Systems and methods for virtual control of a non-destructive testing system

• US 9,152,304 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2012
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baker Hughes Holdings LLC (Baker Hughes Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Schiefer, Eugene, Reeder, Michael Stanton Jr., Coombs, Kevin Andrew, Venugopal, Rajeshkumar
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, NICHOLAS J
• Application Number:
  US13/732,261
• Publication Number:
  US 20140184524A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,009 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

A non-transitory computer readable medium may comprise instructions configured to display a virtual joystick, a virtual control pad, or a combination thereof and to derive control data based on a manipulation of the virtual joystick, the virtual control pad, or the combination thereof. The instructions may be further configured to communicate the control data to control a component of a non-destructive testing (NDT) device.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions configured to:

display a virtual joystick, a virtual control pad, or a combination thereof, on a screen of a portable computing device;

derive control data based on a manipulation of the virtual joystick, the virtual control pad, or the combination thereof;

communicate the control data to control a component of a handheld non-destructive testing (NDT) device, wherein the instructions are configured to operate while the handheld NDT device is being held by a human operator;

display a second virtual joystick on a computing device disposed at a cloud computing site geographically distant from a location of the handheld NDT device;

derive a second control data based on a manipulation of the second virtual joystick; and

communicate the second control data via a data network to control the component of the handheld NDT device, wherein the data network comprises at least one wireless segment.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions configured to communicate the control data to control the handheld NDT device comprise instructions configured to:

receive the control data by using a wireless system included in the handheld NDT device; and

derive a control action to control the component.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the handheld NDT device comprises a borescope and wherein the instructions configured to control the component comprise instructions configured to control a movement of the articulating section of the borescope to position a tip of the borescope.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 3, comprising instructions configured to display a tip map, wherein the tip map is configured to visualize the position of the tip.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions configured to control the component comprise instructions configured to rotate a transportable pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera about an axis, to tilt the PTZ camera with respect to the axis, and to optically zoom the PTZ camera.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions configured to change a responsiveness to the manipulation of the virtual joystick, the virtual control pad, or the combination thereof.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions configured to display the virtual joystick, the virtual control pad, or the combination thereof, comprise instructions configured to display a translucent virtual joystick, a translucent virtual control pad, or the combination thereof.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions configured to hide the virtual joystick, the virtual control pad, or the combination thereof, and to derive the control data based on using a touchscreen gesture.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions to display the virtual joystick, the virtual control pad, or the combination thereof, at a second size, to position the virtual joystick, the virtual control pad, or the combination thereof, at a second screen position, or a combination thereof.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions to display the virtual joystick, the virtual control pad, or the combination thereof, at an orientation with respect to a XY plane, and XZ plane, a YZ plane, or a combination thereof.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions configured to:

display a third virtual joystick on a computing device;

derive a third control data based on a manipulation of the third virtual joystick; and

communicate the third control data via the data network to control the component of the handheld NDT device.

11. A system comprising:

a handheld non-destructive testing (NDT) device comprising a borescope, the borescope comprising;

a first housing;

a touchscreen disposed on the first housing,

and a processor configured to;

display an image or a video based on a signal transmitted from a sensor disposed on a borescope end of the borescope, on the touchscreen;

derive a control data based on a manipulation of the touchscreen, a manipulation of a physical directional input device disposed on a second housing included in a second NDT device, or a combination thereof; and

communicate the control data to control a component of the handheld non-destructive testing (NDT) device to move the borescope end.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to derive the control data based on a manipulation of a virtual joystick, a virtual control pad, or the combination thereof, displayed on the touchscreen.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to derive the control data based on a touchscreen gesture.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the touchscreen gesture comprises a single digit gesture, a pinch-to-zoom gesture, a rotational gesture, a multi-digit gesture, a tapping gesture, or a combination thereof, using a finger or a stylus.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to display a file system included in the borescope on the touchscreen and to control the file system.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to display a region of interest on the touchscreen based on the image or the video and to perform a measurement on the region of interest via a measurement overlay displayed on the touchscreen.

22. The system of claim 11, wherein the physical directional input device comprises a physical joystick.

17. A method comprising:

displaying a first virtual joystick, a first virtual control pad, or a combination thereof, on a first touchscreen of a handheld non-destructive testing (NDT) device;

displaying a second virtual joystick, a second virtual control pad, or a combination thereof, on a second touchscreen of a computing device;

deriving control data based on a manipulation of the first virtual joystick, the first virtual control pad, the second virtual joystick, the second virtual control pad, or the combination thereof; and

communicating the control data to control a component of the handheld non-destructive testing (NDT) device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein communicating the control data to control the handheld NDT device comprises communicating the control data by using a cloud computing system.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein communicating the control data to control the component comprises communicating a borescope control data configured to control an articulating section of a borescope to position a tip.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising displaying a tip map, wherein the tip map is configured to visualize the position of the tip.