Patent · US Expired

Starfield display of control system diagnostic information

US5960381A · kind A · utility

162Cited by
6References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 7, 1998
Grant dateSep 28, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 7, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG05B23/0272
  • WIPO fieldControl
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The operational state of a complex control system, with a number of operating units controlled by a plurality of sensing and input devices, can be dynamically displayed as a starfield. In the starfield, each operating unit is depicted by a separate cluster of stars representing the states of the sensing devices for that operating unit. The position and other display attributes of the stars denote the functional state of the associated device. An archive of starfields is maintained in a storage device with each such starfield depicting the state of the control system for a particular operating condition, such as a specific system error. When an unusual starfield occurs, it can be compared to the archived starfields to determine whether a problem exists and if so determine a solution.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.