Computer implemented method to display technical data for monitoring an industrial installation

• US 8,786,399 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2008
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Skourup, Charlotte, Hall, Nicolas-Alexander, Breen, Siri
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barakat, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US12/594,053
• Publication Number:
  US 20100207719A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,308 Days
• Field of Search: 340/3.7, 353/7, 359/1, 359/9, 369/103, 348/40
• US Class Current: 340/3.7
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0267 Fault communication, e.g. human machine interface [HMI]

Abstract

A computer implemented method to display an industrial installation, which display may also display information about an event or an alarm in the installation. The method includes displaying an image which appears to the viewer to be a three dimensional holographic image including a view of the industrial installation. The image may also include one or more points in three dimensional space and which point or points are each mapped to a corresponding point or position in the industrial installation. A pointing device for actively indicating position on the image reflecting objects or positions in the installation is also described.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method to generate a display of an industrial installation including information about an event or an alarm, the method comprising:

displaying on at least one display device a holographic image comprising a view of said industrial installation, wherein the view comprises at least one point in three dimensional space;

mapping the at least one point to a corresponding point or position in said industrial installation;

placing by a user a pointer object near to one of the at least one point in the holographic image;

detecting a change in a transmission, reflection, refraction or scattering of at least one ray of light making up the holographic image; and

mapping the changed or disrupted at least one ray of light to at least one point in three dimensional space and subsequently to at least one point in three dimensional space in a computer implemented three dimensional model of said industrial installation.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating an enlarged view of a first part of the holographic image containing the process section or part thereof associated with the at least one point that has been selected.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating an enlarged view of a second part of the holographic image which is a view adjacent to or overlapping the view of the process section or part thereof.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating a display comprising information about a selected equipment, process or operator.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

rotating the holographic image about a vertical axis and providing a view of other parts of the holographic image.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

rotating the holographic image about a non-vertical axis and providing a view of other parts of the holographic image.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a change or disruption of the at least one ray of light making up the holographic image; and

identifying the one of the at least one point in three dimensional space that has been selected.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at least one point in three dimensional space that represents the event or the alarm in said industrial installation.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

selecting at least one of the at least one point in three dimensional space representing the event or the alarm; and

generating a display of information about the event or alarm in said industrial installation.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

mapping the one of the at least one point that has been identified to at least one personnel located at an equipment, process section or part thereof in said industrial installation; and

generating a display of information on the holographic image showing a location of each of personnel on a platform.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method carries out any from the group of:

providing an overview of a status of the installation, checking a status of an industrial device, checking a process variable.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method carries out any from the list of:

checking a status of an industrial device, tuning a process, checking a process variable, checking the event or the alarm, checking a status of an oil platform.

22. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

mapping the one of the at least one point that has been identified to an equipment, process section or part thereof in said industrial installation.

23. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

mapping the one of the at least one point that has been identified to at least one personnel located at an equipment, process section or part thereof in said industrial installation.

24. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

generating, on a display device that is separate from the at least one display device displaying the holographic image, a display comprising a graphic user interface navigation element.

11. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

software code elements recorded on the non-transitory computer readable medium which when read into a computer or processor will cause the computer or processor to carry out a method to retrieve and display technical data for an industrial device using a computer program for control, the method comprising displaying on at least one display device a holographic image comprising a view of said industrial installation, wherein the view comprises at least one point in three dimensional space, mapping the at least one point to a corresponding point or position in said industrial installation, placing by a user a pointer object near to one of the at least one point in the holographic image, detecting a change in a transmission, reflection, refraction or scattering of at least one ray of light making up the holographic image, and mapping the changed or disrupted at least one ray of light to at least one point in three dimensional space and subsequently to at least one point in three dimensional space in a computer implemented three dimensional model of said industrial installation.

12. A control system for an industrial installation, the control system comprising:

a computer program to generate a display of an industrial installation including information about an event or an alarm, and

a computer configured to generate on at least one display device a display of a holographic image comprising a view of said industrial installation, said view comprising at least one point in three dimensional space, wherein the at least one point is mapped to a corresponding point or position in said industrial installation, wherein when a user places a pointer object near to one of the at least one point in the holographic image, at least one point is mapped to a detected change in a transmission, reflection, refraction or scattering of at least one ray of light making up the holographic image and subsequently to at least one point in three dimensional space in a computer implemented three dimensional model of said industrial installation.

13. The control system according to claim 12, further comprising:

a determining element configured to determine that a pointer object has been placed by a user near to the one of the at least one point in the holographic image; and

an identification element configured to identify the at least one point that has been selected by the user.

14. The control system according to claim 12, further comprising:

an optical register configured to determine whether a pointer object has been placed near to the at least one of the at least one point in the holographic image; and

an identification element configured to identify the at least one of the at least one point which has been selected.

15. The control system according to claim 12, further comprising:

a computer program configured to map the at least one of the at least one point which has been identified to at least one equipment, process section or part thereof in said industrial installation or to at least one personnel located at an equipment, process section or part thereof in said industrial installation.

16. The control system according to claim 12, further comprising:

a computer-implemented 3-D model of said industrial installation.

17. The control system according to claim 12, further comprising:

a link to at least one of the control system for said industrial installation or at least one database storing data for said industrial installation.

18. The system according to claim 12, further comprising:

a computer program stored in a memory device or on a non-transitory computer readable medium which when read into a computer or processor will cause the computer or processor to carry out one or more instructions for a method to retrieve and display technical data for an industrial device, the method comprising displaying on at least one display device a holographic image comprising a view of said industrial installation, wherein the view comprises at least one point in three dimensional space, mapping the at least one point to a corresponding point or position in said industrial installation, placing by a user a pointer object near to one of the at least one point in the holographic image, detecting a change in a transmission, reflection, refraction or scattering of at least one ray of light making up the holographic image, and mapping the changed or disrupted at least one ray of light to at least one point in three dimensional space and subsequently to at least one point in three dimensional space in a computer implemented three dimensional model of said industrial installation.

19. A holographic user interface for providing a display of an industrial installation, or part thereof, including information about an event or an alarm, wherein a view of said industrial installation comprises displayed on at least one display device a holographic image, wherein the view comprises at least one point in three dimensional space, wherein the at least one point is each mapped to a corresponding point or position in said industrial installation, wherein a pointer object is placed by a user near to at least point in the holographic image, wherein at least one detected change in a transmission, reflection, refraction or scattering of at least one ray of light making up the holographic image is mapped to at least one point in three dimensional space and subsequently to at least one point in three dimensional space in a computer implemented three dimensional model of said industrial installation.