JP7593129B2 - Information processing device and information processing method - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to an information processing device and an information processing method.

In plants, etc., process control systems are constructed to control various state quantities in industrial processes. The various state quantities in industrial processes are, for example, pressure, temperature, or flow rate. In plants, etc., a wide variety of drawings are used to construct, operate, maintain, and repair process control systems. Examples of these drawings include P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagram), PFD (Process Flow Diagram), equipment lists, equipment setting information, CAD (Computer Aided Design) drawings, control logic diagrams, simulation models, and graphic drawings.

Regarding the above diagram, a device is known that displays an image of a piping diagram of multiple control units that make up a plant according to the piping information of the multiple control units (for example, Patent Document 1).

Patent No. 6228681

Conventional devices are required to be more convenient. For example, in drawings such as P&ID, editing or modification may be performed on a group of elements that consists of at least one element. In such cases, in conventional devices, the user must manually select the group of elements to be edited or modified from the drawing.

This disclosure has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide an information processing device and information processing method that improve convenience.

An information processing device according to some embodiments includes a control unit that acquires a plurality of existing element group lists including information on registered element groups registered among element groups each composed of at least one element used in at least one drawing, extracts registered element groups from the registered element groups in the plurality of existing element group lists without overlapping, and generates a master library composed of the extracted registered element groups. The master library can be used to generate a new element group list for a target drawing. This configuration reduces the effort required of a user to manually select an element group to be edited or modified from the target drawing as a registered element group. Thus, an information processing device with improved convenience is provided.

In an information processing device according to one embodiment, the control unit may store data of the registered element group in the master library for each notation rule, which is a rule for representing the element in the drawing. By storing data of the registered element group for each notation rule in the master library, the master library becomes more versatile.

In an information processing device according to one embodiment, when data of a registered element group of a given notation rule does not exist in the master library, the control unit may generate data of the registered element group of the given notation rule based on the existing data of the registered element group and the given notation rule, and add the generated data of the registered element group to the master library. This configuration makes the master library more versatile.

In an information processing device according to one embodiment, the control unit may update the master library when, after generating the master library, a group of elements selected in a drawing by a user operation is registered as a group of registered elements. By updating the master library with the group of registered elements registered by a user operation, the updated master library becomes more versatile.

In an information processing device according to one embodiment, when the control unit acquires a new element group list after generating the master library, the control unit may update the master library by extracting, from the registered element groups in the new element group list, registered element groups that do not overlap with the registered element groups in the master library and adding the extracted registered element groups to the master library. By updating the master library, the updated master library becomes more versatile.

In an information processing device according to one embodiment, the control unit may detect a hit element group that matches an element group present in a target drawing for which a new element group list is to be generated from among the registered element groups in the master library, and generate the new element group list from the hit element group. This configuration reduces the effort required of a user to manually select an element group to be edited or modified from the target drawing as a registered element group.

In one embodiment of the information processing device, the control unit may execute the process of the present application to search for all element groups that match the hit element group from the target drawing. With this configuration, element groups that match the hit element group are automatically searched for in the target drawing.

An information processing method according to some embodiments includes obtaining a plurality of existing element group lists including information on registered element groups registered among element groups each composed of at least one element used in at least one drawing, extracting registered element groups from the registered element groups in the plurality of existing element group lists without overlapping, and generating a master library composed of the extracted registered element groups. This configuration reduces the effort required for a user to manually select an element group to be edited or modified from a target drawing as a registered element group. Thus, an information processing method with improved convenience is provided.

The present disclosure provides an information processing device and information processing method that improves user convenience.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image on a display unit shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image on a display unit shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image on a display unit shown in FIG. 1 . 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for registering an element group and searching for an element group in the information processing device shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of basic information of an existing plant and a target plant. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing result of provisional application. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of an element group list. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a processing result of this application. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for generating a new element group list in the information processing device shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a master library. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a master library. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for generating a master library in the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image on a display unit shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image on a display unit shown in FIG. 1 . 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for data conversion processing in the information processing device shown in FIG. 1 .

One embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

First Embodiment
As shown in Fig. 1, the information processing system 1 includes an information processing device 10, a terminal device 20, a terminal device 30, and an external storage device 40. Fig. 1 shows the information processing system 1 including two terminal devices, that is, the terminal device 20 and the terminal device 30. However, the number of terminal devices included in the information processing system 1 may be any number.

The information processing device 10, the terminal device 20, the terminal device 30, and the external storage device 40 can communicate with each other via a network 2. The network 2 may be any network such as the Internet.

The information processing device 10 is, for example, one or more server devices capable of communicating with each other. However, the information processing device 10 is not limited to a server device. The information processing device 10 may be any general-purpose electronic device such as a WS (Work Station) or a PC (Personal Computer), or may be another dedicated electronic device.

Each of the terminal devices 20 and 30 is used by a user. Each of the terminal devices 20 and 30 is, for example, a smartphone or a mobile terminal such as a tablet terminal or a notebook PC. However, each of the terminal devices 20 and 30 may be any electronic device.

The external storage device 40 is, for example, a storage device that supplements the storage capacity of the information processing device 10. The external storage device 40 is, for example, any storage device such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid State Drive).

The information processing device 10 handles a wide variety of drawings. The information processing device 10 includes a display unit 11, an input unit 12, a communication unit 13, a memory unit 14, and a control unit 15.

The display unit 11 includes a display. The display may be an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display. The display unit 11 is connected to the information processing device 10 as an external output device. The connection method between the display unit 11 and the information processing device 10 may be any connection method. For example, the connection method may be USB (Universal Serial Bus), HDMI (registered trademark) (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or the like. However, the display unit 11 may be provided in the information processing device 10.

In the following, the information generated by the information processing device 10 will be described as being displayed on the display unit 11. However, the information generated by the information processing device 10 may also be displayed on the display unit of another terminal device, such as the terminal device 20 or the terminal device 30.

The input unit 12 includes at least one input interface capable of receiving input operations from a user. The input interface may be a physical key, a capacitive key, a pointing device, a touch screen integral with a display, a microphone, or the like. The input unit 12 is connected to the information processing device 10 as an external input device. The connection method between the input unit 12 and the information processing device 10 may be any connection method. For example, the connection method may be USB, HDMI (registered trademark), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or the like. However, the input unit 12 may be provided in the information processing device 10.

In the following description, it is assumed that the input unit 12 receives input operations from the user. However, the input operations from the user may be received by other terminal devices such as the terminal device 20 and the terminal device 30.

The communication unit 13 is configured to include at least one communication module. The communication module is, for example, a module compatible with standards such as a wired LAN (Local Area Network) or a wireless LAN. The control unit 15 communicates with the terminal device 20, the terminal device 30, and the external storage device 40 via the network 2 using the communication unit 13.

The storage unit 14 is configured to include at least one semiconductor memory, at least one magnetic memory, at least one optical memory, or a combination of at least two of these. The semiconductor memory is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a ROM (Read Only Memory). The RAM is, for example, an SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) or a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory). The ROM is, for example, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory). The storage unit 14 may function as a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, or a cache memory. The storage unit 14 stores data used in the operation of the information processing device 10 and data obtained by the operation of the information processing device 10.

The memory unit 14 stores drawing data, notation rules, element group lists, semantic models, etc. Some or all of the information stored in the memory unit 14 may be stored in the external storage device 40.

Drawings are used, for example, to construct, operate, maintain, and modify a process control system in a plant or the like. Drawings are, for example, P&IDs, PFDs, equipment lists, equipment setting information, CAD drawings, control logic diagrams, simulation models, or graphic drawings. Below, an example is described in which the configuration according to this embodiment is applied to a drawing showing a plant, but the present invention may be applied to a variety of drawings, including drawings consisting of elements.

A drawing is represented by a plurality of elements. An element corresponds to, for example, a device such as a pump. In the drawing, the type of element, attribute information of the element, and the arrangement of the elements are specified. The attribute information of the element is information indicating at least one of the nature of the element and the operating conditions of the element. The information indicating the nature of the element is, for example, information indicating the model number of the device corresponding to the element, information on the setting value set in the device corresponding to the element, and information indicating the material of the element. The information indicating the material of the element is, for example, information such as stainless steel if the type of the element is a tank. The information indicating the operating conditions of the element is information indicating the conditions for causing the element to perform a specific operation. The information indicating the operating conditions of the element is, for example, information indicating the conditions for performing some control when the amount of the contents of the tank exceeds a predetermined value (for example, 500 liters) if the type of the element is a tank. Each element in the drawing is assigned attribute information. Also, in the drawing, it is possible to determine which is upstream and which is downstream from the positional relationship of the elements on the drawing. Alternatively, the arrangement information of the elements is predetermined. The element arrangement information is information that indicates which of two elements that are connected to each other in a drawing is located upstream or downstream. The element arrangement information may be stored in the storage unit 14 separately from the drawing data. The element arrangement information is, for example, From/To information in a digital P&ID.

The drawing data includes symbol data of elements. The symbol of an element is represented, for example, by a graphic, and is represented by combining at least one of a letter and a color as appropriate. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, which will be referred to later, the symbol of element B is represented by the letter "B" and a circular graphic. The drawing data also includes data of element groups consisting of at least one element. An element group is a collection of elements consisting of at least one element used in at least one drawing. An element group is also displayed as a "group" on the display unit 11.

The notation rules stipulate the rules for representing elements as symbols in a drawing. The symbols for elements vary depending on the standard, the type of drawing, the type of tool, the version of the drawing, the plant operating company, etc. The notation rules for each different drawing are stored in the memory unit 14.

The element group list is information indicating at least one element group, and includes information on the registered element group, as described below. The information on the registered element group includes, for example, identification information of the registered element group, the type of each element included in the registered element group, array information indicating the array of the elements included in the registered element group, and attribute information of each element included in the registered element group.

The semantic model is used when the control unit 15 searches for an element group from a drawing or when the control unit 15 analyzes an element group. The semantic model represents a drawing used in the process control system by first information indicating the elements included in the drawing and second information indicating the relationship between the elements. The semantic model is generated, for example, by converting the drawing used in the process control system according to a predetermined conversion rule. The predetermined conversion rule may be set for each type of drawing. The control unit 15 may search for an element group from a drawing or analyze an element group by appropriately analyzing the elements that constitute the element group or the connections between the elements by pattern matching, image recognition, graph theory, ontology, or the like. The information used for such search and analysis of the element group is stored in the memory unit 14.

The control unit 15 is configured to include at least one processor, at least one dedicated circuit, or a combination of these. The processor is a general-purpose processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or a dedicated processor specialized for a specific process. The dedicated circuit is, for example, an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). The control unit 15 executes processes related to the operation of the information processing device 10 while controlling each part of the information processing device 10.

<Registration process>
The control unit 15 receives a user operation, such as designating a group of elements by selecting a part of a drawing to be displayed on the display unit 11, via the input unit 12. When the control unit 15 receives this user operation via the input unit 12, it acquires data of the group of elements that is part of the drawing designated by the user operation from the storage unit 14. When the control unit 15 acquires the data of the drawing, it causes an image of the drawing to be displayed on the display unit 11. For example, the control unit 15 causes an image of a drawing showing the configuration of a plant to be displayed in the display area 11A of the display unit 11 as shown in FIG. 2 .

The control unit 15 may receive an instruction via the input unit 12 to transition to a mode in which a group of elements in the drawing can be selected by a user operation. When the control unit 15 receives this instruction, it may transition the mode of the information processing device 10 to a mode in which a group of elements in the drawing can be selected by a user operation.

The control unit 15 accepts a user operation to select an element group in the drawing through the input unit 12. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the user selects an area 50 in the drawing through a touch operation 3 to select an element group located in the area 50. The element group selected by the user is, for example, a collection of elements that perform a certain function. The element group located in the area 50 is composed of a valve, an element A, and an element B. The user selects the element group for which a batch process is to be performed in the subsequent process. The batch process is, for example, a process of editing or modifying an element group, etc., for multiple identical element groups (groups) present in the drawing at once. Note that the operation of selecting an element group from the drawing is not limited to a touch panel operation. The operation of selecting an element group from the drawing may be performed by moving a cursor, etc., with a pointing device such as a mouse, a trackball, or a touchpad.

The control unit 15 registers the element group selected by the user operation by storing information about the selected element group in the storage unit 14. In this embodiment, the control unit 15 registers the selected element group by adding information about the selected element group to the element group list. Hereinafter, the registered element group is also referred to as a "registered element group" ("registered group"). When adding information about the selected element group to the element group list, the control unit 15 may generate identification information for each registered element group.

The control unit 15 may cause the display unit 11 to display information about the registered element group. For example, the control unit 15 may cause the display unit 11 to display an image 60 showing the registered element group and an image 61 showing information about each element constituting the registered element group, i.e., component information, in a display area 11B of the display unit 11 as shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the identification information of the registered element group is displayed as "Registered Group No. 002". The display area 11B may be used as a UI (User Interface) for the user to refer to information about the element group and to perform operations such as editing, information analysis, or screen transitions. The information displayed in the display area 11B as shown in FIG. 2 may be displayed by a pop-up window or the like near the region 50.

<Search process>
The control unit 15 executes a search process to search for an element group matching the element group selected by the user operation from the drawing. The control unit 15 may execute the search process in response to the user selecting an element group by selecting an area 50 as shown in FIG. 2. Hereinafter, the element group selected by the user operation is also described as a "search element group"("searchgroup"). If the registration process has already been executed, the search element group becomes a registered element group. An element group matching the search element group is also described as a "matching element group"("matchinggroup"). The control unit 15 may search for an element group (hit element group) that exists in the drawing to be processed among the registered element groups included in the existing element group list as the search element group, but the details of this process will be described in the second embodiment.

For example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the search element group is an element group located in area 50. This search element group is composed of three elements: a valve, element A, and element B. In this search element group, the most upstream element is the valve, element A is connected downstream of the valve, and element B is connected downstream of element A.

The control unit 15 detects an element group that satisfies the matching condition of the element group as a matching element group. The matching condition of the element group may be set as appropriate. The matching condition of the element group may be, for example, an element group that is composed of the same elements as the elements that constitute the search element group, regardless of the attribute information accompanying the elements, and the arrangement of the elements of the element group is the same as the arrangement of the elements of the search element group. Alternatively, the matching condition of the element group may be, for example, in addition to the type and arrangement of the elements that constitute the element group, that the attribute information (which is necessary) accompanying the elements matches (or meets the conditions) with the elements of the search element group. In other words, the matching condition of the element group may include that the attribute information accompanying each element that constitutes the element group is compatible.

When an element in the drawing satisfies the matching condition of the element, the control unit 15 detects the element as an element matching the element of the search element group. The matching condition of the element is, for example, a condition that the element is of the same type as the type of the element in the search element group and is given the same attribute information as the attribute information of the element in the search element group. The control unit 15 may acquire information on the matching condition of the element group stored in the storage unit 14. The control unit 15 may also receive the matching condition of the matching element group from the input unit 12. Since there may be attribute information that does not necessarily need to match, the degree to which the attribute information matches the matching condition may be specified as appropriate. The condition may be specified as appropriate by the user, or may be a condition set in advance and stored in a rule storage unit (not shown) in the storage unit 14. Furthermore, the user may change the rules stored in the storage unit 14 as appropriate.

Specifically, first, the control unit 15 searches the drawing for an element that matches the first element of the search element group. The first element is, for example, the element located at the most upstream position among the elements of the search element group. However, the first element may be set appropriately. For example, the first element may be set by the user, or may be an element that plays an important role among the elements of the drawing or the search element group. Alternatively, the first element may be set appropriately based on a predetermined rule stored in the storage unit 14 (for example, a rule that determines which element in the drawing is to be searched with priority, etc.). For example, in the search element group shown in FIG. 3, the first element is a valve. That is, in the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 15 searches for a valve.

Next, when the control unit 15 searches for an element that matches the first element of the search element group, it determines whether there is an element that matches other elements than the first element of the search element group. Specifically, the control unit 15 determines whether an element adjacent to the element that matches the first element matches the second element of the search element group based on the arrangement information of the above elements. The second element is an element adjacent to the first element in the search element group. When the first element is the most upstream element, the second element is an element connected downstream of the first element. For example, the second element is element A in the search element group as shown in FIG. 3. When the control unit 15 determines that the element adjacent to the element that matches the first element matches the second element, it determines whether the element adjacent to the element that matches the second element matches the third element of the search element group based on the arrangement information of the above elements. The third element is an element different from the first element among the elements adjacent to the second element in the search element group. For example, the third element is element B in the search element group as shown in FIG. 3. The control unit 15 repeats this process in sequence to determine whether there is an element that matches any element other than the first element in the search element group.

In this way, the control unit 15 searches for an element that matches the first element in the search element group. Next, starting from the first element, the control unit 15 sequentially determines whether there is an element that matches the other elements in the search element group. Therefore, as soon as an element that does not match the elements in the search element group is found, the process of matching that element with the search element group is interrupted at any time. As a result, the process can be made more efficient.

When the control unit 15 determines that an element that matches an element other than the first element in the search element group exists and is arranged in the same order as the search element group (and further that the necessary attribute information associated with each element matches), it detects an element group consisting of elements that match the elements in the search element group as a matching element group. In the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 15 detects element groups 51 and 52 as matching element groups. Note that in element group 53, element C is connected downstream of element A. As a result, the control unit 15 does not detect element group 53 as a matching element group.

Note that the matching conditions for an element group are not limited to those described above. As another example, the matching conditions for an element group may be a condition that the type and arrangement of the elements of the element group are the same as the type and arrangement of the elements of the search element group. In this case, the control unit 15 detects an element group as a matching element group if the type and arrangement of the elements of the element group are the same as the type and arrangement of the elements of the search element group, even if the attribute information of the elements of the element group is not the same as the attribute information of the elements of the search element group. Such matching conditions may be changed by the user by changing the settings or making a selection as appropriate.

The control unit 15 stores the information of the detected matching element group in the storage unit 14. The control unit 15 stores the information of the matching element group in the storage unit 14 in association with the information of the registered element group. The information of the matching element group may include position information of the matching element group. The position information of the element group may be, for example, at least one of the page number or drawing number of the drawing to be divided, the layer number, the coordinates specifying the location of the element group, and the number of the element group from the piping or wiring present thereon and the reference piping, etc. The layer number indicates the number of the drawing superimposed from the reference drawing when multiple drawings are superimposed. By storing the position information of the matching element group, the information processing device 10 can use the information of the element group once searched for without searching again.

The control unit 15 may display the detected matching element group on the display unit 11 in a display mode different from other elements. For example, the control unit 15 displays the matching element group 51, 52 together with the search element group in region 50 in the display area 11A of the display unit 11 as shown in FIG. 4 in a display mode different from others. The display mode different from others may be a display in a different color from others, or a display with a specific mark. The control unit 15 may display the matching element group by changing the line type, adding a symbol, or adding information that identifies the element group, such as an element group number or an element group name. With this configuration, the user can easily recognize the searched matching element group in the drawing displayed on the display unit 11.

The control unit 15 may cause the display unit 11 to display the number of matching element groups detected. For example, the control unit 15 may cause the display area 11C of the display unit 11 as shown in FIG. 4 to display that there are three matching element groups in the drawing displayed in the display area 11A as the currently displayed part. The control unit 15 may also cause the display area 11C to display that there are 45 matching element groups in the entire drawing, including other pages not displayed in the display area 11A as the entire drawing.

The control unit 15 may display an image showing the distribution of the matched element groups present in the drawing of the entire plant on the display unit 11. For example, the control unit 15 displays the presence area distribution as an image showing the distribution of the matched element groups present in the drawing of the entire plant in the display area 11D of the display unit 11 as shown in FIG. 4. The frame 62 indicates a portion of the drawing of the entire plant displayed in the display area 11A. Each of the rectangles 63, 64, and 65 corresponds to a portion in the drawing of the entire plant where the matched element groups exist. In the portion corresponding to the rectangle 63, there are 10 matched element groups, and three of the 10 are displayed in the display area 11A. In the portion corresponding to the rectangle 64, there are 15 matched element groups. In the portion corresponding to the rectangle 65, there are 20 matched element groups. By referring to the image showing the distribution of the matched element groups present in the drawing of the entire plant on the display unit 11, the user can easily understand where the matched element groups exist in the drawing. Such a display is useful when it is desired to perform work by specializing in a certain element group in the design and maintenance of the drawing. Such work may include, for example, modifying elements or checking the distribution of a group of compatible elements. Note that the control unit 15 may perform the search process not on the entire plant drawing, but on a specific range selected by the user within the entire plant drawing.

When a search element group is selected, the control unit 15 may automatically search the drawing for a matching element group that matches the search element group, even if the user does not give an explicit instruction to search or register the search results. Furthermore, the control unit 15 may store the location information of the searched matching element group in the storage unit 14. With this configuration, the user can use the search results as needed. For example, the user can easily select a search element group by operating the terminal device 20 or terminal device 30 as shown in FIG. 1 while away from home, and then use the automatically stored search result information when performing full-scale work such as editing the drawing.

Figure 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure for registering an element group and searching for an element group in the information processing device 10 shown in Figure 1. When the control unit 15 receives a user operation to specify a drawing via the input unit 12, the control unit 15 displays the data of the drawing specified by the user operation on the display unit 11, and then starts the process shown in Figure 5. An information processing method including the procedure shown in Figure 5 may be realized as a program executed by the processor of the information processing device 10. This program may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

The control unit 15 receives a user operation to select a group of elements in the drawing through the input unit 12 (step S10). The control unit 15 registers the group of elements selected by the user operation by storing the group of elements in the storage unit 14 (step S11).

The control unit 15 treats the group of elements registered in step S11 as a search element group (search group) and searches the drawing for an element that matches the first element of the search element group (step S12).

When the control unit 15 searches for an element that matches the first element of the search element group, it determines whether or not there is an element that matches other elements than the first element of the search element group (step S13). If the control unit 15 determines that there is an element that matches other elements than the first element of the search element group (step S13: YES), it proceeds to processing of step S14. On the other hand, if the control unit 15 determines that there is no element that matches other elements than the first element of the search element group (step S13: NO), it ends the search process.

In the processing of step S14, the control unit 15 detects an element group consisting of elements that match elements of the search element group as a matching element group (matching group).

In the processing of step S15, the control unit 15 stores information about the matching element group in the memory unit 14.

In the processing of step S16, the control unit 15 causes the display unit 11 to display the group of matching elements in a display mode different from that of the other elements.

In the processing of step S17, the control unit 15 causes the display unit 11 to display an image showing the distribution of the group of compatible elements present in the drawing of the entire plant.

The drawing for which the matching element group is searched may not be a single drawing, but may be multiple drawings. Furthermore, the drawings for which the matching element group is searched may be drawings relating to the same plant, or drawings relating to multiple different plants.

In this way, in the information processing device 10 according to the first embodiment, the control unit 15 accepts a user operation to select an element group in a drawing through the input unit 12. Furthermore, the control unit 15 executes a search process to search for a matching element group, using the element group selected by the user as a search element group. In this way, in the information processing device 10, a matching element group that matches the element group selected by the user operation is automatically searched for. As a result, the user can easily extract all element groups that match a specific element group from the drawing with little labor. Furthermore, in the information processing device 10, the selection of an element group can be accepted from the display unit 11 that displays the drawing. With this configuration, the user can easily select an element group. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the selection work of an element group in a complex and huge drawing can be made more efficient, and the work time and labor costs can be reduced, and work errors can be reduced.

Second Embodiment
By executing the registration process and the like described in the first embodiment, the storage unit 14 stores an existing element group list generated for drawings related to an existing plant (selected and specified in an existing drawing). In the second embodiment, a configuration will be described in which such an existing element group list is used to generate a new element group list. A new element group list is generated, for example, by specifying an element group (group group) to be processed for a drawing of a plant currently being processed. Hereinafter, the plant for which a new element group list is generated is also referred to as the "target plant". In addition, a drawing used in the process control system of the target plant is also referred to as the "target drawing".

<Candidate plant selection process>
The control unit 15 selects at least one candidate plant from among the multiple existing plants based on the target drawing, the existing drawing, and the element group list registered for the existing drawing, all stored in the memory unit 14. The selection of the candidate plant may be performed, for example, in response to an instruction to create a new group list being received by the input unit 12. An "existing plant" is a plant for which an existing drawing is used in the process control system. A "candidate plant" is a plant selected from the existing plants and represented by an existing drawing that reuses the element group list for the target drawing. A provisional application process is performed on the candidate plant, as described below.

Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of basic information of an existing plant and a target plant. For example, multiple plants including plants P1 to P4 as shown in Figure 6 are existing plants. In Figure 6, as an example of basic information regarding the existing plant and the target plant, information such as the plant type (e.g., product), operating company (or involved companies/organizations such as design companies), time of design, and size of the plant are shown, but a wide range of information exists and the basic information is not limited to these. Also, Figure 6 is an example, and in reality, there may be data on a larger number of plants and drawings related thereto. It is generally difficult for a user to select a specific plant by visual inspection or judgment of the information from basic information consisting of a large number of items for such a large number of plants. Therefore, the control unit 15 automatically selects a plant that is highly similar to the target drawing, which is the drawing of the target plant currently being processed (one with a high similarity of the drawing) as a candidate plant. In the example of Figure 6, the control unit 15 selects at least one candidate plant from a plurality of plants including plants P1 to P4.

The control unit 15 selects a candidate plant based on the comparison result between the basic information of the existing plant and the basic information of the target plant. The basic information of the plant is information about basic items related to the design of the process control system of the plant. The items of the basic information of the plant are items that are likely to affect the configuration and elements of the element group in the drawing. In other words, the comparison result between the basic information of the existing plant and the basic information of the target plant can be used to determine which of the registered element groups registered in the drawing related to the existing plant is closer to the element group included in the target drawing (which has a higher inclusion rate of the element group). The control unit 15 may acquire the basic information of the plant stored in the memory unit 14. The control unit 15 may receive and acquire the basic information of the existing plant from an external device via the network 2 using the communication unit 13. The control unit 15 may accept the basic information of the target plant from the input unit 12.

The basic information includes the plant type of each plant (e.g., the product manufactured in the plant), the operating company that operates the plant, the design time when the plant was designed, and the plant scale, as shown in FIG. 6. The plant scale may be divided into multiple stages. The plant scale is, for example, in three stages: small, medium, and large. Here, the configuration of the element group and the type of element used in the plant differ depending on the type of product manufactured by the plant. In addition, the symbol data of the elements in the drawing differs depending on the operating company of the plant (the company that designed it and the tool used for the design). In addition, there may be changes and differences between the old and new expressions depending on the design time of the plant, and the model numbers of the elements used in the plant and the symbol data of the elements in the drawing may differ. In addition, the configuration and elements of the element group used in the plant differ depending on the plant scale. Therefore, the agreement of the product manufactured by the plant, the operating company of the plant, the design time of the plant, and the scale of the plant are items that are likely to affect the configuration and elements of the element group in the drawing. Of course, the items and contents of the basic information shown in FIG. 6 are only examples, and items other than these may be used.

The plant type (e.g., product) of plant P1 is petroleum. The operating company of plant P1 is Company X. Plant P1 was designed in 2010. The scale of plant P1 is small. The number of registered element groups registered in the drawings of plant P1 is 100.

The plant type of plant P2 is petroleum. The operating company of plant P2 is Company Y. Plant P2 was designed in 2015. The scale of plant P2 is large. The number of registered element groups registered in the drawings of plant P2 is 310.

The plant type of plant P3 is petroleum. The operating company of plant P3 is Company X. Plant P3 was designed in 2018. The scale of plant P3 is large. The number of registered element groups registered in the drawings of plant P3 is 290.

The plant type of plant P4 is pharmaceuticals. The operating company of plant P4 is Company X. Plant P4 was designed in 2018. The scale of plant P4 is large. The number of registered element groups registered in the drawings of plant P4 is 280.

The control unit 15 selects, as a candidate plant, an existing plant having basic information that is highly similar to the basic information of the target plant among the multiple existing plants. The similarity of the basic information is a numerical value indicating the degree of similarity of the basic information of the plants. The similarity of the basic information may be, for example, the number of items of basic information whose contents match, or the ratio of the number of items of basic information whose contents match to the total number of items. Alternatively, the similarity of the basic information may be appropriately used in terms of the number of matching items, the degree of agreement (degree of discrepancy) in each item, a numerical value that is scored based on these, etc. The control unit 15 may select, as a candidate plant, an existing plant having a similarity of the basic information that is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. The threshold may be appropriately set based on the number of items of basic information or the number of existing plants, etc. In addition, when the item of the basic information is the design time of the plant, the control unit 15 may consider that the design time of the existing plant and the design time of the target plant match when the design time of the existing plant is within a predetermined number of years from the design time of the target plant. The predetermined number of years may be appropriately set based on the frequency at which the element group of the drawing is updated, etc. For example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 6, if the predetermined number of years is 5 years, the control unit 15 considers that the design date of the plant P2 in 2015 and the design date of the target plant in 2020 are the same. Alternatively, if there is a change in the standards or expression rules of the drawings at a certain time, and the new and old (difference in format) occur at that time, the drawings may be divided by such time. Since the importance of each item of the basic information is not uniform, the similarity may be calculated by setting a weight for each item according to the importance. For example, if the closer the plant type (e.g., the product) is, the higher the tendency for the drawings to match, the weight may be set so that the plant type (product) item is given more importance in the calculation of the similarity. If a certain operating company or design company has many unique designs and is difficult to use as a reference for other general plants, existing plants in which such companies are involved may be avoided (e.g., the priority may be lowered). If a certain item matches a certain condition, the plant may be excluded from the candidate plants, or the numerical value (score) of the similarity when comparing the plants may be lowered.

For example, in the example of FIG. 6, the control unit 15 selects plants P2, P3, and P4 as candidate plants from among multiple existing plants including plants P1 to P4.

In this way, the candidate plant is selected based on the results of a comparison between the basic information of the existing plant and the basic information of the target plant. With this configuration, the registered element group registered in the drawing for the candidate plant extracted from among many plants as being most similar to the target plant is likely to be the same as or similar to the element group present in the target drawing. Therefore, the hit element group described below can be efficiently detected from the existing element group list of the candidate plant.

<Provisional application process>
The control unit 15 executes a provisional application process to detect a hit element group from registered element groups in the existing element group lists of a plurality of candidate plants. The hit element group is an element group that matches an element group that exists in a target drawing of a target plant.

The control unit 15 detects, as a hit element group, an element group that satisfies the matching condition of the element group among the registered element groups in the existing element group list. The matching condition of the element group may be set appropriately. The matching condition of the element group may be set in the same manner as the matching condition used in the search process of the first embodiment. The matching condition of the element group may be, for example, a registered element group composed of elements identical to each element of the element group present in the target drawing, regardless of attribute information accompanying the element, and the arrangement of the elements of the registered element group may be the same as the arrangement of the elements of the element group in the target drawing. Alternatively, the matching condition of the element group may be, for example, in addition to the type and arrangement of each element constituting the element group being the same, the attribute information (necessary among them) accompanying the element may match (or meet the condition) with the element of the search element group. In other words, the matching condition of the element group may include that all or part of the attribute information accompanying each element constituting the element group is compatible. The control unit 15 may acquire information on the matching condition of the element group stored in the storage unit 14. The control unit 15 may also receive compatibility conditions for the element group from the input unit 12.

Specifically, the control unit 15 determines whether or not the registered element group of the candidate plant (the element group previously specified in the drawing of the candidate plant) exists in the drawing of the target plant. This process can be executed in the same manner as the above-mentioned search process. For example, the control unit 15 sets the registered element group of the candidate plant as the above-mentioned search element group, and searches the target drawing of the target plant for an element that matches the first element of the registered element group of the candidate plant. If the element that matches the first element of the registered element group of the candidate plant does not exist in the target drawing, the control unit 15 determines that the element group that matches the registered element group does not exist in the target drawing. On the other hand, when the control unit 15 searches for an element that matches the first element of the registered element group of the candidate plant, it determines whether or not an element that matches other elements other than the first element of the registered element group exists in the target drawing. If the control unit 15 determines that an element that matches other elements other than the first element of the registered element group exists in the target drawing, it detects the registered element group as a hit element group. The control unit 15 detects the number of hit element groups (the number of hits) by counting the detected hit element groups. The control unit 15 may detect the number of hits and store information about the detected hit element group in the storage unit 14.

In the provisional application process, it is sufficient to detect that the hit element group exists in the target drawing. Therefore, the control unit 15 does not need to search for all element groups that match the hit element group in the drawing of the target plant. With this configuration, it is possible to efficiently execute the process of determining whether the registered element groups of existing drawings can be used in the target drawing.

For example, as a processing result of the provisional application, the control unit 15 acquires a processing result as shown in FIG. 7. In plant P2, the number of hits is 160. In plant P3, the number of hits is 250. In plant P4, the number of hits is 90.

The matching conditions for the element group are not limited to those described above. As another example, the matching conditions for the element group may be a condition that the type and arrangement of the elements of the registered element group are the same as the type and arrangement of the elements of the element group present in the target drawing. In this case, if the type and arrangement of the elements of the registered element group are the same as the type and arrangement of the elements of the element group in the target drawing, the control unit 15 detects the registered element group as a hit element group even if the attribute information of the elements of the registered element group is not the same as the attribute information of the elements of the element group in the target drawing.

By performing the provisional application process in this way and detecting the number of hits, it is possible to efficiently select the application plant (described below) for which the actual application process (described below) will be performed.

<Processing for this application>
The control unit 15 selects the candidate plant with the highest number of hits from among multiple candidate plants as the "applied plant." The control unit 15 executes the application process using the hit element group of the applied plant. The application process is a process of searching for element groups that match the hit element group from the target drawing. In the application process, the control unit 15 searches for all element groups that match the hit element group from the target drawing. For example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 7, the control unit 15 selects plant P3 with the highest number of hits as the applied plant, and executes the application process using the hit element group of plant P3.

The control unit 15 executes the processing of this application in the same manner as the search processing in the first embodiment. That is, the control unit 15 sets the hit element group of the application plant as a search element group, and searches the target drawing of the target plant for an element group that matches the search element group as a matching element group. With this configuration, a matching element group that matches the hit element group is automatically searched for in the target drawing without the user specifying an element group. The control unit 15 stores information on the searched matching element group in the storage unit 14. The control unit 15 may store position information of the searched matching element group in the storage unit 14, as described above in the first embodiment.

The control unit 15 generates a new element group list for the target plant based on the hit element group. The control unit 15 generates an element group list for the target plant by making the hit element group of the applicable plant part or all of the registered element group of the target drawing of the target plant.

However, even if the process of this application is executed using the hit element group of the applied plant, there may be element groups remaining to be registered in the target drawing. If the target plant is a copy plant of an existing plant, or if it is a plant that is completely or almost the same, or if the target plant is smaller in scale, it is possible that all element groups to be detected from the target drawing of the target plant are covered by the hit element group alone. If this is not the case, the user supplements the difference element groups by specifying them on the drawing, etc. "Difference element groups" are element groups that are included in the target drawing and should be registered, and are not covered by the hit element group of the applied plant. For example, in the example of Figure 9 described later, the number of registered element groups (number of registered groups), which is the number of registered element groups to be registered in the target drawing, is 350. The number of registered element groups cannot be known until an element group is actually selected from the target drawing, but it is the number of element groups that should be counted as a result of the actual selection. At the stage when the hit element group of the applied plant is applied, the registration of all element groups to be extracted from the target plant is not completed, so the number of registered elements is unknown.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, if the applied plant, plant P3, has 250 hit element groups, even if the process of this application is executed using the hit element groups of the applied plant, 100 (=350-250) registered element groups to be registered in the target drawing will remain. By reusing the hit element groups of the existing drawing, the user would have had to manually select 350 element groups without this reuse, but the selection of 250 is no longer necessary, and the user only has to select the difference of 100 element groups. However, as explained below, the registered element groups of the existing plant may be reused to further reduce the number of element groups that the user must manually select.

The control unit 15 may extract an existing plant including an element group (a difference element group) other than the hit element group in the target plant from among the existing plants other than the conforming plant, and may execute the application process using the extracted existing plant as the second and third application plants (auxiliary application plants). Specifically, the control unit 15 may use a hit element group that does not overlap with the hit element group of the application plant among the hit element groups extracted by provisionally applying the auxiliary application plant to the target plant. For example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 7, the control unit 15 selects the plant P2 as a new auxiliary application plant. Also, 80 out of 160 hit element groups of the plant P2, which is the new application plant, do not overlap with the hit element group of the plant P3, which is the previous application plant. In this case, the control unit 15 executes the main application process again using the 80 out of 160 hit element groups of the plant P2. The control unit 15 adds the hit element group used in the main application process again to the element group list of the target plant as a registered element group. By re-executing the process in this manner, the number of element groups that the user must manually specify can be further reduced, making work more efficient.

For example, by executing the processing of this application, an element group list of the target plant as shown in FIG. 8 is generated. FIG. 8 shows a part of the element group lists of plant P2, plant P3, and the target plant. In the element group list of plant P2 (including element groups 101 and 102) and the element group list of plant P3 (including element groups 103 to 105), the element groups corresponding to the hit element groups (element groups 101, 103, and 104) are shaded. From the element group list portion of plant P2 shown in FIG. 8, five hit element groups 101 are added to the element group list of the target plant (element group 106). Also, from the element group list portion of plant P3 shown in FIG. 8, two hit element groups 104, excluding the overlap with element group 101 (element group 103), are added to the element group list of the target plant (element group 107). If there is only the element group list for plant P2, only the five element groups 101 are reused in the target drawing, but by combining and using the element group list for plant P3, the seven element groups 106 and 107 can be reused in the target drawing. In this way, the element group lists of multiple existing drawings may be combined and used, not limited to a single drawing.

The control unit 15 may execute the provisional application process for all existing plants without selecting a candidate plant. Alternatively, the control unit 15 may execute the full application process for all existing plants without executing the provisional application. In this case, the control unit 15 executes the full application process using the extracted hit element group.

The user may also select an application plant. In this case, the control unit 15 causes the display unit 11 to display the processing results of the provisional application as shown in FIG. 7. The user visually checks the processing results of the provisional application, selects an application plant, and inputs information about the selected application plant from the input unit 12. The control unit 15 executes the actual application process for the application plant for which input from the user has been received via the input unit 12.

The control unit 15 may acquire data of the hit element group from the data of the drawing of the applicable plant, for example, for processing according to the fourth embodiment described below. In this case, the control unit 15 may use the acquired data of the hit element group as data of the registered element group of the target drawing. Here, the notation rules differ depending on the standard, version, design company, etc. of the drawing, as described above. Therefore, the control unit 15 may acquire data of the hit element group from the data of the drawing of the applicable plant, and may also acquire the notation rules applied to the drawing of the applicable plant. Furthermore, the control unit 15 may convert the data of the hit element group according to the notation rules adopted for the drawing of the applicable plant, and use the converted data of the hit element group as the registered element group of the target drawing.

Here, even if the process of this application is performed on the hit element group of the candidate plant, there may be an element group remaining to be registered in the target drawing. In this case, the control unit 15 may display a screen such as that shown in FIG. 14, which will be described later, on the display unit 11 based on a user operation. Furthermore, as described above in the first embodiment, the user may select the element group to be registered by selecting an area in the drawing using touch operation 3.

The control unit 15 may display the information of the processing result of this application as shown in FIG. 9 on the display unit 11. In FIG. 9, the number of registered element groups (number of registered groups) finally registered in the target drawing, including the registration of additional element groups by the user's specification of the missing parts, is 350. Of these 350, 330 in the "number of registered groups (automatic)" are automatically registered by reusing data of existing element groups selected in the existing drawing. "Existing element groups" are registered element groups registered for existing plants. Of these 350, 20 in the "number of registered groups (manual)" are not included in the element group list indicating the registered element groups of existing plants in the applied range, and are registered by the user's touch operation, i.e., manual selection of element groups. By displaying such information of the processing result on the display unit 11, the work efficiency (effect) when the information processing device 10 is used can be visualized. Furthermore, the control unit 15 may calculate the coverage rate by dividing the number of registered element groups that are automatically registered by reusing data of existing element groups by the number of registered element groups that are finally registered in the target drawing. In this case, the control unit 15 may cause the display unit 11 to display the coverage rate.

Figure 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure of the process of generating a new element group list of the information processing device 10 shown in Figure 1. The control unit 15 executes the process shown in Figure 10. The information processing method including the procedure shown in Figure 10 may be realized as a program executed by the processor of the information processing device 10. This program may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The process of the information processing device 10 essentially involves reusing data of existing element groups that have been extracted from existing drawings and that are applicable to the target drawing to be worked on, and executing a search within the target drawing. Therefore, the process of Figure 10 may be executed as a series of processes, or other procedures may be added and executed as the process of Figure 10.

In the process of step S20, the control unit 15 acquires basic information of the plant stored in the memory unit 14. In the process of step S20, the control unit 15 selects, from among multiple existing plants, an existing plant having basic information that matches the basic information of the target plant in a predetermined number of items or more, as a candidate plant.

In the process of step S21, the control unit 15 acquires the existing element group list of the multiple candidate plants stored in the memory unit 14. In the process of step S21, the control unit 15 executes a provisional application process to detect a hit element group from the existing element group list of the multiple candidate plants.

The control unit 15 selects the candidate plant with the highest number of hits from among the multiple candidate plants as the application plant (step S22).

The control unit 15 executes the process of this application to search for element groups that match the hit element groups of the application plant from the target drawing (step S23). This process is executed in the same procedure as the search process in the first embodiment.

The control unit 15 determines whether or not there is an existing plant that has a hit element group that does not overlap with the hit element group of the application plant among the existing plants other than the existing plant selected as the application plant in step S22 (step S24). That is, the control unit 15 determines whether or not there is an existing plant that includes a difference group (difference element group) in the element group list (group list) of the other existing plant.

When the control unit 15 determines that there is no other existing plant that has a hit element group that does not overlap with the hit element group of the application plant, that is, there is no other existing plant in its element group list that includes a difference element group (step S24: NO), it ends the element group list generation process.

When the control unit 15 determines that there is an existing plant among the other existing plants that has a hit element group that does not overlap with the hit element group of the applied plant, that is, that there is an existing plant whose element group list includes a difference element group (step S24: YES), it selects the existing plant as a new applied plant (auxiliary applied plant) (step S25). The control unit 15 executes the application process again using the hit element group of the new applied plant (auxiliary applied plant) (step S23). In the re-processing of step S23, the control unit 15 uses the hit element group of the new applied plant that does not overlap with the hit element group of the previous applied plant.

The control unit 15 may execute the processes of steps S20 to S25 in the background.

In this way, in the information processing device 10 according to the second embodiment, the control unit 15 detects, from among the registered element groups in the existing element group list, a hit element group that matches an element group present in a target drawing for which a new element group list is to be generated. Furthermore, the control unit 15 generates a new element group list based on the hit element group. This configuration reduces the effort required of the user to manually select an element group to be edited or modified from the target drawing as a registered element group. Thus, according to the second embodiment, an information processing device 10 and information processing method with improved convenience are provided.

Third Embodiment
In the third embodiment, a configuration for creating a master library of element groups will be described. The master library does not select element groups (equivalent drawings, or the object such as the plant that is the source of the element groups) applicable to the target drawing as in the above-mentioned configuration, but rather compiles element groups extracted from past drawings of the object as a collection of data without duplication, and generalizes the data so that the data can be applied to any subsequent drawings. The master library may be stored in the storage unit 14 or the like, and updated as necessary. As described below, the master library can be used to create a new element group list for the target plant.

The control unit 15 generates a master library using an existing element group list generated in an existing plant. The registered element groups in the existing element group list are element groups that have a track record of being used in existing drawings. By using an existing element group list, a highly versatile master library can be generated.

Specifically, the control unit 15 acquires an existing element group list from the storage unit 14. The control unit 15 may acquire the existing element group list by receiving it from an external device via the network 2 using the communication unit 13. When the control unit 15 acquires multiple existing element group lists, it extracts registered element groups from the registered element groups of the multiple existing element group lists so that the registered element groups do not overlap with each other. The control unit 15 generates a master library composed of the extracted registered element groups.

<Registered Group Data Storage Process>
When extracting a registered element group from the existing element group list of an existing plant, the control unit 15 may acquire data of the registered element group (registered group data) from the data of the drawing of the existing plant. The control unit 15 may acquire data of the registered element group from the data of the drawing of the existing plant, and may also acquire information on the notation rule adopted in the drawing of the existing plant from the memory unit 14. The control unit 15 may store data of the registered element group for each notation rule in the master library. The data of the registered element group stored in the master library can be used as data of the element group of the target drawing. Storing data of the registered element group for each notation rule in the master library makes the master library more versatile.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the control unit 15 stores data of registered element groups 70, 71, and 72 for each different notation rule α and notation rule β.

As a conceptual example rather than the symbols used in actual drawings, in notation rule α, the symbol for element A is represented by the letter "A" and a circular shape. In notation rule α, the symbol for element B is represented by the letter "B" and a circular shape. In notation rule α, the symbol for element C is represented by the letter "C" and a circular shape.

In notation rule β, the symbol for element A is represented by the letter "A" and a circular shape, just like notation rule α. In notation rule β, the symbol for element B is represented by the letter "B" and a rectangular shape, unlike notation rule α. In notation rule β, the symbol for element C is represented by the letter "C" and a circular shape, just like notation rule α. In other words, in this example, of the three elements, only element B has a different symbol between the two notation rules α and β.

Each of the registered element groups (registered groups) 70-72 is composed of at least one of elements A to C. Each of the data in the registered element groups 70-72 is represented by the symbol data of each of the elements A to C that compose each of the registered element groups 70-72.

<Registered Group Data Generation Process>
11, in the master library consisting of a set of element groups that were actually used in existing drawings, data for the registered element group 71 of the notation rule β and data for the registered element group 72 of the notation rule α do not exist. The reason is that data for the registered element group 71 of the notation rule β and data for the registered element group 72 of the notation rule α do not exist in the data of the existing plant drawings. On the other hand, since all of the registered element groups 71, 72, and 73 have been used in past drawings, and have also been used in two types of notation, rule α and rule β, there is a possibility that data for the registered element groups for element groups in blank spaces will be used in future drawings.

The control unit 15 therefore generates data for a registered element group of notation that does not exist in the master library. As an example, when data for a registered element group of a specified notation rule does not exist in the master library, the control unit 15 generates data for the registered element group of the specified notation rule using the existing data for that registered element group and the specified notation rule. The control unit 15 adds the generated data for the registered element group to the master library. This configuration makes the master library more versatile.

For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the control unit 15 generates data for the registered element group 71 of the notation rule β and stores it in the master library. The control unit 15 generates data for the registered element group 71 of the notation rule β using the notation rule β and the data for the registered element group 71 of the notation rule α as existing data. The control unit 15 generates data for the registered element group 71 of the notation rule β by converting the symbol (circle) of element B expressed in the notation rule α into the symbol (rectangle) used in the notation rule β.

For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the control unit 15 generates data of the registered element group 72 of the notation rule α and stores it in the master library. The control unit 15 generates data of the registered element group 72 of the notation rule α using the notation rule α and the data of the registered element group 72 of the notation rule β, which is existing data. The control unit 15 generates data of the registered element group 72 of the notation rule α by converting the symbol (rectangle) of element B expressed in the notation rule β into the symbol (circle) used in the notation rule α. Here, the difference in the symbol (element B) for each notation rule is illustrated by whether the outer shape of the symbol is circular or rectangular, but this is merely an example and the difference in the symbol is not limited to this. For example, the information processing device 10 can handle various notation differences, such as the same circle but different geometric shapes to be combined, different characters to be combined, and different colors to be used.

The control unit 15 may generate data of registered element groups that are not present in the master library and have a frequency of use equal to or higher than a threshold value. With this configuration, it is possible to add data of registered element groups with high versatility to the master library while suppressing an increase in the amount of data in the master library. The frequency of use is the degree to which the registered element groups are used in drawings of existing plants. Alternatively, comprehensiveness may be improved by specializing in formats (rules) that are used frequently. The control unit 15 may appropriately calculate the frequency of use of the data of the registered element groups by appropriately analyzing drawings of existing plants. The threshold value may be set appropriately according to the amount of data in the master library.

<Update process>
After generating the master library, the control unit 15 may execute a process of updating the master library. By updating the master library, the master library becomes more versatile.

As an example of the update process, the control unit 15 updates the master library when, after generating the master library, a group of elements selected in the drawing by a user operation is newly registered as a group of registered elements. If the group of registered elements registered by the user operation does not overlap with the group of registered elements in the master library, the control unit 15 updates the master library by adding the group of registered elements registered by the user operation to the master library. By updating the master library with the group of registered elements registered by the user operation, the updated master library becomes more versatile.

As another example of the update process, after the master library is generated, when the control unit 15 receives and acquires a new element group list from an external device via the network 2 using the communication unit 13, the control unit 15 updates the master library. The control unit 15 extracts registered element groups that do not overlap with the registered element groups in the master library from the registered element groups in the new element group list, and adds the extracted registered element groups to the master library, thereby updating the master library. By updating the master library, the updated master library becomes more versatile.

The control unit 15 may appropriately execute data storage and generation processes for the registered element group during the master library update process.

<Generation of new element group list>
The control unit 15 generates an element group list of the target plant using the master library. A method for generating an element group list of the target plant using the master library will be briefly described below. The process of creating a new element group list using the master library may be performed according to a user's instruction, or may be automatically performed by the information processing device 10 at the time when the system acquires data such as the target drawing and the existing element group. For example, the information processing device 10 may automatically execute the process during a time period when the user is not working (such as at night), and when the user tries to work on the target drawing, the necessary element group data may be available. This makes it easy to appropriately reuse past data and perform processes such as changes to the drawing without the user being aware of it.

First, the control unit 15 detects a hit element group from the registered element group of the master library in the same manner as the provisional application process. The control unit 15 generates an element group list of the target plant by setting the detected hit element group as a registered element group in the element group list of the target plant. This configuration reduces the effort required of the user to manually select an element group to be edited or modified from the target drawing as a registered element group.

The control unit 15 may acquire data of a registered element group detected as a hit element group from the data of the registered element group stored in the master library. In this case, the control unit 15 may use the acquired data as data of the registered element group of the target drawing. The control unit 15 may acquire data of a registered element group detected as a hit element group from the data of the registered element group in the master library, which is associated with the notation rule adopted for the target drawing.

Next, the control unit 15 executes the processing of this application using the detected hit element group. With this configuration, a matching element group that matches the hit element group is automatically searched for in the target drawing.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the steps of a process for generating a master library of the information processing device 10 shown in Fig. 1. The control unit 15 starts the process shown in Fig. 13. An information processing method including the steps shown in Fig. 13 may be realized as a program executed by the processor of the information processing device 10. This program may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

The control unit 15 retrieves multiple existing element group lists (group lists) from the memory unit 14 (step S30).

The control unit 15 extracts registered element groups (registered groups) from the registered element groups of the multiple existing element group lists obtained in the processing of step S30 so that they do not overlap with each other (step S31).

The control unit 15 generates a master library consisting of the registered elements extracted in the processing of step S31 (step S32).

The control unit 15 stores the data of the registered element group in the master library (step S33).

If the master library does not contain data of a registered element group for a given notation rule, the control unit 15 generates data of a registered element group for the given notation rule based on the given notation rule and the notation method used in the notation rule (element group data, or rules on how to use symbols such as lines, etc.) (step S34). The control unit 15 adds the generated data of the registered element group to the master library.

The control unit 15 updates the master library (step S35). For example, the control unit 15 updates the master library when an element group selected by a user operation in a drawing is newly registered as a registered element group, or when a new element group list is received and acquired by the communication unit 13 from an external device via the network 2. If the registered element group is already in the master library, no update is necessary, and if it is a new registered element group that did not previously exist, the control unit 15 adds it to the library.

The control unit 15 detects a hit element group, which is an element group that matches the element group present in the target drawing, from the registered element group in the master library (step S36). The control unit 15 executes the application process using the detected hit element group (step S37).

As mentioned above, the control unit 15 may execute the processes of steps S30 to S35 in the background.

In this way, in the information processing device 10 according to the third embodiment, the control unit 15 extracts registered element groups from the registered element groups of multiple existing element group lists without overlapping, and generates a master library composed of the extracted registered element groups. The master library can be used to generate a new element group list for the target drawing. This configuration reduces the effort required for the user to manually select element groups to be edited or modified from the target drawing as registered element groups. Thus, according to the third embodiment, an information processing device 10 and information processing method with improved convenience are provided.

Fourth Embodiment
In the fourth embodiment, a display process for displaying a target drawing on the display unit 11 in an operation of selecting and registering an element group from a target drawing will be described. In this embodiment, the control unit 15 searches for an existing registered element group in the target drawing, and if it exists, displays the corresponding part in the target drawing in a different manner. If there is an element group to be newly registered in a part in the target drawing other than the part where the existing registered element group is searched and displayed in a different manner, the control unit 15 registers it as a new registered element group by user designation. If the description rule (format) of the existing registered element group differs from that of the target drawing, the control unit 15 matches the description rule of the existing registered element group to the description rule of the target drawing and then searches in the target drawing. By these processes, the part in the target drawing that matches the existing registered element group and the element group to be newly registered are displayed in a different manner. Therefore, the user can easily recognize the part in the target drawing that matches the existing registered element group and the element group to be newly registered without being aware of the difference in the description rules of the existing drawing and the target drawing, and the effort of selecting the registered element group is reduced.

For example, a user may display a drawing of a plant currently being designed as a target drawing on the display unit 11 in order to correct or change the drawing, or to improve or change a previously designed plant. In this case, the control unit 15 may use, as the existing registered element group, a registered element group registered by the process according to the first embodiment in a drawing used when another plant was previously designed. When the control unit 15 receives a user operation specifying a target drawing to be displayed on the display unit 11 through the input unit 12, it executes the above-mentioned search process using the existing registered element group. In other words, the control unit 15 sets the existing registered element group as a search element group and searches the target drawing for a matching element group that matches the search element group. Here, if the description rules (format) of the existing registered element group and the target drawing are different, the control unit 15 performs a search in the target drawing after adjusting the description rules of the existing registered element group to the description rules of the target drawing.

When a matching element group found by the search process is present in the target drawing, the control unit 15 executes a process to change the display mode of the matching element group in the target drawing to a display mode different from that of the other parts of the target drawing. With this configuration, the user can easily grasp the element group to be registered. In addition, the user can easily grasp the extent to which the element group to be registered exists.

As a process for changing the display mode of the image of the target drawing, the control unit 15 may execute a process for reducing the visibility of the image of the matching element group that matches the existing registered element group, making it less noticeable than other parts. As a process for reducing the visibility of the image of the matching element group, the control unit 15 executes a process for reducing the brightness or saturation of the image, for example. With this configuration, the user can more easily grasp the matching element group that should be registered.

For example, the control unit 15 causes an image of the target drawing as shown in FIG. 14 to be displayed in the display area 11A of the display unit 11. In FIG. 14, the image of the target drawing includes images 80, 81, and 82. Images 80 to 82 are images showing matching element groups that match existing registered element groups. Images 80 to 82 have been subjected to processing by the control unit 15 to reduce visibility. The element group located in area 83 is an image of an unregistered element group. The user selects the element group located in area 83 by touch operation 3 in order to add the element group located in area 83 to the element group list as a registered element group.

The control unit 15 may reduce the visibility of only the parts other than the symbol parts of an image showing a matching element group that matches an existing registered element group, without reducing the visibility of the symbol parts showing each element included in the element group. This processing allows the user to understand the configuration of each element of the existing registered element group.

<Example of conversion process>
The control unit 15 may use data of an existing registered element group to search for an element group to be registered in a target drawing. In this case, if the existing registered element group is expressed by a first notation rule and the target drawing is expressed by a second notation rule, the control unit 15 converts the data of the existing registered element group into the second notation rule and uses it for the target drawing. The notation rule conversion is, for example, as follows.

For example, if the existing registered element group is a hit element group detected by the processing according to the second embodiment, the data of the existing registered element group becomes data of the hit element group obtained from the data of the drawing of the applied plant. Furthermore, the first notation rule is a notation rule applied to the drawing of the applied plant. Note that, when the control unit 15 converts the data of the hit element group according to the notation rule adopted in the drawing of the applied plant, the control unit 15 may use the converted data of the hit element group as data of the registered element group.

For example, if an existing registered element group is a hit element group detected from a master library by processing according to the third embodiment, the data of the registered element group is the data of the registered element group detected as a hit element group, obtained from the master library. The first notation rule is a notation rule associated with the data of the registered element group in the master library.

For example, when a user causes the display unit 11 to display a drawing of a plant previously designed as a target drawing in order to carry out an improvement or modification to the plant, the data of the existing registered element group is obtained from the data of the drawing used when the plant was previously designed. In addition, the first notation rule is a notation rule adopted for the drawing used when the plant was previously designed.

For example, if a user reuses extracted information in a drawing other than the target drawing, the data of the existing registered element group will be obtained from that other drawing. Also, the first notation rule is the notation rule adopted for that other drawing.

For example, element groups 90 and 91 exist in a target drawing as shown in FIG. 15. Element group 90 is composed of a valve, element A, and element B. Element group 91 is composed of two valves and element A. In the configuration shown in FIG. 15, the second notation rule adopted for the target drawing is the notation rule β described above. Also, the first notation rule is the notation rule α described above. Note that the symbol for the valve is the same in notation rule α and notation rule β. The data expressed by notation rule β of element group 90 differs from the data expressed by notation rule α of element group 90 because element group 90 includes element B. Also, the data of element group 91 expressed by notation rule β is the same as the data of element group 91 expressed by notation rule α because element group 91 is composed of a valve and element A.

The control unit 15 determines whether the data of the existing registered element group and the data of the target drawing are different based on the first and second notation rules. For example, if the first notation rule of the data of the existing registered element group is different from the second notation rule of the target drawing, the control unit 15 determines that the data of the existing registered element group and the data of the element group of the target drawing are different.

When the control unit 15 determines that the first notation rule and the second notation rule are different, it converts the data of the existing registered element group to the second notation rule. The control unit 15 uses the converted data of the registered element group in the target drawing as a search element group, etc. With this configuration, the data of the element group according to the second notation rule is automatically displayed in the target drawing. Convenience is improved by automatically displaying the data of the element group according to the second notation rule.

On the other hand, if the control unit 15 determines that the first notation rule and the second notation rule are the same, the control unit 15 uses the data of the existing registered element group as it is in the target drawing as a search element group, etc.

For example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 15, the control unit 15 uses data obtained by converting the data of element group 90 expressed by notation rule α according to notation rule β as data of element group 90 in the target drawing. With this configuration, in image 92 of element group 90, element B is represented by the character "B" and a rectangular figure. Furthermore, the control unit 15 uses the data of the existing registered element group, i.e., the data of element group 91 expressed by notation rule α, as data of element group 91 in the target drawing to search for registered element groups in the target drawing.

When the converted data of the existing registered element group is used in the target drawing, the control unit 15 executes a process of changing the display mode of the image of the target drawing that indicates the existing registered element group to a display mode different from that of the other parts. As a process of changing the display mode of the image of the target drawing, the control unit 15 may execute a process of reducing the visibility of the image of the existing registered element group as described above, or may execute a process of displaying the image in a color different from that of the other parts. With this configuration, the user can easily understand the element group whose data has been converted. For example, the control unit 15 displays an image 92 indicating an element group 90 as shown in FIG. 15 in a display mode different from that of the other parts of the target drawing.

When the control unit 15 uses the data of the existing registered element group as data for the target drawing as is, it changes the display mode of the image of the target drawing that indicates the existing registered element group to a display mode different from that of the other parts of the image of the target drawing. With this configuration, the user can easily understand the element group whose data will not be converted. The control unit 15 may execute a process to reduce the visibility of the image of the existing registered element group as described above, or may execute a process to display the image of the existing element group in a color different from that of the other parts. For example, the control unit 15 displays an image 93 indicating an element group 91 as shown in FIG. 15 in a display mode different from that of the other parts of the target drawing.

When using the converted data of an existing element group, the control unit 15 may display the data before the conversion, i.e., the data of the existing element group, on the display unit 11. With this configuration, the user can understand the data before the conversion. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, the control unit 15 displays the data of the element group 90 expressed by the notation rule α together with the identification information of the element group No. 003 in the display area 11B. The identification information of the element group No. 003 is the identification information of the element group 90. Furthermore, the control unit 15 may display the data of the second element group after the conversion according to the first notation rule together with the data before the conversion, i.e., the data of the second element group, on the display unit 11. With this configuration, the user can understand the data after the conversion and the data before the conversion. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, the control unit 15 displays the data of the element group 90 expressed by the notation rule α and the data of the element group 90 expressed by the notation rule β in the display area 11B.

Fig. 16 is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure for data conversion processing of the information processing device 10 shown in Fig. 1. For example, when the control unit 15 shifts the mode of the information processing device 10 to a mode in which a group of elements in a drawing can be selected by a user operation, the control unit 15 starts the processing shown in Fig. 16. An information processing method including the procedure shown in Fig. 16 may be realized as a program executed by the processor of the information processing device 10. This program may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

The control unit 15 determines whether the description rule (first notation rule) of the existing registered element group (registered group) is different from the description rule (second notation rule) of the target drawing (step S40). This existing registered element group may be, for example, each element group of the master library. If the control unit 15 determines that the description rules are different (step S40: YES), it proceeds to processing of step S41. On the other hand, if the control unit 15 determines that the description rules are the same (step S40: NO), it proceeds to processing of step S42.

In the processing of step S41, the control unit 15 performs processing to match the description rule (first notation rule) of the existing registered element group (registered group) to the description rule (second notation rule) of the target drawing. For example, if the description rule (first notation rule) of the existing registered element group is notation rule α and the description rule (second notation rule) of the target drawing is notation rule β, the control unit 15 converts the notation rule of the existing registered element group from notation rule α to notation rule β.

In the process of step S42, the control unit 15 searches the target drawing using the existing registered element group (registered group) as the search element group, and determines whether or not the existing registered element group exists in the target drawing. If the control unit 15 determines that the existing registered element group exists in the target drawing (step S42: YES), the control unit 15 proceeds to step 43, and if not (step S42: NO), the control unit 15 ends the process. When the control unit 15 searches for a registered element group in the target drawing, the control unit 15 stores and registers the position information of the registered element group in the memory unit 14, thereby making it possible to reuse the information of each registered element group in the target drawing.

In the process of step S43, the control unit 15 causes the display unit 11 to display the portion of the target drawing that matches the existing registered element group in a manner different from the other portions. For example, the control unit 15 causes the portion that matches the existing registered element group to be displayed in a manner that makes it less noticeable than the other portions.

In the process of step S44, the control unit 15 determines whether or not there is an unregistered group of elements (groups) to be newly registered in the target drawing. If there are (step S44: YES), the control unit 15 proceeds to step 45, and if not (step S44: NO), the control unit 15 ends the process.

In the process of step S45, the control unit 15 performs a process of registering an unregistered element group. Specifically, the control unit 15 may receive a selection of the relevant portion from the user via the input unit 12, and register the selected element group. Then, the control unit ends the process.

In this manner, in the information processing device 10 according to the fourth embodiment, the control unit 15 determines whether or not an existing registered element group exists in the target drawing to be displayed on the display unit 11. When the control unit 15 determines that a registered element group exists in the target drawing, it executes processing to change the display mode of the image of the target drawing to a different display mode, such as making the display mode of the image of the registered element group less noticeable compared to other parts of the image of the target drawing. With this configuration, the user can more easily grasp the element group to be registered. Thus, according to the fourth embodiment, an information processing device 10 and information processing method with improved convenience are provided.

Furthermore, according to the fourth embodiment, when the existing registered element group is expressed by the first notation rule and the target drawing is expressed by the second notation rule, the control unit 15 converts the data of the existing registered element group to the second notation rule and uses it for the target drawing. Therefore, even if the notation rule of the existing registered element group is different from that of the target drawing, the control unit 15 can convert it to the notation rule of the target drawing, search for an element group that matches the existing registered element group from the target drawing, and automatically register it. This makes it possible to reduce the effort required for the user to manually select an element group to be edited or modified from the target drawing as a registered element group.

Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described based on the drawings and examples, it should be noted that a person skilled in the art would easily be able to make various modifications or alterations based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications or alterations are included in the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the functions included in each component or step can be rearranged so as not to cause logical inconsistencies, and multiple components or steps can be combined into one or divided.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Information processing system 2 Network 3 Touch operation 10 Information processing device 11 Display unit 12 Input unit 13 Communication unit 14 Storage unit 15 Control unit 20, 30 Terminal device 40 External storage device

Claims (7)

Obtaining a plurality of existing element group lists including information on registered element groups that are registered among element groups that are composed of at least one element used in at least one drawing;
Extracting registered element groups from the registered element groups of the plurality of existing element group lists so that the registered element groups are not duplicated;
A control unit that generates a master library composed of the extracted registered element group ,
The control unit is
storing data of the registered element group for each of a first notation rule and a second notation rule, which are rules for representing the element on the drawing, in the master library;
If data of the registered element group of the second notation rule corresponding to data of the registered element group of the first notation rule does not exist in the master library, a symbol used in the registered element group of the first notation rule is converted to a symbol used in the corresponding registered element group of the second notation rule to generate data of the registered element group of the second notation rule corresponding to the data of the registered element group of the first notation rule;
adding data of the registered element group of the generated second notation rule to a master library;
Information processing device. 2. The information processing device according to claim 1 ,
The information processing device, wherein the control unit updates the master library when, after generating the master library, a group of elements selected by a user operation in a drawing is registered as a group of registered elements. 3. The information processing device according to claim 1,
When the control unit acquires a new element group list after generating the master library, the control unit extracts a registered element group that does not overlap with the registered element group of the master library from the registered element groups of the new element group list, and adds the extracted registered element group to the master library, thereby updating the master library. 4. The information processing device according to claim 1,
The control unit is
Detecting a hit element group that matches an element group present in a target drawing for which a new element group list is to be generated from among the registered element groups of the master library;
An information processing device that generates the new element group list based on the hit element group. 5. The information processing device according to claim 4 ,
The control unit executes the process of the present application to search for all element groups that match the hit element group from the target drawing. 6. The information processing device according to claim 1,
The control unit is
extracting registered element groups from the registered element groups in the plurality of existing element group lists, the registered element groups having a frequency of use in the drawing equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, without overlapping;
An information processing device that generates a master library composed of the extracted group of registered elements. Obtaining a plurality of existing element group lists including information of registered element groups that are registered among element groups that are configured with at least one element used in at least one drawing;
Extracting registered element groups from the registered element groups of the plurality of existing element group lists so that the registered element groups are not duplicated;
generating a master library composed of the extracted registered elements ;
storing data of the registered element group for each of a first notation rule and a second notation rule, which are rules for representing the element on the drawing, in the master library;
If data of the registered element group of the second notation rule corresponding to data of the registered element group of the first notation rule does not exist in the master library, a symbol used in the registered element group of the first notation rule is converted to a corresponding symbol used in the registered element group of the second notation rule to generate data of the registered element group of the second notation rule corresponding to the data of the registered element group of the first notation rule;
adding data of the registered element group of the generated second notation rule to a master library;
Information processing methods.

Images