EMPEQ - Equipment OCR Technology

EMPEQ: Visibility Visibility is a desktop and smartphone application that uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Machine Learning (ML) to develop a cloud-based database that contains all current repair and maintenance information as well as service histories and maintenance schedules for a location’s HVAC equipment. When commercialized, it will also help HVAC contractors find non-capital-based financial solutions for their customers. Technology Details Software Design: The application is cloud-based, so it will work on any phone, laptop, tablet, or desktop that supports a web browser. The asset management application is provided through a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. The core hosting infrastructure is Amazon Web Services (AWS), so it is highly scalable and uses AWS best practices for security, data encryption, and access. Internally the application uses the Laravel PHP framework, which has been rigorously tested for security and stability by a large community of developers. Visibility is redundant, with multiple server instances for backup purposes. It uses real-time log tracking to identify system issues and breach attempts. It can be used as a standalone application or can be accessed and integrated into existing software using an Application Interface (API). Application Use: A non-technical employee uses a smartphone to get several photos of a piece of HVAC equipment. The most important image is the equipment’s boilerplate, which indicates the name of the equipment and the manufacturer. Generally, the employee downloads the images to a laptop or desktop. The images are processed by the application and compared to a database that currently contains more than four million pieces of HVAC equipment. If the information is in the database, it will immediately display. If not, the application searches the Internet and locates all the current information found about the equipment and adds it to the database.