Plant management system and control program

Abstract

To enable provision of desired analytical information while managing provision of analytical information.SOLUTION: A plant management system 1 is provided, comprising an acquisition unit 210 for acquiring data from sensors for detecting the status of equipment in a plant or factory, analysis units 220, 320 for analyzing the data acquired by the acquisition unit 210 to generate a plurality of types of analytical information, service provision units 230, 330 for providing analytical information according to contract information or in response to each request to each of a plurality of pre-registered provision destinations, and a contract management unit 340 configured to generate billing information according to a provision destination of analytical information, and the number of times the analytical information is provided or an amount of the provided analytical information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a plant management system and a control program. [Background technology]

[0002] In a plant or factory, a large number of sensors are installed, and the state of the equipment is monitored using sensor data (sensing data) from the sensors. For example, in Patent Document 1, in a gas plant, the state of equipment such as tanks, pipes, and valves in the plant is monitored for gas leakage using image data from an infrared camera. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2020 / 250461 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In plants or factory equipment, various analytical information can be obtained by centrally managing and analyzing sensor data from various sensors that detect the equipment's status, such as image data from cameras. A plant or factory may be managed not only by its owner (hereinafter referred to as the plant owner) but also by a management company entrusted with management by the plant owner. For example, in a gas plant, multiple management companies may manage the plant individually for each task, or jointly. In cases where multiple management companies manage a plant or factory like this, the analytical information obtained by analyzing sensor data is used by multiple users (the plant owner and multiple management companies) depending on the purpose, and therefore the provision of analytical information must be managed according to the purpose.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and has as its object to provide desired analytical information while managing the provision of analytical information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The above object of the present invention can be achieved by the following means.

[0007] (1) an acquisition unit that acquires data from sensors that detect the status of equipment in a plant or factory; an analysis unit that analyzes the data acquired by the acquisition unit and generates multiple types of analysis information; a service providing unit that provides the analysis information to each of a plurality of destinations registered in advance in accordance with contract information or in response to a request for each service; a contract management unit that generates billing information according to the destination of the analysis information, the number of times the analysis information is provided, or the amount of the analysis information provided.

[0008] (2) A plant management system as described in (1) above, wherein the sensor includes a gas monitoring camera that detects gas leaks from the equipment as the equipment status, and the data includes image data.

[0009] (3) The plant management system according to (1) or (2) above, wherein the service providing unit provides analysis information in response to a multi-tenant request for a cloud service.

[0010] (4) Step (a) of acquiring data from sensors that detect the status of equipment in a plant or factory; a step (b) of analyzing the data acquired in the step (a) and generating a plurality of types of analysis information; (c) providing the analysis information to each of a plurality of destinations registered in advance in accordance with contract information or in response to a request each time; and (d) generating billing information according to the recipient of the analysis information, the number of times the analysis information is provided, or the amount of analysis information provided.

[0011] (5) The control program according to (4) above, wherein the sensor includes a gas monitoring camera that detects gas leaks from the equipment as the equipment status, and the data includes image data.

[0012] (6) The control program according to (4) or (5) above, wherein in the step (c), analysis information is provided in response to a request from multiple tenants of a cloud service. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] The plant management device of the present invention includes an acquisition unit that acquires data from sensors that detect the status of equipment within a plant or factory; an analysis unit that analyzes the data acquired by the acquisition unit and generates multiple types of analytical information; a service provision unit that provides the analytical information to each of multiple pre-registered recipients in accordance with contract information or in response to each request; and a contract management unit that generates billing information in accordance with the recipients of the analytical information, the number of times the analytical information is provided, or the amount of analytical information provided.

[0014] This makes it possible to provide desired analysis information while managing the provision of analysis information. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a plant management system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] This is an example of application of the plant management system 1 installed in a gas plant. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an image of a piping facility captured by a visible light camera. [Figure 4]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an image of a gas leak captured by an infrared camera. [Figure 5] 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a route for providing analysis information in the plant management system 1. FIG. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart showing a process of providing analysis information. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicate explanations will be omitted. Furthermore, the dimensional proportions in the drawings are exaggerated for the convenience of explanation and may differ from the actual proportions.

[0017] Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a plant management system 1 according to this embodiment used in a plant or factory (hereinafter referred to as a plant, etc.). Fig. 2 shows an application example of the plant management system 1 installed in a gas plant.

[0018] The plant management system 1 is managed by a service provider. The plant management system 1 provides services related to the management of facilities such as plants. Specifically, the plant management system 1 acquires data from various sensors that detect the status of facilities such as plants, and analyzes the data to provide analysis information to the recipient. The recipient then manages the plant based on this analysis information.

[0019] In this embodiment, the term "recipient" refers to the user himself or a destination of data requested by a user in advance (a recipient in the narrow sense). Data may be sent to multiple destinations (recipients in the narrow sense) for one user. The "user" refers to the owner of a plant or the like (the plant owner (company x in Figure 5 described later)) and / or management companies commissioned by the owner (companies y1 to y4 in Figure 5 described later), and is also the manager of the plant or the like. Specifically, the owner may manage the plant alone or may contract one or more management companies to handle part or all of the management.

[0020] In the following, a case will be described in which a gas plant is managed by a plant owner (hereinafter also referred to as a customer) and multiple management companies (hereinafter also referred to as partners or partner companies), and a service provider company (also referred to as its own company) provides analytical information to both the plant owner and the management companies. Note that in this embodiment, analytical information includes first analytical information and second analytical information, as will be described later, but when referring to these collectively, they will simply be referred to as "analysis information."

[0021] (Plant Management System 1) The plant management system 1 is an on-premise server located on the premises of a plant or the like, and / or a cloud server using a commercial cloud service. In the following description, the plant management system 1 is assumed to be located across both a cloud server and an on-premise server (hereinafter referred to as an edge server). However, this is not limiting, and the plant management system 1 may be located only on an edge server or only on a cloud server (in which case, the control units 10a and 10b described below are configured as an integrated unit). The plant management system 1 includes a control unit 10, a storage unit 50, and a communication unit 60.

[0022] (Control unit 10) The control unit 10 includes a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc. The control unit 10 functions, either alone or in cooperation with the communication unit 60, as first and second acquisition units 210 and 310, first and second analysis units 220 and 320, first and second service provision units 230 and 330, and a contract management unit 340. In the example shown in FIG. 2 , a control unit 10a (also referred to as the first control unit 10a) operates on an edge server installed in a plant or the like, and a control unit 10b (also referred to as the second control unit 10b) operates on a cloud server. The first control unit 10a on the edge server functions as the first acquisition unit 210, the first analysis unit 220, and the first service provision unit 230, and the second control unit 10b on the cloud server functions as the second acquisition unit 310, the second analysis unit 320, the second service provision unit 330, and the contract management unit 340.

[0023] (First control unit 10a on the edge server) The first control unit 10a acquires sensor data from gas monitoring cameras and the like, processes the images, and provides users (customers, partner companies) with timely processed images (first analysis information) such as gas leak detection processed images and temperature images. Here, the timely processed images are information that requires real-time performance for use in facility management.

[0024] (1st acquisition part 210) The first acquisition unit 210 acquires data from sensors that detect the state of equipment in a plant or factory. In the example shown in Fig. 2, various sensors such as portable devices, explosion-proof pan-tilt cameras, edge AI cameras, and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) are installed at a site (site where equipment is installed) of a plant or the like.

[0025] The portable device is a portable sensor, for example, a sensor that detects the concentration of a gas, and outputs gas concentration data as sensor data.

[0026] A pan-tilt camera (also called a gas monitoring camera) is a visible light and infrared camera that captures tanks, pipes, valves, and other equipment within a plant, and outputs image data as sensor data. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an image of piping equipment P captured by a visible light camera of a pan-tilt camera, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an image of a gas leak G captured by an infrared camera of a pan-tilt camera. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, for example, the piping equipment P as the detection target is continuously captured by a pan-tilt camera (visible light camera and infrared camera). The image data as sensor data output by the visible light camera and infrared camera of the pan-tilt camera is sent to the first acquisition unit 210. In FIG. 4, the gas leak G is indicated by a solid line, and the piping equipment P is indicated by a dashed line. An additional image (temperature image) based on temperature data detected by an infrared camera or the like may be displayed around the gas leak G.

[0027] Gas leak G is a display of a gas detection image that indicates the presence or absence of gas for each pixel, generated using a known gas detection method. The gas detection method used is the method disclosed in International Publication No. 2017 / 073430. The device disclosed in this known document generates a gas detection image (also called a value-added image) using the following generation process.

[0028] (Gas detection image generation processing) First, a process is performed to remove second frequency component data, which has a lower frequency than first frequency component data indicating temperature changes due to leaked gas and indicates background temperature changes of the monitored object, from image data representing an infrared image. Here, the image data is video data structured with a plurality of frames arranged in chronological order, and the device defines time-series pixel data as data obtained by chronologically arranging pixel data for pixels located at the same position in the plurality of frames, and performs a process to remove the second frequency component data from each of the plurality of time-series pixel data constituting the video data. The device defines data extracted by performing a first predetermined process on the time-series pixel data as second frequency component data, and extracts a plurality of second frequency component data corresponding to each of the plurality of time-series pixel data. The device defines data obtained by calculating the difference between the time-series pixel data and the second frequency component data extracted from the time-series pixel data as first difference data, and calculates a plurality of first difference data corresponding to each of the plurality of time-series pixel data. The device calculates first variation data, which is data indicating the variation of the first difference data calculated by performing a predetermined calculation on the first difference data in units of a second predetermined number of frames, and calculates multiple first variation data corresponding to each of the multiple time-series pixel data. The first variation data is first variation data, and the device obtains the first variation data by calculating a moving standard deviation or moving variance of the first difference data in units of the second predetermined number of frames, which is less than the multiple frames. The device then detects the presence or absence of gas for each pixel by judging the first variation data using a given threshold. For example, the presence or absence of gas is expressed by brightness, with pixels indicating the presence of gas being white or colored pixels and pixels indicating the absence of gas being black pixels. In this manner, a gas detection image (gas leak G in Figure 4) is generated.

[0029] Edge AI cameras take images and perform image recognition processing using a trained model, identifying people and other moving objects themselves. The edge AI camera outputs sensor data such as image data and the type and likelihood of the identified moving object, as well as information on its location and direction of movement. LIDAR scans a laser in multiple directions in space and obtains the distance to the object from the delay time between emitting the laser and receiving it after being reflected by the object. LIDAR outputs 3D distance data as sensor data. Sensor data from edge AI cameras and / or LIDAR can be used to monitor intruders.

[0030] (1st analysis section 220) The first analysis unit 220 in the control unit 10a on the edge server processes image data acquired from a pan-tilt camera (also called a gas monitoring camera) to generate value-added images, such as gas leak detection processed images and temperature images, as first analysis information. The first analysis information is information that assists in increasing production volume, reducing defects, and improving maintenance efficiency. The first analysis information also includes information indicating the amount of gas leakage that manages the status of the equipment and the degree of deterioration of the piping (e.g., the degree of rust). The first analysis information of the first analysis unit 220 is transmitted to the second control unit 10b on the cloud server and used as source data for generating second analysis information, or provided to a destination in real time by the first service providing unit 230, as described below.

[0031] (First service providing unit 230) The first service providing unit 230 provides the first analysis information generated by the first analysis unit 220 to the recipient based on the contract information managed by the contract management unit 340. For example, in the example of Fig. 2, the first service providing unit 230 provides the first analysis information to a plant equipment management system (hereinafter referred to as a customer application or a customer management system) based on a first type of contract such as a basic contract. The management system controls the plant equipment in real time based on the first analysis information, monitors the status of the equipment, and monitors the intrusion of people into the vicinity of the equipment.

[0032] (Second control unit 10b on the cloud server) The second control unit 10b manages the details of the customer's contract by cooperating with the first control unit 10a running on the edge server. The second control unit 10b also provides an advanced analysis service and manages the services provided to the customer according to the details of the contract.

[0033] (Second acquisition part 310) The second acquisition unit 310 acquires sensor data from a partner app managed by a partner. This sensor data is sensor data from a sensor (legacy sensor) that detects temperature, pressure, etc. as the state of equipment such as a plant owned by a customer (e.g., an owner company of a plant), or sensor data from a sensor that detects the state of equipment such as a plant owned by the partner itself.

[0034] (Second analysis section 320) The second analysis unit 320 performs a different analysis from that performed by the locally deployed first analysis unit 220 and generates second analysis information. The first analysis information is lightweight analysis information that requires real-time processing and is generated on the edge server side. The first analysis information can be processed with limited resources (a processor with low computing power and a small amount of memory). On the other hand, the second analysis information is advanced analysis information that does not require real-time processing (non-real-time processing) but can be analyzed over time using abundant resources (a processor with high computing power and a large amount of memory for holding a large amount of data). Therefore, the second analysis information is processed by the control unit 10b on the cloud server rather than on the edge server side. Specifically, the memory unit 50 stores time-series first analysis information and time-series sensor data acquired by the second acquisition unit 310 on the cloud server over a predetermined period (long-term, for example, several days to several months). The second analysis unit 320 on the cloud server generates various types of second analysis information that analyze changes in the equipment status using the accumulated time-series first analysis information or the first analysis information and sensor data. The second analysis unit 320 can generate second analysis information using continuous data or thinned data from a portion of the time-series first analysis information. Alternatively, multiple types of first analysis information may be used to generate a single piece of second analysis information. This sensor data is acquired from each sensor by the first acquisition unit 210 or the second acquisition unit 310. The second analysis information may include comparison data that identifies changes from past data or advanced analysis data for predicting abnormalities based on comparisons. For example, the second analysis information may include the results of an analysis of the amount of gas leakage, generating advanced analysis data that indicates a gradual increase in the amount of gas leakage over the long term or a fluctuating increase in the amount of gas leakage over the long term. Managers do not continually view the same data. It is generally difficult to identify problems from cross-sectional data at a given time. While experienced managers may be able to understand the current situation regarding gas leakage based on past experience, it is difficult for inexperienced managers to grasp the situation.In response to this, by providing the long-term trend of the amount of gas leakage as the second analysis information, it is possible to determine whether or not actions such as maintenance or equipment renewal are required for the equipment.

[0035] Other examples of the second analysis information may include high-speed playback of long-term video (digest video), abnormality detection through differential analysis of surveillance video (infrared camera and visible light camera), or image interpretation based on image analysis.

[0036] (Second service providing unit 330) The second service providing unit 330 provides the advanced analysis data generated by the second analysis unit 320 to the recipient. The second service providing unit 330 provides the first analysis information generated by the first analysis unit 220 to the customer application based on the contract information managed by the contract management unit 340. For example, in the case of a first type contract such as a basic contract, the first analysis information is provided to the plant equipment management system (customer application).

[0037] The second service providing unit 330 provides the second analysis information, which is the advanced analysis result generated by the second analysis unit 320, to the recipient based on the contract information managed by the contract management unit 340. For example, in the example of FIG. 2, the second service providing unit 330 provides the second analysis result to the recipient, a partner or a customer (plant owner), in response to a request via a tenant app for the partner or the customer. This tenant app is also referred to as a multi-tenant system, and registered recipients (partners, customers) can select their desired service from various services (multiple types of second-type analysis information) made available to the tenant. The second service providing unit 330 provides the second analysis information at a timing (e.g., daily, weekly, etc.) according to the contract (a second-type contract, described below) or at a timing according to a request via the tenant app, etc. (a third-type contract, described below).

[0038] (Contract Management Department 340) The contract management unit 340 determines whether to permit (authorize) the provision of the first and second analytical information to the recipients based on the content of the contract with the user. Specifically, a pre-registered user (pre-registered recipient) is authenticated by an authentication unit implemented by the control unit 10 itself or an external authentication server. The contract management unit 340 then permits the successfully authenticated user to use or utilize the service according to the usage rights based on the content of the contract. For example, if the contract is a basic contract (type 1 contract), the contract management unit 340 permits the provision of the first analytical information generated by the first analysis unit 220 functioning in the control unit 10a on the edge server to the recipient. Furthermore, if the contract is an upgraded contract (type 2 contract), the contract management unit 340 permits the provision of the second analytical information generated by the second analysis unit 320 functioning in the control unit 10b on the cloud server as more advanced analytical information to the recipient. Furthermore, if there is a request for data acquisition via a tenant app on the cloud (type 3 contract), the contract management unit 340 permits the provision of the second analytical information according to the request to the recipient.

[0039] The contract management unit 340 also has a billing management function. For example, in the case of a first or second type contract, the unit charges the user (recipient) a flat rate for each contract period (monthly, yearly, etc.), and in the case of a third type contract through a tenant application or the like, the unit records the type of second analysis information requested or the amount of information provided (provision period, amount of data transmitted), and charges a pay-per-use fee according to this record.

[0040] (Storage unit 50) The storage unit 50 is provided on both the cloud server side and the edge server side. The storage unit 50 on the cloud server side stores destination information and first and second analysis information. The destination information includes information about the destination, such as billing information, contract information, information about the data transmission content (type, data amount), and destination information (destination address, etc.). The first analysis information is the first analysis information generated by the first analysis unit 220, which is transmitted from the edge server side to the cloud server side in almost real time and accumulated in the storage unit 50. The second analysis information is generated and updated periodically (for example, daily) by the second analysis unit 320 based on the first analysis information.

[0041] (Communication unit 60) The communication unit 60 is an interface for various local connections, such as a network interface for wired communication based on standards such as Ethernet (registered trademark), or an interface for wireless communication based on standards such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and IEEE802.11, and communicates with each terminal connected to the LAN.

[0042] (Multiple routes and processes for providing analytical information) 5 and 6, the analysis information provision route and provision process executed in the plant management system 1 will be described below. Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the analysis information provision route in the plant management system 1. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the analysis information provision process executed in the plant management system 1.

[0043] In Figure 5, a service provider (Company Z, e.g., Konica Minolta, Inc.) operates a tenant app to provide various analytical information to users (Owner Company X and partner companies y1 to y4) using a multi-tenant system in which multiple users share a common system. Users can request analytical information from the provider whenever they need it by, for example, selecting (purchasing) a service product (type 2 analytical information) displayed in the tenant app on the cloud. Here, we will explain the partner companies y1 to y4 that manage the plant. One of the partner companies, Company y1, is responsible for plant maintenance services. Company y2 uses a distributed control system (DCS) to supply energy and materials to each piece of plant equipment. Company y3 manages information related to EHS (environmental, occupational, and health and safety) regulations. Company y4 uses an asset management system to maintain and manage the plant's overall assets (structures, etc.) over the long and medium term.

[0044] In the example shown in FIG. 5, the control unit 10 functions as a Cloud VMS (Video Management System), aggregates sensor data from each sensor, and performs centralized management.

[0045] The control unit 10 also provides the functions of a general standard kit and a gas kit. The gas kit provides an abnormality detection function that detects abnormalities such as gas leaks, a flow rate estimation function that estimates the flow rate by quantifying the amount of gas leaked using images from an infrared camera, a report function that generates graphs and reports using long-term functions, and an access function that accesses sensor data from each sensor in the edge device group.

[0046] The contract management unit 340 of the control unit 10 refers to the destination information stored in the storage unit 50, and determines whether to permit provision of the analysis information via the provision routes r1 to r5 based on the contract details of the first and second type contracts described in the destination information, and sets the status of the corresponding analysis information to permitted. This permission is determined for each type of analysis information based on the contract details. Furthermore, in the case of a third type contract through a tenant app or the like, the contract management unit 340 sets the status of the provision of the analysis information to permitted for each type of requested analysis information.

[0047] The first and second service providing units 230 and 330 provide various analysis information to the respective recipients (owner x company, partner companies y1 to y4 companies) via the provision routes r1 to r5 according to the permission status of the contract management unit 340.

[0048] Furthermore, the contract management unit 340 uses its billing management function to perform billing processing according to the contract details and generate billing information. For example, in the case of a Type 3 contract, the contract management unit 340 records the number of times analysis information is provided and / or the amount of information provided (volume-based recording). In the case of a Type 2 contract, the contract management unit 340 records the date and time related to the contract period (e.g., one year) (period recording). The contract management unit 340 then performs billing processing according to each contract and record (volume-based recording, period recording).

[0049] (Provision of analytical information) The analysis information providing process executed by the plant management system 1 will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0050] (Step S11) The first acquisition unit 210 acquires sensor data from sensors located at the site of a plant, etc. For example, in the case of a gas plant, the first acquisition unit 210 acquires image data from a gas monitoring camera.

[0051] (Step S12) The first analysis unit 220 analyzes the sensor data obtained in step S11 and generates first analysis information. For example, the first analysis information may include the presence or absence of a gas leak and the amount of gas leaked. The first analysis information generated here is sent to the control unit 10b on the cloud server at predetermined intervals and stored in the storage unit 50.

[0052] Furthermore, the second analysis unit 320 of the control unit 10b on the cloud server generates second-type analysis information. The second analysis unit 320 analyzes the time-series first analysis information accumulated in the storage unit 50 to generate second analysis information, which is advanced analysis data as described above. The generated analysis information is stored in the storage unit 50.

[0053] (Step S13) The processing series of steps S13 to S15 and steps S21 to S22 will be described as being performed in parallel, but the two processing series may be performed independently of each other, or one processing series may be executed after the other.

[0054] In step S13, if there is a request via the tenant application (YES), the control unit 10 proceeds to step S14, and if there is no request (NO), the control unit 10 returns to step S11 and repeats the subsequent processes. In addition, the contract management unit 340 updates the destination information according to the third type contract in response to the request made, and sets the status of whether or not to provide the corresponding analysis information to the destination to "permitted."

[0055] (Step S14) The second service providing unit 330 provides the analysis information, whose status has been set to "permission" in response to the request made in step S13, to the providing destination.

[0056] (Step S15) The contract management unit 340 updates the volume record (number of times provided, volume of information) relating to the analysis information provided in step S14.

[0057] (Steps S21 and S22) Here, the control unit 10 determines whether it is time to provide the analysis information, and if it is time to provide the analysis information (YES), the control unit 10 provides the analysis information to the destination. If it is not time to provide the analysis information (NO), the control unit 10 returns the process to step S11 and repeats the subsequent processes.

[0058] For example, if the first analytical information is related to a first type of contract, the first service providing unit 230 provides the first analytical information to the destination in real time. For example, the first service providing unit 230 provides the first analytical information to the customer management system via provision routes r1 and r2.

[0059] Furthermore, if the second analysis information is related to a second type of contract, the second service providing unit 330 provides the second analysis information to the recipient at a preset cycle (for example, daily) based on the contract details. For example, the second service providing unit 330 provides the second analysis information to owner x company and partner companies y1 to y4 via provision routes r1 to r5. Thereafter, the control unit 10 performs billing management (period recording) by processing in step S15, and ends the processing (END).

[0060] As described above, in this embodiment, the plant management device includes an acquisition unit that acquires data from sensors that detect the status of equipment in a plant or factory, an analysis unit that analyzes the data acquired by the acquisition unit and generates multiple types of analytical information, a service provision unit that provides the analytical information to each of multiple pre-registered recipients according to contract information or according to each request, and a contract management unit that generates billing information according to the recipients of the analytical information, the number of times the analytical information has been provided, or the amount of analytical information provided. This makes it possible to provide optimal analytical information according to the recipient's level of need and the performance of the processing device.

[0061] The configuration of the plant management system 1 described above is a description of the main components in explaining the features of the above-described embodiment, but is not limited to the above configuration and can be modified in various ways within the scope of the claims. Furthermore, the processing in the plant management system 1 according to the above-described embodiment may include steps other than those shown in the flowcharts and sequence charts, or may not include some of the steps described above. The order of the steps is not limited to the above-described embodiment. Furthermore, each step may be combined with other steps and executed as a single step, may be included in other steps and executed, or may be divided into multiple steps and executed.

[0062] The means and methods for performing various processes in the plant management system according to the above-described embodiments can be realized by either a dedicated hardware circuit or a programmed computer. The above-described programs may be provided by a computer-readable recording medium such as a USB memory or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)-ROM, or may be provided online via a network such as the Internet. In this case, the programs recorded on the computer-readable recording medium are typically transferred to and stored in a storage unit such as a hard disk. The above-described programs may be provided as standalone application software or may be incorporated into the software of the device as a function. [Explanation of symbols]

[0063] 1 Plant Management System 10, 10a, 10b Control unit 210 First acquisition part 220 1st Analysis Department 230 First Service Provision Department 310 Second Acquisition Department 320 2nd Analysis Department 330 Second Service Department 340 Contract Management Department 50 Storage section 60 Communications Department

Claims

1. an acquisition unit that acquires data from sensors that detect the status of equipment in a plant or factory; an analysis unit that analyzes the data acquired by the acquisition unit and generates multiple types of analysis information; a service providing unit that provides the analysis information to each of a plurality of destinations registered in advance in accordance with contract information or in response to a request for each service; a contract management unit that generates billing information according to the destination of the analysis information, the number of times the analysis information is provided, or the amount of the analysis information provided.

2. The plant management system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor includes a gas monitoring camera that detects a gas leak from the equipment as the equipment status, and the data includes image data.

3. The plant management system according to claim 1 , wherein the service providing unit provides the analysis information in response to a request from multiple tenants of a cloud service.

4. (a) acquiring data from sensors that detect the state of equipment in a plant or factory; a step (b) of analyzing the data acquired in the step (a) and generating a plurality of types of analysis information; (c) providing the analysis information to each of a plurality of destinations registered in advance in accordance with contract information or in response to a request each time; and (d) generating billing information according to the recipient of the analysis information, the number of times the analysis information is provided, or the amount of analysis information provided.

5. 5. The control program according to claim 4, wherein the sensor includes a gas monitoring camera that detects a gas leak from the equipment as the equipment status, and the data includes image data.

6. 6. The control program according to claim 4, wherein in the step (c), the analysis information is provided in response to a request from multiple tenants of a cloud service.

Images