DISPLAY DEVICE FOR INDUSTRIAL SENSOR

Abstract

A display device for an industrial sensor is provided, including an electronic display configured to display encoded information, the encoded information being information for retrieving device-related information about the sensor. An industrial sensor system, and a method for retrieving device-related information about a sensor of an industrial sensor, are also provided.

Claims

1. A display device for an industrial sensor, comprising an electronic display configured to display coded information, wherein the coded information is information for retrieving device-related information about the sensor.

2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the coded information includes a sensor-specific link to a database.

3. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the coded information is an optical coding in the form of a QR code, a bar code, or a numeric code.

4. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the device-related information about the sensor is one or more of the following: order code, order history, operating instructions, test certificates, certificates of conformity, safety instructions, and backup of device settings.

5. The display device according to claim 1, further comprising a code generator configured to generate the optical coding.

6. The display device according to claim 1, further comprising an interface configured to receive coded information, information to be encoded, and/or device-related information.

7. An industrial sensor system, comprising a sensor comprising a display device according to claim 1, comprising an electronic display, wherein the electronic display is configured to display coded information; and a database containing device-related information about the sensor, wherein the sensor provides access to the database by means of the electronic display by displaying the coded information to enable retrieval of the device-related information about the sensor.

8. The industrial sensor system according to claim 7, wherein the database contains at least partially authorization-protected information.

9. The industrial sensor system according to claim 7, wherein the industrial sensor system is configured to use optical coding on the electronic display of the sensor to retrieve device-related information about the sensor.

10. A method for retrieving device-related information about a sensor of an industrial sensor, comprising the step of: displaying, by a display device of the sensor, encoded information on an electronic display of the industrial sensor to retrieve the device-related information about the sensor from a database.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the encoded information includes a link to the database and an ID of the sensor.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein retrieving the device-related information via the sensor comprises the following steps performed by a user device: retrieving device-related information about the sensor from the database, the retrieving comprising the steps of: scanning of optical code, decoding the optical code and obtaining a link to a database, establishing a connection to the database using the link, and receiving device-related information about the sensor from the database via the connection.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the following steps performed by the sensor: receiving the device-related information about the sensor from the database, and displaying the device-related information by the electronic display.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the user device is configured to retrieve the device-related information about an industrial sensor, comprising: a camera configured to scan the optical code, a decoder configured to decode the optical code and obtain a link to a database, and a communication unit configured to establish a connection to the database using the link and to receive the device-related information about the sensor from the database via the connection.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0040] In the following, embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail with reference to the schematic drawings, which:

[0041] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an industrial sensor with a display device, and

[0042] FIG. 2 shows a method for retrieving device-related information via an industrial sensor.

[0043] Corresponding parts are marked with the same reference signs in all figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0044] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an industrial sensor system 150, which includes a sensor 100 having a display device 110 and sensor electronics 119. The display device 110 includes an electronic display 112. The electronic display shows a QR code 114 representing a link to a database 132 in which device-related information of the sensor 100 as well as other sensors is stored. The link or QR code 114 includes an ID of the sensor 100, for example “1234”, so that the entry in the database 132 can be referenced. The code can be scanned by a user device 120 having a camera 122 and a communication unit 124, which connects to the database 132 of a server 130 and retrieves the device-related information of the sensor 100. Device-related information may include order code, order history, operating instructions, test certificates, certificates of compliance, safety instructions, backup of device settings, etc.

[0045] The display device 110 may further comprise a code generator 116 and a memory 118. The memory 118 contains, for example, the link to be encoded, which the code generator 116 encodes into a QR code, or it contains the QR code graphic 114 itself. The code generator can flexibly change the link or ID, or encode additional information that can be displayed on the user device, for example, or transmitted to the database 132, such as a current status of the sensor 100. Additional information, such as type and year of manufacture, can also be included in the link. The additional information may be included in the link, for example, and may be parsed by the user device 120 or the server 130 or the database 132. The user device 120 may delete additional information from the link by parsing.

[0046] Further, the display device 110 may include a communication unit, such as an NFC receiver, as an interface 117 that receives the retrieved device-related information from the user device 120 and stores it in the memory 118 so that this information can be displayed by the electronic display 112, both in response to the displaying or scanning of the code 114 and afterwards, i.e., “offline”.

[0047] The database 130 and the sensor 100 with the display arrangement or display device 110 are part of an industrial sensor system 150, to which other units may also be assigned, such as the server 130 and/or the user device 120.

[0048] FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a method 200 for retrieving device-related information about a sensor 100 of an industrial sensor, comprising the steps of: displaying 202, by a display device 110 of the sensor 100, encoded information on an electronic display 102 of the industrial sensor, and retrieving 204 the device-related information about the sensor 100 from a database 132.

[0049] The step of retrieving 204 the device-related information about the sensor 100 from the database 132 is performed by a user device 120 and further comprises the following steps: scanning 206 the optical code 141, decoding 208 the optical code 114 and obtaining a link to a database, establishing 210 a connection to the database 132 using the link, and receiving 212 the device-related information about the sensor 100 from the database 132 via the connection132. It is understood that sending to and receiving from the database 132 is done indirectly through a communication device. For example, the database 132 is accessible through a server 130 that performs access to the database 132 and is the remote end of the connection to the user device 120.

[0050] The method 200 may optionally, and therefore shown in dashed lines in FIG. 2, include the steps of receiving 214 device-related information by the sensor 100 and displaying 216 the device-related information by the electronic display 102. That is, in this case, the user device 120 sends the data received from the database 132, at least in part, to the sensor 100, which can then display it.

[0051] Thus, a permanently stable display of the code 114 is provided, characterized by flexibility and adaptability, and having capabilities far beyond an ordinary nameplate on an industrial sensor 100.