three-dimensional graphical user interface.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the rendering further comprises rendering the objects in the at least one cell based at least in part upon at least one of:

a position, a security level, or a time of day.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the calculating further comprises obtaining the reference point.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the calculating further comprises determining an orientation of the field of view based at least in part upon the reference point.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining further comprises establishing a generally triangular field of view.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the establishing further comprises setting the reference point as a vertex of the generally triangular field of view and creating two legs of the generally triangular field of view by extending two rays from the reference point.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising obtaining a measure of an angle formed by the two rays and determining a length of the two rays.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining an area of the generally triangular field of view.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising overlaying the generally triangular field of view over the model of the factory.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising animating at least one object of the plurality of objects in the rendered model based at least in part upon the context.