Recording and processing safety relevant observations for facilities

• US 9,445,236 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2014
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Energy Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Aleksy, Markus, Stieger, Bernd, Rissanen, Mikko
• Primary Examiner(s): Rampuria, Sharad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Madani, Farideh
• Application Number:
  US14/281,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20140342758A1
• Time in Patent Office: 848 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/00 Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism healthcare informatics G16H
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

A mobile device has a location sensor and a data sensor for collecting data that relates to technical equipment. An area component determines that the mobile device is located in an event area with the potential of occurrence of events in categories. A detection component processes data from the data sensor that is indicative of events. The detection component is active if the mobile device is located in the event area. A recorder component records data from the data sensor in combination with the geographic location of the mobile device. The recorder component is active if a particular event that falls into at least one of the categories has been detected.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for recording a data set that relates to safety and security observations of technical equipment that is part of a facility, the method being implemented with a mobile device that includes a location sensor and a data sensor, the method comprising:

determining, in at least one hardware processor of the mobile device, that the mobile device is located in an event area being a geographic area of the facility inside which events originate from the technical equipment in event categories, wherein the event categories relate to one or more of;

an emission of gas above a threshold, an absence of a particular piece of equipment, or an emission of sound within a given frequency range or in repetitions with time intervals of a predefined duration;

activating, in the at least one processor, a detection component in the mobile device, the detection component being configured to process data from the data sensor to detect at least one event that falls into at least one of in the event categories, wherein an event is indicative of a risk or non-compliance with a rule; and

upon detecting the at least one event that falls into at least one of the event categories, providing to a second processor, a data set with data from the data sensor of the mobile device in combination with a geographic location of the mobile device from the location sensor for recording of the data set, wherein the providing of the data set depends on a proximity range of the mobile device so that if the mobile device and the technical equipment are positioned in relation to each other outside the proximity range the recording is avoided, with the proximity range being a function of the event category for which the detection component is activated, or being determined by data resolution in combination with a distance from the data sensor to the technical equipment or by a signal-to-noise ratio of the data sensor.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

communicating the data set to a central computer.

3. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

transporting the mobile device to the event area by a user.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the method is executed while the mobile device is at least one of connected to clothing of the user, and connected to the head of the user.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the providing of the data set depends on a proximity range of the mobile device.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the proximity range is determined by a data resolution of the data sensor in combination with a distance to the technical equipment.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the proximity range is a function of the event category for which the detection component is activated.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the proximity range is a function of the event category for which the detection component is activated.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein the communicating of the data set to the central computer is performed by buffering the data until a connection to the central computer becomes available.

10. The method according claim 2, comprising:

processing further data sets by the central computer to identify trends.

11. The method according to claim 2, comprising:

transporting the mobile device to the event area by a user.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the method is executed while the mobile device is at least one of connected to clothing of the user, and connected to the head of the user.

13. The method according to claim 2, wherein the providing of the data set depends on a proximity range of the mobile device.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the proximity range is determined by a data resolution of the data sensor in combination with a distance to the technical equipment.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the proximity range is a function of the event category for which the detection component is activated.

16. A mobile device comprising:

a location sensor and a data sensor for collecting data that relates to technical equipment that is part of a facility;

an area component configured to determine that the mobile device is located in an event area with a potential of occurrence of events in event categories, wherein the event area is a geographic area within the facility inside which the events originate from the technical equipment, wherein the event categories relate to one or more of;

an emission of gas above a threshold, an absence of a particular piece of equipment, or an emission of sound within a given frequency range or in repetitions with time intervals of a predefined duration;

a detection component configured to process data from the data sensor that is indicative of at least one event that falls into at least one of the event categories, the detection component being active if the mobile device is located in the event area, wherein an event is indicative of a risk or non-compliance with a rule; and

a recorder component configured to record data from the data sensor of the mobile device in combination with a geographic location of the mobile device, the recorder component being active if at least one event that falls into at least one of the event categories has been detected, wherein data is recorded based on a proximity range of the mobile device so that if the mobile device and the technical equipment are positioned in relation to each other outside the proximity range the recording is avoided, with the proximity range being a function of the at least one event category for which the detection component is activated, or being determined by data resolution in combination with a distance from the data sensor to the technical equipment or by a signal-to-noise ratio of the data sensor.

17. The mobile device according to claim 16, wherein the location sensor is configured to utilize at least one of a satellite positioning system, a triangulation method, and a network node proximity approach.

18. The mobile device according to claim 16, wherein the data sensor is implemented as an on-board data collector selected from the group of:

acoustic sensor, chemical sensor, visual sensor, vibration sensor, user interface element.

19. The mobile device according to claim 16, wherein

the data sensor is implemented as a directional sensor.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon that causes at least one processor of a mobile device to implement a method for collecting a data set that relates to safety and security of technical equipment, the mobile device including a location sensor and a data sensor, the method comprising:

determining that the mobile device is located in an event area being a geographic area of the facility inside which events originate from the technical equipment in event categories, wherein the event categories relate to one or more of;

an emission of gas above a threshold, an absence of a particular piece of equipment, or an emission of sound within a given frequency range or in repetitions with time intervals of a predefined duration;

activating a detection component in the mobile device, the detection component being configured to process data from the data sensor to detect at least one event that falls into at least one of the event categories, wherein an event is indicative of a risk or non-compliance with a rule; and

upon detecting the at least one event that falls into at least one of the event categories, providing a data set to a second processor with data from the data sensor of the mobile device in combination with the geographic location of the mobile device from the location sensor for recording of the data set, wherein the providing of the data set depends on a proximity range of the mobile device so that if the mobile device and the technical equipment are positioned in relation to each other outside the proximity range the recording is avoided, with the proximity range being a function of the event category for which the detection component is activated, or being determined by data resolution in combination with a distance from the data sensor to the technical equipment or by a signal-to-noise ratio of the data sensor.