Panoptic visualization of elements of a complex system using a model viewer

• US 9,858,245 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2013
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Floyd, Joseph F, Miller, Stephen P, Hadley, Brent L, Eames, Patrick J, Hadley, Kyle M
• Primary Examiner(s): Padmanabhan, Kavita
• Assistant Examiner(s): Garmon, Brian
• Application Number:
  US13/751,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20140215317A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,800 Days
• Field of Search: 715202, 715243
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking

Abstract

A system is provided that includes a model viewer configured to receive selection of a point on a visual presentation of a digital 3D model of a complex system, and translate the point to a location within a coordinate system of the complex system. A search engine configured to identify a document component that depicts an element of the complex system at or within a volume about the location. The document component is from a collection for which at least some components depict elements of the complex system and have associated metadata that includes information reflecting the 3D geometry of at least some depicted elements. A layout engine configured to generate a layout of panoptically-arranged document components including the identified document component and other document component(s) identified according to the associated metadata for the identified document component, which further includes information identifying a link between the respective document components.

Claims

1. An apparatus for implementation of a system for panoptic visualization of one or more elements of a complex system, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory storing executable instructions that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the apparatus to implement at least:

a model viewer configured to receive user-selection of a particular point on a visual presentation of a digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a complex system, and translate the particular point to a particular location within a coordinate system of the complex system;

a search engine coupled to the model viewer and configured to identify a document component of a panoptic visualization document collection having a plurality of document components, each document component of at least some of the document components including respective media content depicting an element of the complex system, and having associated metadata providing structured information reflecting a 3D geometry of the element within a coordinate system of the complex system, the respective media content of the identified document component depicting an element of the complex system at the particular location or within a volume about or at least in part defined by the particular location; and

a layout engine coupled to the search engine and configured to generate a layout of panoptically-arranged visual representations of document components including the identified document component and one or more other document components identified according to the associated metadata for the identified document component, which further includes structured information identifying a link between the identified document component and one or more other document components that establishes a logical relationship between the respective media content thereof,

wherein the layout is a two-dimensional layout in which the logical relationship is expressed by a difference in size, location or depth of at least some of the visual representations relative to others of the visual representations, and wherein the visual representations of the document components in the layout are images of the document components including the respective media content thereof,

wherein for each document component of the identified document component and the one or more other document components, the associated metadata further includes structured information specifying one or more of a size, location or depth of the document component in the layout, and the layout engine is configured to generate the layout according thereto.

2. An apparatus for implementation of a system for panoptic visualization of one or more elements of a complex system, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory storing executable instructions that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the apparatus to implement at least:

a model viewer configured to receive user-selection of a particular point on a visual presentation of a digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a complex system, and translate the particular point to a particular location within a coordinate system of the complex system;

a search engine coupled to the model viewer and configured to identify a document component of a panoptic visualization document collection having a plurality of document components, each document component of at least some of the document components including respective media content depicting an element of the complex system, and having associated metadata providing structured information reflecting a 3D geometry of the element within a coordinate system of the complex system, the respective media content of the identified document component depicting an element of the complex system at the particular location or within a volume about or at least in part defined by the particular location; and

a layout engine coupled to the search engine and configured to generate a layout of panoptically-arranged visual representations of document components including the identified document component and one or more other document components identified according to the associated metadata for the identified document component, which further includes structured information identifying a link between the identified document component and one or more other document components that establishes a logical relationship between the respective media content thereof,

wherein the layout is a two-dimensional layout in which the logical relationship is expressed by a difference in size, location or depth of at least some of the visual representations relative to others of the visual representations, and wherein the visual representations of the document components in the layout are images of the document components including the respective media content thereof,

wherein the respective media content of at least one of the document components of the layout depicts an element of the complex system and has associated metadata that includes structured information reflecting the 3D geometry of the respective depicted element within the coordinate system of the complex system, and wherein the respective media content of at least one other of the document components of the layout depicts an element of the complex system and has associated metadata absent information reflecting the 3D geometry of the respective depicted element within the coordinate system of the complex system.

3. A method comprising:

receiving user-selection of a particular point on a visual presentation of a digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a complex system, and translating the particular point to a particular location within a coordinate system of the complex system;

identifying a document component of a panoptic visualization document collection having a plurality of document components, each document component of at least some of the document components including respective media content depicting an element of the complex system, and having associated metadata providing structured information reflecting a 3D geometry of the element within a coordinate system of the complex system, the respective media content of the identified document component depicting an element of the complex system at the particular location or within a volume about or at least in part defined by the particular location; and

generating a layout of panoptically-arranged visual representations of document components including the identified document component and one or more other document components identified according to the associated metadata for the identified document component, which further includes structured information identifying a link between the identified document component and one or more other document components that establishes a logical relationship between the respective media content thereof,

wherein the layout is a two-dimensional layout in which the logical relationship is expressed by a difference in size, location or depth of at least some of the visual representations relative to others of the visual representations, and wherein the visual representations of the document components in the layout are images of the document components including the respective media content thereof,

wherein for each document component of the identified document component and the one or more other document components, the associated metadata further includes structured information specifying one or more of a size, location or depth of the document component in the layout, and the layout is generated according thereto.

4. A method comprising:

receiving user-selection of a particular point on a visual presentation of a digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a complex system, and translating the particular point to a particular location within a coordinate system of the complex system;

identifying a document component of a panoptic visualization document collection having a plurality of document components, each document component of at least some of the document components including respective media content depicting an element of the complex system, and having associated metadata providing structured information reflecting a 3D geometry of the element within a coordinate system of the complex system, the respective media content of the identified document component depicting an element of the complex system at the particular location or within a volume about or at least in part defined by the particular location; and

generating a layout of panoptically-arranged visual representations of document components including the identified document component and one or more other document components identified according to the associated metadata for the identified document component, which further includes structured information identifying a link between the identified document component and one or more other document components that establishes a logical relationship between the respective media content thereof,

wherein the layout is a two-dimensional layout in which the logical relationship is expressed by a difference in size, location or depth of at least some of the visual representations relative to others of the visual representations, and wherein the visual representations of the document components in the layout are images of the document components including the respective media content thereof,

wherein the respective media content of at least one of the document components of the layout depicts an element of the complex system and has associated metadata that includes structured information reflecting the 3D geometry of the respective depicted element within the coordinate system of the complex system, and

wherein the respective media content of at least one other of the document components of the layout depicts an element of the complex system and has associated metadata absent information reflecting the 3D geometry of the respective depicted element within the coordinate system of the complex system.

5. A computer-readable storage medium that is non-transitory and has computer-readable program code portions stored therein that, in response to execution by a processor, cause an apparatus to at least:

receive user-selection of a particular point on a visual presentation of a digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a complex system, and translate the particular point to a particular location within a coordinate system of the complex system;

identify a document component of a panoptic visualization document collection having a plurality of document components, each document component of at least some of the document components including respective media content depicting an element of the complex system, and having associated metadata providing structured information reflecting a 3D geometry of the element within a coordinate system of the complex system, the respective media content of the identified document component depicting an element of the complex system at the particular location or within a volume about or at least in part defined by the particular location; and

generate a layout of panoptically-arranged visual representations of document components including the identified document component and one or more other document components identified according to the associated metadata for the identified document component, which further includes structured information identifying a link between the identified document component and one or more other document components that establishes a logical relationship between the respective media content thereof,

wherein the layout is a two-dimensional layout in which the logical relationship is expressed by a difference in size, location or depth of at least some of the visual representations relative to others of the visual representations, and wherein the visual representations of the document components in the layout are images of the document components including the respective media content thereof,

wherein for each document component of the identified document component and the one or more other document components, the associated metadata further includes structured information specifying one or more of a size, location or depth of the document component in the layout, and the layout is generated according thereto.

6. A computer-readable storage medium that is non-transitory and has computer-readable program code portions stored therein that, in response to execution by a processor, cause an apparatus to at least:

receive user-selection of a particular point on a visual presentation of a digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a complex system, and translate the particular point to a particular location within a coordinate system of the complex system;

identify a document component of a panoptic visualization document collection having a plurality of document components, each document component of at least some of the document components including respective media content depicting an element of the complex system, and having associated metadata providing structured information reflecting a 3D geometry of the element within a coordinate system of the complex system, the respective media content of the identified document component depicting an element of the complex system at the particular location or within a volume about or at least in part defined by the particular location; and

generate a layout of panoptically-arranged visual representations of document components including the identified document component and one or more other document components identified according to the associated metadata for the identified document component, which further includes structured information identifying a link between the identified document component and one or more other document components that establishes a logical relationship between the respective media content thereof,

wherein the layout is a two-dimensional layout in which the logical relationship is expressed by a difference in size, location or depth of at least some of the visual representations relative to others of the visual representations, and wherein the visual representations of the document components in the layout are images of the document components including the respective media content thereof,

wherein the respective media content of at least one of the document components of the layout depicts an element of the complex system and has associated metadata that includes structured information reflecting the 3D geometry of the respective depicted element within the coordinate system of the complex system, and

wherein the respective media content of at least one other of the document components of the layout depicts an element of the complex system and has associated metadata absent information reflecting the 3D geometry of the respective depicted element within the coordinate system of the complex system.