FR3071640A1 - METHOD FOR RESTITUTING A GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF WIRING INFORMATION OF AN ELECTRONIC COMPONENT AND ASSOCIATED DEVICE - Google Patents

Abstract

Method 100 for rendering a graphical representation of a wiring information of an electronic component, implemented by a processing unit 11 of an electronic device 10, said method comprising: a step 103 of acquisition of a FILy cable identifier and a FINx electronic component identifier; a step 104 for finding and determining the electrical contact PINm associated with said cable and said electronic component; a step of searching and extracting a digital representation R (FINx) associated with the electronic component identifier FINx; a step of searching and extracting the values of the spatial coordinates of the electrical contact PINm associated with said cable and said electronic component; a step 109 for producing and reproducing a graphical representation of a cabling information by a human-machine rendering interface 12b comprising the digital representation of the electronic component R (FINx) and a branching indicator (Ib) positioned on the digital representation of the electronic component R (FINx) according to the spatial coordinates of the electrical contact previously extracted.

Description

METHOD FOR RENDERING A GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF WIRING INFORMATION OF AN ELECTRONIC COMPONENT AND ASSOCIATED DEVICE

Technical area

The invention relates to a method for rendering a graphical representation of wiring information of an electronic component and a device implementing such a method.

State of the art

An electrical cabinet is a set of electronic components that need to be connected together by a plurality of cables. Each electronic component has one or more electrical contacts, into which ends of cables or connectors are inserted. An electrical contact is generally identified by a unique identifier, such as a number for example. A cable includes an identification means printed on its sheath, for example in the form of a series of alphanumeric characters or a graphic representation encoding the identification means, such as a two-dimensional bar code for example.

During a wiring operation, an operator consults from a computer a database referencing all of the cables necessary for wiring the electrical cabinet in question. Such a database makes it possible to indicate for each cable, or cable end, the electrical contact identifier in which it must be inserted and several metadata relating to the cable such as its color, type, etc. Such a computer is generally located near the electrical cabinet. After the operator has entered the cable identifier, the computer searches the database for cable metadata and returns it. The operator must therefore locate the identifier of the electrical contact to which the cable must be wired among the restored metadata, then go to the electrical cabinet and search for the electrical contact associated with the identified identifier. This method requires a lot of back and forth on the part of the operator between the computer and the electrical cabinet. Indeed, the electrical contact identifier is among several dozen metadata and is therefore difficult to locate. An electrical cabinet in turn has dozens of electrical contacts that the operator must scan one by one to locate the one into which the cable is to be inserted. Wiring errors can therefore occur if the operator makes the wrong electrical contact.

Statement of the invention

The present invention relates to a method of rendering a graphic representation overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.

To this end, the present invention relates to a method of rendering a graphic representation of wiring information of an electronic component, implemented by a processing unit of an electronic device, the processing unit cooperating with a human-machine setpoint and restitution interface and a data memory comprising a database in which data dedicated to electronic components are stored, a database in which data dedicated to cables are stored and a database in which are stored data dedicated to digital representations of electronic components, said database storing data dedicated to electronic components comprising identifiers of electrical contacts, spatial coordinates of at least one electrical contact on a digital representation of an electronic component , the P rocédé includes:

o a step of acquiring a cable identifier and an electronic component identifier by the human-machine setpoint interface;

a step of searching for the values of the identifiers of cable and electronic component in the database dedicated to electronic components and of determining the electrical contact associated with said cable and said electronic component;

o a step of searching for and extracting a digital representation associated with the electronic component identifier, from the database dedicated to digital representations of the electronic components;

o a step of finding and extracting the values of the spatial coordinates of the electrical contact associated with said cable and said electronic component from the database dedicated to electronic components;

o a step of drawing up and rendering a graphical representation of wiring information via the human rendering machine interface comprising the digital representation of the electronic component and a connection indicator positioned on the digital representation of the electronic component according to the coordinates of the electrical contact previously extracted.

According to a preferred embodiment, the data memory comprises a validation attribute characterizing the state of wiring of the electrical contact and the method therefore comprises prior to the step of drawing up and rendering a graphic representation of a wiring information, a step of reading the value of the validation attribute associated with the electrical contact, the step of developing and restoring the graphic representation being implemented if and only if the value of the attribute of validation confirms that the electrical contact has not yet been wired.

Advantageously, the method includes a step of developing and restoring an error message by the man-machine restitution interface, subsequent to the step of reading the value of the validation attribute associated with the electrical contact, if and only if the value of the validation attribute attests that the electrical contact has been wired beforehand.

Preferably, the method includes a step of updating the validation attribute to certify that the electrical contact has been wired, the updating step being subsequent to the step of preparing and restoring a graphical representation of wiring information.

In order to notify the operator of the electrical contacts that have already been wired, limit wiring errors and create visual cues for the operator, the graphic display includes at least one tracking indicator indicating to the operator the location of the or previously wired electrical contacts. The process therefore includes, prior to the step of developing and rendering a graphic representation of wiring information:

a step of identifying all the electrical contacts associated with the electronic component and reading the respective values of the validation attributes associated with said contacts;

if a value of the validation attribute attests that an electrical contact has already been wired, a step for extracting the spatial coordinates associated with said electrical contact;

the step of drawing up and rendering the graphical representation by the human-machine rendering interface further comprising the drawing up and rendering of a tracking indicator positioned on the digital representation of the electrical component according to the spatial coordinates previously extracted.

According to a second object, the invention relates to a computer program product comprising program instructions which, when previously recorded in a program memory of a device comprising, in addition to said program memory, a data memory, an interface human-machine setpoint and restitution, said memories and said interfaces cooperating with said processing unit, cause the implementation of a process for restitution of a graphical representation of wiring information of an electronic component conforming to the invention.

According to a third object, the invention relates to a device comprising a processing unit, a data memory, a program memory, a man-machine interface for setting and restoring, said memories and said interfaces cooperating with said processing unit. To implement the invention, said electronic device comprises in the program memory, the instructions of a computer program product in accordance with the invention and in that it comprises in the data memory a dedicated database for electronic components, a database dedicated to cables and a database dedicated to digital representations of electronic components.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device comprises an electronic object cooperating with the processing unit through a wireless link. This electronic object makes it possible to restore all or part of the graphic representation in accordance with the invention in an ergonomic manner for the operator.

Preferably, the electronic object includes a data memory recording the database dedicated to digital representations of the electronic components.

Brief description of the drawings

Other characteristics, details and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly from the detailed description given below for information only in relation to the drawings, among which:

Figure 1 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of the invention, Figure 2 is a schematic view of a second embodiment of the invention, Figure 3 is an example of graphical rendering according to invention, and Figure 4 is a block diagram of a method according to the invention.

Detailed presentation

There is shown in Figure 1, a device 10 for implementing a method of rendering a graphical representation of wiring information of an electronic component according to the invention. The device 10 comprises a program memory 13 and a data memory 14 cooperating by coupling and / or by a wired bus with a microprocessor of a processing unit 11. The program memory 13 comprises program instructions, which when they are executed or interpreted by the microprocessor of the processing unit 11, triggering the implementation of the method for rendering a graphical representation of wiring information of an electronic component.

To interact with an operator, the device 10 comprises a human-machine rendering interface 12b, for example in the form of a screen, and a human-machine instruction interface 12a, in the advantageous but non-limiting form of a keyboard or 'a touch screen. The set human-machine interface 12a and the restitution human-machine interface 12b can also form a single physical entity. The human-machine setpoint interface 12a allows the device 10 to acquire an identifier of a cable and an identifier of an electronic component. When a cable or the electronic component can be identified by a graphical representation encoding their identification means, the human-machine setpoint interface may consist of a means for reading said identification means, such as by way of example a barcode reader.

The human-machine reproduction interface 12b makes it possible to reproduce a graphic representation of wiring information of an electronic component comprising a digital representation of an electronic component, for example in the form of an image, and an indicator of connection Ib indicating to the operator the location of the electrical contact into which the cable must be inserted on the digital representation of the electronic component. Such a branch indicator Ib can be represented in a geometric form, such as a circle or a disc, contrasting with the digital representation of the electronic component. According to a variant of the invention, the graphical reproduction of wiring information can also include a tracking indicator Is indicating to the operator the location of the previously wired electrical contact (s). Such a tracking indicator Is can be represented in a geometric form different from that of the connection indicator Ib, and contrasting with the digital representation of the electronic component. According to a variant of the invention, the connection indicator Ib and the tracking indicator Is can have the same geometric shape but be of different color. For example, the tracking indicator Is can be red and the connection indicator Ib can be green. The graphical representation of wiring information can also include one or more metadata complementary to the graphical rendering, such as for example the identifier of the electrical connector to be wired, or the list of electrical connectors remaining to be wired and / or the list of cables previously wired etc.

To illustrate the invention, an example of graphical restitution of wiring information for wiring the electrical connector PIN2 is shown in FIG. 3. Such a graphical restitution includes a digital representation R (FIN1) of an electronic component FINI comprising sixteen connectors electrical assembled in four lines of four connectors, said connectors being represented by dotted circles, and a connection indicator Ib represented by a circle in solid line superimposed on the representation of an electrical connector referenced PIN2. As seen above, the graphical rendering can include a tracking indicator Is indicating the electrical connectors which have already been wired, for example the electrical connectors PIN9 and PIN10 in FIG. 3. The graphical representation therefore includes two tracking indicators Is1 and Is2 represented by solid circles superimposed on the representations of PIN9 and PIN10. An operator can therefore at a glance locate the connector to be wired, that is to say the PIN2 connector, thanks to the connection indicator Ib and orient themselves on the electrical cabinet, follow the wiring progress and correct any errors by comparing the graphical representation representing the electronic component and the indicator (s) of follow-up Is1, Is2, with the electronic component of the electrical cabinet. Indeed, a tracking indicator Is1, Is2 corresponds to a cable wired to the electronic component.

The data memory 14 makes it possible to record the data necessary for the implementation of the invention. The data are advantageously grouped in text files ideally but in a nonlimiting manner in the form of tables, as for example in one or more databases. In a preferred example of the invention but without limitation, the data necessary for the implementation of the invention are recorded in three databases or tables respectively dedicated to the electronic components B1, to the cables B2 and to the digital representations of the electronic components B3.

The database B1 dedicated to electronic components is designed to store the data relating to the X electronic components of an electronic cabinet, such as for example an identifier of an electronic component FINI, ..., FINx, an identifier d a digital representation of an electronic component R (FIN1), ..., R (FINx), such as an image for example, metadata relating to the digital representation such as, for example, the orientation of said image in a given benchmark, etc. Each FINx electronic component is further characterized by m electrical contacts, said electrical contacts being identified by an electrical contact identifier FINI, ..., PINm, spatial coordinates making it possible to define the location of the electrical contact on the digital representation of the component. electronic R (FINx), the state, a validation attribute characterizing the state of the connector wiring, a cable identifier which must be connected to it, and additional metadata such as, for example, a data item making it possible to define if an electrical contact must be connected to a recovery cable.

The database B2 dedicated to cables is arranged to store the data relating to the Y cables of an electronic cabinet, such as for example a cable identifier FIL1, ... FILy and an identifier of electrical contact PINm d 'a FINx electronic component.

The database B3 dedicated to digital representations of electronic components is arranged to store an identifier of a digital representation, a digital representation R (FIN1), ..., R (FINX) of an electronic component FINI, ... , FINx, and metadata characterizing said digital representation, such as for example the orientation of the image in a given coordinate system, etc. Such a digital representation may, for example, be an image recorded in the form of gray shades of a succession of pixels.

By way of nonlimiting example, such a device can be a personal computer, a touch pad, a smart phone ("smartphone" in English terminology), a connected watch ("smartwatch" in English terminology), etc.

According to a variant of the invention shown in FIG. 2, all or part of the databases B1, B2, B3 can be recorded in a data memory of a remote platform 30 cooperating with one or more devices, such as the devices 10 , 10.2 and 10.3, via a communication network R. The device 10 therefore comprises a communication means 15, in the form of a modulator-demodulator making it possible to communicate advantageously through the communication network R.

The device 10 can also include an electronic object 20. All or part of the data produced by the processing unit 11 of the device 10, such as the graphic representation of wiring information according to the invention, are therefore restored. by the electronic object 20, said object 20 communicating with the processing unit 11 of the device 10 by means of a wireless link of the Bluetooth type. Such an electronic object 20 can advantageously consist of augmented reality glasses, a connected electronic watch, a smart phone (“smartphone” in English terminology), etc. Graphic rendering is therefore done in the field of vision or near the operator's field of vision.

According to a variant of the invention, the electronic object 20 comprises a data memory 24 cooperating by coupling and / or by wired bus with a processing unit 21. Said data memory 24 can therefore record all or part of the necessary data to the implementation of the invention, such as for example the database B3 dedicated to digital representations of electronic components. This variant thus makes it possible to reduce the data flow having to pass between the device 10 and the electronic object 20 during the implementation of the invention.

Certain electronic objects 20 and devices 10 are not implemented by the same computer language. The program memory 13 of the device 10 can therefore include an application or more generally a computer program product, commonly called “bridge” according to English terminology, for translating the instructions emanating from the processing unit 11 of the device 10 in a computer language interpretable by the processing unit of the electronic object 20. This technique widely known to those skilled in the art, will not be described in more detail.

FIG. 4 presents a block diagram of a method 100 for rendering a graphical representation of wiring information of an electronic component.

The method 100 includes a step 103 of acquiring an identifier of a cable and an identifier of an electrical component. Thanks to the human-machine setpoint interface 12a of the device 10, for example a keyboard or a touch screen, an operator enters the cable identifier and the electronic component identifier and the processing unit 11 of the device 10 receives said identifiers.

From said identifiers, the processing unit 11 determines during a step 104 the electrical contact to which the cable FIL1 must be connected, for example the electrical contact PIN2 represented in FIG. 3. Such a step consists in searching the memory 14, and more precisely in the database B1 dedicated to electronic components and / or in the database B2 dedicated to cables, the values of the respective identifiers of cable and of component previously acquired and to extract the value of l 'associated electrical contact identifier.

According to a variant of the invention, step 104 may include the elaboration and the restitution by the human-machine interface of restitution 14b of an error message intended for the operator, when no identifier value cable and / or electronic component identifier recorded in the data memory 14 does not correspond to the values acquired during step 103.

To verify that the associated electrical contact has not been wired, the method 100 includes a step 105 for searching and reading the value of the validation attribute associated with the electrical contact PIN2. If such an attribute attests that the electrical contact PIN2 has already been wired, the method 100 includes a step 106 for developing and restoring an error message intended for the operator via the restitution human-machine interface 12b. On the contrary, if the validation attribute certifies that the electrical contact PIN2 has not yet been wired, then the validation attribute is updated during a step 107 to certify that the electrical contact PIN2 has been wired. Such a validation attribute can be registered in the form of a flag or an integer and can take two values. For example, such an attribute can take the value "0" or zero to signify that an electrical contact has not been wired, and the value "1" to signify that an electrical contact has been wired.

The method 100 now includes a step 109 for rendering by the man-machine interface 12b of a graphic representation comprising a digital representation R (FIN1) of the electronic component FINI and of a connection indicator Ib translating the location of the electrical contact on said representation R (FIN1). Prior to such a restitution, the processing unit 11 searches and extracts from the data memory 14 the identifier of the digital representation of the electronic component FINI in the database B1, then searches and extracts the digital representation R (FIN1) of the electronic component in the B3 database associated with said identifier.

To restore the connection indicator Ib at the location of the electrical contact PIN2 on the digital representation R (FIN1) of the electronic component FINI, the processing unit 11 extracts from the database B1 the spatial coordinates of the electrical contact on the digital representation R (FIN1). Such coordinates can be in the form of a percentage pair relative to the length and the width of the digital representation of the component R (FIN1) if said representation is a rectangular image or in the form of a pair of coordinates in a reference given and linked to the digital representation of the electronic component R (FIN1).

In order to follow the progress of the wiring, the restored graphical representation includes at least one tracking indicator Is. The method 100 therefore includes a step 108 for searching and identifying in the data memory 14, more precisely in the database B1, all of the electrical contacts associated with the FINI electronic component and read the values of the validation attributes associated with all of said electrical contacts. For each electrical contact, if the value of the validation attribute attests that the electrical contact has been wired, ie for example that the value of the attribute is equal to "1", then the unit processing 11 searches for and extracts the spatial coordinates of the associated electrical contact, then determines the location of said wired electrical contact on the digital representation R (FIN1) of the electronic component, before restoring a tracking indicator Is there.

The tracking and Is and Ib connection indicators are embedded in the digital representation of the electronic component R (FINx) or superimposed on said digital representation before being restored, according to techniques known to those skilled in the art. Following the step 106 of restitution of an error message or of the step 109 of restitution of a graphic representation, the method 100 loops on the step 103 of acquisition of identifiers of cable and of electronic component .

Such a graphical display makes it possible to indicate at a glance to the operator the location of the electrical contact to be wired, and to monitor the progress of the wiring.

In addition, the monitoring indicators make it possible to create additional visual cues to facilitate the identification of the PIN2 electrical contact on the electrical cabinet.

According to a variant of the invention, the method 100 may include a step 102 for initializing the rendering interface 12b and restoring interaction data intended for the operator. By way of example, such interaction data can be a numeric keyboard so that the operator can enter the identifiers of the cable and of the electronic component. The cable and electronic component identifiers can therefore be entered using known techniques for automatic input and completion or selection of the identifiers from a drop-down list of identifiers.

When the restitution human-machine interface 12b is remote from the device 10, the method 100 comprises a step for encoding and transmitting a message to the electronic object 20 comprising the component identifier, the cable identifier, the image identifier, and the spatial coordinates of the electrical contact to be wired. To follow the progress of the wiring, the message can also include the spatial coordinates of the electrical contacts already wired. The data are therefore received and interpreted by the electronic object 20, before being returned to the operator in the form of a graphic representation of wiring information in accordance with the invention.

The method 100 can also include a preliminary step 101 for pairing the electronic object 20 with the device 10.

When all or part of the data of the component, cable and image structures are recorded on the platform 30, the method 100 comprises steps for developing and decoding messages to and from the platform 30, and transmitting and receiving said messages by the communication means 15 through the communication network R. Said messages prepared and sent to the platform include, by way of example, the identifiers of the cable and of the electronic component acquired in step 103. Said messages received and decoded comprise by way of example, the electrical contact identifier associated with said identifiers. Step 104 of determining the electrical contact is therefore implemented by the platform 30. This technique being widely known to those skilled in the art, it will not be described in more detail.

Claims (9)

1. Method for rendering a graphical representation of wiring information from an electronic component (100), implemented by a processing unit (11) of an electronic device (10), the processing unit (11) cooperating with a human-machine setpoint and restitution interface (12a, 12b) and a data memory (14) comprising a database (B1) in which data dedicated to electronic components are stored (FINI .. ... FINx), a database (B2) in which data dedicated to cables are stored (FIL1, .... FILy) and a database (B3) in which data dedicated to digital representations of electronic components (R (FIN1), ... R (FINx)), said database (B1) storing data dedicated to electronic components (FINI, ..., FINx) comprising identifiers of electrical contacts (PIN1 .. ... PINm), spatial coordinates d at least one electrical contact (PINm) on a digital representation of an electronic component (R (Finx)), the method (100) being characterized in that it comprises: o a step (103) of acquiring a cable identifier (FILy) and an electronic component identifier (FINx) by the human deposit machine interface (12a); o a step (104) of searching for the values of the cable identifiers (FILy) and electronic component (FINx) in the database (B1) dedicated to the electronic components and determining the electrical contact (PINm) associated with said cable and said component electronic; o a step of searching and extracting a digital representation (R (FINx) associated with the electronic component identifier (FINx), from the database (B3) dedicated to digital representations of the electronic components (R (FIN1) ), ... R (FINx)); o a step of finding and extracting the values of the spatial coordinates of the electrical contact (PINm) associated with said cable and said electronic component of the database (B1) dedicated to electronic components (FINI, ..., FINx); a step (109) of drawing up and rendering a graphical representation of wiring information by the human rendering machine interface (12b) comprising the digital representation of the electronic component (R (FINx)) and an indicator of connection (Ib) positioned on the digital representation of the electronic component (R (FINx)) according to the spatial coordinates of the electrical contact previously extracted. 2. Method (100) according to claim 1, for which the data memory (14) includes a validation attribute characterizing the wiring state of the electrical contact (PINm), the method (100) being characterized in that it includes: - prior to step (109) of developing and rendering a graphical representation of wiring information, a step (105) of reading the value of the validation attribute associated with the electrical contact (PINm) , the step (109) of developing and restoring the graphic representation being implemented if and only if the value of the validation attribute attests that the electrical contact has not yet been wired. 3. Method (100) according to claim 2, characterized in that the method (100) comprises a step (106) of elaboration and restitution of an error message by the human-machine restitution interface (12b ), after step (105) of reading the value of the validation attribute associated with the electrical contact (PINm), if and only if the value of the validation attribute attests that the electrical contact has been previously wired . 4. Method (100) according to claim 2, characterized in that the method (100) comprises a step of updating (107) of the validation attribute to certify that the electrical contact has been wired, the step of update (107) being subsequent to step (109) of developing and restoring a graphic representation of wiring information. 5. Method (100) according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the method (100) comprises, prior to step (109) of developing and rendering a graphic representation of a wiring information: - a step (108) of identifying all of the electrical contacts associated with the electronic component (FINx) and of reading the respective values of the validation attributes associated with said contacts; - if a value of the validation attribute attests that an electrical contact has already been wired, a step of extracting the spatial coordinates associated with said electrical contact; the step (109) of drawing up and rendering the graphical representation by the man-machine rendering interface (12b) further comprising the drawing up and rendering of a tracking indicator (Is) positioned on the digital representation of the electrical component (R (FINx)) according to the spatial coordinates previously extracted. 6. Computer program product comprising program instructions which, when previously recorded in a program memory (13) of a device (10) comprising, in addition to said program memory (13), a data memory (14 ), a human-machine setpoint and restitution interface (12a, 12b), said memories (13, 14) and said interfaces (12a, 12b) cooperating with said processing unit (11), cause the implementation of a method (100) of rendering a graphical representation of wiring information of an electronic component according to any one of the preceding claims, when said program is executed on a computer. 7. Device (10) comprising a processing unit (11), a data memory (14), a program memory (13), a human machine setpoint and restitution interface (12a, 12b), said memories (13, 14) and said interfaces (12a, 12b) cooperating with said processing unit (11), said electronic device (10) being characterized in that it includes in the program memory (13), the instructions of a program product computer according to the preceding claim and in that it comprises in the data memory (14) a database (B1) dedicated to electronic components, a database (B2) dedicated to cables and a database ( B3) dedicated to digital representations of electronic components. 8. Device (10) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that it comprises an electronic object (20) cooperating with the processing unit (11) through a wireless connection. 9. Device (10) according to claim 8, characterized in that the electronic object (20) comprises a data memory (24) recording the database (B3) dedicated to the digital representations of the electronic components.