WO2002048907A1 - Method of and information search system for searching for information in process control environment - Google Patents

Method of and information search system for searching for information in process control environment Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2002048907A1
WO2002048907A1 PCT/FI2001/001087 FI0101087W WO0248907A1 WO 2002048907 A1 WO2002048907 A1 WO 2002048907A1 FI 0101087 W FI0101087 W FI 0101087W WO 0248907 A1 WO0248907 A1 WO 0248907A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
information
contents
input
search system
control
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/FI2001/001087
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Hannu Paunonen
Original Assignee
Metso Automation Networks Oy
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Metso Automation Networks Oy filed Critical Metso Automation Networks Oy
Priority to AU2002217192A priority Critical patent/AU2002217192A1/en
Publication of WO2002048907A1 publication Critical patent/WO2002048907A1/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
    • G05B15/00—Systems controlled by a computer
    • G05B15/02—Systems controlled by a computer electric

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a method of searching for information in a process control environment, which comprises a process control sys- tern arranged to control and monitor the process, which method comprises inputting process-control-related information and searching for information that is similar in contents to the information to be input from the previously input and stored information.
  • the invention further relates to an information search system for searching for information in a process control environment, which comprises a process control system arranged to control and monitor the process, process-control-related information being arranged to be input into the information search system, which is arranged to search for information that is similar in contents to the information to be input from the previously input and stored in- formation.
  • Process control systems are typically used to control and monitor large-scale manufacturing processes, such as paper machines in pa- permaking, or systems supporting the production, such as power supply systems of industrial plants.
  • Process control systems were previously mainly sys- terns intended for production process automation, wherein the operation of the process and the related actuators could be controlled and monitored in a centralized manner from a control room, and values of process variables measured from the process could be transmitted to the control room for inspection by the operator.
  • Such process control systems are known per se to those skilled in the art.
  • JP 8,320,720 discloses a method of identifying a process state and informing the operator about it.
  • the method comprises determining, based on process state data, a state vector that describes the process state, and comparing the vector to previously stored reference vectors in order to lo- cate a reference vector that corresponds to the state vector in question.
  • the reference vector is used to locate a description of the current state of the process, which is then printed to the process operator.
  • the arrangement disclosed in the above application is intended for monitoring a dynamic process state.
  • US 6,005,565 discloses a tool for a general computer and
  • the tool can be used to determine the search criteria that describe the information to be retrieved and the information sources to be searched, so that the tool can simultaneously search for information from several different sources with the same criteria.
  • the search criteria and the information sources to be searched have to be defined only once and the search is similarly carried out only once in each information source.
  • the search results i.e. the items describing the information to be searched, are displayed to the user for example on the computer screen, such that the items retrieved from each information source are displayed in a separate window on the screen.
  • US 5,666,481 discloses an arrangement for facilitating repair of faults in communication networks, such as local area networks. According to this arrangement, when a fault first occurs, a fault report or a "trouble ticket" is filled, i.e. information that describes the fault is input into the fields in the card. The information in these fields is compared, by means of a rulebase, to fields of trouble tickets stored previously in a database and describing faults that have already been solved. Information must be input and stored in a predetermined form by means of predetermined fault codes.
  • US 5,414,798 discloses an expert system used in a process control environment for automatically monitoring and collecting process data related to process control.
  • the system comprises determining the significance of each collected piece of data. If the collected data is determined to be signifi- cant, knowledge information related to the process data is output on the screen for the operator to see. The operator can further modify and supplement the knowledge information output on the screen and he can store it in a database of the expert system.
  • the knowledge information to be stored is compared to knowledge information that has been stored previously in the system knowl- edge database, and the knowledge information is stored in the database only if it is not already contained therein and it has acceptable contents for storage.
  • the data to be monitored and collected is related to process events and it is in a specified form, wherefore it can be collected and processed in the expert system by means of reference operations stored in advance in the system.
  • this arrangement is not useful when the infor- mation to be fed into the system should be displayed and processed as textual information whose form and contents are not predetermined.
  • An objective of the present invention is to provide an arrangement, which facilitates, in a process control environment, information search from and input of new information into the process control system.
  • a method according to the invention is characterized by inputting the general process-control-related information that does not cause any activity or functions by itself, displaying or expressing the information to be input in textual form, comparing the contents of the information to be input to the contents of information stored previously in textual form in order to retrieve in- formation with similar contents from the previously stored information, and displaying the retrieved information that is similar in contents to the information to be input.
  • the information search system is characterized in that the information search system comprises means for input- ting, into the information search system, general process-control-related information that does not cause any activity or functions by itself, means for displaying or expressing the information to be input in textual form, means for storing the input information in textual form, means for comparing the contents of the information to be input to the contents of previously stored information in order to retrieve information with similar contents from the previously stored information, and means for displaying the retrieved information that is similar in contents to the information to be input.
  • a process control environment which comprises a process control system arranged to control and monitor the process, utilizes an information search system, to which users input general process-control-related information that does not cause any activity or functions by itself and that is displayed or presented in the system in textual form. Furthermore, according to a basic idea of the invention, the contents of the input information are compared to the contents of process-control- related information stored previously in textual form in the information search system in order to retrieve information with similar contents from all the stored information, and the retrieved information is displayed to the user.
  • the information to be input can be used only to search the information search system for previously stored information, or the information to be input can also be stored in the information search system among the previously stored information.
  • information is input in the form of a speech signal, which is then converted into textual form.
  • An advantage of the invention is that the information search system supports the operator for example during a process failure by searching for text material with similar contents to solve the failure while the operator is inputting a failure description into the system. Furthermore, information about previously stored information with similar contents is obtained simultaneously with the input of new information, whereupon the contents of this similar previously stored information can be utilized in the input of new information for example by means of copying. This makes inputting of information faster and easier for the user. Further, it will be easier to work out afterwards process events during a failure and the underlying reasons, since similar events will be more likely described in the same manner when it is possible to use previously stored text material with similar contents. Also, information can be input rapidly and easily by means of speech. [0013] 'Text material with similar contents' refers to text material that is similar or comparable in content or that contains a sufficient number of similarities.
  • FIG. 10 shows schematically an information search system according to the invention in a process control environment for searching for general process-control-related information in textual form and with similar contents in a process control system, which is intended to control and monitor the operation of an industrial process and possibly also to store information on the process and the operation thereof.
  • industrial processes where a process control system is used include a papermaking or a boardmaking process, power supply systems of an industrial plant or an electric company, energy production plants, sewage treatment plants or chemical industrial proc- esses.
  • General process-control-related information in textual form or information and knowledge in textual form refers for example to electronic diary or log entries describing process events, for example descriptions of events during a work shift, such as grade changes, or fault descriptions related to process operation or component.
  • the information search system shown in the figure comprises an input field 1 , where the information to be input is displayed in textual form.
  • the information to be input can be written into the input field 1 for example by means of a keyboard 5 and/or a mouse 6, which can also be used to control the information search system.
  • the information can also be input into the information search system by means of speech, in which case the system comprises a microphone 7 for receiving a speech signal, and a speech-coding unit 8, which converts the speech signal into text that is fed into the input field
  • the information search system further comprises an information search unit
  • the storage unit 3 stores the information input previously into the information search system in textual form and it is preferably a type of mass memory, such as a hard disk, which is used by means of suitable control software as a database for the information search system to permanently store the information input thereto, unless specifically deleted therefrom.
  • the information search unit 2 compares the contents of the text fed into the input field 1 with the contents of the information stored in the storage unit 3.
  • a list of the text materials with similar contents retrieved from the storage unit 3 is printed on a result field 4.
  • This list can be arranged according to the degree of similarity of the input textual-form information. For example, the top of the list contains the text material retrieved from the storage unit 3 that is closest in contents to the information to be input.
  • Text materials with similar contents can be described by means of a header, or a header and a summary, or the mere content of the text.
  • the information search unit 2 retrieves the information according to the aforementioned example from the storage unit 3 and prints for example the mere header information on the result field 4.
  • the user can then access the entire information for exam- pie by moving the mouse 6 pointer to the header and by clicking the mouse 6 button.
  • the information that is accessed can be displayed under the header in the same result field 4, or it can be displayed in a separate field, and it can thus be viewed in the fields and copied 9 therefrom either partly or in full to the input field 1.
  • the information to be fed into the input field 1 is in its final form, it can be stored 10 in the storage unit 3.
  • the information search unit 2 comprises a search program, which searches the storage unit 3 for text material with similar contents, based on the text fed into the input field 1.
  • the search for text material with similar contents can be conducted either simultaneously with the input of text into the input field 1 , or the search can only be started after the user feels he has described the event to be input to a sufficient extent.
  • the search can be intelligent, which means that the search program understands the contents and linguistic structures to some extent. Alternatively, the search can be based on mere words, or on the identification of given or automatically retrieved terms from the text.
  • the search programs can be generally used commercial programs known per se, but customized programs can also be used.
  • the search programs can also consist of entities of more than one program or software.
  • the operation of the input field 1 , the information search unit 2, the storage unit 3 and the result field 4, and the control thereof are prefera- bly carried out by software. Therefore it is fast and easy to apply the information search system according to the invention to a general-purpose or special- purpose computer. Also, the operation of the information search system can be controlled easily by means of peripheral devices, such as monitors, keyboards and mice, attached to computers. Information search can be activated for example by selecting with the mouse 6 a button displayed on the monitor screen for activating the function. A similar button or a mechanical button located for example in the keyboard 5 can be used to select the method of information input from speech and writing. The input field 1 and the result field 4 are output on the monitor display.
  • the information search unit 2 can be selected by means of the mouse 6 and/or the keyboard 5.
  • the correct location of the input information in a database formed in the storage unit 3 can be selected by the mouse 6 and/or the keyboard 5 from menus and indexed organizations output on the screen.
  • the functions of the information search system can also be controlled by means of commands given verbally via the microphone 7.
  • the information search system can be easily implemented as a fixed part of both the software and hardware of the process control system since the process control system typically comprises a large number of computers for executing process control and monitor- ing tasks.
  • An information search system can be implemented either entirely in a single computer, or the functions thereof can be distributed to several different computers.
  • An information search system can also be executed separately from the process control system, but it is used by means of the same equipment as the process control system.
  • the information search sys- tem can be implemented in a process control environment totally separately from the process control system, which means that the information search system is completely separate from both the software and hardware of the process control system.
  • the information search system can thus be carried out for example in a portable computer, which can be integrated into the process con- trol system, if needed.
  • An advantage of the invention is that the input of information provides information about previously stored information with similar contents, which can be utilized for inputting new information. This makes it simpler to input information and expedites the execution of a task or solving of a problem as well as information input.
  • the information input system is easy to use, since the information to be processed in the system is not required to be in any particular form or of any maximum or minimum length.
  • the information search system can vary within the scope of the claims. It is thus clear that even though in practice the information search system according to the invention is typically located in a control room, it can also be provided with either a fixed or a wireless connection from outside the control room, so that it can also be used from outside the control room or even from outside the entire industrial plant. It is also clear that the information search system can comprise more than one input field 1 , information search unit 2, storage unit 3 and result field 4, and that for example the physical structure and storage method of different storage units, i.e. the technology on which the storage of information is based, can vary.
  • the information search system can further comprise a speech synthesizer and a loudspeaker, so that the ma- terial with similar contents retrieved from the storage unit 3 can be converted into a speech signal in the speech synthesizer and listened to via the loudspeaker.
  • the information search system according to the invention can be used to only retrieve the desired information from the storage unit 3 in the information search system, in which case the information fed into the input field 1 is not to be stored in the storage unit 3. In this case it is possible that the input field 1 is hidden from the user and the correct form of the information to be input does not have to be checked since the information will not be stored. However, even in this case the input field 1 is needed to express the input information in textual form, so that the contents of the information can be compared with the contents of the information stored in the storage unit 3.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
  • Information Retrieval, Db Structures And Fs Structures Therefor (AREA)

Abstract

A method of and an information search system for searching for information in a process control environment, which comprises a process control system arranged to control and monitor the process, and in which method and information search system process-control-related information is input and displayed or expressed in textual form. The contents of the input information is compared to the contents of information stored previously in the information search system in order to retrieve information with similar contents, and the retrieved information with similar contents is displayed to the user.
PCT/FI2001/001087 2000-12-13 2001-12-12 Method of and information search system for searching for information in process control environment WO2002048907A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU2002217192A AU2002217192A1 (en) 2000-12-13 2001-12-12 Method of and information search system for searching for information in processcontrol environment

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FI20002736 2000-12-13
FI20002736A FI20002736A (fi) 2000-12-13 2000-12-13 Menetelmä ja tiedonhakujärjestelmä tiedon hakemiseksi prosessinohjausympäristössä

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2002048907A1 true WO2002048907A1 (fr) 2002-06-20

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/FI2001/001087 WO2002048907A1 (fr) 2000-12-13 2001-12-12 Method of and information search system for searching for information in process control environment

Country Status (3)

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AU (1) AU2002217192A1 (fr)
FI (1) FI20002736A (fr)
WO (1) WO2002048907A1 (fr)

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0304191A2 (fr) * 1987-08-14 1989-02-22 International Business Machines Corporation Système de recherche de textes
US5414798A (en) * 1988-06-17 1995-05-09 Hitachi, Ltd. Knowledge information generating system
WO1999046762A1 (fr) * 1998-03-09 1999-09-16 Kelvin Lp Traducteur vocal automatique

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0304191A2 (fr) * 1987-08-14 1989-02-22 International Business Machines Corporation Système de recherche de textes
US5414798A (en) * 1988-06-17 1995-05-09 Hitachi, Ltd. Knowledge information generating system
WO1999046762A1 (fr) * 1998-03-09 1999-09-16 Kelvin Lp Traducteur vocal automatique

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FI20002736A (fi) 2002-06-14
FI20002736A0 (fi) 2000-12-13
AU2002217192A1 (en) 2002-06-24

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