Digital twin computing apparatus, digital twin computing method, program and data structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12159148-B2
Application number	US-201917616153-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2019
Priority date	Jun 7, 2019
Publication date	Dec 3, 2024
Grant date	Dec 3, 2024

Abstract

The present invention includes a memory and a processor configured to store, in a storage, a first digital twin in which at least one model defining at least one function of an entity at a given time, and at least one piece of second data that includes, as a constituent element, first data for realizing the function of the entity due to being input to the model are included, create at least one second digital twin by performing predetermined first computation using, as a computation target, at least one first digital twin stored in the storage, and execute computation for arranging the second digital twin in a sandbox for which a predetermined time axis has been set, and realizing a function of an entity indicated by the second digital twin in the sandbox in accordance with the time axis.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A digital twin (DT) computing apparatus comprising:
a memory; and
a processor configured to:
store, in the memory, a DT of an entity, the DT including at least one model defining at least one function of the entity at a given time;
receive a sandbox execution request including a kind of at least one virtual DT and a time duration of at least one simulation;
create a sandbox using a predetermined sandbox template for performing the at least one simulation using the at least one virtual DT;
create the at least one virtual DT of the DT according to the request and using only one or more functions of the at least one function needed for the at least one simulation;
collect entity data related to the entity;
input the entity data into a model included in the at least one virtual DT in accordance with a predetermined time axis of the sandbox;
perform the at least one simulation according to the time duration by arranging the virtual DT in the sandbox for which the predetermined time axis has been set and executing the sandbox;
store at least one result of executing the sandbox; and
transmit the at least one result.

2. The DT computing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to create the at least one virtual DT by further:
setting at least one model and/or at least one piece of data included in the DT at the given time,
duplicating the at least one model and the at least one piece of data included in the DT at the given time, and
combining the at least one model and the at least one piece of data included in a plurality of DTs at the given time.

3. The DT computing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the setting further includes
exchanging a portion of models and a portion of data between a plurality of DTs, and
anonymizing predetermined data included in the DT according to an anonymization condition.

4. The DT computing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to create at least one new virtual DT of at least one second DT.

5. The DT computing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein during the at least one simulation, the entity data is based on data collected in real time and predetermined data.

6. The DT computing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined sandbox template is one of a plurality of predetermined sandbox templates.

7. The DT computing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the request is received from a service provision system.

8. The DT computing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the DT computing apparatus further includes a DT management unit and an interaction unit.

9. A digital twin (DT) computing method executed by a computer including a memory and a processor comprising:
storing, in the memory, a DT of an entity, the DT including at least one model defining at least one function of the entity at a given time;
receiving a sandbox execution request including a kind of at least one virtual DT and a time duration of at least one simulation;
creating a sandbox using a predetermined sandbox template for performing the at least one simulation using the at least one virtual DT;
creating the at least one virtual DT of the DT according to the request and using only one or more functions of the at least one function needed for the at least one simulation;
collecting entity data related to the entity;
inputting the entity data into a model included in the at least one virtual DT in accordance with a predetermined time axis of the sandbox;
performing the at least one simulation according to the time duration by arranging the virtual DT in the sandbox for which the predetermined time axis has been set and executing the sandbox;
storing at least one result of executing the sandbox; and
transmitting the at least one result.

10. The DT computing method according to claim 9 , wherein creating the at least one virtual DT further comprises:
setting at least one model and/or at least one piece of data included in the DT at the given time,
duplicating the at least one model and the at least one piece of data included in the DT at the given time, and
combining the at least one model and the at least one piece of data included in a plurality of DTs at the given time.

11. The DT computing method according to claim 10 , wherein the setting further includes
exchanging a portion of models and a portion of data between a plurality of DTs, and
anonymizing predetermined data included in the DT according to an anonymization condition.

12. The DT computing method according to claim 9 , further comprising creating at least one new virtual DT of at least one second DT.

13. The DT computing method according to claim 9 , wherein during the at least one simulation, the entity data is based on data collected in real time and predetermined data.

14. The DT computing apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the predetermined sandbox template is one of a plurality of predetermined sandbox templates.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having stored therein a program for causing a computer including a memory and a processor to execute a digital twin (DT) computing method comprising:
storing, in the memory, a DT of an entity, the DT including at least one model defining at least one function of the entity at a given time;
receiving a sandbox execution request including a kind of at least one virtual DT and a time duration of at least one simulation;
creating a sandbox using a predetermined sandbox template for performing the at least one simulation using the at least one virtual DT;
creating the at least one virtual DT of the DT according to the request and using only one or more functions of the at least one function needed for the at least one simulation;
collecting entity data related to the entity;
inputting the entity data into a model included in the at least one virtual DT in accordance with a predetermined time axis of the sandbox;
performing the at least one simulation according to the time duration by arranging the virtual DT in the sandbox for which the predetermined time axis has been set and executing the sandbox;
storing at least one result of executing the sandbox; and
transmitting the at least one result.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 15 , wherein creating the at least one virtual DT further comprises:
setting at least one model and/or at least one piece of data included in the DT at the given time,
duplicating the at least one model and the at least one piece of data included in the DT at the given time, and
combining the at least one model and the at least one piece of data included in a plurality of DTs at the given time.

17. The DT non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 16 , wherein the setting further includes
exchanging a portion of models and a portion of data between a plurality of DTs, and
anonymizing predetermined data included in the DT according to an anonymization condition.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 15 , further comprising creating at least one new virtual DT of at least one second DT.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 15 , wherein during the at least one simulation, the entity data is based on data collected in real time and predetermined data.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 15 , wherein

Assignees

• Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

Inventors

• Iida Yasuhiro
• Kawamura Ryutaro
• Hanadate Masayuki
• Mori Koya
• Nakamura Takao
• Kondo Shigekuni
• Koike Yukio
• Ogawa Hiroshi
• Sakai Hiroshi
• Tanaka Hiroyuki

Classifications

• G06F9/453

  Help systems · CPC title

• G06F9/455

  Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines · CPC title

• G16H40/67

  for remote operation · CPC title

• G06N20/00

  Machine learning · CPC title

• G06N5/02

  Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation · CPC title