ITRM970614A1 - REMOTE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE SUPPORT SYSTEM - Google Patents

Description

Description of the invention

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Currently, without the aid of the system in question, the Technical Assistance Centers of the Plant manufacturing industries installed at great distances, are not able to solve "promptly" a technical problem or a failure on machinery installed in geographically distant places, and this is due to the long series of events that normally follow one another before reaching the solution of the problem.

These events are:

- occurrence of the inconvenience;

- local solution attempts;

- communications (telex, fax, telephone, etc.) to the Manufacturer's Service Center.

- interpretation of the problem by the Service Center technicians;

- analysis of possible solutions;

- proposals from the Center and on-site tests;

- restoration (in the most favorable cases) of the efficiency of the plant;

- or plant shutdown:

- dispatch of technicians from the Assistance Center to the place of the problem; The obvious consequences of this state of affairs are long downtimes, production delays, high intervention costs and considerable economic damage.

With the system for which the patent is requested it is possible to avoid all this. The system makes it possible to intervene "promptly" by the Assistance, with a fast and correct diagnosis and relative corrective measure, drastically reducing the time to restore efficiency, and consequently the economic damage,

In addition to assistance, the System can carry out remote training through telematic file libraries. (eg. Maintenance manuals) Composition of the system.

The system consists of two Personal Computer stations connected to each other; the first called Central, operating in a Main Assistance Center, the second, portable, (Portable Compact Workstation) operating in the place where the system to which assistance is located (industrial production site, technological plant, construction site, etc.)

The system is completed by two video conferencing cameras connected to the stations and two audio headsets.

Central Station:

- N ° 1 PC pentium 200 MMX

- 64 Mb tower

- Std H 323 videofrequency

- MPEG decompression with output to TV

Peripheral Station:

N ° 1 pentium 200 MMX portable PC

- videoconference

- MPEG 1 compression

Transmission

- TLC; Via analogue telephone line.

- ISDN: Through digital telephone line from 128 to 512 Kbit.

- INTERNET.

- SAT: Via Satellite Terminal.

Operating mode

- videoconference connection between the two stations upon the occurrence of the event, due to the exposure of the incident that occurred:

- shooting of a video, with a video camera, of the detail of the faulty system.

- acquisition, compression and transmission of the video in electronic file format from the peripheral station to the central station;

- viewing and discussion of the video simultaneously between the stations for the diagnosis and identification of the most appropriate corrective measures. - restoration of efficiency.

The system also allows:

Claims.

1. Simultaneous operation mode of the videoconference and MPEG compression / decompression function:

Claims (1)

With reference to your valuable equal object of May 3, 1999 protocol n ° 800277, we communicate the following changes: A) - point b of the instruction sheet (Special Name). The word "FAREYE" shown in line 12 of page 1, line 12 of page 2, line 7 of page 4 must be understood as deleted from the text of the description of the invention. B) - point c of the Claims instruction sheet The claims concerning the 'system' for supporting remote technical assistance "which are the subject of the patent application, listed below, characterize the peculiarity and uniqueness of the invention: 1 -contemporary videoconferencing function with the compression / decompression function, sending and viewing of videos in digital format with the use of MPEG compression technology. 2-possibility of remote control of the MPEG encoder for filming, and the possibility of previewing the video itself, through videoconferencing. 3-automatic remote transfer of the recorded file, possibly encrypted, with the possibility of immediate viewing. 4-possibility to register software applications that remote users can launch on the local machine, according to their access level. (eg PLC control applications on a production line). 5-possibility to request automatically and during a videoconference session, which applications are running on the remote machine to take control without the need for an interlocutor. This is in order to control stations unattended or manned by inexperienced users. Sure to have complied with what is requested and available for any clarification should it be necessary, we offer our best regards on this occasion.