Off-line electronic documentation solutions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11222081-B2
Application number	US-201816199785-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2018
Priority date	Nov 27, 2017
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

A portable electronic device comprises a camera, a display screen, and a processor configured to identify a piece of equipment from one of an image of the piece of equipment or of a fiducial marker associated with the piece of equipment captured by the camera, display a header page associated with the piece of equipment on the display screen responsive to identifying the piece of equipment, the header page including options for accessing different types of documentation associated with the piece of equipment, receive an indication from a user of a type of documentation to access, and responsive to receiving the indication of the type of documentation to access, retrieve the documentation from a local memory of the portable electronic device, and display the documentation on the display screen.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A portable electronic device comprising:
a camera;
a display screen;
a local memory storing a database of identification information of a plurality of pieces of equipment; and
a processor configured to:
search the database and identify a piece of equipment from a comparison between identification information associated with one of an image of the piece of equipment or of a fiducial marker associated with the piece of equipment captured by the camera and the identification information in the database in the local memory;
display a header page associated with the piece of equipment on the display screen responsive to identifying the piece of equipment, the header page including options for accessing different types of documentation associated with the piece of equipment, the documentation pertaining to at least one of installation, operation, or maintenance for the piece of equipment;
receive an indication from a user of a type of documentation to access; and
responsive to receiving the indication of the type of documentation to access:
retrieve the documentation from the local memory of the portable electronic device without accessing a network or internet connection; and
display the documentation on the display screen.

2. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to identify the piece of equipment by extracting identification information from the image of the fiducial marker.

3. The portable electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the fiducial marker is one of a bar code and a quick response code.

4. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to identify the piece of equipment by comparing the image of the piece of equipment to a library of three-dimensional models of the plurality of pieces of equipment stored in the local memory of the portable electronic device.

5. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface configured to receive an order for a replacement part for the equipment, wherein the processor is further configured to store the order for the replacement part in the local memory of the portable electronic device while the network or internet connection is unavailable to the electronic device.

6. The portable electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the order for the replacement part when the network or internet connection becomes available to the portable electronic device.

7. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface configured to receive a service request for the equipment, wherein the processor is further configured to store the service request in the local memory of the portable electronic device while the network or internet connection is unavailable to the electronic device.

8. The portable electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the service request when the network or internet connection becomes available to the portable electronic device.

9. A system comprising:
a plurality of pieces of equipment;
a set of identifiers, each of the plurality of pieces of equipment being associated with a different identifier in the set of identifiers; and
a portable computing device including:
a camera;
a display screen;
a local memory storing a database of identification information of the plurality of pieces of equipment; and
a processor configured to:
search the database and identify a piece of equipment from a comparison between identification information associated with an image of the identifier associated with the piece of equipment captured by the camera and the identification information in the database in the local memory;
responsive to identifying the piece of equipment, retrieve equipment documentation regarding the piece of equipment from the local memory of the portable computing device, the documentation pertaining to at least one of installation, operation, or maintenance for the piece of equipment, the equipment documentation retrievable responsive to identifying the piece of equipment without access to a network or internet connection; and
display the documentation on the display screen.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor of the portable computing device is further configured to display a header page associated with the piece of equipment on the display screen responsive to identifying the piece of equipment, the header page including options for accessing different types of documentation associated with the piece of equipment.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor of the portable computing device is further configured to receive an indication from a user of a type of documentation to access.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor of the portable computing device is further configured to retrieve the equipment documentation responsive to receiving the indication of the type of documentation to access.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of pieces of equipment has the identifier affixed thereto.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the set of identifiers is printed on a sheet of paper unaffixed to any of the plurality of pieces of equipment.

15. A method of facilitating off-line accessing equipment information, the method comprising:
providing a portable electronic device including a local memory storing a database of identification information of a plurality of pieces of equipment;
providing an identifier of the equipment;
providing instructions to:
capture an image of the identifier of the equipment with a camera of the portable electronic device; and
select a type of equipment information to view from a menu of different types of information associated with the equipment displayed on a user interface of the portable electronic device responsive to capturing the image of the identifier of the equipment and responsive to the portable electronic device searching the database and identifying the equipment from a comparison between identification information associated with the image of the identifier of the equipment and the identification information in the database in the local memory, the selection of the type of equipment causing the portable electronic device to retrieve equipment information regarding the piece of equipment from the local memory, the equipment information comprising documentation pertaining to at least one of installation, operation, or maintenance for the equipment, the equipment information retrievable responsive to the selection of the type of equipment without access to a network or internet connection.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising providing instructions to affix the identifier of the equipment to the equipment.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising downloading the equipment information from a computer system of a vendor of the equipment to the portable electronic device.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising downloading the equipment information from the computer system of the vendor of the equipment to a removable memory device that is later coupled to the portable electronic device.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the computer system of the vendor determines what equipment to download information for based on a maintenance or service job number provided to the computer system of the vendor.

Assignees

• Evoqua Water Tech Llc

Inventors

• Whigham Hillary Phillip
• Harden Patrick

Classifications

• G06Q10/06316 Primary

  Sequencing of tasks or work · CPC title

• G06F21/6218

  to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database · CPC title

• G06F16/5854

  using shape and object relationship · CPC title

• G06F21/604

  Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems · CPC title

• G06F21/83

  input devices, e.g. keyboards, mice or controllers thereof · CPC title