KR100401303B1 - Method and Apparatus for Remote Diagnosis of Equipments Using Multimedia Technology - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a new method for diagnosing failures by remotely diagnosing moving pictures, sound, and electric signals, etc., of a machine or facility using a multimedia technology, and enabling remote testing of equipment. Relates to a device. Remote troubleshooting device using a multimedia technology according to the present invention is a remote troubleshooting device consisting of a professional terminal, a high-speed communication network and a troubleshooting terminal, the failure diagnosis terminal is a CPU, video and audio acquisition board, test signal input and output board and It consists of network interface board, signal output probe, signal input probe, pan / tilt and zoom device, and expert terminal includes CPU, video and audio acquisition board, test signal input / output board, network interface board, It consists of I / O port, PC camera and test signal generator.

The present invention has the advantage that it is possible to economically maintain the equipment because it can immediately check and repair the equipment regardless of the distance using a high-speed communication network and a computer.

Description

Method and Apparatus for Remote Diagnosis Using Multimedia Technology {Method and Apparatus for Remote Diagnosis of Equipments Using Multimedia Technology}

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for remotely diagnosing the cause of failure of a mechanical device or facility (hereinafter referred to as "equipment") by using image, sound and data processing technology (hereinafter referred to as "multimedia technology") by a personal computer. It is about. In particular, it makes it easy to observe images, sounds, and electrical signals at a remote location, and after applying arbitrary test signals to the device to be diagnosed, the effects can be observed through an oscilloscope that implements images and sounds remotely. The present invention relates to a remote diagnosis method and apparatus thereof having a concept of enabling fault diagnosis. The present invention includes the hardware and software functions necessary to achieve the purpose of remote diagnosis.

Today, a device having a concept of diagnosing a malfunctioning device from a remote location has not been announced yet, but a video conferencing system is a related device considering only the real-time transmission and reception of video and audio. The video conferencing system performs video and audio communication in real time by limiting the resolution of the video (CIF type of 352x288 resolution or QCIF type of 176x144 resolution) to enable real-time conversation by video on the limited quality transmission line. It is difficult to use as a remote diagnosis device of equipment because of low.

Another technique is an application technique that obtains and uses a high quality image in real time using MPEG technology. However, since it is necessary to compress a large amount of images at high speed, it is very expensive because it uses hardware processing. The previously published patent applications are published in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2002-0008628 (published January 31, 2002: a system for monitoring and control by remote water quality measurement), and Korean Patent Publication No. 2002-0015636 (February 28, 2002). Disclosure: Task design method of communication control device of traffic signal control system and control method of traffic signal control system using the same), but the technology of remote diagnosis device related to failure diagnosis is not developed enough.

In order to remotely diagnose the malfunctioning equipment, it is necessary to check the appearance of the malfunctioning equipment from a remote location, obtain a high-quality image of the suspected place, and listen to the user of the equipment for explanation of the symptom of the failure and the noise of the equipment. Should be It should also be possible to apply test signals from a remote location, and to be able to confirm the response by measuring image, sound, and electrical signals, to enable such functions: 1) real-time remote acquisition of video and sound; ) Image processing function, 3) remote signal acquisition and oscilloscope function of faulty equipment, 4) remote application and test of effect of test signal, and 5) remote operation of equipment and result analysis The present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for remotely diagnosing the cause of failure of a machine regardless of distance by combining the above techniques organically. There is this.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation concept of a remote failure diagnosis system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the fault diagnosis terminal and the expert terminal shown in FIG.

3 is a configuration diagram of the software function of the fault diagnosis terminal and the expert terminal shown in FIG.

4 is an exemplary screen showing a conversation between an expert and an equipment user after a communication connection between the failure diagnosis terminal and an expert terminal of FIG. 1;

5 is a view showing a screen for remotely observing the appearance of the failure equipment from the expert terminal,

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a screen in which a close-up precision image of a corresponding location is obtained by remotely designating a location of interest in the expert terminal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a function of obtaining a clear screen by processing an image acquired remotely by the expert terminal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a graphic screen of an electric signal obtained from the failure device of FIG. 1 remotely displayed to an expert terminal through a failure diagnosis terminal and a high speed communication network.

<Description of the reference numerals for the main parts of the drawings>

1: Camera 2: Signal Input Probe 3: High Speed Communication Network 4: CPU

5: communication interface board 6: video and sound acquisition board

7: Test signal input / output board 8: I / O port (Input / Output Port)

9: microphone 10: speaker 11: signal output probe

11a: Test signal applied to the circuit of the fault equipment

2a: Signal obtained from fault equipment circuit

12: pan / tilt and zoom device 13: failure equipment 14: test signal generator 15: mouse

16: Image Acquisition and Compression Communication 17: Image Processing

18: Acquisition and compression communication of sound signal

19: Remote camera control 20: Test signal output and measurement signal acquisition

21: Command relay for remote operation of the malfunctioning equipment 22: Data compression communication 23: Remote camera control command

24: graphical display of telemetry data

25: Generate command for remote operation of faulty equipment

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for diagnosing a failure of a remotely located device, the method comprising: requesting a failure diagnosis of a device from a failure diagnosis terminal to an expert terminal; remotely from a failure diagnosis terminal through an expert terminal Listening to the description of the failure state of the equipment or visual inspection by the image of the failure equipment; after the remote application of the electrical test signal to the remote equipment from the expert terminal, as a result of the waveform from the expert terminal through the failure diagnosis terminal Remotely acquiring and arbitrarily changing a time axis or a magnitude axis of a waveform to represent an oscilloscope screen graphically; generating a fault equipment operation command in an expert terminal and remotely authorizing the fault apparatus through a fault diagnosis terminal; And The result of the operation command for the faulty equipment is obtained by the fault diagnosis terminal in the form of an image, sound is transmitted to the expert terminal is reproduced is made. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention by the accompanying drawings It demonstrates in more detail. In describing the embodiments of the present invention, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same elements. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation concept of a remote failure diagnosis system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. It shows the concept of receiving a service by connecting a number of fault diagnosis terminals to the expert terminal. Fault Diagnosis Terminal When a user requests a Fault Diagnosis, the Fault Diagnosis Expert performs a Fault Diagnosis using an Expert Terminal. In addition, it is possible to utilize a server (dotted line in Fig. 1) on the expert side in order to provide a limited range of troubleshooting services through the Internet to users with a general-purpose multimedia system or when software is not always installed in the troubleshooting terminal. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the fault diagnosis terminal and the expert terminal shown in FIG. 1, and the structure of the hardware to be provided to achieve the object of the present invention is the same board as the fault diagnosis terminal and expert terminal as shown in FIG. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the present invention provides a remote diagnosis device comprising a fault diagnosis terminal, a high-speed communication network, and an expert terminal, wherein the fault diagnosis terminal includes a CPU 4, an image and sound. Acquisition board 6, test signal input / output board 7, communication network interface board 5, I / O port 8, PC camera 1, 9, a speaker 10, a signal output probe 11, a signal input probe 2, a pan / tilt and a zoom device 12, and the expert terminal includes a CPU 4 Video and audio acquisition boards (6), test signal input / output boards (7), network interface boards (5), I / O ports (8), PC cameras (1), microphones (9), And a speaker 10 and a test signal generator 14. The expert terminal may further include a remote oscilloscope display means for visually displaying measurement data obtained remotely from the failure equipment.

In Figure 2, the characteristics and functions of each board are as follows.

The image and sound acquisition board 6 is a board for acquiring the image and sound for the faulty equipment in the fault diagnosis terminal or acquiring the image or sound of the expert in the expert terminal. Using this board, it is possible to acquire not only low-resolution real-time video of the malfunctioning equipment but also high-resolution video, and to remotely acquire an operator's voice or machine sound. As shown in FIG. ) And the microphone (9) are connected to the video and sound acquisition board (6) to obtain the image of the faulty equipment, the machine sound of the equipment and the voice of the operator, and even in the professional terminal camera (1) and the microphone (9) It is connected to the image and sound acquisition board 6 can obtain a video or audio of the fault diagnosis expert.

The test signal input / output board 7 is used for acquiring an external test signal on the expert side, and the fault diagnosis terminal outputs this signal to the circuit of the faulty equipment or A / D for transmitting the electrical signal measured from the faulty equipment to the expert. (Analogue / Digital) and D / A (Digital / Analog) function boards. As shown in FIG. 2, in the expert terminal, a failure device from the test signal generator 14 connected to the test signal input / output board 7 is provided. Receives a signal to be applied to the fault diagnosis terminal, and outputs a test signal 11a applied to the circuit of the fault equipment through the signal output probe 11 connected to the test signal input / output board 7 and also the test signal input / output board ( Through the signal input probe 2 connected to 7) receives a signal (2a) obtained from the fault equipment circuit.

The communication network interface board 5 is a connection device with the high speed communication network 3 for real-time communication of video, audio, and various data, and a LAN card corresponds to a connection device with a local area network (LAN).

I / O port (Port) 8 is a port for connecting to a faulty device for remote operation of the faulty device. The equipment control command generated at the remote expert terminal is transmitted to the faulty equipment through this port, and the response signal from the faulty equipment is also transmitted to the expert terminal through this port. Expert terminals use this port for mouse connections.

3 is a configuration diagram of the software function of the fault diagnosis terminal and the expert terminal shown in Figure 1, the software function of the present invention is the same as Figure 3 and the contents for each function is as follows.

<Function at fault diagnosis terminal>

The image acquisition and compression communication function 16 is a function of acquiring images of a diagnosis assistant or surrounding environment and compressing and transmitting them at low resolutions such as QCIF and CIF or compressing and transmitting images of electronic circuits and components of a faulty equipment in high resolution. It also includes the ability to decompress the video received from the expert.

The acoustic signal acquisition and compression communication function 18 is an analog-to-digital conversion of the sound and a compression communication function for transmitting the machine sound on the equipment side or the voice of the diagnosis assistant to the diagnosis expert.

The remote camera control function 19 applies a camera control signal received from an expert to the pan, tilt and zoom devices to control the direction of attention of the camera.

The test signal output and measurement signal acquisition function 20 converts the test signal from the expert into analog and applies it to the circuit of the faulty equipment, and converts the analog measurement signals obtained from the faulty equipment into digital and transmits it to the expert. Signal input / output function.

The command relay function 21 for remote operation of the faulty equipment is a remote diagnosis function for the equipment connected and controlled by a computer, and applies a device control command applied from an expert terminal to the input terminal of the faulty equipment and a signal drawn from the faulty equipment. It is responsible for the relay role of transmitting to the expert terminal. In addition, the problem of the failure equipment is confirmed by observing the video, sound and electric signals of the failure equipment after the test signal is applied.

The data compression communication function 22 compresses a digital signal obtained from a remote camera control, test signal output and measurement signal acquisition, and a command relay function for remote operation of a malfunctioning device, and transmits the digital signal to a remote expert or received from an expert. Decompress the data and apply it to each function.

<Function in expert terminal>

The image acquisition and compression communication function 16 is a function of acquiring a face image of an expert and compressing and transmitting the image at a predetermined resolution such as QCIF and CIF. It also includes a function to decompress the image received from the faulty equipment terminal.

Image processing function 17 is required to acquire a high-quality image in order to accurately observe the appearance of the diagnosis target, but the ability of the equipped image device is limited, so the expert terminal has an image quality improvement function through image processing.

The acoustic signal acquisition and compression communication function 18 is a function of acquiring sound data for delivering the expert's voice to the diagnosis assistant and a sound for delivering the machine sound or the assistant's voice received from the malfunctioning equipment to the diagnosis expert through the speaker. Analog-to-digital conversion and compression communication.

The remote camera control command function 23 is a function of instructing a motion control command of a pan, tilt, and zoom device of a remote place where a camera is installed by selecting a position on a screen.

The remote measurement data graphic display function 24 is a function that implements a display window similar to an oscilloscope for visually displaying measurement data obtained remotely from a malfunctioning device.

Command generation function 25 for remote operation of the failure equipment refers to the function of generating a device operation command from the expert terminal in the case of the failure equipment that is connected and controlled by a computer to transmit to the failure equipment. It also includes the function of diagnosing failure by checking the effect of operation command through image, sound and measurement data. For this purpose, the operating terminal for the malfunctioning equipment must be installed in the expert terminal.

The data compression communication function 22 decompresses a signal for a remote camera control command, a graphic display of remote measurement data, and a command generation function for remote operation of a malfunctioning device, and decompresses data received from a fault diagnosis terminal. The function applied to the function.

Compression and communication methods for transmitting and receiving signals are not limited to specific methods, but communication protocols available for each signal type are as follows.

Video transmission and reception: H.261 standard and modification

Audio transmission and reception: G.711 standard

Camera control signal transmission / reception: T.120 standard

Test and measurement signal transmission and reception: T.120 standard

Remote operation signal transmission / reception of faulty equipment: T.120 standard

Operation method and operation concept of the present invention having the hardware structure and software functions described above are as follows.

① Fault Diagnosis Request: Under the condition that the expert terminal and a plurality of fault diagnosis terminals are connected to the high speed communication network 3 as shown in FIG. Run the software and ask the expert terminal for diagnosis. While the expert diagnoses the malfunctioning equipment, the user of the equipment should serve as a diagnostic aid to assist in acquiring the electrical signal by contacting the data probes 2 and 11 at the position specified by the expert and explaining the symptoms of the malfunctioning equipment. Therefore, the user of the equipment that assists the diagnosis is called a diagnostic assistant.

② Listen to the explanation of the fault condition: When the expert receives the diagnosis request from the equipment side, the voice of each other is connected by using the microphone 9 and the speaker 10 connected to the video and audio acquisition board 6 of the expert terminal and the fault diagnosis terminal. I can hear it. This allows the expert to hear a description from the diagnostic assistant about the condition of the equipment. 4 is a view illustrating a conversation between an expert and an equipment user after communication connection between a failure diagnosis terminal and an expert terminal.

③ Remote control of the camera: The trouble diagnosis expert observes the appearance of the malfunctioning equipment by using the camera 1 connected to the video and audio acquisition board 6 of the expert terminal and the trouble diagnosis terminal. 5 is an example of a screen for remotely observing the appearance of the failure equipment from the expert terminal.

④ Acquisition of precise image: When inspecting the appearance of fault equipment, in order to obtain precise image of specific part, change to high resolution mode to obtain high resolution still image. Also, when close inspection of a specific part is needed, the part can be closely observed using the zoom function of the camera. That is, by using the pan, tilt and zoom device 12 connected to the camera 1 and the I / O port 8, it is possible to obtain a precise image of the failure equipment (13). 6 is an example of a screen in which a close-up precision image of a corresponding position is obtained by remotely designating a location of interest.

⑤ Improved image quality: When inspecting the equipment, if the clear image cannot be obtained due to poor lighting, vibration, noise, or other reasons, give an image processing function to the expert terminal to improve the image quality. 7 is an example of a function of obtaining a clear screen by processing a remotely acquired image.

⑥ Acquisition and analysis of measurement signal: When signal analysis of electric or electronic circuit is needed, the signal is acquired remotely by bringing the data probe 2 mounted on the fault diagnosis terminal into contact with the point of interest. At this time, the contact of the signal input probe 2 is performed with the help of the diagnostic assistant on the equipment side, and the expert can graphically display the specific part of the video screen shared with the equipment for accurate positioning. . Multiple probes can be mounted for measurement signal analysis. The acquired measurement data signal is presented on the graphic display screen of the expert terminal in a screen similar to the oscilloscope screen. 8 is an example of a graphic screen presenting an electrical signal of a failure device remotely received from the failure device to the expert terminal.

⑦ Remote operation test of equipment: If the malfunctioning equipment is controlled by a computer, the operation command of the failure equipment is directly applied from the remote place by the relay of the fault diagnosis terminal, and then the effect of the video, sound and measurement signal described above is acquired. Observe using the inspection function by function.

⑧ Internet service: In order to provide fault diagnosis service to general users with general multimedia system, remote diagnosis software is stored in the server of expert. In this case, only a limited range of troubleshooting services is available.

With the trend of automation of equipment installed in the industry, the number of advanced equipment that is difficult for the equipment users to repair is increasing. If the equipment breaks down, relying solely on the visit of a specialist, the time and financial burden is high, including downtime and travel costs. The present invention is a system that can economically maintain the equipment because it can be immediately checked and repaired regardless of distance using a high-speed information network and multimedia technology. The installed hardware can also be used for general purposes such as video conferencing.

Claims (5)

In the method of diagnosing a failure of a remotely located equipment, Requesting a failure diagnosis of the equipment from the expert diagnosis terminal to the expert terminal; Listening to the description of the failure state of the equipment remotely from the failure diagnosis terminal through the expert terminal or the appearance inspection by the image of the failure equipment; Remotely applying an electrical test signal to the remote device from the expert terminal, and subsequently obtaining the waveform remotely from the expert terminal via the fault diagnosis terminal to arbitrarily change the time axis or the magnitude axis of the waveform to represent the oscilloscope screen graphically; Generating a malfunctioning equipment operation command from an expert terminal and remotely applying the failure equipment operation instruction to the malfunctioning equipment via the fault diagnosis terminal; And Remote failure diagnosis method using a multimedia technology, characterized in that the result of the operation command for the failure equipment is obtained by the failure diagnosis terminal in the form of video, sound and transmitted to the expert terminal to reproduce. In the remote troubleshooting device consisting of a troubleshooting terminal, a high-speed communication network and expert terminal, The troubleshooting terminal includes a CPU, an image and sound acquisition board, a test signal input / output board, a communication network interface board, an I / O port, a PC camera, a microphone, a speaker, a signal output probe, and a signal input probe. Wah, pan / tilt and zoom, The expert terminal comprises a CPU, an image and sound acquisition board, a test signal input / output board, a communication network interface board, an I / O port, a PC camera, a microphone, a speaker, and a test signal generator. Remote fault diagnosis device using multimedia technology. The remote fault diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the expert terminal further comprises a remote oscilloscope display means for visually displaying measurement data acquired remotely from the fault equipment. delete delete