{
  "patent_number": "US 7664715",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Caterpillar Compresses Heavy Machinery Data Using Neural Networks",
  "original_title": "Apparatus and method for compressing data, apparatus and method for analyzing data, and data management system",
  "summary": "A method for shrinking massive amounts of sensor data from construction equipment into small, efficient packets for cheaper wireless transmission by using neural network training.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a system to reduce the cost of sending data from remote construction machines to a central office. It uses a neural network to group similar operational data points into 'neurons' within a multi-dimensional space. Instead of sending every single sensor reading, the machine only sends the coordinates of these neurons, the average distance of data points to those neurons, and how often each neuron was 'hit' by incoming data. This allows the remote office to reconstruct the machine's behavior without needing the raw, high-bandwidth data stream.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover general-purpose data compression algorithms like ZIP or JPEG.",
    "Does not cover supervised learning where the machine is trained on labeled data.",
    "Does not cover transmission methods that do not rely on neuron-based model parameters.",
    "Does not cover data processing that occurs entirely on an external server without local compression."
  ],
  "filed": "2005-04-28",
  "granted": "2010-02-16",
  "expires": "2025-04-28",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "Caterpillar Japan Ltd",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/caterpillar-japan-ltd",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Satoshi Fujii",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/satoshi-fujii"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gantcho Lubenov Vatchkov",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/gantcho-lubenov-vatchkov"
    },
    {
      "name": "Koji Komatsu",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/koji-komatsu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Isao Murota",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/isao-murota"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 0,
  "tags": [
    "mechanical",
    "ai_ml",
    "telecommunications",
    "consumer_electronics"
  ],
  "abstract": "There are provided an apparatus and a method for compressing data, an apparatus and a method for analyzing data and a data management system, which are capable of compressing huge data and accurately reproducing the characteristics of the original data from the compressed data. The data compressing apparatus includes detection means for detecting a multiplicity of data sets, each including n parameter values that vary according to an operation of an object, where n is a natural number; and data compressing means for compressing the data sets by inputting the data sets into an n-dimensional space, arranging neurons smaller in number than the data sets in the n-dimensional space, carrying out unsupervised learning for a neural network on the neurons, and converting the data sets into a neuron model parameter characterizing a neuron model obtained by the unsupervised learning.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7664715/apparatus-and-method-for-compressing-data-apparatus-and-method-for-analyzing-data-and-data-management-system",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7664715/apparatus-and-method-for-compressing-data-apparatus-and-method-for-analyzing-data-and-data-management-system/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US7664715",
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