Locator system for three-dimensional visualization

• US 9,292,180 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2013
• Issued: 03/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Gass, John Carney, Troy, James J., Ward, William E., Esposito, Christopher, Puterbaugh, Kevin, Prazak, Nikoli E., Nelson, Bruce L., McGarry, William D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Xiao, Ke
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, KIM THANH THI
• Application Number:
  US13/855,102
• Publication Number:
  US 20140298227A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• Field of Search: 345/619, 345/633
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/82 Elements for improving aerodynamics

Abstract

A method and apparatus for locating a part in an aircraft. A part is identified in the aircraft. A series of views is generated from a model of the aircraft with graphical indicators in the series of views configured to provide guidance to a position of the part in the aircraft. The series of views is displayed on a display device.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an object manager configured to

identify a part in an aircraft;

generate a series of views from a model of the aircraft with graphical indicators in the series of views configured to provide guidance to a position of the part in the aircraft;

display the series of views on a display device; and

display a view of a volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to a physical position and a physical orientation of the display device with a graphical indicator indicating a direction to the position of the part when the part is absent from the view displayed on the display device;

wherein a visualization data system creates the model as a visualization model from a computer-aided design model such that the visualization model includes only portions of the computer-aided design model needed to visualize the computer-aided design model;

wherein a format of the information in the visualization model is selected to increase a speed at which a portion of the aircraft is displayed on the display device;

wherein metadata used to enable editing of the computer-aided design model is removed from the visualization model; and

wherein the visualization model is stored in a data depot that is a storage system specific to a particular line for the aircraft.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in being configured to identify the part, the object manager is configured to identify the part from a part identifier for the part.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in being configured to identify the part, the object manager is configured to identify the part from coordinates for the part.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a view in the series of views provides a more detailed view of the part in the aircraft than a prior view in the series of views.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object manager is further configured to identify the physical position of the display device relative to the aircraft and display the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position of the display device relative to the aircraft.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein in being configured to identify the physical position of the display device relative to the aircraft and display the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position of the display device relative to the aircraft, the object manager is configured to identify the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device relative to the aircraft and display the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device relative to the aircraft.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein in being configured to display the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device to the aircraft, the object manager is configured to display the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device with a graphical indicator associated with the part when the part is in the view displayed on the display device.

22. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the graphical indicator indicating the direction to the position of the part when the part is absent from the view displayed on the display device is an arrow indicating a direction to turn to see the part;

wherein the part is a seat;

wherein a computer-aided design system generated the computer-aided design model that is stored in a product data management system;

wherein the computer-aided design model includes information used to edit, and analyze the computer-aided design model;

wherein the computer-aided design model contains information to enable features for accessing and manipulating the computer-aided design model;

wherein the visualization data system is of a server that creates the visualization model from the computer-aided design model stored on the product data management system;

wherein the visualization model has less data than the computer-aided design model with information unnecessary to generate graphical representations of the part not included in the visualization model;

wherein the visualization data system removes information not needed to visualize objects in the computer-aided design model;

wherein data in the computer-aided design model is in a format that increases ease at which the part is designed, rather than how quickly the graphical representations of the part are generated and displayed; and

wherein the series of views are generated from information in a data cache that is a copy of the visualization model stored on the data cache so that the display device never actually manipulates the visualization model.

8. An apparatus comprising:

an object manager configured to

identify a part in an object;

generate a series of views from a model of the object with graphical indicators in the series of views configured to provide guidance to a position of the part in the object;

display the series of views on a display device; and

display a view of a volume in the model of the object corresponding to a physical position and a physical orientation of the display device with a graphical indicator indicating a direction to the position of the part when the part is absent from the view displayed on the display device;

wherein a visualization data system creates the model as a visualization model from a computer-aided design model such that the visualization model includes only portions of the computer-aided design model needed to visualize the computer-aided design model;

wherein a format of the information in the visualization model is selected to increase a speed at which a portion of the object is displayed on the display device;

wherein metadata used to enable editing of the computer-aided design model is removed from the visualization model; and

wherein the visualization model is stored in a data depot that is a storage system specific to a particular line for the object.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the object manager is further configured to identify the physical position of the display device relative to the object and display the view of the volume in the model of the object corresponding to the physical position of the display device relative to the object.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein in being configured to identify the physical position of the display device relative to the object and display the view of the volume in the model of the object corresponding to the physical position of the display device relative to the object, the object manager is configured to identify the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device relative to the object and display the view of the volume in the model of the object corresponding to the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device relative to the object.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein in being configured to display the view of the volume in the model of the object corresponding to the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device to the object, the object manager is configured to display the view of the volume in the model of the object corresponding to the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device with a graphical indicator associated with the part when the part is in the view displayed on the display device.

12. A method for locating a part in an aircraft, the method comprising:

identifying the part in the aircraft;

generating a series of views from a model of the aircraft with graphical indicators in the series of views configured to provide guidance to a position of the part in the aircraft;

displaying the series of views on a display device;

displaying a view of a volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to a physical position and a physical orientation of the display device with a graphical indicator indicating a direction to the position of the part when the part is absent from a view displayed on the display device; and

creating the model as a visualization model from a computer-aided design model such that the visualization model includes only portions of the computer-aided design model needed to visualize the computer-aided design model,

wherein a format of the information in the visualization model is selected to increase a speed at which a portion of the aircraft is displayed on the display device;

wherein metadata used to enable editing of the computer-aided design model is removed from the visualization model; and

wherein the visualization model is stored in a data depot that is a storage system specific to a particular line for the aircraft.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying the part comprises:

identifying the part from a part identifier for the part.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying the part comprises:

identifying the part from coordinates for the part.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein a view in the series of views provides a more detailed view of the part in the aircraft than a prior view in the series of views.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

identifying the physical position of the display device relative to the aircraft; and

displaying the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position of the display device relative to the aircraft.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of identifying the physical position of the display device relative to the aircraft comprises:

identifying the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device relative to the aircraft, wherein the step of displaying the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position of the display device relative to the aircraft comprises;

displaying the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device relative to the aircraft.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device to the aircraft comprises:

displaying the view of the volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to the physical position and the physical orientation of the display device with a graphical indicator associated with a display of the part when the part is in the view displayed on the display device.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the display device is selected from one of a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and a mobile phone.

20. An aircraft management system comprising:

a control system configured to control manufacturing of an aircraft; and

an object manager in the control system, wherein the object manager is configured to

identify a part in the aircraft;

generate a series of views from a model of the aircraft with graphical indicators in the series of views configured to provide guidance to a position of the part in the aircraft;

display the series of views on a display device; and

display a view of a volume in the model of the aircraft corresponding to a physical position and a physical orientation of the display device with a graphical indicator indicating a direction to the position of the part when the part is absent from the view displayed on the display device;

wherein a visualization system creates the model as a visualization model from a computer-aided design model such that the visualization model includes only portions of the computer-aided design model needed to visualize the computer-aided design model;

wherein a format of the information in the visualization model is selected to increase a speed at which a portion of the aircraft is displayed on the display device;

wherein metadata used to enable editing of the computer-aided design model is removed from the visualization model; and

wherein the visualization model is stored in a data depot that is a storage system specific to a particular line for the aircraft.

21. The aircraft management system of claim 20, wherein the aircraft management system is selected from at least one of a manufacturing system or an aircraft maintenance system.