Method and system for computer-implemented tracking of production history of a continuous web

Abstract

A method for computer-implemented tracking of production history of a continuous web is provided, which is-processed in a production system, including a sub-system applied to perform specific operation(s). The web is transported along a curved given path through the production system by winding/unwinding from/onto a coil. The following are performed: obtaining measured data of the web while being transported along the path, the measured data being current time-stamped measured data acquired a sensor or a measuring device installed at the production system along the path, where a spatial position of each sensor and measuring device with respect to the given path determined by a one-time reference calibration; obtaining movement information of the web; determining production-relevant features of the web by processing the time-stamped measured data and the movement information of the web by mapping the time-stamped measured data to physical points of regions of the web.

1 . A method for computer-implemented tracking of production history of a continuous web, which is processed in a production system, comprising at least one sub-system applied to perform one or more specific operations, where the continuous web is transported along a given path through the production system by winding/unwinding from/onto a coil, wherein at each time point of one or more time points during the operation of the production system the following steps are performed:
 a) obtaining measured data of the continuous web while being transported along the given path, the measured data being current time-stamped measured data acquired by at least one of a sensor or a measuring device installed at or in the vicinity of the production system along the given path, where a spatial position of each sensor and measuring device with respect to the given path has been determined by a one-time reference calibration;   b) obtaining movement information of the continuous web;   c) determining production-relevant features of the continuous web by processing the time-stamped measured data and the movement information of the continuous web by mapping the time-stamped measured data to physical points of regions of the continuous web.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the spatial position of each sensor and measuring device with respect to the given path is determined by the one-time reference calibration, in which the following steps are performed:
 a1) attaching spatial markers on the continuous web;   a2) moving the continuous web during calibration at a given velocity;   a3) acquiring timestamps whenever a position of a certain sensor or a measuring device is crossed;   a4) transforming time gaps between two adjacent positions into relative spatial distances or absolute coordinates of a first frame using a pre-defined first point of origin, the first frame being a coordinate system of the production system.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the first point of origin corresponds to a part of the production system, optionally being marked with a unique marker placed within the field of view of an optical sensor. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the first point of origin corresponds to a fixed marker observable in the field of view of the sensor located at an end of the given path. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein projected positions of each sensor and measuring device along the given path are stored. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein a pre-defined second point of origin of a second frame of the continuous web is obtained by processing measured data of a certain sensor or measuring device, the second frame being a web coordinate system. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the second point of origin corresponds to a visible characteristic of the continuous web observable in the field of view of the sensor located at the end of the given path. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the second frame refers to the continuous web fully unwound along its length dimension, where each physical point can be identified by coordinates along the unwound, length dimension and perpendicular to the length dimension, that runs along a width direction of the continuous web. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein coordinates in the second frame comprise information about an upper side or a lower side of the continuous web. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein in step c) the following steps are performed:
 c1) computing for each physical point or region of points on the continuous web the moment in time when the corresponding sensor or measuring device position along the direction of movement was crossed;   c2) querying the time-stamped measured data to obtain the features which are associated to the corresponding sensor or measuring device;   c3) storing the set of retrieved features for each point or region on the continuous web in a data base   
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the spatial position of the certain sensor or measuring device or a spatial interval between two adjacent sensors and, optionally, the side information are processed as a unique identifier. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method is performed for a second subsequent production step, where a particular physical point or region of points on the continuous web is reidentified by matching a resulting feature vector which exhibits the highest similarity score in their corresponding feature domains. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus for computer-implemented tracking of production history of a continuous web, which is processed in a production system, comprising at least one sub-system applied to perform one or more specific operations, where the continuous web is transported along a given path through the production system by winding/unwinding from/onto a coil, wherein the apparatus comprises a processor configured to perform a method comprising the following steps:
 a) obtaining measured data of the continuous web while being transported along the given path, the measured data being current time-stamped measured data acquired by at least one of a sensor or a measuring device installed at or in the vicinity of the production system along the given path, where a spatial position of each sensor and measuring device with respect to the given path has been determined by a one-time reference calibration;   b) obtaining movement information of the continuous web;   c) determining production-relevant features of the continuous web by processing the time-stamped measured data and the movement information of the continuous web by mapping the time-stamped measured data to physical points of regions of the continuous web.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein the apparatus is configured to perform a method for computer-implemented tracking of production history of a continuous web, which is processed in production system, comprising at least one sub-system applied to perform one or more specific operations, where the continuous web is transported along a given path through the production system by winding/unwinding from/onto a coil, wherein at each time point of one or more time points during the operation of the production system the following steps are performed:
 a) obtaining measured data of the continuous web while being transported along the given path, the measured data being current time-stamped measured data acquired by at least one of a sensor or a measuring device installed at or in the vicinity of the production system along the given path, where a spatial position of each sensor and measuring device with respect to the given path has been determined by a one-time reference calibration;   b) obtaining movement information of the continuous web;   c) determining production-relevant features of the continuous web by processing the time-stamped measured data and the movement information of the continuous web by mapping the time-stamped measured data to physical points of regions of the continuous web,
 wherein the spatial position of each sensor and measuring device with respect to the given path is determined by the one-time reference calibration, in which the following steps are performed: 
   a1) attaching spatial markers on the continuous web;   a2) moving the continuous web during calibration at a given velocity;   a3) acquiring timestamps whenever a position of a certain sensor or a measuring device is crossed;   a4) transforming time gaps between two adjacent positions into relative spatial distances or absolute coordinates of a first frame using a pre-defined first point of origin, the first frame being a coordinate system of the production system.   
     
     
         15 . A production system comprising at least one sub-system applied to perform one or more specific operations, where the continuous web is transported along a given path through the production system by winding/unwinding from/onto a coil, thereby passing at least one of a sensor or a measuring device, each of them being adapted to acquire measured data, wherein the production system comprises an apparatus according to  claim 13 . 
     
     
         16 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable hardware storage device having computer readable program code stored therein, said program code executable by a processor of a computer system, to implement a method according to one of  claim 12  when the program code is executed on the computer system. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus for computer-implemented tracking of production history of  claim 1 , wherein the continuous web is a continuous electrode carrier material. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus for computer-implemented tracking of production history of  claim 13 , wherein the continuous web is a continuous electrode carrier material.