Animated Glint Effect for Displaying Safety Signal Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for displaying safety unit signals in critical infrastructure like railway traffic, nuclear powerplants, and aviation only indicate the condition of redundant signal paths as 'working' or 'not working,' hiding internal hardware failures such as desynchronization or processing unit malfunctions from human observers.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of an animated glint graphical effect is used to visually indicate phase decoherence among redundant signalling paths and ensure that processing units are functioning correctly, providing a more intuitive way for humans to recognize defects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundant signalling paths are used to display system state, then reliability of display output is improved, but internal hardware failures such as desynchronization remain hidden from human observers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies visual appearance changes including color changes to indicate the state of processing units. Different colors or color patterns are used to represent different operational states, including synchronization status and potential hardware failures, making previously hidden information visible to human observers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic visual effects including animated glint effects that move across the display. These dynamic elements provide temporal information about system state, allowing human observers to detect desynchronization and hardware failures that would be invisible in static displays.
2Ease of operation
If simple working/not working indication is used, then ease of observation is improved, but detection precision of hardware failures deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses color changes to encode multiple levels of system state information. By varying color properties, the system maintains ease of observation while simultaneously providing precise detection capability for different types of hardware failures and synchronization states.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs periodic animated glint effects that sweep across the display in a regular pattern. This periodic action creates a rhythmic visual cue that is easily observable by humans while encoding precise information about the operational state of processing units and synchronization status.
3Measurement precision
If animated glint graphical effect is added to indicate phase decoherence, then detection precision of desynchronization is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements animated glint effects as dynamic visual elements that move across the display to indicate phase decoherence and desynchronization. This dynamic approach provides precise detection capability through the motion pattern itself, rather than requiring complex additional hardware or multiple static indicators.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the functional indication of system state with the aesthetic glint effect into a single visual element. The glint animation serves dual purposes: it provides visual appeal while simultaneously encoding precise information about synchronization status and hardware health, thereby reducing overall system complexity.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2C
Figure 3A~4B
AI summary
A method of operating a data processing device for displaying binary safety unit signals generated by safety units is disclosed. A plurality of processing units send a signal to the display control unit: A. to highlight a part of a symbol geometry (20.i) for those processing units receiving the signal TRUE, or B. to darken a part of a symbol geometry (20.j) for those processing units receiving the signal FALSE. Additionally a glint graphical effect (30) is animated to move across the symbol (20) as an object (30) that is composed from parts (30.i) in a manner that: C. the safety glint graphical effect (30) appears continuous across the symbol (20) if all the processing units are synchronised, or D. the safety glint graphical effect (30) appears discontinued for all symbol parts (20.k) generated by the corresponding processing units which are not synchronised with other processing units indicating a device hardware failure.