Process Plant Display Regionizing for Mobile Operator Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in rendering full-size process plant displays on small screen devices like mobile phones and tablets, leading to reduced operator effectiveness and situational awareness, especially in emergency situations, due to limited processing and memory capacities, and the inability to efficiently navigate large process displays.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of graphical determination, detection, and rendering techniques that regionize and refactor full-size process plant displays for mobile user interface devices, allowing operators to view large displays on small surfaces without the need for new code or graphics development, by determining and rendering display regions and graphical representations automatically.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If full-size process plant displays are rendered on mobile user interface devices, then operators can access process information remotely, but the limited screen area and processing capacity reduce operator effectiveness and situational awareness
Solution Approach 1:
The full-size process plant display is divided into multiple display regions that can be independently rendered on the mobile device screen. Each region represents a portion of the overall process display, allowing operators to view different areas by navigating between regions. This segmentation enables the large display to be effectively presented on a small screen while maintaining access to all process information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a two-dimensional full-size display to a multi-dimensional navigation structure on mobile devices. By introducing navigation dimensions (such as region selection, zoom levels, and pagination), the system allows operators to access the complete process display information across multiple screen states rather than attempting to fit everything on a single small screen.
2Adaptability or versatility
If full-size process plant displays are rendered on mobile user interface devices, then remote monitoring is enabled, but limited processing and memory capacities reduce operational effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and transfers only the necessary display region data to the mobile device rather than rendering the entire full-size display. By selecting and transmitting only the relevant portion of the process display currently needed by the operator, the system reduces the processing and memory requirements on the mobile device while maintaining full monitoring capability.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of attempting to render the complete process display simultaneously, the system uses partial action by rendering only the current display region at a time. This approach reduces the instantaneous processing and memory burden on the mobile device while still providing access to the complete process information through navigation between regions.
3Loss of information
If full-size process plant displays are rendered on mobile user interface devices, then operators can view process information, but navigation through large displays becomes difficult and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-defining and organizing display regions before the operator needs to navigate. The display is divided into logical regions in advance, and the mobile device can quickly jump between these pre-configured regions, eliminating the need for operators to manually pan or zoom through the entire display and reducing navigation time.
Data Source
AI summary
Graphical user interface (GUI) based systems and methods are disclosed for regionizing full-size process plant displays for rendering on mobile user interface devices. A regionizer application receives a full-size process plant display that graphically represents at least a portion of a process plant that includes graphic representations of a plurality of process plant entities. The regionizer app determines display region(s) of the full-size process plant display that define corresponding view portions of the full-size process plant display. The display regions are transmitted to a mobile user interface device for rendering by a mobile display navigation app. The GUI based systems and methods can also automatically detect graphical process control loop display portions within full-size process plant displays for rendering on mobile user interface devices. The GUI based systems and methods can further refactor full-size process plant displays at various zoom and detail levels for visualization on mobile user interface devices.