Heads-Up Display Component Location via Image Overlay
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Solution Overview
Problem
Maintenance personnel face difficulties in performing complex tasks as they often need to consult detailed drawings and manuals with both hands, making it challenging to locate components and follow proper steps efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A maintenance assistance system utilizing a heads-up display with image processing to locate components by comparing camera images with stored images, overlaying instructions and tools on the display, and allowing voice or gesture input for guidance, enabling hands-free operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If maintenance personnel consult detailed drawings and manuals to locate components and confirm steps, then accuracy of maintenance tasks is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to needing both hands for consultation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of manually consulting physical drawings and manuals with an optical/electronic system. A camera captures images of the work area, and a display device shows processed images with overlaid guidance information, allowing technicians to obtain accurate component location and procedure information without manually handling physical reference materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary system consisting of a camera, image processing unit, and display device. This intermediary captures the workspace, processes the visual information, and presents annotated guidance to the technician, serving as a mediator between the maintenance task and the required information without requiring direct manual consultation of reference materials.
2Reliability
If maintenance personnel manually locate components using drawings, then task completion is achieved, but productivity deteriorates due to time spent consulting references
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing and displaying guidance information before the technician needs it. The camera continuously captures the workspace, and the system pre-identifies components and prepares instructional overlays, so that when the technician looks at the display, the information is already ready and annotated, eliminating the need to stop and consult reference materials during the task.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of searching through drawings and manuals with an automated optical and computational system that actively tracks the workspace, identifies components, and presents relevant information in real-time, significantly reducing the time required to locate components and understand maintenance steps.
3Ease of operation
If a heads-up display with image processing is implemented, then ease of operation and productivity are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a multi-functional system where a single integrated device performs multiple functions: the camera captures images, the processing unit identifies components and generates guidance information, and the display presents the annotated views. This universal system replaces multiple separate tools (drawings, manuals, physical references) with one cohesive device that handles visualization, information processing, and guidance delivery simultaneously.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively assists technicians by providing real-time location guidance and instructions, enhancing task efficiency and accuracy while allowing hands-free operation, thus simplifying complex maintenance tasks.
Implementation Method 1
The maintenance assistance system utilizes image processing to locate a component involved in a maintenance task by comparing an image of the component taken by a camera with stored images of the component
Implementation Method 2
The maintenance assistance system overlays images on the heads-up display to assist the maintenance technician in locating the component and instructions for servicing the component
Data Source
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AI summary
A maintenance assistance system and method of operating are provided. The maintenance assistance system may include, but is not limited to, a camera, a heads-up display, a memory configured to maintenance task data, and a processor communicatively coupled to the camera, the heads-up display and the memory, the processor configured to determine a component to be serviced, determine a location of the component based upon data from the camera and the maintenance task data stored in the memory, generate graphical data based upon a maintenance step associated with the component, and output the generated graphical data to the heads-up display