Equipment Tag Recognition for Industrial Facility Location
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Solution Overview
Problem
In large industrial facilities, users face challenges in identifying specific equipment instances due to their similarity in appearance, leading to time wastage in locating desired equipment.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device equipped with a camera and display, capable of capturing images and identifying equipment tags corresponding to unique reference codes, emphasizes the desired equipment instance on the display for easy identification, and determines the device and user location based on the tag's location.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If users manually search for equipment instances in large industrial facilities, then they can locate equipment, but it takes excessive time due to the large number of similar equipment instances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical searching with an automated optical recognition system. The camera captures images of equipment tags, and image processing algorithms automatically identify and locate the target equipment instance, substituting human visual search with machine-based automated recognition and positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses equipment tags as visual copies or markers that represent unique equipment instances. Instead of searching for the actual equipment directly, the system captures images of these tags, processes them to identify equipment locations, and presents enhanced visual feedback showing tag positions relative to equipment, creating an efficient indirect search mechanism.
2Ease of manufacture
If many equipment instances have similar appearance, then equipment can be standardized for manufacturing, but it becomes difficult to distinguish and identify specific equipment instances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces equipment tags as intermediary markers attached to or displayed on equipment instances. These tags serve as unique visual identifiers that differentiate otherwise identical equipment. The camera captures these tags, and the system processes their positions and appearances to uniquely identify each equipment instance without requiring physical differences in the equipment itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes visual characteristics of equipment tags, including their appearance and position, as unique identifiers. The image processing system analyzes tag features to distinguish between different equipment instances, effectively using visual variation in tag presentation to differentiate standardized equipment that would otherwise be indistinguishable.
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B~1D
Figure 2A~2B
AI summary
For emphasizing equipment based on an equipment tag, a processor receives a given equipment reference code for a given equipment instance. The processor further identifies one or more equipment tags in the image. Each equipment tag corresponds to a unique equipment reference code. The processor identifies a given equipment tag corresponding to the given equipment reference code in the image. In addition, the processor emphasizes the given equipment instance in the image presented on the display.