According to information from the China National Intellectual Property Administration, ABB Ltd (Switzerland) has applied for a patent titled “AI-Based Confidence Heatmap For P&AEng Document Processing,” with publication number CN121638501A. The application date is September 2025.

The patent abstract describes an AI-based confidence heatmap method designed to support confidence estimation in structured representations of information within industrial plant environments. The approach is used to improve the assessment of data reliability in engineering and process-related documentation.

The method includes obtaining a target structured representation of information, which contains one or more target information fragments associated with confidence estimates determined by an information model. At least part of these fragments may overlap with information fragments from other structured representations.

Based on the target structured representation, a confidence heatmap is generated. This heatmap visualizes confidence levels of the target information fragments using their associated confidence estimates.

The generated confidence heatmap is then overlaid onto at least part of input documents processed by the information model. These input documents are used to derive both the target and alternative structured representations. All documents involved are associated with the same process plant environment, enabling consistent evaluation and comparison of structured industrial data.